Posted on 12/13/2002 7:23:25 AM PST by Dog Gone
CARACAS, Venezuela -- Supporters and foes of President Hugo Chavez called for more street demonstrations today, as Venezuela's leaders ignored foreign pressure to end a general strike and schedule elections.
Chavez supporters planned a rally in downtown Caracas to celebrate the eight-month anniversary of the president's return to power after an April 12 coup. Opposition leaders said they too would return to the streets today, the 12th day of a crippling general strike they launched in a bid to oust Chavez and his leftist government. The strike has paralyzed the world's fifth largest oil-exporting nation, a key U.S. supplier.
"The national strike is just beginning," declared a strike organizer, Carlos Fernandez of the business group Fedecamaras, which joined with the country's 1-million-strong workers' confederation to wage the third general strike against Chavez in a year.
He warned there would soon be new shortages of basic goods and gasoline because of the strike, which has triggered panic buying at supermarkets, shuttered many shops and slowed the economy of this nation of 24 million.
In the latest signs of tension, police used tear gas to break up a clash between pro- and anti-Chavez groups late Thursday. There were no reports of serious injuries in the scuffle, which came as the Organization of American States warned that time is running out for a peaceful resolution of the crisis.
"If we don't find a solution at the table, there's a risk that the country becomes more polarized, and that brings an enormous risk of violence," OAS Secretary General Cesar Gaviria said.
Citing economic and political turmoil, Chavez opponents launched the general strike Dec. 2, demanding a nonbinding referendum on his presidency, which ends in 2007. Chavez has refused, and the opposition now says it will end the strike only if he calls general elections.
The strike has crippled Venezuela's oil industry, which supplies 13 percent of U.S. imports, unsettling markets worldwide and alarming analysts heading into the winter oil season. Ali Rodriguez, president of the state-owned oil monopoly, said Venezuela might even have to import gasoline.
Fearing violence from pro-Chavez mobs Thursday night, the opposition Globovision TV network urged supporters to stay inside. Protesters banged on pots and pans -- a nightly ritual -- from inside their houses, instead of on the streets.
Earlier Thursday, opposition supporters -- many of them middle-class professionals who accuse Chavez of stirring class warfare -- held a rowdy march outside the headquarters of Venezuela's oil company, Petroleos de Venezuela S.A.
"Every minute we're at risk of descending into violence. But I don't care. We'll stay in the streets," said Maria Luisa Guinand, a 28-year-old marketing executive.
Intent on breaking the strike, Chavez fired four dissident executives of the oil company. He fired the same executives and three others in April, sparking a general strike that led to a two-day coup. He reinstated the executives after he was restored to power.
Hundreds of oil workers held a raucous assembly in a Caracas hotel and gave the fired managers a standing ovation. "We're going to keep striking until we have the freedom that we're all asking for," fired oil manager Juan Fernandez said.
An army colonel and a major joined more than 100 dissident military officers calling for Chavez to step down. Brothers Col. Aguedo d'Hoy and Maj. Jesus d'Hoy accused Chavez of imposing leftist ideology on the armed forces and arming paramilitary neighborhood groups to intimidate dissenters. Chavez denies the charges.
In April, dissident oil executives nearly shut down Venezuelan oil production. Labor and business groups joined the strike, and Chavez was overthrown April 12 after 19 people were killed during an opposition march. He returned April 14 after an interim government abolished the constitution and his supporters took to the streets.
BTW, just in case anybody missed seeing this, an impressive line-up of all these high-command Generals, Majors, Colonels, etc. that have left Chavez in protest over the last 50 days, and taken up residence in and around the Altamira Plaza vowing to stay until Chavez leaves...
...can be seen here...
http://www.MilitaresDemocraticos.com/sp/oficiales.html
-Shane
P.S.- Recent 'on the scene' report here, too...
www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/802763/posts?page=1,50
Will also pass on info as contacts there daily update me. -Shane
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