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Venezuelan opposition march
CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) -- Several hundred thousand foes of Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez marched through Caracas on Saturday to demand his resignation after the leftist leader rejected U.S. calls for early elections to end feuding over his rule of the world's No. 5 oil exporter.
Chanting, singing and blowing whistles, protesters streamed through the Venezuelan capital as they converged on wealthy eastern Caracas, where they massed on a major highway in a fluttering sea of flags.
The embattled populist president, facing a protracted opposition strike that has crippled the nation's vital oil industry and rattled markets, has repeatedly dismissed opposition demands he step down and call an immediate vote.
"We are marching for the freedom of Venezuela. The country has stopped and said enough. But he doesn't want to accept it, he doesn't want to accept reality," said Jolly Bermudez, an aerobics instructor, taking part in the march.
His opponents blame Chavez for pushing Venezuela into recession and political chaos with his autocratic style and left-wing reforms he says help the poor. They have threatened to keep up the strike until the president resigns.
The White House, stepping up international pressure on the former paratrooper, on Friday said early elections were the only viable solution to Venezuela's turmoil. The South American nation supplies about one-sixth of U.S. oil imports.
But Chavez, who was elected in 1998 and survived a coup in April, dismissed the U.S. call. He says the constitution only allows for a binding referendum on his mandate in August 2003. He accuses his foes of trying topple his government.
"There are no early elections planned here. ... I don't think that the United States government is suggesting to the world that Venezuela must break with its constitution just to satisfy the pretensions of coup mongers," he told CNN en Espanol, a sister network to CNN.com.
But a senior U.S. State Department official, visiting Caracas to meet with the government and opposition, underscored the White House position with a warning that Venezuela could slip deeper into turmoil without a swift solution.
"We need some kind of early elections. What they are, only the Venezuelans can decide," said Thomas Shannon, U.S. deputy assistant secretary for the Western Hemisphere. "If a political solution is not found, we could be on the edge of some kind of social confrontation," he told reporters Saturday.
Battle of wills over oil
Since April, when rebel officers briefly ousted Chavez in a chaotic uprising, international mediators have struggled to bring the two sides together to discuss an electoral solution.
Violent street clashes, frequent political rallies and a daily war of words between government and opposition have kept tensions running high in Venezuela more than eight months after the short-lived coup.
Responding to Chavez's comments, U.S. officials made clear Washington felt elections were necessary before the August referendum date. "It's not sufficient for the government to sit on institutional legitimacy when the country is at risk," said one official, who asked not to be identified.
After his landslide electoral victory on promises to ease poverty, the president's popularity has dropped sharply. But many poorer voters still see his policies as key to reversing the neglect and corruption of previous governments.
The opposition, an alliance of political parties, unions, civil groups and business leaders, accuse Chavez of autocratic rule. They blame his fiery rhetoric for fueling hatred between the social classes.
"Either the president resigns to facilitate a solution or we fix a date that can't be beyond the start of next year for presidential elections," said Alejandro Armas, an opposition negotiator in talks with the government chaired by Organization of American States Secretary General Cesar Gaviria.
The opposition strike, which began on December 2, has brought the oil industry to a standstill and sent Venezuelans rushing to stock up on food and gasoline.
The shutdown has worsened the nation's already bleak economic outlook. Battered by recession, the economy has contracted more than 6 percent so far this year.
But with striking oil tankers moored offshore and oil output at less than a third, the shutdown has become a battle of wills over the petroleum sector, which accounts for about half the government's revenues.
The president insists the shutdown has been a failure and blames dissident oil executives at the state oil firm PDVSA for trying to destabilize the nation. But strike leaders dismiss the president's claim he can restart the industry.
Chanting, singing and blowing whistles, protesters streamed through the Venezuelan capital as they converged on wealthy eastern Caracas, where they massed on a major highway in a fluttering sea of flags.
The embattled populist president, facing a protracted opposition strike that has crippled the nation's vital oil industry and rattled markets, has repeatedly dismissed opposition demands he step down and call an immediate vote.
"We are marching for the freedom of Venezuela. The country has stopped and said enough. But he doesn't want to accept it, he doesn't want to accept reality," said Jolly Bermudez, an aerobics instructor, taking part in the march.
His opponents blame Chavez for pushing Venezuela into recession and political chaos with his autocratic style and left-wing reforms he says help the poor. They have threatened to keep up the strike until the president resigns.
The White House, stepping up international pressure on the former paratrooper, on Friday said early elections were the only viable solution to Venezuela's turmoil. The South American nation supplies about one-sixth of U.S. oil imports.
But Chavez, who was elected in 1998 and survived a coup in April, dismissed the U.S. call. He says the constitution only allows for a binding referendum on his mandate in August 2003. He accuses his foes of trying topple his government.
"There are no early elections planned here. ... I don't think that the United States government is suggesting to the world that Venezuela must break with its constitution just to satisfy the pretensions of coup mongers," he told CNN en Espanol, a sister network to CNN.com.
But a senior U.S. State Department official, visiting Caracas to meet with the government and opposition, underscored the White House position with a warning that Venezuela could slip deeper into turmoil without a swift solution.
"We need some kind of early elections. What they are, only the Venezuelans can decide," said Thomas Shannon, U.S. deputy assistant secretary for the Western Hemisphere. "If a political solution is not found, we could be on the edge of some kind of social confrontation," he told reporters Saturday.
Battle of wills over oil
Since April, when rebel officers briefly ousted Chavez in a chaotic uprising, international mediators have struggled to bring the two sides together to discuss an electoral solution.
Violent street clashes, frequent political rallies and a daily war of words between government and opposition have kept tensions running high in Venezuela more than eight months after the short-lived coup.
Responding to Chavez's comments, U.S. officials made clear Washington felt elections were necessary before the August referendum date. "It's not sufficient for the government to sit on institutional legitimacy when the country is at risk," said one official, who asked not to be identified.
After his landslide electoral victory on promises to ease poverty, the president's popularity has dropped sharply. But many poorer voters still see his policies as key to reversing the neglect and corruption of previous governments.
The opposition, an alliance of political parties, unions, civil groups and business leaders, accuse Chavez of autocratic rule. They blame his fiery rhetoric for fueling hatred between the social classes.
"Either the president resigns to facilitate a solution or we fix a date that can't be beyond the start of next year for presidential elections," said Alejandro Armas, an opposition negotiator in talks with the government chaired by Organization of American States Secretary General Cesar Gaviria.
The opposition strike, which began on December 2, has brought the oil industry to a standstill and sent Venezuelans rushing to stock up on food and gasoline.
The shutdown has worsened the nation's already bleak economic outlook. Battered by recession, the economy has contracted more than 6 percent so far this year.
But with striking oil tankers moored offshore and oil output at less than a third, the shutdown has become a battle of wills over the petroleum sector, which accounts for about half the government's revenues.
The president insists the shutdown has been a failure and blames dissident oil executives at the state oil firm PDVSA for trying to destabilize the nation. But strike leaders dismiss the president's claim he can restart the industry.
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