Reuters, 01.07.03, 6:16 PM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States threatened to look for other oil suppliers unless Venezuela's government and foes of President Hugo Chavez found a way to end quickly a 37-day protest strike that has crippled the nation's oil exports, a senior State Department official said Tuesday.

"We were consuming (from Venezuela) about 1.5 million barrels of petroleum a day, which we're not getting now," the official, who declined to be identified, told reporters. "Which means we would have to get it from someplace else."

The threat, the bluntest so far by the administration, comes as both the opposition and the government remain deadlocked on talks aimed at calling for what the United States says is "an electoral solution."

The opposition, a mix of business groups, political parties and union leaders, started the strike on Dec. 2 to force Chavez into resigning or calling early elections. Chavez has said that the constitution calls for a referendum in August and that he would not move the date forward.

The official said Venezuela and the United States enjoyed a "strategic and historic energy relationship" that could be jeopardized by the strike.

Tankers take just four or five days to cross the Gulf of Mexico, a region well supplied with refineries. "It all works wonderfully. And it's all been disrupted."

"Oil is fungible, it's a product that a lot of countries produce, and at the end of the day, Venezuela is going to be the loser in this if it doesn't resolve this because we'll buy our oil someplace else."

The strike has sharply reduced oil output from the world's fifth largest exporter, although the official declined to say by how much. By using replacement staff and drawing down stored crude, the government has managed to maintain exports at about 500,000 barrels per day compared with the 2.7 million bpd sold in November, according to shipping sources.

usinfo.state.gov

QUESTION: Two questions. Has the United States seen the nearest tragedy that President Lula is doing with Venezuela -- helping in the oil industry. He's going to start in any way to solve the crisis in Venezuela. Do you have any opposition to Brazil doing things like that with his friend Hugo Chavez?

MR. BOUCHER: I am not quite sure what you are referring to as "things like that." I think we, and others, share an interest in seeing a peaceful resolution of events in Venezuela. We have continued to be in touch with other governments about it, about the situation in Venezuela. We have continued to support the efforts of the Secretary General of the OAS.

QUESTION: What I am talking about is Brazil sending oil to Venezuela.

MR. BOUCHER: That was last week, right?

QUESTION: Yeah, you have any --

MR. BOUCHER: No, I do not have any particular comment on that.

QUESTION: On Mexico and Venezuela. Secretary for Foreign Relations of Mexico Jorge Castaneda expressed yesterday that his government, the Government of Mexico would suggest that Venezuelan Government would respect more the Division of Institutional Democratic Powers. What's the take of the US Government in relation to this statement?

MR. BOUCHER: I think you will see elements of that expressed in the Organization of American States statement. On the subject of Venezuela, we are looking for a peaceful, democratic solution that respects the democratic institutions of Venezuela.

One of the people the Secretary has been talking to about the situation in Venezuela is Foreign Secretary Castaneda. They spoke again today about the situation down there.

Okay, Joel?

By CHRISTOPHER TOOTHAKER Associated Press Writer

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP)--Tens of thousands of Venezuelans marched on the federal tax agency Tuesday and many ripped up their tax forms, vowing to further deprive President Hugo Chavez of revenue as part of their strike that has already dried up oil income.

Chavez warned that tax evasion carries up to seven years in prison.

It's a crime not to pay taxes,'' he said in a speech he ordered broadcast on all television and radio stations, interrupting coverage of the march. We will not tolerate it.''

``We'll take all actions necessary to make sure every last cent is paid because it belongs to the people.''

Protesters cheered and blew whistles as they tore up blank tax forms at the doors of the tax agency. They called for individuals and business to stop paying income and value-added taxes.

National Guard troops and police patrolled the headquarters of the agency but there was no unrest. The march was the first opposition protest in the capital since clashes between Chavez foes and followers and security forces left two people dead and 78 injured last week.

This government uses our money to repress the people. We're not going to give one more cent to Hugo Chavez,'' said Luis Carlos Bustillos, 59, a veterinarian. This will cause chaos for a few months but it's better than chaos for a lifetime.''

Venezuela's largest labor confederation, the biggest business chamber and opposition political parties began the strike Dec. 2 to pressure Chavez into resigning or accepting an early vote on his rule. The president has refused to do either.

The strike has crippled Venezuela's oil industry, which provides half of government income and 80 percent of export revenue. The country is world's fifth-largest oil exporter, and the strike has helped send international oil prices above $30.

Most public schools opened after the holidays, but most private schools stayed closed, said Education Minister Aristobulo Isturiz. The strike has been largely ignored by small business owners, but shopping centers and private factories were shuttered. Banks were only opening three hours a day.

