Posted on 3-3-2004

Venezuela Panel Rules on Chavez Recall

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - Venezuela's elections council ruled Tuesday that the opposition lacked enough signatures to force a recall referendum against President Hugo Chavez. Even before the ruling, anti-government rioting surged in at least 11 cities.

Chavez opponents say they submitted more than 3.4 million signatures. Some 2.4 million are needed for a recall election.

But council President Francisco Carrasquero announced that just 1.83 million signatures were valid. Another 876,016 signatures may be valid - if citizens confirm that they indeed signed the petition, Carrasquero said.

The council said that voters whose signatures were under dispute would have between March 18 and March 22 to report to voting centers to confirm that they indeed had signed the petition.

Venezuela's opposition claims that such a monumental task, involving hundreds of thousands of citizens, could indefinitely postpone the referendum or derail it entirely.

Even before the announcement, protests surged as the opposition anticipated the result. National guard troops in armored personnel carriers rolled through several cities as demonstrators burned tires and hurled rocks and gasoline bombs at soldiers. Sporadic gunfire was heard for a second straight night in Caracas.

Protests were reported in at least 10 other cities, including the industrial centers of Valencia and Barquisimeto and the western oil city of Maracaibo.

Many opposition leaders had said they would not accept a decision requiring voters to confirm their signatures. The measure was allegedly not included in rules established for the verification process, they said.

Opposition lawmaker Julio Borges protested the decision and called for more protests while insisting that ``Venezuela doesn't have a thirst for blood. Venezuela is hungry to vote.''

He claimed that 200,000 signatures were unaccounted for in the council's declaration.

Chavez's foes have been blocking traffic throughout Caracas since Friday to protest what they view as a government plot to derail the referendum - their last chance of legally ousting Chavez before the next elections in 2006.

At least one person has been killed and 60 wounded since Friday. Dozens have been arrested.

Venezuelans had been waiting since Sunday for the council to release its findings.

The opposition tried to dislodge Chavez, a populist leftist first elected in 1998, through a shortlived coup in 2002 and a general strike that dragged on for two months last year.

Prodded by the Organization of American States and the U.S.-based Carter Center, the government and the opposition agreed in May on ground rules for an eventual recall referendum.

The petitions were delivered in December. But electoral authorities continue to delay an announcement on whether the recall effort can go ahead.

If Chavez loses in a referendum held before mid-August, the midway point for his term, new presidential elections must be held. But if he loses in a vote held after mid-August, Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel would take over for the rest of his term.

Opponents fear if that happens, Chavez would merely rule behind his right-hand man for the rest of his term, which ends in January 2007.

The opposition charges the elections council belatedly changed the rules to disqualify hundreds of thousands of signatures. The council says observers were told not to allow voters to simply sign already filled-out forms. But thousands of signatures were delivered that way.

After Tuesday's decision, the OAS and Carter Center - which have said they saw no evidence of fraud - insisted they would stay involved in the electoral process to ensure everyone who signed for the referendum will have their signature count.

Despite ``some discrepancies'' with the council decision, especially over placing the burden of proof on citizens being asked to confirm their signatures, the OAS and Carter Center will insist on ``an electoral solution'' to Venezuela's political crisis, said OAS delegate Fernando Jaramillo.

The two groups also issued an ``urgent'' appeal for an end to the violence.

The OAS, Carter Center, Argentina, Brazil and other countries have urged Venezuelan authorities to overlook glitches and respect the apparent will of voters. Chavez - re-elected to a six-year term in 2000 - rejects their pleas as foreign interference and insists the petition is ridden with fraud.

Defense Minister Gen. Jorge Carneiro insisted his troops will restore order if necessary in areas where protests have been strongest - especially eastern Caracas, an anti-Chavez stronghold.

Chavez's government urged opposition mayors to stop rioting by deploying their police forces.

``It's amazing to see how some mayors are allowing the destruction of their own municipalities, private property and streets and their citizens' security,'' said Vice Security Minister Carlos Valter Bettid.

Protests forced private banks to shut 20 branch offices; prevented garbage collection; caused traffic jams and hampered transit by emergency vehicles. For a second day, thousands were unable to get to work.

The government published full-page newspaper ads Tuesday declaring that ``violence is the shortest path to losing everything.''

Opposition labor leader Manuel Cova countered: ``Today they might steal our signatures. Tomorrow they might steal our votes.''