Jimmy Carter Unveils Plan to End Venezuela Crisis

CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - Nobel Peace Prize winner Jimmy Carter on Tuesday presented to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and his foes a plan for elections to solve the deadlocked political conflict gripping the world's fifth largest oil exporter.

The former U.S. president said after talks with the left-wing leader his blueprint foresaw an end to the crippling seven-week opposition strike that has slashed supply from South America's biggest oil producer.

The strike, launched by opposition leaders to press Chavez to resign and hold early elections, has jolted world oil markets and threatened to bankrupt Venezuela's oil-reliant economy. The bolivar currency tumbled 5.1 percent against the dollar on Tuesday.

Thousands protest against Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in Charallave, approximately 30 miles east of Caracas, Jan. 20, 2003. One person was killed and two dozen wounded by gunfire during street clashes as Nobel Peace Prize-winner Jimmy Carter tried to salvage peace talks between leftist President Chavez and his foes. (Reuters)

Chavez, an outspoken former paratrooper who was elected in 1998 and survived a brief coup last year, refuses to quit and says he is beating the strike, which is causing serious shortages of gasoline, cooking gas and some food items.

Carter, who was U.S. president from 1977 to 1981 and has since made a career of trying to solve world conflicts, traveled to Caracas to aid international efforts to end the Venezuelan crisis. He was awarded the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize for his international work in support of peace, human rights and democracy at the head of his Atlanta-based Carter Center.

"My opinion is that both sides now want to reach an agreement to end the impasse that is threatening to destroy Venezuela's economy and social structure," Carter told a news conference before flying home.

He outlined his plan for an electoral solution, comprising two independent alternatives.

One proposed an amendment to Venezuela's constitution that would allow early elections. The other was for the country to wait until Aug. 19 -- halfway through Chavez's term -- when the constitution allows for a binding referendum on the president's mandate, which is due to end in early 2007.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez(L) chats with Nobel Peace prizewinner and former U.S. President Jimmy Carter in the Miraflores Palace in Caracas January 21, 2003. Carter said on Tuesday he had proposed an agreement on elections to Chavez and his foes which he believed could help end the country's long-running political crisis. (Reuters)

Chavez said after meeting Carter he was willing to accept a reform of the constitution if it was approved by the National Assembly, where Chavez supporters hold a slim majority, and through a national vote. The reform could shorten his mandate to allow early elections or bring forward the August referendum on his rule.

"I don't reject any of these possibilities, but the opposition must comply with the constitution," Chavez said.

Carter stressed that while he was encouraged by the initial reaction he received from both Chavez and the opposition, his proposals would still have to be discussed and agreed on by both sides.

"This is a step in a positive direction, but certainly not a definitive answer ... everyone realizes that all decisions must be taken only by Venezuelans," he added.

More than two months of negotiations brokered by Organization of American States Secretary-General Cesar Gaviria have failed to produce a deal on elections to end the conflict. The negotiations were due to continue on Tuesday to consider the specific Carter proposals.

The opposition has been demanding immediate elections, arguing the country cannot wait until an August referendum.

The president said instead of disrupting gasoline and food supplies through the strike, opponents should work to collect the signatures of the 15 percent of the nation's voters required to request a reform of the constitution.

Fears of increased violence have risen as opposition protesters step up street demonstrations and the government increases its efforts to defeat the strike.

Chavez, who purged the armed forces of opponents after last April's coup, has sent troops to take over strike-hit oil installations and to raid private factories and warehouses the government alleges are hoarding food supplies.

The oil shutdown showed signs of weakening on Tuesday when oil tanker pilots in western Lake Maracaibo went back to work.

Since the strike began on Dec. 2, at least six people have been killed and dozens wounded in shootings and street clashes.

He said he would also present his electoral proposals in Washington on Friday to the first meeting of foreign ministers from six nations forming a "group of friends" whose task is to help seek a solution to the Venezuela crisis.

The six-nation group, comprised of the United States, Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Spain and Portugal, was created last week to back the OAS-brokered peace talks.

Chavez has expressed reservations about the membership of the "friends" group, saying he would like to see it expanded to include other nations like China, Russia, France, Cuba and nations from the developing world.