The government may have to cut this year's $25 billion budget by up to 10 percent, Finance Minister Tobias Nobrega said Tuesday. Taxes were supposed to pay for a third of the budget. Oil exports were supposed to pay for half.

Eliminating tax evasion--traditionally at 50 percent--is a tenet of Chavez's government. Last year, his government collected $6 billion in tax revenues--91 percent of its original goal.

Adversaries blame Chavez's policies for a deep recession, 17 percent unemployment, an increasingly feeble currency and inflation surpassing 30 percent. Chavez, who survived an April military uprising, says his foes are trying to provoke another coup.

Opponents say they will hold a Feb. 2 referendum to ask Venezuelans if Chavez should quit even if the president ignores it, as he says he will. The opposition delivered 2 million signatures in November to demand the referendum.

Chavez refused requests by the National Elections Council for funds for the vote. But he invites opponents to challenge him in a possible recall referendum in August, midway through his six-year term.

In Washington, a senior State Department official told reporters that negotiations sponsored by the Organization of American States were stalled over whether to hold early presidential elections.

The official said the OAS has reached agreement on several points dealing with confidence building measures but not on elections.

Government efforts to restore oil production and domestic gasoline supplies suffered a setback Tuesday when a vacuum unit of a key refinery was damaged, refinery chief Pedro Jimenez told broadcasters. Industry sources said the accident would delay efforts to bring the 130,000 barrels a day refinery back online.

Still, lines at service stations were considerably shorter in Caracas and there were more vehicles on the roads as the government imported gasoline from Brazil and awaited shipments from Trinidad and Tobago, the United States and Russia.

Local environmentalist Lenin Herrera denounced that oil slicks were accumulating on Lake Maracaibo because ``collection of oil spills on the lake are not taking place regularly and efficiently.'' But Felix Rodriguez, head of western operations of state oil monopoly Petroleos de Venezuela denied there was anything abnormal about the stains.

Energy Minister Rafael Ramirez claims production is back up to 800,000 barrels a day from 200,000 barrels a day, the lowest level since the strike began. Industry sources say output is about 400,000 barrels a day--from a normal level of 3 million barrels a day.

Chavez has fired almost 300 managers from PDVSA, vowing to use the strike to trim the corporation's bureaucracy.

— By Pascal Fletcher

CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - Foes of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, marching in their thousands in Caracas, tore up income-tax forms on Tuesday as they added a tax revolt to a five-week-old strike crippling the nation's crucial oil exports.

But the leftist former paratrooper, who survived a coup in April, vowed to resist what he called their "economic war" to oust him as president of the world's No. 5 oil exporter.

Waving national flags and blowing whistles, the anti-Chavez demonstrators marched to government tax offices in east Caracas on the 37th day of an opposition strike aimed at forcing the populist leader to resign and call early elections.

The grueling shutdown has strangled Venezuela's oil output and shipments, jolting world oil markets and bleeding government coffers of millions of dollars a day of oil income.

"We are not going to pay taxes until this government goes," 52-year-old housewife Belkis Soto told Reuters as she took part in the march. Many protesters, who include middle class professionals, housewives and students, waved tax declaration forms, which they ripped up outside the tax offices.

The opposition, which has accompanied the strike with almost daily street protests, has called on individuals and firms to stop paying taxes, whether income or sales taxes.

But Chavez, who led a coup attempt in 1992 and was elected president six years later, is refusing to quit.

"We are in a situation of economic and political war because that is what the opposition wanted. ... Let's give them war then," he told reporters in west Caracas.

Earlier, speaking at a school, he warned his striking opponents their refusal to pay taxes was against the law. "They've tried to break the oil industry ... now they're trying to break the national treasury so there is no money," he said.

Tax authorities say offenders face fines and prison terms ranging from six months to seven years.

As a result of the strike, the government is reducing by half its original 2003 growth forecast of 2.5 percent to 3.5 percent. It has said it will announce tough belt-tightening measures to offset the strike losses.

"READY FOR THE WORST"

But Chavez seems determined to fight back. He purged the armed forces of opponents following the short-lived coup against him in April. He is doing the same with the strike-hit state oil giant PDVSA, the motor of the Venezuelan economy.

"I'm ready for the worst and on any front, we'll defeat the enemies of the nation," he said.

Despite calls from some opponents for the armed forces to topple Chavez, or at least refuse to obey him, Venezuela's army commander told Reuters on Monday the army would not intervene in the crisis and backed a negotiated political solution.

