Posted on 01/03/2003 4:04:50 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
Leaders of a strike that has crippled Venezuela's economy prepared a protest aimed at enlisting support from the military as President Hugo Chavez announced an international diplomatic effort to resolve the standoff.
The protest set for Friday was the latest step in an opposition campaign, centered on the five-week-old general strike, to force Chavez to call a nonbinding referendum on his rule next month.
Chavez, who claims the referendum would be unconstitutional, said he would support diplomatic efforts by a "Group of Nation Friends" to help resolve the crisis, which has contributed to a rise in global oil prices.
"This has to be the way out," Chavez said Thursday in Brazilia, Brazil, where attended the inauguration of Brazil's new president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. "There is no other way."
Opposition legislator Alejandro Armas said the opposition had already proposed an international effort to mediate the dispute.
The idea drew support from opposition labor leader Manuel Cova, secretary general of the 1 million-member Venezuelan Workers Confederation. "Whatever international initiative leading to an electoral solution is welcome," he said.
Organization of American States Secretary General Cesar Gaviria has mediated negotiations, but there was no progress reported in talks Thursday. In Washington, the State Department urged both sides to show "maximum flexibility."
Chavez said the new group would add to the efforts of the OAS and pave the way for a dialogue between the government and opposition forces.
He didn't elaborate on which nations would be asked to join but said the group would include European and Latin American countries as well as OPEC members.
The idea came up during talks he held with diplomats in Caracas. "I picked up the telphone and began making phone calls", he said.
His opponents prepared for the rally Friday outside a Caracas army base in a bid to enlist the military in its effort to oust Chavez.
The demonstration was intended to appeal to the military with the opposition organizing three marches to converge on Los Proceres, a plaza dedicated to South American freedom fighters that fronts the army's Fuerte Tiuna.
"We call on the dignified representatives of our armed forces not to stage a coup. ... Act! Join us!" said Carlos Ortega, a general strike leader and head of Venezuela's largest labor confederation.
So far, Venezuela's military has stood by its commander in chief, a former army paratrooper who led a failed coup attempt in 1992. Roughly 100 officers _ stripped of their commands after a brief April coup _ have declared themselves in rebellion.
Opposition leaders blame Chavez's leftist policies for a deep recession and accuse him of trying to accumulate too much power. Chavez says his opponents want an "economic coup" with a strike that has paralyzed the nation's oil industry and created demand for basic staples.
Chavez was expected to propose cuts to the nation's $25 billion 2003 budget _ a move that analysts said could weaken his support among the poor, his base of power.
Francisco Vivancos, an economics professor at the Central University of Venezuela, said Chavez must slash spending by at least $5 billion _ cutting social programs that are the rock of the president's "Bolivarian Revolution" to lift the masses from poverty.
"If (Chavez) has no resources to finance his social plans, then it will be difficult to maintain a lot of his loyalty," said Vivancos, who estimates the strike has cost the economy $5.6 billion.
The 33-day-old strike, which has paralyzed Venezuela's oil industry, had also rippled around the globe _ helping, along with fears of war in Iraq, to push oil prices above $30 per barrel.
In response to the strike, troops have commandeered gasoline delivery trucks, and guard oil installations.
Chavez said Thursday that Venezuela's oil industry is recovering and will reach full capacity in 45 days. Oil executives scoffed at the claim.
The president said Venezuela is producing 800,000 barrels of crude a day, up from 200,000 barrels at the low point of the strike. The president said that the state oil monopoly will return to full capacity of 3 million barrels a day within 45 days.
Striking executives with the state-owned Petroleos de Venezuela, or PDVSA, insisted production was 190,000 barrels a day. Fewer than 10 oil tankers have left the oil city of Maracaibo since the strike began Dec. 2, compared to more than 50 in a normal month.
Independent analysts saw little change in production.
"We don't see any evidence that production is increasing, and no one in the industry would accept the higher figures since exports are still almost zero," said John Lichtblau, chairman of the Petroleum Industry Research Foundation Inc. in New York.
Week Five: "He's a crazy person. Any other president would have resigned by now."
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