Fidel's Fig Leaf for A "Useful Idiot" - by Jeff Jacoby (May 18, 2002) [Full Text] - Summary: A favorite conceit of dictators: the notion that releasing an unjustly convicted prisoner or two makes a nice gift with which to welcome a visiting dignitary -- like a fruit basket, only cheaper.

[CAPITALISM MAGAZINE.COM] Fidel Castro loathes anyone who champions freedom and democracy, but for Vladimiro Roca, who was freed this week after nearly five years in prison, he harbors a particular hatred.

Roca is a scion of Cuba's communist elite. His father was Blas Roca, a founding father of the Cuban Communist Party and a member of Castro's inner circle until his death in 1987. Vladimiro -- he was named after Lenin -- was raised in privilege, trained as a fighter pilot in the Cuban Air Force, then entered the University of Havana to study economics. If anyone had cause to embrace the communist "revolution," this Cuban princeling did. But the more Roca saw of Castro's corruption and despotism, the more repelled he was by the system his father had helped create.

In 1991 Roca founded the Social Democratic Party -- a dangerous act of defiance in a country where only the Communist Party is legal. In 1997, he and three other Cuban dissidents -- Marta Beatriz Roque, Felix Bonne, and Rene Gomez -- wrote "The Homeland Belongs to Us All," a manifesto calling for democratic elections, respect for human rights, and greater economic freedom. For that insult to Cuba's dictatorship, the four were arrested and eventually convicted of "inciting sedition." Roca's co-authors were sentenced to four years in prison and were released in May 2000 after serving half their terms.

But Castro did not let Roca off so easily. The ex-MiG pilot drew a sentence of five years, and spent more than two of them in solitary confinement. When he was released on Sunday, he had served all but 10 weeks of his term.

This "early release" was widely seen as a goodwill gesture to former President Jimmy Carter, who visited Cuba last week. This is a favorite conceit of dictators: the notion that releasing an unjustly convicted prisoner or two makes a nice gift with which to welcome a visiting dignitary -- like a fruit basket, only cheaper.

It can be difficult for Americans, who take their civil liberties for granted, to grasp just how abominably the Castro regime treats courageous and honest Cubans. Roca is finally free, but hundreds of others remain behind bars because they dared speak the truth about Castro's ugly system. Here is the story of one of them.

In 1989, Francisco Chaviano Gonzalez -- like countless others over the years -- tried to flee Cuba on a raft. The right to leave is fundamental in international law ("Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own" -- Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 13), but in Cuba it is harshly suppressed. Chaviano was caught and sent to prison, where he formed the Cuban Rafters Council to provide solidarity to others in the same position. After his release, he began trying to document the many thousands of men, women, and children who had died trying to cross the Florida Straits -- all of whom were treated as nonpersons by the Cuban government.

The more Chaviano learned about the circumstances that led so many Cubans to flee, the more he spoke out against government abuse and persecution. He renamed his organization the National Council for Civil Rights and repeatedly condemned Cuba's human rights violations. In response, he and his family were subjected to a campaign of harassment and assault. Their home was attacked. Threatening messages wrapped around rocks were thrown through the windows. Vulgar graffiti was painted on the outside wall.

Chaviano refused to be intimidated. So government goons broke into his home and beat him up. Still he persisted in speaking out. Early in the morning of May 7, 1994, a man he didn't know came to his door, delivered a sheaf of papers, and left. Moments later, the security police raided the house. They made a great show of finding the planted document, which they seized as "evidence." Chaviano was arrested and held for nearly a year before learning that he would be charged with "revealing state secrets" and "illicit enrichment."

His trial was a farce. It was closed to the public, but the courtroom was packed with state security agents. Chaviano was not allowed to see the evidence against him, nor to call witnesses in his own defense. His conviction was a foregone conclusion; his sentence was 15 years.

That was eight years ago. Today, he is locked in the maximum-security Combinado del Este prison; his wife is permitted to visit him once every two months. His health has deteriorated -- he suffers from an ulcer and respiratory problems -- but his ideals remain intact. "His spirit is strong," his wife told me recently. "He gives me strength."

In his 1977 inaugural address, President Carter declared, "Because we are free, we can never be indifferent to the fate of freedom elsewhere." Nowhere in the hemisphere is the fate of freedom more dire than in Cuba, where decent men are punished for their decency. Castro would like the world to forget that men like Francisco Chaviano are in his jails. [End]

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