Tensions have been high since clashes on Friday between pro- and anti-Chavez protesters, in which two supporters of the president were shot and killed. The deaths triggered a storm of accusations between the government and its foes.

Police in La Guaira, a port just north of Caracas, fired tear gas on Tuesday to keep apart feuding followers and foes of the president.

Chavez's opponents say the left-wing policies of his self-proclaimed "revolution," which include a nationalistic oil policy and increased state intervention in the economy, are dragging the country toward ruin and Cuban-style communism.

The strike gripping the oil industry has disrupted oil shipments to the United States, which normally obtains more than 13 percent of its crude imports from Venezuela.

"VENEZUELA THE LOSER"

"At the end of the day, Venezuela is going to be the loser in this if it doesn't resolve this because we'll buy our oil someplace else," a senior State Department official, who asked not to be named, told reporters in Washington.

Oil prices, which rose close to two-year highs last week, fell heavily on Tuesday as leading OPEC heavyweight Saudi Arabia pushed the oil exporters' cartel for a hefty oil output increase to fill a gap left by the Venezuela strike.

The government insists strike-hit oil operations are being restored to normal. Striking executives in the state oil giant PDVSA, many of whom have been fired, deny that.

Energy Minister Rafael Ramirez said on Tuesday that PDVSA would be restructured because of the conflict and also to reduce its high administration costs. The transition would decentralize PDVSA away from Caracas to two operations in the west and east of the country.

Potentially adding to the problems from the oil strike, Venezuela's bank workers said they would decide this week on a proposed 48-hour halt to all banking operations.

The opposition is setting its sights on a Feb. 2 referendum scheduled by electoral authorities to vote on Chavez's rule. But the poll is nonbinding, and the president, whose term is scheduled to end in early 2007, has said he will ignore the results, even if he loses massively.

Ana Teresa Fábregas de Sucre Caracas-Venezuela   The deep and extremely critical political crisis that Venezuela is undergoing needs urgent attention and must be taken seriously by the international community.   After 4 years of the most incompetent and ominous government in our history, Venezuela is immersed in the worst political, economic, social and institutional crisis ever.   And time is running out: we're at the brink of loosing our democracy to the hands of the autocratic Chavez.  The international response has been discouraging so far.

The international media has the great responsibility to FULLY UNMASK to the world what Chavez's "revolution" is REALLY about.   The complexity and the many factors involved in this crisis along with the lack of understanding and narrow minded vision portrayed by many international correspondents have generated in most instances, superficial, inaccurate, uninformed and/or distorted depictions of present day Venezuela.  With some exceptions, their accounts and irresponsible conclusions represent another stumbling block to the overwhelming peaceful struggle of the majority of Venezuelans to consolidate democracy. 

Venezuela became front-page news only when PDVSA?s management and employees (around 35,000 out of 40,000) walked out and joined a nationwide strike in favor of democracy bringing the country's oil production to a standstill.  The serious disruption of Venezuela's oil supplies affects not only the country but the United States and its interests.  However, what must be front-page news and what must be emphasized repeatedly is the fact that a democratically elected president systematically violates the Constitution and in his obsession to keep himself in power he is destroying the country; therefore he shall be removed from office.  The majority of Venezuelans today (80% according to polls) are willing to pay the ultimate price in order to achieve this goal peacefully within a democratic framework.

Given the enormous amount of evidence available it is hard to understand why most of the international media give more coverage to the symptoms than to the problem itself.  Moreover, it is appalling and disgusting how many international correspondents do not verify the veracity of the information presented to them by the government.  It is clear for Venezuelans that Chavez, under the disguise of legality, is in the final stage of imposing a Marxist-Leninist regime and declaring himself dictator in the same fashion as Fidel Castro.  Chavez?s “revolution” which is ideological and political and lacks real substance, has certainly done very little for the country but impoverishing its citizens, instigating hate and division and creating great inequality.  Its main objective -as that of any totalitarian regime- has been the concentration of power at any cost by using the tactics of destruction, intimidation, threats, lies and violence.  In this sense, it is the revolution of deceit, because Chavez and his circle have demonstrated to be impostors who use all kinds of artifices to mislead Venezuelans by the use of false information, by the practice of cheating, bribery and dishonesty.   As a result this government is characterized: first, by its arbitrariness, for its open disrespect for the law and the undemocratic capricious conduct of its leaders.  Second, by its mediocrity for the precarious intellectual level, ineptitude and negligence to generate constructive and concrete policies; and because it rewards not education and decency, competence and efficiency but meanness and vulgarity.  As a well respected Venezuelan intellectual and humorist Pedro Leon Zapata put it recently: “in this government one is forbidden to be intelligent.”  

