www.nytimes.com By JUAN FORERO

CARACAS, Venezuela, Jan. 30 — They are the stressed and the nervous, the phobic and depressed, and on this day they filled the waiting room of Edmundo Chirinos, a psychiatrist well known here for having provided advice to President Hugo Chávez.

Under soft lighting and surrounded by the gentle gurgling of a miniature fountain, they sit shoulder to shoulder — an octogenarian nervous about the future, a young political aide worried about violence, an elderly couple concerned about their dwindling finances. Advertisement

"I am very depressed," Elena Dorante, 62, said. "That is why I'm here."

It may all seem normal for the office of a psychoanalyst. But these are not normal times in Venezuela. The streets are often filled with protesters, many businesses remain shuttered from a two-month general strike, the government is defiant and opposition leaders warn of an impending apocalypse.

Perfect conditions, in other words, for mental traumas of all kinds, Dr. Chirinos acknowledges with a smile, noting that business is booming.

"I do not think there is a country in the world that has so much stress, and so many neurotics, than Venezuela has today," he said, while adding that President Chávez himself did not appear to be showing signs of wear.

"I have doubled, tripled the number of patients," he said. "I do not know what to do with them."

This is Venezuela on the verge of a nervous breakdown, or at the very least a country gripped by confusion and gloom.

Psychoanalysts have long thrived in this sophisticated but chaotic and stressful city, offering soothing words to people dealing with troubled relationships, problems at work and repressed childhoods.

"But now we are seeing things that are completely different — anxiety disorders, panic disorders, post-traumatic stress," said Dr. Edgar Belfort, a leading psychiatrist here. "People are depressed more. We are seeing people depressed in ways that we cannot explain, even in a scientific way."

The reason for the high anxiety, analysts say, is deep uncertainty about the future. Daily, Venezuelans hear high-octane rhetoric from both sides in the lingering political standoff. Government opponents warn of massacres and the impending installment of Cuban-style Communism; Mr. Chávez pledges to defeat what he calls fascists arrayed against him.

All of it is replayed hour upon hour on an array of antigovernment television stations, leaving people unhinged.

"There is like a collective schizophrenia," said Cristel Lusverti, a psychologist. "People do not know what to believe. People feel bombarded from all sides, and that gives you all kinds of stress."

If that were not enough, a fraying economy marked by high unemployment, failing businesses and a falling currency adds to the angst.

"We are seeing an immense proportion of depression," said Dr. Chirinos, who wears a white doctor's smock and oversize tie. "We have people with insomnia, anguish, apathy, lack of interest. People who feel they can do nothing, who have a sense of depression and resignation."

Since not everyone can afford therapy, Venezuelans are increasingly seeking answers and advice wherever they can get them. Neighborhood groups in which people share their problems have sprung up. Others have found solace in the church, Afro-Caribbean religions or with astrologers.

"They pray more and take refuge in God, who is the friend of the sufferer," said the Rev. Adán Ramírez, a Catholic priest. "We are seeing — and other priests have told me the same thing — more people coming to Mass."

Others have turned increasingly to stress remedies or natural medicines, "even when nobody around here has much spare money," said Jorge Luis Hernández, a pharmacy employee.

The symptoms of the ailing are myriad: panic attacks are up, while sexual encounters are way down, psychiatrists say. Health problems seem to be on the rise, said some doctors, with an increase in hospital visits for everything from heart attacks to unexplained rashes. In serious cases, Venezuelans suffer all manner of phobias, often of public places where violence can erupt.

"There is an attitude of paranoia I have noticed, where people think they are being chased," Dr. Álvaro Requena said. "They feel that waves and waves of people are going to come rob them."

Dr. Requena said that the constant street protests and the growing participation of Venezuelans in politics had helped relieve stress for many people. Yet he and other psychiatrists said even those who suffered nothing serious were still affected.

María Cabrera, a physician, said she noticed that she had trouble concentrating. "If I am at home and doing three or four things, I cannot do something that requires concentration," she said.

Milagros Torres, a lawyer who makes it a point to talk with her sister, a psychologist, to relieve stress, said, "I never took a pill in my life, a tranquilizer, but now I am taking them."

In Dr. Chirinos's office, on a faux leather couch, Ms. Dorante explained how she was "terrorized and confused," and fearful that the poor masses that support Mr. Chávez would overrun her neighborhood. "I cannot sleep, and every time I hear a firecracker I think there is an uprising," she said in a low voice.

Dr. Chirinos, nodding as she spoke, cut in, "This is what we call xenophobia."

"It is a form of ethnic phobia," he went on. "And yes, I'm seeing more of that, too."

www.orlandosentinel.com By Jorge Rueda | The Associated Press Posted January 31, 2003

CARACAS, Venezuela -- With many opponents of President Hugo Chavez's preparing to return to work, Venezuelans leading a 60-day-old strike shifted tactics Thursday, attempting to shorten his six-year term with international help.

After two grueling months, strike organizers have agreed to let shopping malls, banks and schools reopen next week.

As diplomats from six nations headed to Caracas on Thursday to push for early elections, opposition leaders were planning a petition drive to support several measures, including a proposed constitutional amendment that would:

• Cut presidential terms from six years to four.

