VENEZUELA: THOUSANDS OF OPPOSITION SUPPORTERS MARCH THROUGH CARACAS TO PROTEST AGAINST DELAYS IN REFERDUM PROCESS

Record ID: 647015

  • Title: VENEZUELA: THOUSANDS OF OPPOSITION SUPPORTERS MARCH THROUGH CARACAS TO PROTEST AGAINST DELAYS IN REFERDUM PROCESS
  • Date: 14th February 2004
  • Summary: (W6) CARACAS, VENEZUELA (FEBRUARY 14, 2004) (REUTERS) 1. VARIOUS OF NATIONAL GUARD OUTSIDE NATIONAL ELECTORAL COUNCIL (CNE) (2 SHOTS) 0.13 2. NATIONAL GUARD ASKING FOR IDENTIFICATION OUTSIDE CNE 0.18 3. CU: RIFLE, ZOOM IN TO NATIONAL GUARD IN RIOT GEAR 0.27 4. VARIOUS OF SUPPORTERS OF PRESIDENT HUGO CHAVEZ OUTSIDE CNE (3 SHOTS) 0.40 5. (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) CHAVEZ SUPPORTER, COMMANDANT LINA RON, SAYING: "The same oligarchy that has always stepped on, supported by the gringos (United States), are Fascists mercenary that want to level Caracas today and want to knock down the Venezuelan government." 0.51 6. VARIOUS OF OPPOSITION SUPPORTERS MARCHING (7 SHOTS) 1.35 7. OPPOSITION SUPPORTERS MARCHING BY COFFIN REPRESENTING VENEZUELAN CONSTITUTION 1.42 8. (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) OPPOSITION GOVERNOR OF MIRANDA STATE, ENRIQUE MENDOZA, SAYING: "What we want today is a demonstration before the eyes of the world of the strength and will of citizens that for many, many weeks participated in the process of collecting signatures for the referendum." 2.03 9. VARIOUS OF OPPOSITION SUPPORTERS AND WOMEN WEARING SIGNATURE T-SHIRTS (2 SHOTS) 2.14 10. BACK VIEW: WOMAN WEARING SHIRTS WITH AMOUNT OF SIGNATURES COLLECTED (3,448,747) WRITTEN ON THEM 2.18 11. VARIOUS OF OPPOSITION SUPPORTERS (3 SHOTS) 2.36 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 29th February 2004 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: CARACAS, VENEZUELA
  • Country: Venezuela
  • Reuters ID: LVA5CD6HIFGBBWHEUF3URJNJDLKV
  • Story Text: Thousands of opposition supporters protest delays
    in referendum process.


    Tens of thousands of opponents of President Hugo
    Chavez marched through Caracas Saturday (February 14) to
    step up pressure on electoral authorities to accept their
    petition for a referendum against the leftist leader.

    Waving flags, banners and copies of their petition
    signatures, crowds of protesters streamed along highways
    through the capital to demand the National Electoral
    Council allow them to challenge Chavez at the ballot box
    this year.

    Opposition leaders fear Chavez sympathizers in the
    council are trying to scuttle their referendum campaign in
    the latest bitter political battle over the five-year rule
    of the former army paratrooper.

    "What we want today is a demonstration before the eyes
    of the world of the strength and will of citizens that for
    many, many weeks participated in the process of collecting
    signatures for the referendum," said opposition governor,
    Enrique Mendoza.

    Several thousand National Guard troops backed by
    armoured vehicles along the route kept opposition
    protesters away from pockets of jeering Chavez
    sympathizers. A huge popular market set up by the
    government blocked the march route to the council
    headquarters in downtown Caracas.

    After two years of conflict over the Chavez government,
    the opposition now hopes to vote out the charismatic
    populist who they portray as a would-be dictator bent on
    turning Venezuela into a Cuba-style communist state.

    Chavez has battled increasing opposition to self-styled
    revolution for the poor after surviving a brief coup in
    2002. But he says most Venezuelans back his social reforms
    aimed at more fairly distributing the nation's huge oil
    wealth.

    The National Electoral Council has said it will
    announce on Feb. 29 whether the opposition handed in the
    2.4 million valid signatures required to call a
    presidential referendum.

    A referendum could be held around May if the council
    decides to allow a vote. The opposition says it collected
    3.4 million signatures.

    But setbacks in the verification process and
    accusations of fraud inside the council have stirred fears
    of fresh political violence in the world's No. 5 oil
    exporter, a leading supplier of petroleum and gasoline to
    the United States.

    Hardening his position, Chavez vowed Friday (February
    13) he would go to the supreme court to challenge any
    ruling by electoral authorities to allow a referendum. He
    says the opposition petition is tainted by tens of
    thousands of forged signatures.

    International observers, who are monitoring the
    verification, have reported technical delays due to the
    complexity of the checks and the heavy workload. But they
    have so far not supported claims of massive fraud.

    The United States and Brazil have backed international
    efforts led by the Organization of American States to forge
    an agreement between the government and the opposition to
    break the country's tense political standoff.



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