Chavez represents a dangerous combination of fierce populist, demagogue, snake charmer, charismatic tele-evangelist preacher, megalomaniac, ultimate judge of good and evil and a farce.  It is surprising how many educated people have been fooled by Chavez?s demagogic rhetoric.  In this sense, the international media must pay special attention to his double discourse and multiple faces; what he preaches and what he does. 

Chavez?s conscious use of language with the purpose of annihilation is part of his totalitarian project.  His most dangerous weapon is his rhetoric of hate, of division, of social resentment, of no tolerance and of violence.  In his strategy to eliminate the adversary, he dismisses and debases everyone who dissents from him and his followers as "oligarch," "squalid," "terrorist," "fascist," "conspirator," "traitor" who must be eradicated from society to purify it.  He's been successful in manipulating and exploiting the sentiments and needs of the poor and modeling their perceptions to the extent of negating reality.  All this has resulted in the unfortunate polarization of society.

On the other hand, Chavez's verbal attacks, insults and menaces, disrespect and cynicism have made him enemies with many factors of society.  Many of his former close allies are now his strongest opponents.  Moreover, he even has made enemies with the intelligentsia, university students and artists who traditionally are against the status quo and generally share leftist tendencies.  He has antagonized the Church ("a tumor which has to be eradicated"), the media ("garbage," "conspirators"), the federation of chambers of commerce, the largest labor union, the oil industry and some sectors of the Armed Forces; he has tried to enlist the last two into his leftist program by firing respected oil executives indiscriminately and appointing his cronies.  

As part of the government’s propaganda and lobbying Chavez has been careful to portray a very different image abroad.  With the appointment of the moderate and elegant Roy Chaderton -a respected career diplomat- as his Foreign Minister the government has tried to put on a face of not having authoritarian tendencies.  It is important to mention that the lobbying has apparently reached many international media organizations.

Chavez represented the hope for profound changes for those who voted for him in 1998.  He symbolized the rise of a new beginning which would make a tabula rasa of the past.  He campaigned on two premises:  his government was to represent the interests of the poor and those alienated by previous governments, and he was to eradicate corruption.  All the conditions were set up in place for Chavez:  he enjoyed 80% of popularity at the beginning of his government together with high oil prices that generated huge earnings; his political party had won the majority of seats in the National Assembly, and with the approval of a new custom-made Constitution, that increased the president’s powers he appointed at his will his closest allies to the most important posts and without the approval of the National Assembly.  Moreover, he virtually dissolved the two strongest Venezuelan political parties.  Four years later, see for your self.

Chavez has failed in his promises and betrayed his voters.  According to polls, his former popularity has vertiginously dropped to around 20 % today.  The economy is in ruins; corruption is grotesque and rampant, and the worst ever (earnings of $120 billion have evaporated).  Unemployment, poverty and misery have increased dramatically (according to the economist Francisco Vivancos, this government has become a “poverty manufacturer”).  The government’s subsidies for highly successful Church-run social development programs were eliminated; and the new ones have been unsuccessful, like the “Plan Bolivar 2000” which has been disastrous.  Public healthcare has virtually collapsed.  Burglaries, assaults and street violence have increased alarmingly. 

As pointed out before, the worst of all is that this government violates the Constitution on a constant basis and manipulates it according to its will.  Chavez himself committed one of the most flagrant violations of the democratic principles:  in his TV monologue Alo Presidente of 12/15/02 he brazenly instigated members of the Armed Forces to disobey judicial orders.  When a President believes he can go beyond the law and the Constitution he becomes a Dictator.

In Venezuela today the judicial system is falling apart under Chavez's grip and as a result the rule of law has deteriorated dramatically.  This government has politicized all aspects of society to the point where the different branches of government lack independence and reliability and serve only the interests of Chavez?s revolution.  We are living under a regime which can arbitrarily suspend the inalienable rights of every citizen. 