• Hold new presidential and congressional elections this year.

• Create a new elections council to organize any vote.

• Get the Supreme Court to determine when, exactly, a recall vote on Chavez's presidency can be held.

• Allow Chavez and legislators to seek re-election.

Similar ideas were floated by former President Jimmy Carter during a recent visit to Caracas. The government said it was studying the opposition's proposal but won't allow it to shorten Chavez's term.

Diplomats from the United States, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Portugal and Spain -- dubbed the "Group of Friends" of Venezuela -- planned a private dinner meeting late Thursday with Cesar Gaviria, secretary-general of the Organization of American States. Gaviria has mediated talks here since November.

The envoys, including Curt Struble, acting U.S. assistant secretary of state for the Western Hemisphere, planned meetings with Chavez and the opposition today.

Gaviria said the diplomats can monitor compliance with any electoral pact and reduce tensions that have led to six deaths since the strike began Dec. 2.

Strike leader Manuel Cova of the Venezuelan Workers Confederation said Thursday that a new presidential election could be held as early as March.

"To do this we need the guarantees of the international community," Cova said. "If we don't do it this year, we'll be in prison, or in exile, there won't be press freedom. We must do it this year."

Chavez had welcomed Carter's ideas about early elections. But he also has threatened to abandon the OAS-mediated talks, saying he won't negotiate with "terrorists."

www.sun-sentinel.com By Sandra Hernandez Staff Writer Posted January 31 2003

More than a month after many Venezuelans arrived in South Florida hoping to escape the growing crisis in their country, many are nervously making plans to go home.

Their return signals a shift in daily life in the South American nation that was virtually paralyzed by a 59-day-old strike called by the country's labor and business leaders. Schools closed and many of the country's more affluent residents fled with their families, taking temporary refuge in South Florida.

But with this week's decision by private banks to reopen, many think the strike is losing steam. Private schools, shopping malls and larger companies have announced they would reopen in the coming days.

In addition, the government announced oil production surpassed 1 million barrels a day this week, signaling that President Hugo Chávez has regained control of the oil company.

Those changes have pushed many Venezuelans here to book flights as they move to resume life back home.

"If you want to fly to Caracas tomorrow, there is no space. Our flights are full," said Camilo Herrera, a reservations agent with Avianca, a Colombian carrier that flies between Miami and Caracas. "They've been full for the past few days. People may have been postponing their return and are now going back."

Finishing school

Among those making the return trip is Deborah, 43, a Caracas resident who has been living with her husband and two children in North Miami since Dec. 20.

"My main reason for going back is because I want my son to be able to finish the school year," she said. "But I'm really nervous and afraid because I'm going back to a country at war. I'm going back to a country where you have to stand in line for food, for gas, for everything. That is a country at war."

Deborah, like many Venezuelans who spoke to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, did not want her identity disclosed because of immigration concerns including denial of future tourism visas.

She said her family spends most days in the condo that until now served as a vacation address. They meet friends at a local cafe to talk about the situation back home. "This isn't a vacation because we don't have money to spend. We are just getting by."

The strike, which began Dec. 2, was called by labor and business groups that oppose Chávez's government. They are demanding early elections and Chávez's resignation. Chávez has refused. He insists opponents must wait until August for a referendum, as permitted in the constitution.

The strike gained momentum after workers at the state-run oil company known as PDVSA joined the work stoppage. Much of the country's oil production was shut down, and for the first time in recent history Venezuela was forced to import petroleum.

Legal status

The crisis spilled over into South Florida, where thousands of Venezuelans arrived for an indefinite stay.

Many, like Deborah, are living in a state of limbo, fearful of the violence that is a near-daily occurrence in Venezuela but refusing to live as undocumented immigrants in this country.

"I'm very afraid but I have no alternative but to go back. I can't stay here because I don't have the necessary immigration papers and I don't want to be living here without them. That is a hard life. And I have my son's future to think about. He attends a very good private school in Caracas. I can't afford to pay for a private school here," she said.

Others, like Juan, aren't ready to make the decision yet. He admits that he is in the minority of his friends, many of whom are choosing to return. "I would say about 70 percent of the people I know who are in my same situation are going home now.

"It is really tough to know what to do but I think I'm going to try and stay, at least for awhile," said the businessman. "I'm giving myself six months to see what I can do here, if I can try and move my business up here because right now I can't work in Venezuela."

The challenges of remaining here aren't just economic. There are also emotional borders to cross. "It isn't easy. We still have a house there, our clothes are still in the closet, my company is there," Juan said.

Harsh penalties

One concern for those who might stay is their immigration status. Many Venezuelans who are temporarily in South Florida are here on tourist visas that allow them to remain in the country for up to six months but carry stiff penalties if they overstay those permits. Under immigration law, anyone who overstays a visa for more than six months is barred from re-entering the United States for 10 years.

"I'm getting a lot of cases of people who are calling me because they are thinking of remaining here as tourists and want to stay but don't want to violate the immigration law," said Ileana Arias Tovar, an attorney in Weston.

