VENEZUELA: AT LEAST NINE PEOPLE WOUNDED AS POLICE FIRE TEAR GAS AND SHOTGUN PELLETS TO REPEL SUPPORTERS OF PRESIDENT HUGO CHAVEZ WHO ATTACKED OPPOSITION PROTESTERS

Record ID: 640654

  • Title: VENEZUELA: AT LEAST NINE PEOPLE WOUNDED AS POLICE FIRE TEAR GAS AND SHOTGUN PELLETS TO REPEL SUPPORTERS OF PRESIDENT HUGO CHAVEZ WHO ATTACKED OPPOSITION PROTESTERS
  • Date: 6th November 2002
  • Summary: (W1) CARACAS, VENEZUELA (NOVEMBER 04, 2002) (REUTERS) MV SECRETARY GENERAL OF THE ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN STATES CESAR GAVIRIA ARRIVING AT HOTEL (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) GAVIRIA SAYING "I am going to be working with the government and with the opposition as well as the democratic coordinator with my sights on working out the details of the dialogue that we hope to initiate during this week." MV CAMERAMEN ADJUSTING LENSES
  • Embargoed: 21st November 2002 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: CARACAS, VENEZUELA
  • Country: Venezuela
  • Topics: Crime,General,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVADAZ0P4W86O526A2PKN3VWR9DY
  • Story Text: At least nine people are wounded, some by gunfire, as Venezuelan police fire tear gas and shotgun pellets to repel hard-line supporters of President Hugo Chavez who attacked opposition protesters demanding an immediate referendum on his leftist rule.
    Thousands of Chavez opponents marched through Caracas on Monday (November 4, 2002) to hand over more than 2 million signatures demanding a referendum to oust the leftist president.
    But Die-hard supporters of President Hugo Chavez plunged the city centre into chaos by attacking the authorized opposition march, disobeying a direct personal appeal from the leftist Venezuelan leader to let the protest pass peacefully.
    Clouds of teargas wafted through the streets and Chavez supporters set fire to tires and rubbish as the government appealed for calm.
    Nine people were wounded, some by gunfire, as Venezuelan police fired tear gas and shotgun pellets to repel the pro-Chavez supporters.
    Police and hospital officials reported at least two people were wounded by gunfire during the clashes. But Caracas Mayor Alfredo Pena said nine people had suffered gunshot wounds.
    The anti-Chavez rally marched to the National Electoral Council, where they handed in 2 million signatures demanding a referendum. National Guard troops in riot gear formed a security cordon as opposition officials carried boxes of signatures into the building.
    Outside, hundreds of the populist president's sympathizers blocked streets near the National Electoral Council, hurling rocks, bottles and firecrackers. They were trying to block the presentation of the petition calling for the referendum.
    The clashes erupted just hours before Cesar Gaviria, the secretary-general of the Organization of American States, arrived in his latest bid to broker reconciliation talks in the deeply divided South American nation.
    The OAS chief remained upbeat about the prospects for talks.
    "I am going to be working with the government and with the opposition as well as the democratic coordinator with my sights on working out the details of the dialogue that we hope to initiate during this week."
    The President of Workers Confederation Carlos Ortega was less optimistic, and addressed a warning to the government.
    "If the government persists on maintaining this attitude, this position or this line of conduct, they will have to contend with the democratic society of Venezuela who will, over these next few days, call for a great, national, indefinite strike. This is not a threat, it is a warning for the government," Ortega said.
    Calls for a referendum and early elections have become the latest focus in the political battle that has rattled the world's fifth-largest oil exporter since April when Chavez survived a brief coup.
    Officials need 30 days to verify the opposition signatures and could authorize a referendum in another 60 days.
    Although the outcome of such a referendum would be consultative and non-binding, opposition leaders hope to gain leverage with a decisive rejection of Chavez's policies that they say are destroying the economy and pushing the nation toward Cuba-style communism.
    Chavez, an outspoken former paratrooper who faces fierce resistance to his self-styled revolution, insists the constitution only allows a referendum on his mandate in August next year, halfway through his term ending in 2007 and he refuses to step down.
    But his foes, an alliance of political parties, business leaders and rebel military officers, are determined to press for a vote within the next two months and have threatened to stage a national strike if officials reject a referendum.
    Chavez on Sunday dismissed the opposition challenge and warned his opponents they would need to wait until next year for a binding referendum or reform the constitution to allow early elections.
    Since April's short-lived uprising against Chavez, fears of a new upheaval have been inflamed by frequent protest marches, a 12-hour strike and a recent call by a group of rebel military officers for popular resistance against the president.
    Chavez, who himself led a botched coup six years before his election victory in 1998, had tapped into the nation's frustration with poverty and corruption. But nearly four years later his popularity has plummeted as his opponents accuse him of dictatorial rule and blame his interventionist reforms for Venezuela's sharp recession.
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