Venezuelans protest at empty gas stations - Chavistas rally Supreme Court to ban referendum

CARACAS, Venezuela -- Angry motorists protested at empty service stations Friday as Venezuela's government struggled to overcome fuel and food shortages caused by a general strike aimed at toppling President Hugo Chavez.

Despite the protests, Chavez declared in a nationally broadcast speech that, thanks to efforts by his government, the worst of Venezuela's energy crisis was over.

Long gas lines will disappear "in a few days, weeks," Chavez said as he condemned the strike, which he calls an "economic coup" against him.

About 1,000 Chavez supporters rallied Friday at the Supreme Court to urge justices to ban a proposed referendum on Chavez's presidency and declare the 26-day-old strike illegal.

Strike leaders reiterated that the walkout won't end until Chavez calls elections. U.S. Ambassador Charles S. Shapiro met with Chavez on Friday and told reporters that he was concerned that the political crisis and shortages could trigger violence. He called for "both sides to reach a sensible solution, a democratic solution, an electoral solution."

Meanwhile, government TV announcements urged viewers to apply for jobs at the state-owned oil monopoly PDVSA, where 35,000 people are on strike.

Frustration mounted nationwide as drivers waited in mile-long lines for fuel. Watched by dozens of rifle-toting soldiers, more than 100 motorists blocked an avenue outside a closed gas station in Caracas.

A Venezuelan Army soldier marches in front of President Hugo Chavez, left, after being decorated with the Liberator Order at the fuel distribution plant of Carenero, 93 miles (150 kilometers) east of Caracas, Venezuela, Friday, Dec. 27, 2002. Chavez decorated military personnel and oil workers involved in the recovering of the oil tanker Pilin Leon whose crew pledged to the general strike and stranded the vessel in the Maracaibo Lake. At center is Rafael Ramirez, Venezuelan minister of Energy and Mining. (AP Photo/Andres Leighton)

"I've been waiting in line since 6 o'clock in the morning. I can't work, I can't do anything until they allow us to fill up," said Cesar Hernandez, a 37-year-old electrician. "This strike is hurting us all."

"Be patient, please," pleaded Army Lt. Javier Hill, who told motorists that they couldn't fill plastic containers for safety reasons. "Sorry, only vehicles."

The strike, called Dec. 2, has paralyzed Venezuela's oil industry, the world's No. 5 oil exporter and the No. 4 provider of crude to the United States. Crises here and in Iraq have increased world oil prices, which closed at $32.72 a barrel Friday, and some analysts predict that it could soon hit $35.

Ali Rodriguez, president of PDVSA, estimated oil revenue losses from the strike at more than $1.3 billion. He said 10 million barrels of crude were awaiting export.

Striking oil executives say production has dropped to 160,000 barrels per day -- down from a pre-strike level of 3 million barrels a day.

Resultant shortages of gas, cooking gas and some food items have forced Venezuela to seek help from its neighbors.

Brazil has shipped 520,000 barrels of gasoline -- little more than a normal day's supply -- and Trinidad and Tobago was sending 400,000 barrels more. The Dominican Republic sent rice. Venezuela has asked Colombia for milk and meat.

Energy Minister Rafael Ramirez said new managers would soon reopen the giant PDVSA refinery in the Caribbean island of Curacao -- shut down Dec. 17 -- to produce 200,000 barrels of gasoline per day for Venezuelan use.

But striking oil executives said it would take 2.5 million barrels of gas in the system to meet and sustain domestic consumption.

Ramirez said the government was trying to bring into port seven Venezuelan tankers anchored off the coast by striking crews. The tankers carry leaded and unleaded gasoline, liquified natural gas, diesel and aviation fuel, he said.

Venezuelan labor, business and political leaders accuse Chavez of mismanaging the economy and trying to install a Cuban-style revolution in Venezuela. They want Chavez to schedule a nonbinding referendum on his rule for Feb. 2, hoping to pressure him to resign. The national elections council is organizing a vote over Chavez's objections.

The president says his opponents can only call a binding recall vote halfway into his six-year term, or next August, under the terms of the constitution.

During talks sponsored by the Organization of American States on Thursday, the government said it won't oppose a referendum if the Supreme Court upholds it.

About 1,000 Chavez supporters rallied Friday at the Supreme Court to urge justices to ban a proposed referendum on Chavez's presidency and declare the 26-day-old strike illegal.

November 30, 2002 - Chavez Blocking Vote on His Rule*** CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - During his campaign to dismantle a corrupt political system, Hugo Chavez's favorite tool was a popular referendum. Now, the president is infuriating opponents by snubbing a petition to hold a referendum on his rule. The drive for signatures gathered force at an eastern Caracas plaza that has been occupied for seven days by more than 100 dissident military officers and thousands of civilians demanding Chavez's ouster.

