Caracas, May 9 (<a href=quote.bloomberg.com>Bloomberg) -- Venezuela said it is willing to sign an agreement with the opposition for a binding referendum on President Hugo Chavez, ending about seven months of talks, El Universal reported, citing government officials.

The government wants a quick agreement to end the talks, which would allow Organization of American States Secretary General Cesar Gaviria to cease his involvement in negotiations, government negotiators said. Gaviria, who has been criticized by the government for being too pro-opposition, has been mediating the talks since they began in November.

We repeat our disposition to sign an agreement,'' Education Minister Aristobulo Isturiz was quoted as saying. Remaining differences would be settled in the bodies where they need to be settled, such as the Supreme Court, the electoral council and the national assembly.''

Venezuela's opposition has said it plans to seek a binding referendum on Chavez's presidency after Aug. 19 when the former paratrooper passes the halfway point of his term in office. Negotiations over holding the vote continue.

(EU 5/9, 1-2) For El Universal's Web site, click on {EUDC }

Last Updated: May 9, 2003 09:03 EDT

cnn.com-AP Friday, May 9, 2003 Posted: 1209 GMT ( 8:09 PM HKT)

The "Friends of Venezuela" meets with government officials Thursday.

Supporters want recall votes on opponents

We have to talk about referendums in the plural. -- Aristobulo Isturiz, government representative

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) -- President Hugo Chavez's supporters said Thursday that they would agree to a referendum on Chavez's rule if his political opponents would also face recall votes.

Government delegates last month backed out of a deal setting up a plebiscite this year on President Chavez's rule.

Representatives from Chavez's government and opposition officials met with envoys from Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Portugal, Spain and the United States Thursday as the six nations attempted to restart talks.

Chavez's opponents, who led a two-month failed strike this winter to force Chavez's ouster, want to end his presidency with a referendum.

They say the constitution allows for a referendum on Chavez's rule halfway through a president's six-year-term -- in Chavez's case, in August.

On Thursday, government representative Aristobulo Isturiz said any referendum on Chavez should also allow Venezuelans to vote on opposition politicians.

"How can we talk about a referendum for the president and ignore the requests for referendums on governors, mayors and congressmen?" Isturiz said. "We have to talk about referendums in the plural."

Chavez supporters have requested recall referendums to remove elected officials from office. All those officials have already reached the midpoint of their terms.

There was no immediate comment from opposition leaders on Isturiz's proposal.

Venezuela has been riven with political violence in the past 13 months. Dozens of supporters from each side have been killed and hundreds of others wounded in street marches and rallies over the past 13 months.

Venezuela's opposition blames Chavez's left-leaning policies for the country's deepening economic crisis and accuses the former paratrooper of riding roughshod over the democracy.

Chavez blames the two-month strike for the economic downturn. The strike was called to force his ouster, but was unsuccessful.

<a href=www.vheadline.com>Venezuela's Electronic News Posted: Friday, May 09, 2003 By: VenAmCham

Representatives of the United States, Brazil, Portugal, Spain, Chile, and Mexico met with the opposition delegation behind closed doors at the Brazilian Embassy Thursday morning, but there has been no information on exactly what issues they discussed at that meeting, prior to the one they will hold with OAS Secretary General Cesar Gaviria and the government delegation.

Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel was holding a meeting with the Group of Friends mission at the Vice President's offices to present the government's draft electoral agreement ...  local media reports an invitation had been sent to President Hugo Chavez Frias, but his attendance had not been confirmed.

The Group of Friends mission is comprised of US Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Curtis Strubble, Mexico's Undersecretary for Latin America and the Caribbean Miguel Hakime, Portuguese Foreign Ministry Secretary General for Foreign Negotiations Joao Rocha Paris, Chilean Deputy Foreign Minister Christian Barros and Spain's Subsecretary General for European Community Countries Ernesto Zulueta. Brazil's Undersecretary General for Bilateral Policy, Gilberto Saboia is coordinating the mission.

Caracas, May 8 (<a href=quote.bloomberg.com>Bloomberg) -- The U.S., Brazil and Spain are among the countries seeking to pressure Venezuela's government and opposition to reach agreement on a referendum on President Hugo Chavez's rule and end a yearlong impasse.

