www.cnn.com Saturday, February 1, 2003 Posted: 8:35 PM EST (0135 GMT)

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) -- Leaders of a two-month-old strike called to force President Hugo Chavez from power said they would ease the work stoppage next week to protect businesses against bankruptcy.

The decision was prompted Friday by pressure from the "Group of Friends," a forum made up of the United States and five other nations who are supporting efforts by the Organization of American States to broker an end to Venezuela's bitter political stalemate.

"We aren't going to let the government destroy the business sector and increase unemployment, then build a totalitarian model over the ashes," strike leader Carlos Fernandez said.

The decision to ease the 62-day work stoppage, however, won't affect striking workers at the state-run oil monopoly Petroleos de Venezuela S.A.

The strike has stifled oil production in Venezuela, the world's fifth-largest exporter.

The government has managed to raise oil production beyond 1 million barrels a day -- a third of normal levels -- signaling that Chavez was regaining control of the state oil company, where the walkout has been most effective. Oil provides 70 percent of export revenue and half of government earnings.

Abdullah bin Hamad al-Attiayh, president of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, said Saturday he welcomed Venezuela's increasing oil production as a factor that will bring more stability to the oil market.

Global oil prices shot over $30 a barrel this year because of lower exports from Venezuela and fear of a conflict with Iraq. Venezuela is a founding member of the oil cartel and, under Chavez, a leading proponent of production quotas.

Strike leaders made the announcement after a meeting with envoys from countries involved in the "Friends" initiative -- the United States, Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Spain and Portugal.

The envoys were in Caracas to persuade rivals to agree on a proposal calling for an amendment to the constitution, which would shorten Chavez's six-year term to four and open the way for a new election this year.

Venezuela's constitution allows opponents to request the amendment by gathering signatures from 15 percent of the country's 12 million registered voters. The opposition is organizing a nationwide petition drive to gather signatures on February 2.

The Bush administration has promoted early elections as a solution to the crisis.

But government representatives said they wouldn't agree to a proposal that could put an end to Chavez's "revolutionary" government.

"The government has no interest in doing away with itself," said Foreign Minister Roy Chaderton.

Another proposal calls on Venezuelans opposed to Chavez to prepare for a recall referendum on the president's rule, which is possible in August.

That proposal also met resistance.

"The government isn't interested in convoking a recall referendum," said Chaderton.

While foreign diplomats met with the two sides, tens of thousands of Chavez opponents staged a march to protest government investigations into three private television stations. Through the proceedings the government could fine or revoke the broadcast licenses of the stations -- or even close them.

Chavez repeatedly has clashed with the news media. He accuses newspapers, radio station and TV channels of joining an alleged conspiracy to overthrow him.

Media owners accuse Chavez of trying to censor his critics. Chavez's fiery rhetoric, they argue, encourages his most radical supporters to attack reporters and photographers.

The government's hard-line stance against proposals aimed at unseating Chavez, who was elected in 1998 and re-elected two years later, comes while support for the strike wanes and oil production increases.

In another sign the strike was weakening, banks, schools, shopping malls and franchise restaurants announced plans to open next week.

The strike has crippled the economy. Private economists warn the economy could shrink 25 percent in the first three months of the year -- after already contracting an estimated 8 percent last year.

goerie.com ASSOCIATED PRESS

CARACAS, Venezuela — Opponents of President Hugo Chavez began focusing on a petition driver to cut his term in power Saturday, after agreeing to ease a two-month strike that has crippled Venezuela's economy.

Opposition leaders plan to hold what they call the "Great Sign-up" on Sunday, inviting citizens to sign various initiatives rejecting Chavez's government and seeking his ouster.

The opposition hopes one petition in particular — a constitutional amendment to reduce Chavez's term from six to four years — will succeed, paving the way for general elections later this year.

Under the constitution, organizers need signatures from 15 percent, or about 1.8 million, of the country's 12 million registered voters — a number they expect to easily surpass.

"Our idea is to get 5 million signatures," Carlos Ocariz, a member of the opposition party Justice First, said Saturday on Globovision television.

The amendment was one of two proposals made by Nobel Peace Prize winner and former President Jimmy Carter.

The other is to hold a recall referendum on Chavez's rule halfway through his six-year term, in August.

The opposition will also collect signatures for this initiative Sunday. Representatives from the United States, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Portugal and Spain said met in Caracas on Friday to urge both sides to accept one of Carter's proposals and bring Venezuela's prolonged crisis to a swift end.

The six-nation "Group of Friends" said both the government and opposition must make concessions during negotiations mediated by Cesar Gaviria, the secretary-general of the Organization of American States.

Strike organizers, who began the protest Dec. 2 to pressure Chavez into accepting a referendum on his rule, said they would ease the work stoppage next week to protect businesses against bankruptcy.

"We are expecting a gradual return to activities in the various sectors that make up the country," opposition negotiator Manuel Cova said Saturday.

"We want to give the international community our absolute disposal to negotiate an electoral solution."

