VENEZUELA: O.A.S. DIALOGUE CONTINUES AMID CLASHES.
Even as talks mediated by Organization of American States (OAS) secretary-general Cesar Gaviria continue between the government of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and the increasingly militant opposition, street protests and demonstrations by supporters of Chavez and the opposition have escalated.
While Gaviria says he is optimistic that the talks will lead to a negotiated solution to the crisis (see NotiSur, 2002- 11-01), there seems to be little room for agreement, with Chavez refusing to quit or call early elections and his opponents demanding that he hold an immediate nonbinding referendum on his rule. The opposition Coordinadora Democratica (CD) has given the government until Dec. 4 to agree to a referendum or face an indefinite general strike to demand Chavez's immediate resignation.
Chavez was elected president in 1998 and won another national election in 2000. His current presidential term is due to end in early 2007.
Chavez dismisses critics as "oligarchs" and brands most opposition protests as new attempts to stage a coup.
His opponents paint him as an aspiring [Cuban President] Fidel Castro and dismiss his supporters as inconsequential. "There is no deep division here. Chavez supporters are the poorest and most ignorant people in Venezuela," said one political scientist who argued that "such people cannot rule our nation."
Gaviria calls for electoral solution
The OAS-sponsored talks began on Nov. 8, with the backing of the US-based Carter Center and the UN Development Program (UNDP). Earlier in the week, an opposition march in Caracas delivered what it said was more than two million signatures to electoral authorities calling for an immediate referendum on whether Chavez should continue in the presidency.
On Nov. 14, Gaviria said that Venezuela "needs an electoral way out," one agreed upon by the government and the opposition, if the country is to escape its ongoing political crisis. Gaviria said "there is awareness on both sides that there is no way to escape the problems--because of the polarization the country is experiencing--unless there is a common approach. There is no way out that either of the parties could impose on the other."
As the talks continued, daily protests saw members of both groups taking more extreme positions.
"There were battles between the forces of the revolution and the counterrevolution, and there will continue to be," said Lina Ron, one of the most militant members of the pro-Chavez Bolivarian...
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