"FAN and the people have the authority to reestablish the chain of consitutionality broken by the Government and to establish a provisional and temporary civilian-military government with a civilian president," they said, according to the Sunday edition of the paper.
They stated that they believed that Chávez would not allow a referendum to be held on the continuation of his presidency, and that the Government will "bog down the electoral process and continue to postpone it through inertia" until finally it is never held. The Bloque Democrático is made up of 34 military, business and labor groups that recently joined together and left the majority group, Coodinadora Democrática, which they accuse of "entering into a deal with the Government without realizing it."
With the aid of the Organization of American States and other international agencies, the Coordinadora Democrática negotiated with the Government several weeks ago to find an electoral solution to the national political crisis. [End]
The populist president regularly pillories the city police force, run by anti-Chavez mayor Alfredo Pena and known by its Spanish initials "PM," as a murderous, subversive band of coup plotters bent on trying to topple him. Other regional units controlled by opposition state governors, who under the Constitution can run their own police forces, are also viewed by Chavez as hostile. "If I have to take over these police again, I will. ... We, as the state, hold the monopoly of force," Chavez said recently. ***