OAS Envoy Arrives in Caracas

Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit


[OAS envoy visits Venezuela and affirms support for Constitutional
government, but pokes around and visits reactionary Catholic Church
leaders.  Bolivia announces they've got 10 coup plotters seeking
protection.]

The New York Times - April 17, 2002
http://www.nytimes.com/

O.A.S. Reaffirms Support for Venezuelan

by Juan Forero

CARACAS, Venezuela, April 16 - César Gaviria, the secretary general
of the Organization of American States, called on Venezuelans today
to find ways to "express dissent constitutionally," and he reaffirmed
his support for President Hugo Chávez as the country's legitimate
elected leader.

"For the countries represented in the Organization of American
States, the constitutional government is the one of President
Chávez," Mr. Gaviria said after meeting with the president. He called
for healing of the deep rift between opponents of Mr. Chávez and
supporters.

Mr. Gaviria is here on a fact-finding mission aimed at clarifying the
events that led to Mr. Chávez's 48-hour ouster from power last
weekend by an opposition movement headed by business executives,
labor leaders and dissident military officers. The short-lived ouster
was swiftly and strongly condemned by Latin American leaders.

Although Mr. Chávez, since he was returned by supporters to power
Sunday, has reached out to the opposition with gestures of peace,
fear prevailed among some of his political adversaries.

This afternoon the Bolivian ambassador, Ricardo Pelchi, announced
that 10 Venezuelans were seeking asylum at his embassy. One was a
former air force colonel, Pedro Soto, who spoke out against Mr.
Chávez in February, a family member of Mr. Soto confirmed. It was
unclear if there were other active or former military officers among
the other asylum seekers.

The ambassador did not provide details about the asylum seekers, or
discuss their cases. He would only confirm that they had sought
political asylum, claiming that their safety was in danger.

A leading police official, Ivan Simonovis, the secretary of public
security for Caracas, warned that the government might be embarking
on a witch hunt aimed at shifting blame to opponents of Mr. Chávez
for deaths during the turmoil last week. At least 14 antigovernment
protesters were killed during demonstrations on Thursday, provoking a
rebellion by some officers against Mr. Chávez.

In the last two days, several government ministers and politicians
close to Mr. Chávez have asserted to reporters that officers of the
Caracas public security service were responsible for the violence.
Their comments appeared aimed directly at Alfredo Peńa, the Caracas
mayor and a vocal opponent of the president.

Oscar Arape, a councilman in the district of Libertador, a swath of
Caracas loyal to the president, charged, "There were shooters from
the police who were tied with Ivan Simonovis."

In an interview, Mr. Simonovis said such comments were intended to
pressure him to step down. The pressure is at odds, he said, with Mr.
Chávez's conciliatory words since he returned to power, which the
president said were aimed at mending the polarization between his
supporters, many of whom come from the poorer classes, and his
opponents.

The government has contended that it must investigate who took part
in what Mr. Chávez has called a conspiracy to oust him.

Although members of the interim government that replaced Mr. Chávez
briefly were detained, all have been released from custody. Pedro
Carmona Estanga, who was declared interim president, was under house
arrest as the government embarked on an investigation that could lead
to criminal charges. The government is also holding up to 80 soldiers
and officers, said Diosdado Cabello, the vice president.

Mr. Gaviria did not publicly address those issues today.

But it was clear that by meeting with high church officials,
representatives of the news media and nongovernmental organizations,
Mr. Gaviria was also seeking input from various sectors of Venezuelan
society. In his three years in office, Mr. Chávez has alienated many
people in those institutions, as well as in the upper and middle
classes, with his populist oratory and leftist policies.

Some opposition leaders demanded that the president call elections to
decide whether he would continue in office. Rafael Marin, the
secretary general of the Democratic Action Party, blamed Mr. Chávez
for the killings of protesters and said his party does not accept him
as a legitimate head of state.

Many others expressed deep doubts today that Mr. Chávez was sincere
about improving his relations with their movements. "The president
says he committed errors and he's going to rectify, but he has to
turn those words into actions," said Carlos Fernandez, the head of
Fedecámaras, the powerful business group Mr. Carmona used to run. "He
has to change. He has to open space for others."

However, Mr. Chávez received favorable words from a leading Roman
Catholic prelate, Cardinal Ignacio Velazco, who said the president
told him he had learned from the attempt to drive him from power.

"He promised me that for the good of the country, he was going to
rectify many things and lead the nation in a different way so it
would be calm and peaceful," Cardinal Velazco said on Venezuelan
television.

Mr. Gaviria, a former Colombian president, will return to Washington
on Wednesday and present his findings on Thursday to a special
session of the organization's General Assembly, which is made up of
foreign ministers from member countries. A resolution from the
hemispheric body said the findings would help ensure "that episodes
like what we saw in recent days are not repeated in Venezuela."

The United States has supported Mr. Gaviria's mission, part of an
attempt to repair its image in the hemisphere, after the Bush
administration hastily blamed Mr. Chávez for his own toppling. The
American Embassy here today offered staff members and dependents
airfare to return home, calling the situation "volatile and
unpredictable." The State Department also issued a travel warning to
Americans.

Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company
 
=================================================================
  NY Transfer News Collective   *   A Service of Blythe Systems 
           Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us          
              339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012             
  http://www.blythe.org                  e-mail: nyt@blythe.org 
=================================================================
 
nytcari-04.17.02-15:34:05-21522