VENEZUELA: AUTHORITIES DETAIN ANOTHER GOVERNMENT SUPPORTER AFTER OPPOSITION GROUPS ATTACKED HIM FOR CARRYING A HANDGUN
Record ID:
645715
VENEZUELA: AUTHORITIES DETAIN ANOTHER GOVERNMENT SUPPORTER AFTER OPPOSITION GROUPS ATTACKED HIM FOR CARRYING A HANDGUN
- Title: VENEZUELA: AUTHORITIES DETAIN ANOTHER GOVERNMENT SUPPORTER AFTER OPPOSITION GROUPS ATTACKED HIM FOR CARRYING A HANDGUN
- Date: 9th December 2002
- Summary: (U7) CARACAS, VENEZUELA (DECEMBER 07, 2002) (REUTERS) SOUNDBITE (Spanish) PRESIDENT HUGO CHAVEZ SAYING "If the intentions to continue the strike increments, that will obviously have an effect on the exportation of oil to our international clients and we are putting forth all of our efforts to avoid this which will also affect the price of oil."
- Embargoed: 24th December 2002 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: CARACAS AND MARACAIBO, VENEZUELA
- Country: Venezuela
- Topics: Crime,General,Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA2MG5PJN1S1H0HC2C59R9TKNZC
- Story Text: Venezuelan authorities have detained yet another government supporter after opposition groups, gathered in a Caracas square, attacked him for carrying a handgun one day after a lone shooter killed at least three people and injured over 20 others.
Meanwhile, Venezuelan soldiers have taken over an oil tanker from its rebel crew as opposition groups vowed to continue a general strike that has crippled the world's No. 5 petroleum exporter.
Tensions continued to mount on Saturday (December 7, 2002) in Venezuela as authorities struggled to keep a tight control over a group of strikers gathered in Caracas' affluent Altamira square after a shoot-out late Friday left at least three people dead.
Venezuelan police arrested another government supporter after groups of opponents of embattled leftist President Hugo Chavez tried to beat him for carrying a handgun. Earlier, authorities arrested two other government supporters who brandished a gun in the square where opposition groups and dissident military officers have been demanding Chavez's resignation.
On Saturday, government troops seized an oil tanker from its rebel crew as opposition leaders threatened to prolong indefinitely a crippling strike in the world's No. 5 oil exporter.
The military take-over of the tanker Pilin Leon, which had become a symbol of the escalating protest against Chavez, stoked tensions in the oil industry, whose exports have virtually ground to a halt during a general strike now in its sixth day.
Foes of Chavez, who is resisting the strikers' demands to hold early elections, declared the strike indefinite after the shootings on Friday night fired by at least one gunman.
Opposition leaders blamed the president for the shootings.
Seven suspects have been arrested.
Chavez, who survived a brief coup in April, rejected the opposition accusations, dismissed the strike as a failure and accused his foes of trying to overthrow the government.
"If the intentions to continue the strike increments, that will obviously have an effect on the exportation of oil to our international clients and we are putting forth all of our efforts to avoid this which, by the way, will also affect the price of oil," he told foreign correspondents.
Chavez added he was evaluating what measures to take.
Declaring a state of emergency was a possibility, he said, The strikers, backed by Venezuela's upper and middle classes, call Chavez a dictator and want him to agree to a referendum on his rule in February or an early election. He says the constitution rules out a referendum before August and has accused the opposition of trying to stage a repeat of the April coup.
Peace talks on the election issue, brokered by Organization of American States Secretary General Cesar Gaviria, had broken down. But the president said government representatives would return to the negotiating table Saturday.
The United States, worried about the disruption in one of its leading oil suppliers as it contemplates war with Iraq, expressed concern about the Venezuelan violence. U.S.
Secretary of State Colin Powell called Gaviria Saturday to back his peace efforts, U.S. ambassador to Caracas Charles Shapiro said.
Local television showed heavily armed troops deploying from a naval launch onto the tanker Pilin Leon , whose action to back the strike on Wednesday helped trigger a port bottleneck in the western oil and shipping hub of Lake Maracaibo.
Other tankers followed the example of the Pilin Leon, paralysing oil loading and unloading. Chavez condemned their actions as "piracy" and ordered the military to seize them.
Meanwhile, thousands of government supporters, many wearing red berets and chanting "Chavez, Chavez", rallied Saturday outside the presidential palace in downtown Caracas in a show of support for the beleaguered president. Patriotic music blared and firecrackers exploded in the sky.
Chavez's self-styled "revolution" in favour of the poor has split the oil-rich nation along class and political lines.
In east Caracas, thousands of opposition supporters, many wearing black to mourn for the victims of Friday's shootings, marched in silence to demand Chavez quit and hold early elections.
As the strike hit the petroleum sector, world oil markets have shuddered at Venezuela's sudden oil drought as the United States, which takes 13 percent of its daily oil imports from the South American nation, contemplates war with Iraq.
After Friday's shootings, dissident military officers called on the armed forces to rise up against the president.
It was a series of fatal shootings in April, also following a general strike hitting oil exports, that triggered a short-lived military coup against Chavez by rebel officers.
He was later restored by loyal troops and supporters.
The armed forces have since appeared restless but there has been no clear sign of shifting barracks' allegiances that could endanger the president.
Chavez, whose populist policies infuriate rich Venezuelans but has won him support from the poor majority, was elected in 1998, six years after being jailed for a coup attempt.
Oil provides 80 percent of exports and 50 percent of government revenues in a country already in steep recession. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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