The strike has cost at least $4 billion in lost oil revenues alone, the government estimates. And the Santander Central Hispano investment bank has warned that the economy could shrink by as much as 40 percent in the first quarter of 2003.

www.orlandosentinel.com By Stephen Ixer | The Associated Press Posted February 2, 2003

CARACAS, Venezuela -- Opponents of President Hugo Chavez began focusing on a petition drive to cut his term in power, after agreeing to ease a two-month strike that has crippled Venezuela's economy.

Opposition leaders plan to hold what they call the "Great Sign-up" today, inviting citizens to sign initiatives rejecting Chavez's government and seeking his ouster.

The opposition hopes one petition in particular -- a constitutional amendment to reduce Chavez's term from six to four years -- will succeed, paving the way for general elections later this year.

Under the constitution, organizers need signatures from 15 percent, or about 1.8 million, of the country's 12 million registered voters -- a number they expect to easily surpass.

"Our idea is to get 5 million signatures," Carlos Ocariz, a member of the opposition party Justice First, said Saturday on Globovision television.

The amendment was one of two proposals made by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, a Nobel Peace Prize winner.

The other is to hold a recall referendum on Chavez's rule halfway through his six-year term, in August. The opposition also will collect signatures for this initiative.

Representatives from the United States, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Portugal and Spain met in Caracas on Friday to urge both sides to accept one of Carter's proposals and bring Venezuela's prolonged crisis to a swift end.

The six-nation "Group of Friends" said the government and the opposition must make concessions during negotiations mediated by Cesar Gaviria, the secretary-general of the Organization of American States.

Strike organizers, who began the protest Dec. 2 to pressure Chavez into accepting a referendum on his rule, said they would ease the work stoppage this week to protect businesses against bankruptcy.

The strike has cost at least $4 billion in lost oil revenues alone, the government estimates.

Effects of the strike remain greatest in the vital oil industry, which makes up a third of the economy and provides half of government income.

Despite government efforts to restart the industry, production remains just more than 1 million barrels a day, or about a third of pre-strike levels.

www.nytimes.com By GINGER THOMPSON

CARACAS, Venezuela — Like a true spy, Franklin Chaparro was careful not to give away too many details about his assignment.

Mr. Chaparro, who once was the government's chief explosives specialist and director of Venezuela's state intelligence agency, has begun using his expertise as the architect of his neighborhood watch association.

Think Orwell, not Rockwell.

Mr. Chaparro lives in Cumbres de Curumo, a neighborhood of high-rise condominiums on the south side of Caracas, the capital. At a recent meeting with other neighborhood leaders, Mr. Chaparro agreed only to explain the association in broad details. Tactical units had been organized to take charge of food supplies, medical care, communications and combat. At least one private elementary school had been equipped with radios for constant contact with the police. Teachers had been trained to help children in hostage situations.

The association, residents said, had registered every member of more than 1,200 families, taking note of children and elderly residents with special health needs. They posted lists in every building with the names and phone numbers of doctors whose homes would be used for emergencies. They had also inventoried every household for weapons.

"People are arming themselves, legally and only for their own self defense," Mr. Chaparro said. "There are open threats by this government that have made people feel like they need to be prepared to protect themselves."

Consider it Venezuela's version of homeland security; a vivid example of the social distress caused by months of political tensions that have divided this country into rival camps. Middle-class neighborhoods across the city, where opposition to President Hugo Chávez runs deepest, have drawn up neighborhood watch plans that seem more suited to stopping an invasion than crime.

Leaders of several groups said they were not aiming to develop first-strike capabilities against the Chávez government, and they said they did not encourage everyone to go out and buy guns. But with this country teetering on the brink of anarchy, middle-class and affluent families said they felt increasingly afraid that the left-leaning Mr. Chávez was preparing to install a communist system that would force them from their homes and businesses. They accuse the government of arming pro-government groups, called the Bolivarian Circles after South America's liberator, Simón Bolívar. The residents said they had every right to defend themselves.

Not everyone has embraced the militarized neighborhood watch plans. Law enforcement analysts and local elected officials said that if the potential for danger were not so deadly serious, the plans would be downright silly.

Ana Maria Sanjuán, an expert from the Central University of Venezuela on human rights and crime, called the plans "extremely dangerous" because they were driven more by rumors — published by newspapers and circulated on the Internet — than reality.

One e-mail message, circulating recently among Cumbres de Curumo residents, warned that Mr. Chávez was preparing "to order the inhabitants of the poorest neighborhoods to come down by surprise and ransack and occupy the houses of the middle class, silencing the media."

The e-mail message added: "The National Guard already has orders not to intervene. Their call is only to go out to recover bodies. That is the reason that months ago, the national government bought 30,000 body bags." A story published by the daily newspaper Tal Cual rebutted the e-mail message, reporting that every Caracas hospital had denied receiving body bags.

While this capital of four million people has one of the highest per capita murder rates in the region, violent crime is rare in affluent sections of the city. The poor are typically the perpetrators and victims, Ms. Sanjuán said.

