[Ichabod Walrus]

What a determined effort on the part of Reuters to display the anti-Chavez forces as part of a broad spectrum, spanning all socio-economic classes and backgrounds. Nothing could be further from the truth.

But this is Reuters isn't it? Professional lying.

Is there a petition planned by these same people to ask Chavez to voluntarily lower the price of oil at below world prices for the benefit of their sponsors?

They would like to know that they did something to "earn" their green cards by the time they they get to the US.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Four Million Venezuelans sign petitions seeking Chavez's ouster - Chavez wants leaders jailed *** CARACAS, Venezuela - Hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans turned out to petition for President Hugo Chavez's departure from power as Chavez vowed to prosecute leaders of a two-month strike against him. Leaders of the Democratic Coordinator political movement claimed they gathered 4 million signatures on several petitions seeking Chavez's ouster Sunday. The claim was impossible to verify. But tens of thousands celebrated on a Caracas highway after petition centers closed.

"The pen is our weapon," said Julio Borges of the Justice First opposition party. "Today demonstrates that the struggle hasn't ended. It didn't end with the strike." The most popular initiative is a constitutional amendment cutting Chavez's term from six to four years. It needs the support of 15 percent of the electorate - or about 1.8 million signatures - and would clear the way for general elections later this year.

A nonbinding referendum on Chavez's rule had originally been scheduled for Sunday after another petition with 2 million signatures was accepted by the National Electoral Council. Business, labor and opposition political groups called the strike beginning Dec. 2 to pressure Chavez into accepting the vote but the Supreme Court suspended the referendum because of a technicality. "We feel that they have taken our freedom to express ourselves," said Marisela Gaye, an insurance worker who was waiting earlier in the day to sign in Plaza Francia in eastern Caracas. ***