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Venezuela's recall vote still in doubt
(Pravada, March 18, 2004)
Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel said Wednesday the government would not abide by what it considered an invalid ruling. . . . The Supreme Court of Justice had ruled on Monday to count 876,000 disputed signatures seeking a recall of president Chavez. The Electoral Council accepted the decision, but the government opened an investigation Wednesday that could lead to the removal of the judges. . . . Venezuela's government opened an investigation that could lead to the removal of three Supreme Court of Justice's ministers who validated 876,000 signatures seeking to recall president Hugo Chavez. The ruling had paved the way for a vote to shorten the mandate of the head of State, expected to expire in 2006. . . . Supreme Court's ruling meant a victory for the opposition after a long series of setbacks. However, the government will play its last cards to avoid a recall vote that could take Chavez out of power. . . . The opposition says the recall vote is the last chance Venezuela has to peacefully solve the political crisis that strains the country since 2002. On the contrary, Chavez believes the recall issue is an antidemocratic attempt launched by the opposition backed by Washington to remove him from power and drive back all the social reforms his administration did to improve living standards of the impoverished population. . . . Another key issue is the oil. The South American country, which sits on the largest oil reserves in the Western Hemisphere, is one of the main suppliers of the United States and the fifth world"s exporter. Chavez have repeatedly threatened Washington to cut out oil supplies if it keeps on supporting the opposition. . . . This week, another diplomatic conflict broke out between both nations when Chavez offered political asylum to Haiti's ousted president Jean Bertrand Aristide. Aristide said US marines in Haiti forced him to resign and took him against his will to the Central African Republic. . . . In the meantime, the situation in Haiti is far from being calm after Aristide"s removal, as Arisitide"s followers often clash with French and US occupation forces in the island claiming for the return of their leader. Arisitide left Africa last week and flew back to the Caribbean as special guest of the Jamaican government.

posted by LoZo 2:44 PM

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Tensions soar ahead of Venezuela recall ruling
(channelnewsasia.com, March 3, 2004)
Tensions soared as the country awaits a postponed announcement of whether a presidential recall election will be held. . . . On Monday, one person was killed in protests demanding a vote to remove President Hugo Chavez, while 47 others were injured and more than 100 were arrested. . . . At least 70 arrests were made in Caracas and more than 30 were made elsewhere in the country that was eagerly awaiting decisive news from the National Electoral Council, which had postponed an announcement on the recall until Tuesday. . . . Since Friday, five people have been killed and about 100 injured in political unrest. . . . The only points that are not under control are in areas where the mayors are the organizers" of the violence, charged Information Minister Jesse Chacon Tuesday. . . . Chavez foes took to the streets Monday, and burning barricades blocked many streets, especially in heavily anti-Chavez southeastern Caracas. Smaller protests also were held in other Venezuelan cities. . . . The number of signatures calling for a referendum has actually been known since Saturday, Jorge Rodriguez, a member of the council, said at a press conference late Monday. But it was not to be made public until around midday Tuesday. By 1900 GMT the council had not issued its decision. . . . Protests also turned violent Sunday after the main opposition umbrella group said it rejected the authority of the National Electoral Council because it said it was reviewing the legality of more than one million of the 3.4 million signatures the opposition says it gathered in favor of having a recall referendum set. . . . Chavez, whose term ends in 2006, has agreed to abide by the results of such a vote, if held, but he argues that the signature-gathering process already held was marred by rampant fraud. . . . Former US president Jimmy Carter, an electoral observer, said the electoral council guaranteed monitors access to the signature verification. . . . At a rally Sunday, Chavez told some 60,000 cheering supporters he would block US access to Venezuela's oil resources if Washington moves against his government. . . . In a three-hour anti-US diatribe that singled out US President George W. Bush as an illegitimate leader, Chavez said "if Mr. Bush is possessed with the madness of trying to blockade Venezuela, or worse for them, to invade Venezuela in response to the desperate song of his lackeys, ... sadly, not a drop of petroleum will come to them from Venezuela." . . . Chavez has long accused Washington of backing the opposition, which has tried to oust him twice -- once in a nationwide strike that ended last year, and in an aborted 2002 coup. . . . The United States is keenly interested in Venezuela, its fourth-largest oil supplier and the only Latin American member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.

posted by LoZo 3:17 PM

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Chavez Calls Bush "Asshole" as Foes Fight Troops
(Reuters, February 29, 2004)
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez called President Bush an "asshole" on Sunday for meddling, and vowed never to quit office like his Haitian counterpart as troops battled with opposition protesters demanding a recall referendum against him. . . . Chavez, who often says the U.S. is backing opposition efforts to topple his leftist government, accused Bush of heeding advice from "imperialist" aides to support a brief 2002 coup against him. . . . "He was an asshole to believe them," Chavez roared at a huge rally of supporters in Caracas. . . . The Venezuelan leader's comments came as fresh violence broke out on the streets of the capital, where National Guard troops clashed with opposition protesters pressing for a vote to end his five-year rule. . . . Military helicopters roared in low runs overhead as soldiers fired tear gas and plastic bullets to repel several hundred opposition demonstrators who threw stones and set up burning barricades in eastern Caracas late into . . . But the firebrand populist vowed to defeat any attempt to unseat him and threatened to cut off oil supplies to the United States from the world's No. 5 crude oil exporter should Washington try an invasion or trade sanctions. . . . "Venezuela is not Haiti and Chavez is not Aristide," he said. . . . Tens of thousands of Chavez supporters marched earlier on Sunday to protest what they condemned as U.S. meddling in Venezuelan affairs.

posted by LoZo 7:49 PM