"Someone is going to end up dying because of this," she said. When asked about the residents' fear of government-sponsored terror, she said: "This is not real. They invented this."

The fear, however, seems real. Gun sales have soared, Ms. Sanjuán said, estimating that there were more than 600,000 registered and unregistered weapons on the streets. The number of private security guards doubled in the last few years, newspapers report, to 200,000. And neighbors who once barely spoke to one another have formed community war councils.

Rafael Arraíz, a poet, spoke of a "middle class turned hysterical" by the rhetoric of Mr. Chávez, a former army officer, and the daily predictions of apocalypse by opposition leaders. "They entrench themselves in their neighborhoods," he said, "waiting for an invasion by hordes of revolutionaries."

Several neighborhoods have blocked access to streets with metal fences or barbed wire, or both. Others have bought tires and bags of cement to erect barricades.

Signs posted in condominiums and community clubhouses advise residents how to barricade homes with mattresses and furniture; how to make bombs with bottles, nails and gasoline to repel mobs of looters; how to use swimming goggles in case of a tear gas attack. Some churches have been equipped to serve as emergency medical centers.

In the La Tahona neighborhood, Alfredo Rosas, a chemist, said residents of his eight-story condominium planned to throw Molotov cocktails from the roof if attacked.

"Maybe we'd kill a cat," he said, half joking. "But more than likely we would set our building on fire."

In Cumbres de Curumo, residents seem to take their security a little more seriously. Leaders of the neighborhood watch association boasted that parts of their "contingency plan," were taken from a United States counterterrorism manual.

"Let's just say that if Chávez sends his circles," said Luis Velásquez, a resident, "we do not plan to use Gandhi techniques."

Mayor Leopoldo López, who governs one of the five municipalities in this metropolitan area, has appeared at neighborhood meetings to persuade people to leave security matters to the police.

"I first began to worry about this when I went to a meeting where 80-year-old retirees were telling me they had just bought their first shotguns to protect themselves, and housewives were talking about making Molotov cocktails," Mayor López said. "That's when it hit me: fear is turning into paranoia."

www.nytimes.com By JUAN FORERO

CARACAS, Venezuela, Feb. 1 — With large numbers of businesses across Venezuela opening to offset huge financial losses from a 62-day-old general strike, opposition leaders said today that they would scale back the walkout next week so that factories, shops, malls and schools could reopen.

The strike, which has failed in its originally stated mission to force President Hugo Chávez to resign or to call early elections, will continue only in the all-important oil industry.

But the decision, which opposition leaders said would be explained in detail in a news conference on Sunday night, was seen as a clear victory for Mr. Chávez, who has played down the walkout while calling its organizers fascists and coup plotters.

The government's opponents characterized their action as a new phase in their efforts to unseat Mr. Chávez. They asserted that the strike, which began Dec. 2, had led to international participation in Venezuela's political crisis and pressed the government into negotiations that could lead to an electoral solution.

"Now that there is a concrete proposal for elections, the Venezuelan conflict is going into a new phase where the key to the protest is no longer the strike but negotiations," said Jesús Torrealba, executive secretary of the opposition group's coordinating committee.

But the fact is that for many days the strike has been one in name only, with Venezuelans having tired of a walkout that had devastated their economy while bringing none of the results promised in December. The blow to the Venezuelan economy, Latin America's fourth largest, is estimated at $4 billion in lost oil revenues alone.

"We share the opposition's opinion, but we live by working," said Maritza Rondón, owner of a wholesale hardware store in Venezuela's second-largest city, Maracaibo, that reopened weeks ago. "Our business has nothing to do with our politics."

Alfredo Chirino, owner of an auto parts factory in Caracas that reopened this week, said he could not keep his business closed any longer. "We wanted to have some income, and we had to meet some commitments dating back to November," he said. "We needed to bring in income to pay our workers."

The reopening of businesses appears to give Mr. Chávez the upper hand in negotiations with the opposition that are being mediated by the Organization of American States. The government's position could be further solidified as the state-owned oil company continues to reactivate oil production.

"The opposition has basically lost the strike," said Gregory Wilpert, an American here who is finishing a book about the Chávez era. "They gambled that the strike would get rid of Chávez, and the strike failed. They now don't have many other options."

Indeed, opposition demands that Mr. Chávez resign, often heard in December from his foes, have dissipated. Instead, the two sides are now expected to mull over two electoral solutions to the crisis that were proposed last month by former President Jimmy Carter and have the support of the United States and five other nations whose representatives met on Friday with Mr. Chávez and his opponents.

But opposition leaders, who called their decision today a goodwill gesture toward the government, said they would continue to apply pressure.

On Sunday, they plan to hold what is being called El Firmazo — loosely translated as "the big sign-up" — a petition drive. Organizers are hoping to collect hundreds of thousands of signatures to support a constitutional amendment to shorten the president's term and lead to new elections.

In the meantime, Mr. Torrealba and other opposition leaders said that the movement would continue to hold street demonstrations and that some businesses would open their doors but reduce their hours of operation as a sign of protest.