A splintered alliance of opposition parties and groups hopes to gather 2.4 million signatures needed to trigger a vote against the former army officer who they say is steadily turning the world's No. 5 oil exporter into a communist tyranny.
After two years of conflict, opposition leaders believe their referendum campaign will succeed in ousting Chavez at the ballot box. A short-lived coup last year and a recent crippling two-month oil strike failed to topple him.
"This is the beginning and the end of this democratic fight. Here we have the dreams and hopes of millions of people," opposition leader Enrique Mendoza told reporters.
The opposition says it will collect signatures at more than 2,700 centers across the country and expects dozens of international observers to guarantee a fair process. But they fear Chavez may use violence to scuttle their campaign. ***
Hugo Cabezas and Tareck el Aissami were appointed last month as director and deputy director of the Identification and Immigration Directorate, in charge of border controls and issuing passports and national ID cards. The agency also works with electoral authorities on voter registration.
Both were top student leaders at the University of the Andes in the western city of Merida, described by senior school officials as a virtual haven for armed Chávez supporters and leftist guerrillas.
When El Aissami served as president of the student body from 2001 to 2003, his armed supporters controlled the university's dormitories, said Oswando Alcala, a professor and director of student affairs.
Cabezas and El Aissami declined several Herald requests for interviews. Calls to the Information Ministry in Caracas also failed to elicit an official response.
Their appointments to the passport office raised eyebrows both because of the reports of Arabs obtaining Venezuelan ID documents and the possibility of fraud in an ongoing drive for a referendum to recall Chávez. His popularity stands at less than 40 percent.
''These appointments raise suspicions,'' said Pompeyo Marquez, a former Cabinet minister for border issues and an opponent of Chávez opponent. ``The risk is that they can play tricks both as regards elections and with identity cards.''
MAGAZINE REPORT
Allegations that Chávez's leftist government issued ID documents to Islamic radicals surfaced most recently in the newsweekly U.S. News and World Report. ''Venezuela is providing support -- including identity documents -- that could prove useful to radical Islamic groups,'' the magazine reported last month, quoting senior U.S. military and intelligence officials.
Chávez has strongly denied previous opposition allegations of links to Islamic radicals and leftist guerrillas from neighboring Colombia. Following the U.S. magazine's report, he accused the U.S. ''extreme right'' of trying to justify his ouster by ``anything: an assassination, a coup d'etat, an invasion.''*** [More at LINK]