[Cincinatus' Wife]

Chavez Vows Justice After Deadly Rally*** Police fought to keep the two sides apart, firing rubber bullets and tear gas, when gunfire rang out. Opposition protesters insisted the shots came from Chavez supporters. But the government said it came from police who report to an opposition mayor. "How long will metropolitan police officers continue being used to repress the people?" Chavez said in his speech. "We will find the assassins of Oscar Gomez and Jairo Gregorio Moran wherever they are hiding." Chavez tried to take over the city police force last fall but the Supreme Court ordered the president to restore the force's autonomy. The current Caracas police chief is anti-Chavez. He lashed out at owners of Venezuelan newspapers and television stations, accusing them of hailing strike leaders as "heroes when they are really traitors."

Strike leader Alfredo Gomez said Sunday that Chavez fired 251 more striking oil workers but government officials were not immediately available to confirm the claim. Chavez did not mention the dismissals during his television address. Opposition leaders blame Chavez's leftist policies for a deep recession and accuse him of trying to accumulate too much power. They want him to resign or hold a nonbinding referendum on his rule, which he says would be unconstitutional. Two police officers also were wounded Saturday when gunfire broke out during Gomez Aponte's wake. Chavez supporters fired on police after the government blamed the Caracas police for the Friday deaths, police chief Henry Vivas said. Officers returned fire using rubber bullets and tear gas. The state news agency, Venpres, reported Sunday that a woman who the government had earlier claimed died from tear gas asphyxiation in fact survived.

Meanwhile, leaders of the Democratic Coordinator opposition movement called on Venezuelans to donate between $1.80 and $3.50 to hold the referendum on Feb. 2 as planned. The opposition presented a petition with more than 1.5 million signatures to election authorities Nov. 6 to call for the referendum, but the National Elections Council says the Chavez-controlled Parliament hasn't authorized $22 million needed to pay for it. Chavez, a former paratrooper who was elected in 1998 and re-elected two years later, has challenged the legality of the referendum at the Supreme Court.***

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Marchers decry deaths; Chávez talks to nation ***Gunfire also erupted Saturday night at the viewing of the other victim, Oscar Gómez Aponte, 24. Government advocates again blamed the shooting on the police, who said mourners suddenly began firing at them. Two officers were hurt. Caracas Mayor Alfredo Peña said Morán was killed by a .40-caliber bullet, ammunition the police department does not use.

Chávez's October takeover of the Metropolitan Police helped trigger the now 36-day strike. The Supreme Court later ruled the military takeover illegal, but the army began making gestures Sunday to defy the court order and regain control of the law enforcement agency. ''The officers are totally kidnapped,'' said Luis Delgado, chief of the police motorcycle squad.

Delgado said soldiers arrived Sunday afternoon and refused police officers' access to their motorcycles. Chávez has said he is considering martial law to try to break the strike and halt escalating political violence. ``Whatever moves we have to make, we'll make them. . . . Rest assured my right hand will not shake -- much less my left -- when I have to make these decisions.''***