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CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) -- Soldiers loyal to President Hugo Chavez seized riot gear -- including submachine guns and shotguns -- from Caracas' police department Tuesday in what the opposition mayor called a deliberate effort to undermine him. Federal interference in the capital's police department is one reason Venezuela's opposition has staged a strike -- now in its 44th day -- demanding early elections. Tuesday's raids stoked already heated tensions in this polarized nation.

Greater Caracas Mayor Alfredo Pena said the weapons seizure stripped police of their ability to control street protests that have erupted almost daily since the strike began Dec. 2. Five people have died in strike-related demonstrations.

Strike leader Manuel Cova said opponents would "strengthen the struggle to topple" Chavez in response to the raids.

"This demonstrates the antidemocratic and authoritarian way in which this government acts," said Cova, leader of the Venezuelan Workers Confederation, the country's largest labor union.

Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel said the seizure was part of an effort to make police answer for alleged abuses against Chavez demonstrators. The government accuses police of killing two Chavez supporters during a melee two weeks ago that involved Chavez followers, opponents and security forces.

"The metropolitan police cannot be above the law, above the executive, above citizens," Rangel told foreign reporters. "We are trying to make them answer to the law. That's why we seized their equipment and weapons."

Troops searched several police stations at dawn, confiscating submachine guns and 12-gauge shotguns used to fire rubber bullets and tear gas, said Cmdr. Freddy Torres, the department's legal consultant. Officers were allowed to keep their standard-issue .38-caliber pistols. It was not clear how long the seizure would last.

Chavez ordered troops to take control of the force in November, but the Supreme Court ordered it restored to Pena last month. Chavez is trying to break a strike that has paralyzed Venezuela's crucial oil industry and cost the government an estimated $4 billion. He has warned he might send troops to seize food production plants that are participating in the strike.

Called to press Chavez into accepting a nonbinding referendum on his rule, the strike has depleted many Caracas supermarkets of basics like milk, flour and bottled water. People spend hours in lines at service stations and at banks open only three hours a day. Many medicines are no longer are available in pharmacies. Rangel said the strike was weak outside of Caracas -- one reason the government has been able to survive.

"Is there a country on Earth that can withstand a strike for 44 days? I don't think so," the vice president said.

With hopes of helping resolve the dispute, former President Jimmy Carter plans to visit Caracas on Jan. 20 to observe the crisis, the Atlanta-based Carter Center announced.

Carter, who just won the Nobel Peace Prize, will consult with Cesar Gaviria, secretary general of the Organization of American States, who has been mediating talks between the two sides, the center said.

Venezuela's oil industry provides half of government revenue and 80 percent of export revenue. With the strike, about 30,000 of 40,000 workers in the state oil monopoly, Petroleos de Venezuela S.A., are off the job.

Venezuela is usually the world's fifth-largest exporter and a key supplier to the United States, and the U.S. Energy Department has said the crisis could cause American motorists to pay up to $1.54 per gallon of gasoline by spring.

reuters.com Wed January 15, 2003 11:30 AM ET By Hugh Bronstein

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Venezuelans brought their struggle for power to New York's posh Park Avenue on Wednesday, with opposition calls for the ouster of President Hugo Chavez clashing with the shouts of his supporters.

Members of the opposition told market analysts, investors, and Venezuelan expatriates gathered at the Americas Society that if their efforts succeed, the country would become a safer place to invest.

Outside the meeting, on the streets of Manhattan's wealthy Upper East Side neighborhood, a dozen pro-Chavez demonstrators shouted slogans defending his presidency.

"It is a demonstration of what's going on in Venezuela, where two extremes are radicalizing their own positions," said Luis Oganes, a sovereign debt strategist at J.P. Morgan who attended the meeting.

Back home, Chavez's foes extended an ongoing strike aimed at forcing him to call early elections into its 45th day. In New York, they called on investors to ramp up pressure on Chavez to resign.

"The international community can no longer be passive," said Timoteo Zambrano, a member of the National Assembly of Venezuela. "It has to take on a greater role."

As the domestic standoff, which has crippled oil production in the world's fifth-largest petroleum exporter, intensifies, both sides in the conflict have appealed for international support. Chavez is to hold talks on Thursday with United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan in New York.

Opposition leaders argued that while Chavez was elected fairly in 1998, he has since veered off the democratic course, putting basic liberties, such as freedom of the press and property rights, in jeopardy.

"It is not only necessary for the president to be democratically elected, but also that he continue along the democratic pathway," said Carlos Fernandez, president of the Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry in Caracas.

The protesters' voices drifted through the meeting room's second floor window as Fernandez blasted Chavez for his poor handling of the Venezuelan economy. Fernandez said poverty has increased 25 percent during Chavez's administration and sharply criticized him for describing the opposition as coup-plotters.