Tovar, who is Venezuelan, said many others are choosing to go back, at least for now. "The majority are going back because they want their children to finish out their school year," she said.

Carolina, who also asked her name not be used, said she came because of her children. She has been living with her sister since January but plans to return to Caracas next month. Like Deborah, her decision to leave and now to return is driven by concern for her children.

"They [children] couldn't really learn anything there even though the school was trying to send their homework via e-mail so I decided to bring them here," she said. "But making the decision to remain is really about closing a chapter in my life and my family's life that I'm not ready to make, at least not like this."

Sandra Hernandez can be reached at shernandez @sun-sentinel.com or 954-385-7923.

www.washingtonpost.com Marcela Sanchez Thursday, January 30, 2003; 2:47 PM

In order to understand the crisis in Venezuela, one must live it. There is no doubt about that.

Last week, representatives of the polarized forces that are ripping that South American nation apart made their pilgrimage to Washington. Their only shared intention, it seems, was to act out their drama on a world stage.

If their words were any indication, a solution to the problem is as distant as ever. Each side has mastered the fine art of pointing the finger at the other. It is they, one said of the other, who have used a position of privilege to call for discord, violence and death. Both seemed determined not to make the least concession to the other, who, after all, was the true enemy of democracy.

Each side, of course, was making an effort to offer its best diagnosis of the crisis. If the symptoms are not recognized, Foreign Minister Roy Chaderton explained, how can one prescribe a cure? True.

Yet one was left with the impression that both were spending far more time, passion and talent revealing the depth of their suffering than seeking a salve to soothe it.

The two sides seemed to agree most on one complaint: The world fails to understand their dilemma. No surprise then that they both endorsed, as the first step of international response to a crisis that could no longer be ignored, the creation of a Group of Friends to take part in negotiations between the Venezuelan government and the opposition.

The group might satisfy that desire for international attention. But more critically, it should make everyone realize that world attention and understanding does not necessarily translate into adopting wholesale the view of one side or the other.

Various Washington analysts concurred this week that the group could be especially helpful in restoring confidence to the discussions and pressing Venezuelans to alter their apocalyptic rhetoric. It also could exert pressure to explore compromise solutions and help to reinforce them--although it is hard to imagine any pressure greater than that imposed in the last two months by the Venezuelan opposition's devastating national strike.

It is too early to tell how successful the Friends will be. Somewhat predictably, the initial meeting of its foreign ministers and their deputies here last week ended with few concrete results.

More importantly, Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim, speaking on behalf of the six member states (Brazil, Chile, Spain, Mexico, Portugal and the United States), sent forth one very essential message: Solutions to the problems in Venezuela must come from Venezuelans. That message may seem simplistic. Yet the point here is that the Group of Friends could prove to be useless especially if its existence becomes yet another excuse for inaction.

During the 1990s, many Colombians looked abroad for solutions. Worn down by an internal conflict that had spun out of control, many looked especially to the United States as the only source of hope for a solution. At the end of the day, however, with Washington unwilling to be the savior and their own internal crisis worsening, the Colombians seemed to recognize the need to do more for themselves.

In situations like the one in Venezuela, self-examination is not easy. It is easier, even comforting, to look abroad and grab convenient, predictable, ever-assuring allies. President Hugo Chavez seems to have just such a find in the Cuban leader Fidel Castro; and, curiously but not surprisingly, the Venezuelan opposition has found its own version of the same in Castro's archenemy--the Cuban exile community, especially of Miami.

Castro and the exiles are neither friends in need nor friends in deed. Their approach to their own country's situation has resulted in a diplomatic impasse four decades long. Given the level of tension present now, Venezuela needs open minds on the sidelines, not cheerleaders. Of what value are friends more interested in pulling apart the two sides than bringing them together?

The intensity of Venezuela's strike appeared to be subsiding this week but this is no time to declare winners or losers. A true victory won't be something claimed but something gained. The Group of Friends might help Venezuelans realize the need for another type of sacrifice--the one that brings them together instead of tearing them apart.

Marcela Sanchez's e-mail address is desdewash@washpost.com.

english.eastday.com

Venezuelan Foreign Minister Roy Chaderton affirmed Thursday that the government rejects any initiative for an early end to the administration of President Hugo Chavez and early elections.

"The government will not gather signatures, nor will it participate in formulas to reduce its duties, for that is up to the opposition," the diplomat told the local radio.

Chaderton is one of the representatives of the government in dialogues with the opposition, promoted by the Organization of American States (OAS) to solve the political crisis in Venezuela.

The senior official added "there are no moves for early elections, nor for a change of government, not even within the constitutional framework."

"The fact we respect that within the Constitution there are considerations for the anticipation of elections to comply with the goal of a particular sector of the population, does not mean the government has to back such an initiative," he said.

The opposition, headed by businessmen and trade union workers, concentrated in the so-called Democratic Coordination (CD), Thursday called for a constitutional amendment in order to oust Chavez.

On Jan. 22, Jimmy Carter, former US president and Nobel Peace Price winner in 2002, claimed as a solution to the crisis in Venezuela the drafting of a constitutional amendment or a referendum on the fate of the Chavez government on August 19. Xinhua news