<a href=www.vheadline.com>Venezuela's Electronic News Posted: Thursday, May 29, 2003 By: Patrick J. O'Donoghue

According El Mundo afternoon tabloid, the Police Detective Branch (CICPC) has confirmed that it has identified some of the masked men that last Saturday repelled National Guard (GN) soldiers attempting to remove a barricade of buses blocking access to Accion Democratica's (AD) "Assault on Catia." 

A group of 8 persons allegedly fired on crowds assembled in Peru Street and also on the GN soldiers on Avenida Sucre. A source has told El Mundo that some of the gunmen came from La Silsa barrio and police now claim that 28 persons were involved in the use of firearms and allegedly used a camouflaged Hidrocapital jeep. 

23 de Enero neighbors say that one group started mugging people on their way to work from 6.00 a.m. in the morning, giving rise to a theory that criminal gangs took advantage of the situation. One El Universal piece reports that neighbors in 23 de Enero blocks fought off masked groups, which would give credence to the above thesis. 

Opposition news media have been quick to point the finger at pro-government Tupamaros and Carapaica urban groups after locating an independent website operating out of 23 de Enero, showing hooded persons with automatic pistols and a FAL assault rifle walking the barrio.

Digging up other stories, one tabloid reports that 4 Bolivarian Circle members were wounded with gunshot and were treated at the Military Hospital thanks to the good offices of a government deputy. 

The CICPC has also revealed that the person shot and killed during Saturday's skirmishes was Modesto Matias Graterol Sucre and not, as some newspapers reported, Modesto Graterol Bastidas. According to police sources, the dead man had a rap sheet for car theft in October 1984, April 1985 and September 1992 ... and August 1985 for bodily assault and battery.   The police have announced that they are working on the hypothesis that the dead man was actively involved in Saturday's stand-off between opposition and government supporters.

Sunday May 25, 2003 5:09 PM By JORGE RUEDA The Guardian-Associated Press Writer

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - An opposition party held a protest in a slum area considered a stronghold of President Hugo Chavez, killing one person and injuring 17.

Once political heavyweights, Democratic Action emerged from relative obscurity to hold Saturday's rally, challenging the president in his own backyard - the crime-infested slum of Catia.

Several hundred turned up before unidentified gunmen interrupted the rally and protesters ran for cover.

One man was shot and killed, said district mayor Freddy Bernal, though it was unclear whether he was participating in the rally. Ten people were wounded by gunfire and seven more were treated for cuts from glass bottles. None of the injuries were life-threatening, said Caracas health officer Pedro Aristimuno.

Police sharpshooters stationed on a rooftop above the rally fired at public housing buildings where the shots apparently originated several blocks away.

Members of the government had warned of violence before the protest, calling it a ``provocation'' because of Catia's alleged overwhelming allegiance to the president. Chavez draws most of his support from Venezuela's poor majority, many of whom live in shanty towns like Catia.

Some 4,000 police and National Guardsmen were deployed in Caracas ahead of the event but failed to guarantee security at the protest, which was held on a short, narrow street with poor access and poor escape routes.

More than 50 people have been killed in politically related violence since April 2002 and over 300 wounded by firearms, according to local human rights group Cofavic.

Earlier Saturday, gunmen ambushed a National Guard post in Catia, wounding three soldiers and two civilians, Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel said. He said Bandera Roja, a hard-line opposition group, ``presumably'' was responsible. Bandera Roja denied it. There were no immediate arrests.

The shootings occurred a day after the government and opposition agreed to a plan for a referendum on Chavez's presidency. The agreement was brokered by the Organization of American States.

Chavez, a leftist firebrand, has vowed to defeat his opponents at the ballot box and says he will remain in power until 2021.

Opponents accuse him of trying to install a communist regime in Venezuela, and ruining the economy in the process.

CARACAS, Venezuela, May 24 (<a href=www.nytimes.com>NYTimes.com-Reuters) — One person was killed and 15 were wounded by gunfire that broke out during a rally held by foes of President Hugo Chávez in a pro-Chávez district of Caracas today, officials said.

Three of the wounded were National Guard soldiers whose patrol came under fire as they took up positions in a security operation to try to prevent violence at the opposition rally. Advertisement

Government and opposition representatives blamed each other for the shootings.

The gunfire erupted as several hundred supporters of the opposition Democratic Action Party held a rally in a narrow street in Catia, a poor, crime-ridden neighborhood that is a bastion of support for Mr. Chávez.

"This country doesn't just belong to Chávez supporters, but to all Venezuelans," said one of the demonstrators, Ana Maria Colmenares.

