Posted on 07/07/2002 3:35:35 PM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - Opposition leaders on Sunday urged former President Jimmy Carter to extend his peace mission here to witness a march against President Hugo Chavez and hopefully prevent violence.
Thousands of anti-government protesters are expected to march on the Miraflores Presidential Palace on Thursday. Chavez supporters often entrench themselves outside the palace to repel protesters.
Carter, who arrived in Venezuela Saturday and was planning to leave the day before the march, is hoping to salvage faltering reconciliation talks between the leftist government and its opposition. The government-sponsored dialogue began after an April coup that briefly ousted Chavez.
Here at Chavez's invitation, Carter met Sunday with Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel, media owners and Roman Catholic Church leaders. He dined Saturday night with Chavez.
U.S. Ambassador Charles Shapiro urged Venezuelans to accept Carter's help, or help from the Organization of American States.
"Without an effective and sincere dialogue polarization will continue," Shapiro said in a Sunday interview with El Universal newspaper. "There will always be differences, but having a divided country is dangerous for Venezuela, which is on the brink of a social explosion."
Should Carter stay for the march, "violent pro-government groups won't dare attack men and women on the streets demanding justice, peace and democracy," 11 opposition parties said in an open letter to Carter published Sunday in El Universal.
News media owners repeated the request in their meeting with Carter, said Miguel Otero, director of El Nacional newspaper. Carter said he would consider having some members of his team stay for the march, Otero said.
Chavez accuses the news media of supporting coup leaders in April by blacking out coverage of demonstrations demanding his return. Journalists say Chavez's verbal aggressions against the press inspire his supporters to harass reporters on the streets.
Thursday's march is to demand Chavez's resignation and commemorate the 18 people who died and hundreds wounded during an opposition march in April.
Alarmed by the bloodshed, military rebels ousted Chavez, only to see him swept back to power 48 hours later by civilian protesters and loyalist troops. Government opponents and supporters blame each other for the violence.
Venezuelan Diplomat blames Carlos the Jackal for fall - Chavez's ties to terrorists ***Everything changed when Hugo Chavez was elected president of Venezuela in December 1998. On Castellano's next visit to La Sante prison, he said, Ramirez had a message for him.
"He said, "Now I'm the government,' " recalled Castellano. In subsequent visits Ramirez became angry, insisting that embassy staff, including the ambassador and the consul, would pay dearly for failing to attend to his case.
Castellano interpreted some remarks as direct threats and informed the ambassador. Diplomatic cables were sent to Caracas asking for instruction. None was received.
Meanwhile, public statements by the new government appeared to confirm Ramirez's bravado.
Defense Minister Jose Vicente Rangel told the press that Ramirez was not considered a terrorist in Venezuela as he had committed no crime there and that the embassy would pay greater attention to the prisoner's plight. He challenged the French on the legality of Ramirez's detention in Sudan.
The change had to do with both the new president and those around him. According to analysts, the election of Chavez brought to power a clique of aging leftists, including a number of friends of Ramirez's father, Jose Altagracia Ramirez, the founder of the Venezuelan Communist Party.
Among them were Defense Minister Rangel and National Assembly President Luis Miquilena. Miquilena had at one stage shared a jail cell with Ramirez senior. Rangel had grown up in the same province, Tachira, as the Ramirez family.
"They are old family friends," said Pastor Heydra, a member of Congress and former Communist Party leader. Rangel, he pointed out, had twice been a presidential candidate for the Venezuelan Communist Party.***
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Chavez Says Venezuela Wants Peace, Not Civil War - "Hand over your weapons"*** The president noted that some inhabitants of wealthy areas of Caracas, alarmed by fears of fresh violence, were rushing to buy weapons and organizing self-defense groups. "Don't let yourselves be exploited by the gun sellers and the dogs of war," Chavez said. CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - President Hugo Chavez urged Venezuelans on Saturday to stop arming themselves for a civil war, and he invited his foes to try to vote him out of office in a referendum next year.***
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