Chavez Foes Launch Venezuela Poll Bid, He Rejects

CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - Opponents of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez launched on Wednesday a bid to vote the leftist leader out of office, holding a huge march in Caracas and presenting more than 3 million signatures calling for a referendum on his rule.

But Chavez, speaking in Argentina where he was visiting, immediately challenged the opposition initiative, saying the signatures were "not valid." He said his opponents were "crazy" and "irresponsible," accusing them of using "tricks and fraud" to collect the signatures.

"This shows the opposition is still thinking about a coup and destabilization," Chavez told a news conference in Buenos Aires. He believed it would be "very difficult" for a referendum to be held this year.

Chavez's sharp criticism of the referendum initiative heralded renewed political feuding in Venezuela, the world's No. 5 oil exporter, which has been shaken for more than a year by conflict between Chavez and his foes.

Waving national flags and blowing horns and whistles, several hundred thousand foes of the populist president packed central Caracas Wednesday in the biggest anti-government demonstration since a general strike in December and January.

Opposition supporters waving national flags march to demand a referendum on ending Hugo Chavez's four-year presidency in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, Aug 20, 2003.(AP Photo/Gregorio Marrero)

Earlier, opposition leaders delivered what they said were more than 3.2 million pro-referendum signatures to electoral authorities in an operation covered live on television.

"The countdown (to a referendum) has begun," Miranda state governor Enrique Mendoza, a Chavez opponent, told the anti-government marchers. He estimated the crowd at more than half a million people, but some foreign diplomats believed it was closer to 200,000. No violence was reported.

If electoral authorities verify the signatures, a referendum could be held in 90 days, on Nov. 20, the opposition said.

But with Chavez already challenging the signatures, this timetable could be optimistic.

No referendum date has been set and the poll faces bitter political wrangling over legal and bureaucratic details.

Opposition marchers hailed the launch of the referendum process as the beginning of the end of Chavez's rule.

"Chavez is cornered, there's no way out for him now," said opposition marcher Enrique Konarek.

Chavez raised multiple objections to the opposition signatures, saying the National Electoral Council, which received them, was not legitimate and was being replaced.

He said the signatures were collected in early February during a two-month-long opposition strike, when he said his foes were suffering from "coup madness."

He suggested they would have to be checked "one by one" or collected again under proper supervision.

Nevertheless, Wednesday's big turnout boosted the morale of Venezuela's opposition, which had been weakened by infighting.

The Venezuelan leader's popularity has fallen in opinion polls as the nation has sunk into turmoil and economic recession. But the president's supporters insist that, even if the referendum is held, Chavez will still win.

Opponents accuse Chavez, elected in a landslide in late 1998 and reelected in mid-2000, of dragging the oil-rich nation toward economic ruin and Cuban-style Communism.

Chavez dismisses critics as rich "oligarchs" who fear his policies to help the poor will rob them of privileges.

The signatures requesting a referendum were delivered a day after Chavez completed half of his current six-year term. The constitution allows for a referendum after this point.

Crises in Venezuela***The influx of so many poor with great aspirations of acquiring wealth resulted in the creation of massive slums that consumed the hillsides like a cancer. Mix into these conditions the long reign of two major political parties worm-eaten with corruption and seemingly unsympathetic with the poor, and the almost inevitable resentment created when huge economic discrepancies exist, and the poor face tremendous obstacles preventing them from advancing into the "opportunity-based" middle class. Venezuela was a social powder keg waiting for a spark.

Then along came Mr. Chavez, a former army colonel and leader of an unsuccessful 1992 coup that converted him into an imprisoned criminal and heroic "champion of the poor." A foolish President Rafael Caldera granted Mr. Chavez a presidential pardon, and Mr. Chavez ran for president on a moderate platform promising sweeping reforms and a healthy house-cleaning of government corruption. This won him wide support from the poor and disarmed the fears of the more wealthy, who hoped Mr. Chavez would deliver on his promises. Mr. Chavez won the presidency with the support of just 35 percent of the electorate.

Soon afterward, the trouble began. Mr. Chavez established friendships with the most radical leaders in the world, beginning with Cuba's Fidel Castro, but also including Libya's Moammar Gadhafi, Iraq's Saddam Hussein (whom he called "My brother"), North Korea's Kim Yong-Il and the Palestinian Yasser Arafat, among others. Mr. Chavez celebrated the September 11 attacks in the United States, and reportedly gave money to the Taliban and al Qaeda. He has supported terrorist Carlos the Jackal, and established close ties with Colombia's narco-terrorists (ELA and the FARC), permitting them to operate, train and rest in Venezuelan territory.

Recently, Venezuela's permissiveness — if not outright support — for terror groups inspired U.S. Army Gen. Richard Boyer to compare Venezuela with Syria. The next day, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said "the government of the United States and the people of Venezuela have a differing view of democracy than does President Chavez." Taken together, these comments are a clear shot across the bow of Mr. Chavez. Mr. Chavez's anti-democratic behavior and support of terror groups is earning him an associate membership in the "axis of evil." ***

Chavez Mocks Push for Venezuela Recall

Venezuela's Hugo Chavez on Wednesday brushed off demands for a referendum on his controversial presidency and called the drive by his opponents to oust him a "mockery."

In an interview with The Associated Press, Chavez challenged the legitimacy of a new petition for a recall vote, saying many of the signatures were forgeries.

"Some people who have been buried for a while appeared to have signed," Chavez charged, accusing the opposition of acquiring signatures however it could. "They should do a much more serious job."

Chavez said some of the signatures belonged to dead people and others were taken from bank registries. He said his government will challenge the petition.

The signatures "appear in every light to be illegal," said Chavez, speaking at the end of a four-day trip to Buenos Aires.

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"The opposition must recover reason and seek a good leader, which they don't have," Chavez said.

"If they managed to achieve a referendum as it should be done, it's just the same because we'll defeat it as we did three years ago," he said. "The people know what they want and ... they now have a government that doesn't cut deals with the oligarchy ... that doesn't concede to transnational powers."

Chavez's brash style and leftist views have won him a huge following among impoverished Venezuelans alienated by the ruling elites who for decades ran the country, the world's No. 5 oil exporter.

Chavez said his supporters among the poor would turn back any vote to remove him from power.

"Those 600,000 kids in Bolivarian schools who have breakfast and lunch, who have medical care and play sports, have parents that know these kinds of things didn't exist in Venezuela not long ago," he said.

Chavez came to Argentina after stops in Paraguay and Uruguay. He used the tour to promote greater Latin American unity and urged regional leaders to reject U.S.-backed free trade and market policies. He plans a giant street fiesta in Caracas on Saturday.

"While we are going to be having this big nationwide party, the opposition is playing its usual cynical and ironic role," Chavez said in the interview. "It's almost comical."

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