VENEZUELA: PRO-CHAVEZ SUPPORTERS PROTESTING AGAINST ONGOING TALKS BETWEEN GOVERNMENT AND OPPOSITION FORCES CLASH WITH POLICE ON STREETS OF CARACUS

Record ID: 647699

  • Title: VENEZUELA: PRO-CHAVEZ SUPPORTERS PROTESTING AGAINST ONGOING TALKS BETWEEN GOVERNMENT AND OPPOSITION FORCES CLASH WITH POLICE ON STREETS OF CARACUS
  • Date: 12th November 2002
  • Summary: (U7) CARACAS, VENEZUELA (NOVEMBER 12, 2002) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. VARIOUS OF PRO-CHAVEZ DEMONSTRATORS YELLING ON THE STREETS OF CARACAS (4 SHOTS) 0.24 2. SV: POLICE GUARDING STREETS 0.30 3. SCU: (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) POLICE SUPERINTENDENT EMIGIO DELGADO, SAYING: "The Chavez supporters got close and what I'm trying to do is get them to pull back in a peaceful manner without incident so that those meeting can exit from the mayor's office." 0.42 4. VARIOUS OF CITY POLICE THROWING TEAR GAS AT PRO-CHAVEZ DEMONSTRATORS (3 SHOTS) 0.56 5. SV: POLICE OFFICER CLEARING PEOPLE OUT OF NEARBY STORE 1.01 6. VARIOUS OF POLICE ON THE GROUND, PROTECTING THEMSELVES FROM PROTESTERS (3 SHOTS) 1.13 7. VARIOUS OF POLICE THROWING TEAR GAS AND FIRING RUBBER BULLETS/ PROTESTERS THOWING ROCKS (2 SHOTS) 1.38 8. LV: DEMONSTRATORS THROWING ROCKS 1.43 9. MV/SLV: POLICE FIRING RUBBER BULLETS AT PROTESTERS (2 SHOTS) 1.53 10. SV: PEOPLE EXITING A SMALL RESTAURANT ACROSS THE STREET FROM MAYOR'S OFFICE 2.01 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 27th November 2002 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: CARACAS, VENEZUELA
  • Country: Venezuela
  • Reuters ID: LVA937HRJUWCDSCZDU3GBDCE427W
  • Story Text: Pro-Chavez demonstrators have clashed with police in
    the streets of Caracas, Venezuela, as they protested meetings
    between the government and opposition forces aimed at reaching
    a peaceful resolution to the ongoing conflict.


    Venezuelan police on Tuesday (November 12) came under
    fire in clashes with hard-line backers of populist President
    Hugo Chavez shortly before his government and the opposition
    began a third day of talks aimed at ending their bitter feud.

    Police fired tear gas and shotgun pellets as they fought
    running battles in the streets of central Caracas with
    supporters of the leftist president who blocked entrances to
    the office of the city's Mayor Alfredo Pena, a diehard Chavez
    foe.

    "The Chavez supporters got close and what I'm trying to do
    is get them to pull back in a peaceful manner without incident
    so that those meeting can exit from the mayor's office," said
    police superintendent Emigio Delgado.

    The street violence broke out hours before Organization of
    American States Secretary General Cesar Gaviria was due to sit
    down for talks with representatives of the government and the
    opposition groups to broker a solution to the country's
    long-running political conflict.

    Mayor Pena, whose office has been attacked frequently by
    pro-Chavez demonstrators, accused the government of trying to
    sabotage the peace talks. The opposition has also criticized
    Chavez for losing control of radical elements among his
    supporters.

    Chavez has accused foes such as Pena of plotting to
    overthrow his government.

    Clouds of tear gas choked the streets around the mayor's
    office as shopkeepers slammed down their shutters and police
    -- some carrying small children -- hustled passersby out of
    the line of fire.

    Opposition leaders had been holding a meeting inside Pena's
    office when the violence erupted.

    Seven months after Chavez survived a short-lived coup by
    rebel military officers, the president and his foes are locked
    in a fierce political struggle over his rule. Frequent street
    clashes, massive protests and rumblings of discontent within
    the armed forces have rattled the world's fifth largest oil
    exporter since the uprising in April.

    OAS chief Gaviria last week brought the government and
    opposition to the negotiating table for the first serious
    talks since the April 11-14 rebellion, during which more than
    60 people were killed in street clashes. But the negotiations
    have been overshadowed by sharp differences over the timing
    and form of a vote on the president's mandate.

    Opposition leaders, who accuse Chavez of leading the
    country into economic ruin and toward Cuban-style communism,
    have demanded an immediate referendum on his rule.

    But the tenacious Venezuelan leader, elected in 1998 on a
    platform of social reform, refuses to step down. He insists
    that the Constitution only guarantees a binding referendum on
    his rule in August 2003, or halfway through his current term.

    While his popularity has slumped, Chavez claims he
    maintains strong support for his self-styled revolution, which
    he says is acting against the inequalities in Venezuelan
    society and the corruption that marred previous governments.


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