Representatives of the Group of Friends, as the negotiators from six countries that also include Portugal, Mexico and Chile are known, declined comment after meeting with members of the opposition this morning. They were slated to meet with government negotiators later this afternoon and may meet with Chavez. They have tentatively scheduled a press conference for tomorrow.

There's definitely going to be an attempt to pressure the government,'' said Vitali Meschoulam, an analyst with political risk research company Eurasia Group in New York. But I doubt it will go beyond rhetoric.''

The Group of Friends is counting on a referendum to end more than a year of political strife in Venezuela, South America's largest oil producer. Chavez, who was deposed in April 2002 for two days in a coup, has faced repeated demands that he step down or submit to a referendum.

The two sides reached a tentative agreement brokered by the Organization of American States to hold a referendum. The accord was subsequently found lacking by Chavez's political party.

It's clear that Chavez is trying to delay the holding of a vote,'' Meschoulam said. There's no doubt about that.''

Polls show that Chavez would lose by a large majority if a referendum were held. Under Venezuela's constitution, a referendum can be held any time after Aug. 19, when Chavez passes the mid-point of his six-year term in office.

Venezuela's dollar bond due 2027 jumped for a third day, rising 0.25 cents on the dollar to 66.25, pushing the yield down to 14.22 percent, according to J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. at the 4 p.m. market close in New York.

The Caracas Stock Exchange's general index rose for the first day in three, jumping 2.7 percent to 8783.69. Last Updated: May 8, 2003 16:13 EDT

Thursday, May 8, 2003 Posted: 1524 GMT (11:24 PM HKT)

CARACAS, Venezuela (CNN.com-AP) -- After months of talks, diplomats trying to broker a peaceful end to Venezuela's political troubles have little to show for their efforts -- save for a moribund accord to end verbal insults.

The so-called Group of Friends of Venezuela made up of diplomats from six countries was created in January to help the Organization of American States broker a solution to Venezuela's crisis.

But Chavez's government embarrassed OAS Secretary General Cesar Gaviria by backing out of an April 11 deal for a referendum on Chavez's presidency.

It was a blow as well to the efforts of the six Friends -- Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Portugal, Spain and the United States.

Government negotiators now say that opposition delegates at the OAS talks don't represent all sectors opposing Chavez and suggest the OAS-mediated talks be replaced by debate in the Chavez-dominated National Assembly.

Lawmakers, they say, are better suited for the task because they were elected by the people, while the delegates at the OAS talks are chosen by political parties.

No-insult agreement ignored

The six months of talks between Chavez's government and Venezuela's opposition have produced only an agreement in February to end verbal insults and political violence.

And even that pact has been forgotten.

The mudslinging reached a new low after an opposition general strike curbed Venezuelan oil production and cost the economy US$6 billion but failed to oust Chavez.

When a protester was slain during an opposition May Day march, Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel blamed the opposition and -- and added that government adversaries were obsessed with "necrophilia."

Interior Minister Gen. Lucas Rincon told cadets at a police academy graduation that opposition leaders were "brain-damaged" because of excessive expectations on fighting crime.

Carlos Ortega, a labor boss granted asylum in Costa Rica after leading the general strike, said Chavez was "not well in the head."

Chavez routinely assails what he calls a "fascist," "terrorist" and "coup-plotting" opposition. He has used vulgarities referring to body parts during nationally broadcast speeches to describe his enemies.

'It's the product of frustration'

It may be name calling, but it is a real obstacle to peace in this poverty-stricken nation that is a top U.S. supplier of oil, said Eliazar Diaz Rangel, director of the Caracas newspaper Ultimas Noticias.

The rhetoric is worse that in the 1960s, when Venezuela's military crushed a Cuba-backed leftist insurgency, Diaz Rangel said.

"Even in the difficult years when political crisis turned into combat, it didn't reach these levels," he said. "It's the product of frustration. ... This type of language is unprecedented in Venezuela, and I would go as far to say in Latin America as well."

Chavez, a former paratrooper who led a failed 1992 coup attempt, was elected president in 1998 and re-elected to a six-year term in 2000. His opponents accuse him of mismanaging the economy, dividing the country along class lines and becoming increasingly authoritarian.

The president says a reckless opposition is more interested in his unconstitutional ouster than helping govern.