But William Camarco, a 33-year old Venezuelan taxi driver who is studying journalism at Queens College, slammed the opposition: "They are guilty of economic sabotage."

Chavez, notorious on Wall Street for his fiery rhetoric and brash leadership style, was elected in 1998. He vowed to wrest control from what he branded as the country's corrupt elite and to enact reforms to help the poor. But opposition has grown amid charges the president wants to establish a Cuban-style authoritarian state.

Chavez weathered a short-lived coup last April.

sg.biz.yahoo.com Wednesday January 15, 11:12 PM

CARACAS (Dow Jones)--Venezuela's supreme court on Wednesday was considering whether to approve a proposal to suspend a nonbinding vote, currently slated for Feb. 2, on whether President Hugo Chavez should remain in office, a court spokesperson told Dow Jones Newswires.

A ruling may be delivered by the end of the day, the spokesperson said.

Regardless of the ruling, the opposition will continue to press for an early vote of some kind, said Lope Mendoza, the president of Venezuela's biggest association of industries, Conindustria, which has backed the opposition.

ADVERTISEMENTThe proposal in the high court is in response to a complaint filed by Chavez supporters who claimed the so-called Popular Consultation is unconstitutional.

Opposition leaders have said Chavez would likely lose the nonbinding vote so convincingly he'd be embarrassed into quitting.

But Chavez, whose term runs through early 2007, has said he won't resign even if he loses by 90%. His supporters have said they'll boycott the vote completely so it would be hard to tell how Chavez fared.

Chavez has argued that presidential term limits are already covered in another article of the constitution which allows for a recall vote at the halfway point of his term - August this year, in his case.

Venezuela's government is battling an ongoing 45-day-old general strike aimed at forcing Chavez to declare early elections.

Chavez's critics blame him for an anticipated 8% economic contraction in 2002, amid 18% unemployment, and 31% inflation.

-By Jehan Senaratna, Dow Jones Newswires; 58 212 564 1339; jehan.senaratna@dowjones.com

reuters.com Wed January 15, 2003 10:33 AM ET CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - Venezuela's bolivar currency fell on Wednesday for the third consecutive day this week, slipping 6 percent against the U.S. dollar as a six-week-old opposition strike ground on with no sign that a solution was in sight.

The interbank rate dipped to 1,740 bolivars against the U.S. currency during the morning's trading amid heavy nervous buying of dollars, traders said. This followed similar falls of 4 percent Tuesday and 5 percent Monday.

"The foreign exchange market is crazy. People aren't looking at the price. What they want is to have dollars in their hands," one trader said.

The Venezuelan currency has fallen sharply in recent days as the strike, called by foes of leftist President Hugo Chavez to press him to resign and hold early elections, increases fears of economic and political turmoil in the world's No. 5 oil exporter. The strike has already slashed the country's vital oil production and shipments.

www.forbes.com Reuters, 01.15.03, 9:51 AM ET By Hugh Bronstein

NEW YORK, Jan 15 (Reuters) - The Venezuelan opposition moved its struggle against President Hugo Chavez to the international stage on Wednesday, urging Wall Street players to pressure the leftist leader into calling early elections.

As Chavez's foes extended a national strike aimed at ousting the beleaguered president into its 45th day, members of the opposition told an audience of market analysts, investors, and Venezuelan expatriates here that if their efforts succeeded, Venezuela would become a safer place to invest.

"The international community can no longer be passive. It has to take on a greater role," said Timoteo Zambrano, a member of the National Assembly of Venezuela, at a meeting sponsored by the Americas Society.

As the domestic standoff, which has crippled oil production in the world's fifth largest petroleum exporter, intensifies, both sides in the conflict have appealed for international support. Chavez is set to hold talks on Thursday with United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan in New York.

Opposition leaders argued that while Chavez was elected fairly in 1998, he has since veered off the democratic course, putting basic liberties, such as freedom of the press and property rights, in jeopardy.

"It is not only necessary for the president to be democratically elected, but also that he continue along the democratic pathway," said Carlos Fernandez, president of the Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry in Caracas.

Outside the gathering on the streets of New York's posh Park Avenue a dozen pro-Chavez demonstrators shouted slogans defending his presidency.

The protesters' voices drifted through the meeting room's second floor window even as Fernandez blasted Chavez for his poor handling of the Venezuelan economy. He said poverty has increased 25 percent during Chavez's administration, and sharply criticized him for describing the opposition as coup-plotters.

"We have proven that we want a constitutional and democratic solution," he said.

Chavez, notorious on Wall Street for his fiery rhetoric and brash leadership style, was elected in 1998. He vowed to wrest control from what he branded the country's corrupt elite and enact reforms to help the poor. But opposition has grown amid charges the president wants to establish a Cuban-style authoritarian state. Chavez weathered a short-lived coup last April.

Fellow opposition leader Carlos Ortega, president of the confederation of Venezuelan workers, or CTV, also addressed the Americas society.