Furthermore, Chavez has begun to militarize Caracas and other parts of the country.  This is another evidence of the government’s interference with the Venezuelan democracy (the seizure of the Metropolitan Police is an example).  Moreover, a sector of the Armed Forces has become Chavez's praetorian army used for intimidation and repression.  Many politicians, journalists and innocent civilians have suffered the excessive use of force in recent months.  This regime is becoming one of terror in which the so-called "Bolivarian Circles" –commonly known as circles of violence (in reality government sponsored armed street gangs led by Chavez’s political cronies) serve as the defendants of the "revolution" along with loyal officers of the military and the political police.   To illustrate the promotion of violence Chavez, in a public appearance on 10/4/01 said the following:  “…this is a peaceful revolution but it is not disarmed…when I say arms I am not referring only to words but to fusils, tanks…”

This government has also been repeatedly accused of violating Human Rights.  According to Liliana Ortega, head of Cofavic (an organization for the defense of human rights) and who in 1999 was recognized by TIME Magazine as one of Latin America’s leaders for the new millennium, more than 120 claims of “extremely serious” violations to human rights have been received by the institution this year alone.  Cofavic has also accused the government for the “non-fulfillment of the cautionary measures and other decisions dictated by both the Inter-American Commission and Inter-American Court of Human Rights respectively.”

During this government many crimes have not been formally investigated and the material authors remain at large.  More than eight months have passed since the massacre of April 11, 2002 in which dozens of innocent civilians in a peaceful march were killed and wounded by snipers and gunmen from what is strongly believed to be government-related circles of violence.  The Venezuelan journalist who recorded the video showing the identified gunmen in action will receive the King of Spain prize of journalism.  Chavez himself publicly defended these criminals on TV with great cynicism, a scene which was repeated this time with the man he called “a gentleman” who killed 3 and wounded near 30 peaceful demonstrators in the Plaza Altamira on Dec. 6, 2002.  This criminal was caught in fragranti and confessed of his crime on TV. 

I am a witness of the brutal repression against innocent civilians near one of PDVSA’s main buildings in Chuao, a suburb of Caracas in which my husband was a victim. On December 3, 2002 a group of national guardsmen savagely attacked a small group of people.  I was able to run for my life but my husband was ambushed by four guardsmen and was brutally attacked once he had fallen on the floor.  The guardsmen kicked him and shot him with pellets at a very short range that badly injured his face, chest, arms and hands; afterwards he was hit on his back.  An amateur video recorded the complete aggression, which has been endlessly shown on TV and newspapers as evidence of this government’s repression.

The government's recklessness have unified the majority of society (approximately 80% according to polls) against it, from the rich, to the middle-class, to the poor.   Chavez is certainly not connected with the people anymore because he has demonstrated to be intransigent and a man without sensibility who is determined to impose his “revolution” against the will of the majority.  Chavez repeatedly ridicules, humiliates and despises Venezuelans by ignoring the overwhelming opposition and their call for his resignation and elections.  He cannot see that he is the obstacle for democracy, for progress, and for peace.  He cannot understand that he and his “revolution” represent a terrible accident in contemporary Venezuelan political history.

Although the general strike is partial, what is not partial is the widespread social mobilization in every city.  The general strike has evolved into an active, voluntary and spontaneous civic resistance of thousands of people on the streets that is increasing on a daily basis.  On Dec.15, 2002 and according to newspapers, 1.5 million people in Caracas alone took to the streets in a monumental peaceful march that symbolized the overwhelming resistance that the government faces. 

We are running out of gas in the country.  This is a serious situation that will create a highly volatile climate but it's the ultimate pressure for a government that is deaf and blind, to negotiate its exit.  But in reality, Chavez’s obstinate, intolerant authoritarian behavior and little political create a barrier for responsible constructing debate to reach an agreement with all parties involved.  Chavez himself said recently that “the revolution is inflexible” which corroborates the military-like scheme of force and resistance that the government is using to deal with this extremely serious crisis.

The O.A.S. Secretary General, Cesar Gaviria came to Venezuela to install a Table of Negotiation and Agreements between the government and the opposition in order to diffuse the present day crisis.  It has been more than four weeks since these rounds of talks have begun with no apparent results.  It seems evident that the government is cheating and sabotaging the talks because a Dictator does not negotiate.  Meanwhile, the government is consciously and irresponsibly buying time, giving that their strategy is aimed for the opposition to chicken out.  The government is playing an extremely dangerous game because they are bidding for violence and chaos. 

Venezuelans want a democratic solution, not a coup d'état.  Venezuelans want a country united and free.  Venezuelans want peace.  Venezuelans don't want violence.  Venezuelans want elections as soon as possible.  To that effect on November 4, 2002 all the opposition groups introduced the required signatures needed to initiate a consultative referendum.  This referendum has been set to take place on February 2, 2003 but as one can expect of this government they have and will try by all means to boycott this referendum from taking place.   Ana Teresa Fábregas de Sucre Caracas-Venezuela