Mr. Chávez's opponents accuse him of ruling like a dictator and of trying to install Cuban-style communism in Venezuela, the world's fifth leading oil exporter.

Witnesses said some of the shots appeared to have come from side streets where groups of Chávez supporters had gathered to shout insults at the opposition protesters.

The violence broke out a day after government and opposition negotiators announced they had agreed to a pact to hold a referendum on Mr. Chávez's rule after Aug. 19.

The agreement aims to end months of conflict in Venezuela over Mr. Chávez's presidency. He was elected in late 1998 and survived a brief uprising last year.

Vice President José Vicente Rangel told reporters that 1 person had been killed in the shootings and 15 more wounded, including three National Guard troops.

The authorities had sent 2,000 police officers and troops to the area of sprawling hilltop slum neighborhoods in west Caracas where the rally was to take place.

It was not clear whether the violence might affect the formal signing of the referendum pact, which was scheduled to take place here in the coming week in the presence of the secretary general of the Organization of American States, César Gaviria.

Mr. Chávez, who has said he is willing to submit to the recall referendum allowed under the Constitution, was attending a meeting of Latin American presidents in Peru.

news.bbc.co.uk One person was shot dead and 15 wounded on Saturday during a demonstration against President Hugo Chavez in Caracas, said Vice-President Jose Vicente Rangel.

Three of those injured were National Guard soldiers whose patrol was ambushed as they took part in a big security operation to try to keep the peace at the rally, which was being held in a Chavez stronghold.

Chavez supporters and opponents have blamed each other for the violence.

The fresh blood was spilled just 24 hours after a 19-point accord was brokered between Venezuela's warring factions which looked set to see a referendum held on Mr Chavez's rule in a few months' time.

Panic and confusion

The man shot and killed in the gunfire was named as Modesto Martinez, 48, by the director of the police department, Lazaro Forero.

Among those injured was a motorcyclist shot in the neck and a person shot in the chest.

There were scenes of panic as demonstrators threw themselves to the ground or tried to flee through the labyrinthine alleyways of Catia, a poor, strongly pro-Chavez district of the capital.

The small streets also impeded the operations of between 2,000 and 4,000 police deployed to keep order.

'Conquest of western Caracas'

Some witnesses described shots coming from side alleys, where groups of Chavez supporters had gathered to shout insults at protestors.

Small bands of self-proclaimed pro-government street fighters had also warned Venezuelans not to attend the demonstration, predicting violence.

But the general of the National Guard, Marcos Rojas, accused the opposition group Red Flag of instigating the violence.

Chavez supporters stood on the sidelines to jeer at demonstrators

Ruling party lawmakers have also accused the rally organisers, the Democratic Action party, of deliberately provoking the clashes by holding the rally in Catia, which houses more than half of the city's four million inhabitants.

The protest had been dubbed "the conquest of western Caracas" by the organisers.

It is not clear whether this latest flare-up will derail the planned formal signing of Friday's pact between the government and opposition next week.

The plan was finally agreed after six months of negotiations brokered by Cesar Gaviria, secretary-general of the Organization of American States.

Referendum on Chavez

A key point is Mr Chavez's agreement to submit to a referendum on his rule - long demanded by the opposition but outlawed by the constitution until at least half-way through his six-year term.

The two sides are said to have agreed that the referendum will go ahead after that date - which falls on 19 August - as long as government opponents gather signatures from 20% of the electorate as constitutionally required.

Another hurdle that remains is the government insistence that the National Assembly first select a new National Electoral Commission to verify the referendum petition.

Lawmakers are still haggling over which candidates should make up the new commission.

Both sides also agreed to:

• Shun violence
• Respect democracy
• Disarm the civilian population, after the deaths of at least 50 people and wounding of several hundred more in clashes over that last 18 months.

A strike called in December by Chavez opponents struck a severe blow at the economy before finally petering out in January.

<a href=www.voanews.com>VOA News 24 May 2003, 18:33 UTC

Unknown gunmen have fired on an opposition rally in Venezuela's capital Caracas, leaving one person dead and at least 17 injured. The wounded include two National Guard soldiers.

Police say the shooting Saturday occurred as hundreds of opponents of President Hugo Chavez marched through a narrow street in the poor neighborhood of Catia, a bastion of support for the populist leader. Authorities said the shots came from a housing complex that faced the street rally.

The violence comes one day after Mr. Chavez announced a political deal with his opponents to hold a referendum on his presidency later this year. Opponents accuse the former paratrooper of imposing an authoritarian rule that is ruining the economy of the world's fifth-largest oil exporter.

Political rallies in Venezuela have been a frequent target of violence in recent months, and several people have been killed