Posted on 01/16/2003 6:21:52 PM PST by Tailgunner Joe
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Thursday asked U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan to help end his country's political and economic crisis caused by an opposition strike that is throttling vital oil exports.
The left-wing leader met the U.N. chief in New York a day after Latin American presidents agreed to set up a six-nation "group of friends" to reinforce efforts to break the deadlock in the world's No. 5 oil exporter.
Foes of the populist Chavez, who want him to resign and hold early elections, are maintaining a 46-day-old strike that has slashed Venezuela's oil production and shipments and jolted world oil markets.
The shutdown has pushed the country's economy further into recession and caused shortages of gasoline, cooking gas and some food items. Supporters and opponents of Chavez have clashed with increasing frequency and violence on the streets.
At a news conference after meeting Annan, Chavez welcomed the creation on Wednesday of the "friends" group, comprising the United States, Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Spain and Portugal.
The six "friends" will back efforts by Organization of American States Secretary General Cesar Gaviria to broker a peace settlement between Chavez's government and its foes.
Former paratrooper Chavez, who was elected in 1998 and survived a brief coup in April, said Annan had agreed to send a personal envoy to take part in the peace negotiations.
Chavez suggested the "friends" group be widened to include countries such as Russia, France and China, as well as Algeria, which like Venezuela is a member of the oil exporters' cartel OPEC.
"The group should be expanded and that's what I told the (U.N.) Secretary General," Chavez said. "I'm sure that once it's set up, this group can help Venezuela."
Venezuelan opposition leaders in Caracas, who have accused Chavez of deliberately blocking and dragging out talks on an electoral solution, also welcomed the formation of the group.
"We think the 'friends group' is an excellent idea, as long as it backs Dr Gaviria," Americo Martin, a negotiator for the Coordinadora Democratica opposition coalition, told Reuters.
After more than two months, the OAS-brokered talks have failed to break the deadlock between Chavez, who refuses to quit and has vowed to break the strike, and opponents, who accuse him of dragging Venezuela toward Cuba-style communism.
SOLUTION NOT CLOSE
OAS chief Gaviria said in Caracas after the latest round of government-opposition discussions on Thursday he believed the "group of friends" would strengthen the negotiating process.
But he told reporters: "If you ask me whether we are close to a solution, I would have to say 'no."'
Despite the hopes generated by the increased international support for the peace talks, Chavez offered no concessions to his opponents after his meeting with the U.N. chief.
He repeated his government's objections to opposition plans to hold a nonbinding referendum on his rule scheduled by electoral authorities for Feb 2.
"Today's the 16th of January. I think it is nearly impossible to have a referendum in February," Chavez said.
Chavez, who staged a botched coup bid six years before his election win, has told his foes they must wait until Aug. 19, halfway through his mandate, after which the constitution allows for a binding referendum on his rule. His current term is scheduled to end in early 2007.
The United States, which has seen the source of 13 percent of its oil imports cut off by the Venezuelan crisis, expressed strong support for the "friends group" initiative.
But analysts said the group would have to demonstrate its effectiveness. "The proof of the pudding will come with what kind of heft, what kind of muscle goes behind the OAS process," Arturo Valenzuela, Director of the Center for Latin American Studies at Georgetown University in Washington, told Reuters.
Latin American presidents, including Chavez, formed the "group of friends" while attending the inauguration in Quito on Wednesday of Ecuador's new president, Lucio Gutierrez.
Opposition leaders saw the membership of the group as "balanced." Brazil's left-wing President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva enjoys good personal relations with Chavez, and Spain and Portugal are European countries from where thousands of emigrants came to settle in Venezuela.
Chavez has condemned his striking opponents as "fascists, terrorists and coup mongers" and insisted he will not bow to their pressure. He has sent troops to restart strike-hit oil refineries and has threatened to do the same with banks, schools and food manufacturing plants which join the strike.
Because of the government objections to the Feb. 2 referendum, opposition leaders are pursuing alternative strategies to trigger early elections. These include proposing reform of the constitution to shorten the presidential term, or setting up a constituent assembly to draft a new constitution.
That incompetant boob couldn't find his a$$ with both hands in a phone booth.
Look how his skilled diplomatic efforts have solved all of Africa's problems.
Venezuela's Tyrant Hugo Chavez Must Go*** That opportunity came - and went - just over eight months ago, on a date that today resonates to every Venezuelan, April 11, 2002. On that day, Chavez's thugs fired on a 150,000-strong opposition rally, killing 19 people and injuring over 100. Popular anger over the killings prompted military leaders to demand Chavez to step down to avoid further bloodshed. Chavez resigned, but loyalists reinstated him two days later - after the governments of the United States and every Latin American nation refused to recognize a transitional government led by Pedro Carmona, the former president of Fedecamaras, the country's largest business association. The hemisphere's governments (several Latin American leaders were gathered at a summit in Costa Rica at the time) argued that the overthrow of Chavez constituted an extralegal transfer of power that violated Venezuela's constitution. And this week, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher urged a "peaceful, democratic, constitutional and electoral solution." But the problem is that Venezuela has no rule of law to undermine!
Chavez's "constitution" is a farce instituted by Chavez himself in December 1999, a year after he was elected, to extend his hold on power. Chavez supporters, who controlled 121 of 131 National Assembly seats, rammed the document through the legislature. It was later approved in a national referendum in which over half of the electorate stayed away from the polls. The new "constitution" dissolved the senate, extended the president's term from five to six years, gave greater power to the military, tightened state control over the oil industry, and limited the central bank's autonomy.
The document includes a "truthful information" press provision. It also allows the president to run for a second term, so Chavez can stay in power "legally" for up to 13 years. What happens at the end of the 13 years? No one knows, but it's important to remember that Chavez has tried to take power by force before, staging two failed coups in 1992.
Chavez's contempt for the rule of law is astounding. In the ongoing general strike, he has sent out troops to seize private gasoline-delivery trucks and ordered military commanders to ignore court orders to return the trucks to their owners. He has also seized control of the Caracas police department and defied a court order to return the department to the city's mayor's control. "A country where the judicial system is not autonomous and must submit to the executive is not democratic," said strike leader Carlos Ortega, president of the country's largest labor federation. "Listen well, Venezuela and the world: There is no democracy here."
There is little doubt how most Venezuelans feel about Chavez: They hate him, and for good reason. Many of his former supporters now consider him a dictator. His approval ratings have fallen to around 30 percent from a high of 80 early in his regime. His statist policies have brought the country to the brink of ruin. During Chavez's tenure, the Venezuelan economy has taken and nosedive -- GDP shrank by 7.1 percent just in the first half of this year -- and continues its descent. Meanwhile, his government has been selling 53,000 barrels of oil to Cuba a day at bargain-basement prices.***
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