Opposition political parties say more than 1.2 million people, or 10 percent of registered voters, have signed - the number required by Venezuela's constitution to petition for a referendum on "matters of national importance." They plan to deliver the signatures next week, and want the vote held in December. Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel rebuffed the petition, insisting Monday "we can easily get 10, 15, 20 percent of the people to say that they are against the referendum." Critics say that would be taking a page out the playbook of Chavez's good friend, Fidel Castro, who scorned a petitioning drive to hold a referendum for more civil liberties in Cuba earlier this year.***

November 28, 2002 - Venezuela Election Body Agrees to Chavez Referendum*** CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - Venezuela's election authorities agreed early on Thursday to hold a nonbinding referendum in February demanded by the opposition on whether President Hugo Chavez should resign, an option dismissed by the populist leader who refuses to step down. The consultative vote, scheduled for Feb. 2, would not legally force Chavez from office. But his foes believe a decisive rejection would deliver a political defeat that could press the president into resigning and trigger elections in the world's fifth-largest oil exporter. Alfredo Avella, president of the National Electoral Council, said the institution that oversees elections and polls agreed to stage the popular referendum on the question of whether Chavez should resign immediately from office.

The proposed referendum will likely become caught up in fierce legal wrangling in the Supreme Court and the National Assembly as the government contests its validity. Opposition leaders earlier this month handed in more than 2 million signatures demanding the immediate vote on Chavez's rule. They have threatened to stage a general strike on Monday if the government does not accept the referendum and a broader electoral accord during peace talks brokered by the Organization of American States.

Chavez, a former paratrooper who was elected in 1998, is locked in a bitter struggle with political enemies who blame his left-wing reforms for destroying the nation's economy and who accuse him of dictatorial rule. Chavez said on Sunday he would not resign even if 90 percent of the electorate voted against him in a consultative poll. The president insists the constitution only allows for a revocatory or binding referendum on his mandate in August 2003 -- halfway through his current term.***

November 29, 2002 - Venezuela Court Halts Vote on Chavez *** CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - Venezuela's Supreme Court put the brakes on opposition efforts to force a non-binding referendum on President Hugo Chavez's presidency, quashing a decision hours earlier by the electoral council to conduct the vote. The back-to-back decisions on Thursday threw Venezuela into political turmoil. Foes and supporters of Chavez held rival demonstrations, with police keeping them apart. Opposition leaders threatened a general strike on Monday to press for the non-binding vote on whether the president should resign.

The opposition began its push for a referendum on Nov. 4, delivering a petition with 2 million signatures to the electoral council demanding the plebiscite. Electoral officials have said they verified about 1.2 million signatures - the number needed to schedule the vote. The council early Thursday approved holding a Feb. 2 referendum in a 3-1 vote with one member absent, citing a new law allowing approval by a simple majority. But the high court said the council is still bound by an old electoral law requiring approval by four council members.

"The referendum still hasn't been called," said electoral council member Romulo Lares, who abstained. "That decision is null according to the Supreme Court's ruling." Dissenting council member Romulo Rangel also said a more thorough check of the signatures on the petition referendum is needed. Council members who backed the referendum stood by their action. "The decision is transparent and in keeping with the law," electoral council vice president Jose Manuel Zerpa said.

Chavez, a former army paratrooper who is wildly popular with the poor, has maintained that the earliest a referendum can be held is halfway through his six-year term - in August.

"I'm not afraid of the referendum," Chavez said Thursday in the southwestern state of Apure. "If they want a referendum, I'll wait for them in August of 2003."

More than 200 Chavez supporters beat drums outside the electoral council, decrying its decision for a referendum.

"We love our president!" said Antonio Jose Rodriguez, an unemployed 39-year-old. "There is a war between the rich and poor."

Elsewhere, police linked arms to separate a shouting throng of anti-government protesters from a smaller group of Chavez's backers.

"We want the referendum because we want a country of democracy," said Zoraida Sanchez, a nurse holding aloft a Venezuelan flag. "It's the only way to get rid of this dictator!"***

December 7, 2002 - Opposition protests for referendum on Chavez drives Venezuela deeper into crisis *** "They came out of nowhere and started shooting like crazy," said Gabriela Barreto, 19, who suffered a gunshot wound to her abdomen. Some opposition leaders were quick to blame the president for the attack. Chavez said he was appalled by the accusations. Pedro Aristimuno, head of Caracas' health department, said the dead included a 17-year-old girl, a 70-year-old woman and a 44-year-old man. Leopoldo Lopez, mayor of the Caracas district where the plaza is located, said 28 people suffered bullet wounds. Seven suspects were detained, including one Lopez said confessed to shooting at the crowd. It was unclear what role the other detainees - who included British citizen Frank Ignacio Pieret - were accused of playing. But Lopez said so many injuries "could not have been caused by just one person." ***

December 11, 2002 - High court justices join strike-Pressure mounts on Chavez as Venezuelans line up for services***CARACAS, Venezuela -- Citing political harassment and a climate of violence, eight of 20 members of President Hugo Chavez's hand-picked Supreme Court suspended most of their work Tuesday, essentially joining the general strike aimed at ousting him.

