"Former" communist guerilla?
Anti-President Hugo Chavez protesters march in support of the freedom of expression in Caracas, Venezuela, Friday, Jan. 31, 2003. Tens of thousands took to the streets Friday to protest government investigations into three independent television stations accused of supporting the strike. The investigations could culminate in the shut down of the stations. (AP Photo/Jaime Puebla)
Hundreds of thousands of Venezuela's anti-government protesters march in Caracas, January 31, 2003. Protesters clamored for elections as envoys from six nations urged President Hugo Chavez and his foes to settle their political feud peacefully through the ballot box. (Chico Sanchez/Reuters)
Venezuela 'Friends' Urge Chavez, Foes to Make Peace - Fri Jan 31, 2003 - By Pascal Fletcher with Patrick Markey
[Full Text] CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - A six-nation "group of friends" appealed to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and his foes Friday to settle their conflict through elections after hundreds of thousands of opposition protesters clamored in Caracas for an early poll.
The huge demonstration massed outside a Caracas hotel where officials from the United States, Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Spain and Portugal met opposition negotiators in a first mission to try to help solve Venezuela's political and economic crisis.
The deputy foreign ministers from the six-nation group formed this month also held talks with Chavez, who is resisting a two-month-old opposition strike that has slashed oil output and exports in the world's No. 5 petroleum exporter.
The stoppage is aimed at trying to force the left-wing populist president to hold early elections.
"We reaffirm the need for a solution agreed by both sides that is constitutional, democratic, peaceful and electoral," the "friends" group said in a statement read by Brazil's Under-Secretary for Bilateral Affairs Gilberto Saboia.
"We ask both sides to make every effort to seek a negotiated solution," the statement added.
The six-nation group is backing efforts by Organization of American States Secretary General Cesar Gaviria to achieve an agreement on elections between the government and its foes.
The visit revived hopes of a solution to the crisis, which has plunged South America's biggest oil producer into recession and rattled global energy markets already jittery over U.S. preparations for a possible attack on Iraq.
While the government said it was gradually restoring production in the strategic oil sector, where striking petroleum workers were holding firm, opposition leaders indicated the stoppage could be scaled back in non-oil areas.
The foreign envoys said they welcomed a proposal from the opposition for a constitutional amendment to trigger an early election. Opponents of Chavez plan to collect signatures backing the proposal in a nationwide action Sunday.
GOVERNMENT COOL
The government would deliver its response next week. Foreign Minister Roy Chaderton, a member of Chavez's negotiating team, told reporters the opposition proposal was legal but the government did not intend to encourage it.
"This government has no intention of trying to get rid of itself," he said after the foreign envoys met the president.
Outside the hotel, the protesters packed a highway, shouting "Elections now!" and "Not one step back!" and waving national flags. They called on the foreign officials to press the government to agree to an early poll.
"They should do something so we can have elections, so all these marches are not in vain," 45-year-old housewife Haydee Fuentes told Reuters.
Opponents of Chavez, who was elected in 1998 and still commands significant support among the nation's poor majority, accuse him of ruling like a dictator and of trying to impose Cuba-style communism.
The president, who survived a coup in 2002 and whose term ends in early 2007, has condemned the strikers as "coup mongers" and says he will not negotiate with them.
In his talks with the envoys from the six-nation group, Chavez stressed that his government was democratically elected and legitimate. He also briefed them on the economic damage caused by the strike. "He was combative," said one source who asked not to be named.
The government has prepared emergency financial measures, including heavy budget cuts and foreign exchange controls to be introduced next week.
It said on Friday it had brought crude oil output back up to 1.5 million barrels per day, almost half of pre-strike levels. Striking oil employees say the output level is lower but acknowledge it has been rising.
The slow recovery in the oil industry comes as support for the strike in other sectors is clearly cracking. [End]
___________________________________________________________________________________-
Chavez has found the bed he is content to sleep in. Like his mentor, Fidel Castro, he never has had any intention of relinguishing power.