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Venezuela's Chavez Firm, Foes Seek Overseas Backing***CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, already fighting to restart an oil sector crippled by an opposition strike, on Saturday threatened to take over banks which joined the six-week shutdown. In two national broadcasts on Saturday, leftist Chavez lashed out at foes he branded "terrorists" and hardened a stance that seemed certain to further inflame the political conflict over his rule in world's No. 5 oil exporter. "They will not defeat us on any battlefield," said Chavez, his face flushed as he lambasted foes in a speech peppered with revolutionary rhetoric and threats.

……………Opposition leaders, an alliance of political parties, unions and business groups, on Saturday sought to shore up international support for their campaign. They welcomed U.S. backing for a proposal that would involve other nations in efforts to break the tense stalemate. International concern sharpened after the strike helped push oil prices to two-year highs of over $30 a barrel at a time when the United States is preparing for a possible attack on Iraq. Venezuela usually supplies more than 13 percent of U.S. oil imports.

Opposition negotiator Timoteo Zambrano and union boss Carlos Ortega, a bitter Chavez foe, planned to travel to the United States on Saturday for meetings with United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan and the State Department. "This is to explain the Venezuelan conflict, to intensify our international actions, and to make sure there is more attention to the Venezuelan problem from the international community," Zambrano told Reuters by telephone from Caracas airport before leaving.

The United States said on Friday it supports forming a group of key regional nations who could nudge both sides to an electoral solution to end their bitter impasse. U.S. officials said they hoped to bolster talks brokered by the Organization of American States that have so far failed to reach an accord. Chavez said he had also spoken with the U.N. chief to explain he was fighting against "coup mongers and fascists."***

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez holds a live national address at a high school in Caracas January 7, 2003. Chavez said he vowed to resist what he called an 'economic war' to oust him. Thousands of his foes in a march tore up income-tax forms as they added a tax revolt to a strike crippling the nation's crucial oil exports. REUTERS/Kimberly White

Hugo Chavez - Venezuela

He's holed up in a high school shaking his fist at the "bad mans"?

Smooth move, xlax.

fyi

I will cross-link this in a moment- you know I comment little, preferring to let my links speak for me, and directing readers to information I think they need to have- but this needs commentary.

The terrorist and "national liberation" movements and groups are all interlinked. Consult my links, and view the evidence- judge for yourself. They have been for decades.

There is a fire burning and growing in our own backyard:

-The Fire Down South...( Latin America--)--

For more 'rule of law' bending by Chavez, look for...

Middle of THIS WEEK, possibly Jan 14, TSJ (Supreme Court, Venezuela) will announce...

- In 'Sala Electoral': Leonardo Pizani can not be member of CNE board (electoral authority), thus all recent decisions taken by the board with his participation are invalid. This blocks the non-binding Feb 2 referendum on whether or not Chavez should resign.

- In 'Sala Constitutional': The question put for referendum Feb 2 is not valid, thus Feb 2 referendum is also blocked through this way, just for redundant safety in numbers.

In addition, two more Supreme Court rulings are readied as well, but with less certain dates:

The detention of dissident G.N. general Carlos Alfonzo Martinez (without a warrant or any charges) is ruled "legal", and the general will stay under arrest.

Government intervention of private TV stations and media outlets is ruled "legal".

The situation in Venezuela can best be compared to post-colonial Africa, where the supreme courts of Marxist "Peoples Republics" allowed their ruling dictator and his party to do anything ... with the added danger to world stability that Venezuela is the third largest exporter of oil to the United States, and has billions of petro-dollars. And that the sympathetic Chavez regime, for that reason, is sought out by leftist terrorist groups and dictators as a secure source of financing and aid...

-Shane

Whose fault is all this strife?

The Venezuelan people, of course. They were foolish enough to elect a would-be tyrant, whose character was certainly well-known by the time he was RE-elected.

I thank God that WE managed to avoid the full consequences of our stupidity in electing Clinton twice. It was a very very very very close call -- if Gore had gotten in, I don't even want to think about where we would be now.