National airline pilots, bankers, customs agents, tax collectors and other professionals have signed on to the strike since managers and workers at the government's oil conglomerate, Petroleos de Venezuela, or PDVSA, began walking off their jobs late last week.

Magistrate Alberto Martini told a news conference that, for the time being, the striking Supreme Court judges will consider only the most pressing cases before the court. The justices' action came a week after the Chavez-controlled Congress voted to fire the court's vice president, Franklin Arrieche, saying he was not qualified for the position. Once considered loyal to Chavez, the court ruled against the president in August when it disallowed the prosecution of military officers who briefly overthrew the government last April.

The walkout at PDVSA, which supplies about 80 percent of Venezuela's export income and half of government revenues, further disrupted gasoline and natural gas supplies across the country. On Tuesday, company officials in one of the world's largest oil refineries, on the Caribbean island of Curacao off the coast of Venezuela, announced the plant was halting the processing of heavy crude oil because of the strike. Heavy crude is used for making lubricating oils.***

December 20, 2002 - Venezuela Oil Still Halted Despite Ruling - "Not one step backward"*** "The situation is the same; the whole thing is shut down," PDVSA Vice President Jorge Kamkoff told Reuters on Friday. He said that oil output, reduced to less than 10 percent of normal, continued to slide. Venezuela in November produced 3.1 million barrels per day. Nearly 40 oil tankers remained anchored off Venezuelan ports without instructions from striking PDVSA staff and without certified crews to attend them, shippers said. Venezuela's Supreme Court on Thursday ordered authorities and individuals to obey government instructions to guarantee oil operations in the world's No. 5 crude exporter, which have been severely disrupted by the strike. Striking PDVSA workers chanted "Not one step backward" as they gathered in capital city Caracas on Friday morning in a rally to support the stoppage.***

December 24, 2002 - Venezuela's opposition comes together to try ousting Chavez - but what next? *** CARACAS, Venezuela - Venezuela's diverse opposition has closed ranks for a formidable campaign to oust President Hugo Chavez. But its leaders have yet to consider what happens next or who would run as a candidate should Chavez step aside or agree to new elections. Take Enrique Mendoza, the folksy conservative governor of Miranda State who is considered a potential challenger. He's holed up in a hotel conference room juggling three cell phones, strategizing and nervously watching the television news amid a general strike that has brought Venezuela's economy to a virtual standstill. "Look at all of those people!" he says, popping out of his seat. He watches an attempt by Chavez supporters to break through an opposition roadblock: "That'll teach them to be respectful." His candidacy? His platform? "We can't talk about that until we know there will be elections," he says, reaching to answer another call.

A recent survey by the Caracas-based Datanalisis polling firm gives Mendoza 63 percent of the vote in a hypothetical race against Chavez. Pollsters interviewed 1,000 people in two major cities Nov. 11-19. The survey had a margin of error of 3 percentage points. Mendoza is an independent aligned with the new Justice First party, which has placed itself at the forefront of the anti-Chavez campaign. The party is popular among young, middle-class Venezuelans because its leaders are mostly under 40 and unassociated with corrupt governments of the past.

Another serious contender is Julio Borges, an Oxford-educated legislator and head of Justice First. He's the exact opposite of Chavez, a former army paratrooper from humble origins who spent two years in jail for leading a failed coup in 1992 before sweeping the 1998 election with tough talk against a corrupt political establishment. Borges, 33, won converts by personally leading a march through a band of rock-throwing Chavez supporters to deliver 2 million signatures demanding a referendum on the president's administration. *** Borges' party once drafted a proposal for an entire new constitution, based on decentralized government and more private participation in the economy. But such efforts have been sidelined by the push to oust Chavez.

There's also Carlos Ortega, the gruff president of the 1 million-member Venezuelan Workers Confederation who, as former head of the largest oil workers union, has dealt a serious blow to the Chavez government by leading a strike for higher pay. Ortega stunned fellow opposition leaders by announcing at a rally that the strike would begin Dec. 2. He also sent thousands on a march during an April strike to the presidential palace, which led to 19 people being killed by gunfire and a coup that briefly ousted Chavez. ***

Venezuelans resume protests as Chavez looks for food and fuel abroad*** CARACAS, Venezuela - Striking oil executives vowed Thursday to keep a lid on Venezuela's petroleum exports until President Hugo Chavez calls an early vote on his presidency. Having marked Christmas with a raucous pot-and-pan-banging protest followed by church services for peace, more than 1,000 oil executives staged a noisy rally in Caracas on Thursday chanting "Freedom!" "This is a fight of a people who are demanding liberty!" Timoteo Zambrano, an opposition negotiator at talks sponsored by the Organization of American States, proclaimed to deafening cheers.***

Hugo Chavez - Venezuela

Fidel Castro - Cuba

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