VENEZUELA: VENEZUELANS SIGN PETITION REQUESTING REFERENDUM ON PRESIDENT'S CHAVEZ'S RULE

Record ID: 648603

  • Title: VENEZUELA: VENEZUELANS SIGN PETITION REQUESTING REFERENDUM ON PRESIDENT'S CHAVEZ'S RULE
  • Date: 28th November 2003
  • Summary: (EU) CARACAS, VENEZUELA (NOVEMBER 28, 2003) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. VARIOUS OF SECURITY ON THE STREET 0.18 2. VARIOUS OF PEOPLE STANDING IN LINE TO SIGN 0.30 3. VARIOUS OF PEOPLE SIGNING 0.49 4. SLV SECURITY AMONG PEOPLE WAITING TO SIGN 0.51 5. CLOSE OF MAN SIGNING 0.59 6. SCU CAMERA MAN/ MEDIA 1.02 7. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) SECRETARY GENERAL OF WORKERS UNION MANUEL COVA SAYING: "The reports we are receiving is that people are turning out in large numbers to sign for Venezuela and for the future of all Venezuelans. All without fear, without inconvenience because this is a happy occasion -- happy, enthusiastic and democratic." 1.20 8. GENERAL VIEW OF PEOPLE STANDING IN LINE 1.26 9. SLV PEOPLE SIGNING, SECURITY ON THE STREET 1.32 10. VARIOUS OF PEOPLE SIGNING NAMES AND FINGERPRINTS 1.44 11. SLV PEOPLE STANDING IN LINE, CHEERING, CHANTING 1.51 12. VARIOUS MORE OF PEOPLE REGISTERING, DETAILS BEING CHECKED ON LAPTOP COMPUTERS 2.02 13. CLOSE OF IDENTITY CARD DETAILS BEING TAKEN 2.07 14. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) MEMBER OF NEGOTIATING COMMITTEE TIMOTEO SAMBRANO SAYING: "The democratic society is here activating this mechanism that will vindicate us. Today all citizens have the responsibility, to finish on these tables, the tables of petitions, what we began on the negotiation tables." 2.23 15. VARIOUS OF PEOPLE WAITING TO SIGN/GOING THROUGH GATE 2.33 16. WIDE OF PEOPLE WAITING TO SIGN 2.41 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 13th December 2003 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: CARACAS, VENEZUELA
  • Country: Venezuela
  • Reuters ID: LVAE3WU9IZBG05KF6YBS44CQ3JAO
  • Story Text: Venezuelans turn out early to sign petition
    requesting a referendum on President Hugo Chavez's rule.




    Opponents of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez turned
    out early and in enthusiastic numbers on Friday (November
    28) to sign a petition requesting a referendum to try to
    end the leftist leader's rule.

    Long lines of voters, some chanting "Freedom, Freedom"
    or singing the national anthem, formed outside many of the
    nearly 2,700 signing centres across the oil-rich country to
    take part in the four-day opposition signature drive.

    A broad but splintered opposition alliance is seeking
    to gather the minimum 2.4 million signatures needed to
    trigger a vote against the former army officer whose
    critics say is steadily turning Venezuela into a communist
    tyranny.

    Protected by troops in full combat gear, more than 200
    petitioners gathered at La Candelaria and similar crowds
    formed at other signing centres in the capital.

    Cars honking their horns and flying national flags
    drove through the streets to support the signature drive
    against the populist president, who has ruled since 1998.

    After two years of conflict, opposition leaders believe
    their referendum campaign will succeed in ousting Chavez at
    the ballot box. A short-lived coup last year, followed by a
    crippling two-month oil strike, failed to topple him.

    When the four-day campaign ends on Monday (December 1),
    electoral authorities will have a month to verify the
    pro-referendum signatures and if the required number is
    achieved, they will set a date for a vote, probably in
    April 2004.

    Around 50 international observers are monitoring the
    opposition signature campaign, which is also seeking to
    recall more than 30 pro-Chavez parliamentarians.

    Former paratrooper Chavez has scoffed at his opponents'
    challenge, saying their chances of voting him out are
    "almost zero". Polls show two-thirds of Venezuelans would
    vote against him in a referendum though he dismisses the
    surveys as biased.

    The president has urged his supporters to be alert for
    possible fraud, but he instructed them to let the signing
    drive go ahead peacefully. Opposition leaders fear Chavez
    supporters may try to disrupt the pro-referendum campaign
    with violence,
    As a deep recession has increased inflation and
    unemployment, Chavez has seen his support wither since he
    won a landslide 1998 election and was re-elected in
    mid-2000.

    Still, a creeping economic recovery and increased state
    social spending have helped shore up his support,
    especially in the sprawling shanty towns that ring Caracas
    and other cities.

    Six years after leading a botched coup as a young army
    paratrooper, Chavez was elected promising to improve the
    lives of Venezuela's impoverished majority.

    But his foes say his revolutionary reforms, such as
    cheap credits and land redistribution, are ruining the
    economy. Chavez dismisses his opponents as rich, resentful
    elite.

    A government signature campaign last weekend seeking
    referendums on opposition parliamentarians went ahead
    without problems. But it failed to draw massive visible
    support.



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