AFP: Venezuela's Chavez warns he could get tough with strikers Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit source - Jose G. Perez Venezuela's Chavez warns he could get tough with strikers by Jorge Calmet CARACAS, Dec 9 (AFP) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez warned Sunday that he would not hesitate to get tough if necessary, the day before a planned 12 hour national strike backed by both the business and labor communities. "I have decided to maintain a truly democratic stance ... if an extreme situation develops, if the leadership, this privileged minority, try to alter the democratic process, I will have no choice but to come down hard ... I won't hesitate," the president warned in his weekly radio address. But, he said, first "we need to be an example of tolerance." Chavez spoke on the eve of the planned strike, called to protest his economic policies. In turn, Chavez has called on his supporters to hit the streets in a dueling protest. This is the first time a Venezuelan president has squared off against both labor and business since Marcos Perez Jimenez was deposed in 1958. Chavez gained notoriety when he led an unsuccessful coup in 1992 against President Carlos Andres Perez and what Chavez calls Venezuela's corrupt oligarchy. Now it is Chavez who is refuting rumors of a coup. "There won't be any coup here," said Chavez. "I know the army like the back of my hand." However, in what could become historic irony, Perez has offered himself as a possible candidate to head an interim government should Chavez be deposed. The United States is not pleased with Chavez either -- his warm relationship with Cuban President Fidel Castro and his criticism of the US bombing campaign in Afghanistan have riled policymakers in Washington. The State Department issued a travel warning for Americans in Venezuela. The country of 23 million was, until recently, the largest supplier of oil to the United States and the largest oil producer in Latin America. However, oil has not kept the Venezuelan economy afloat. Business and labor leaders are up in arms over the economy that has flagged under Chavez, and more specifically, over 49 laws covering land reform, fishing and energy reserves that Chavez decreed without consulting the business community or Congress. Chavez met with industry leaders Thursday in an effort to defuse the strike, but he did not meet with strike leaders. Instead, he called for unity within his civic-military alliance and denounced "those who break off dialogue." "Let's correct our errors and continue the dialogue, despite our differences. I don't ask anyone to abandon his principles," said Chavez. "Good intentions are not enough," declared Pedro Carmona, president of the Federation of Chambers of Commerce, FEDECAMARAS, which is leading the strike effort. "Only tangible and convincing expressions of a will to straighten this out will do." Business and labor want Chavez to repeal some of the 49 decrees or submit them to debate in Congress, where Chavez's movement holds a majority -- which has not as yet happened. The movement has pushed through constitutional reform and promised to defeat the power of corrupt politicians and Venezuela's oligarchy. However, Chavez's star has faded since he ran against Venezuela's political and economic elite, winning 56 percent of the vote over conservative Henrique Salas Rommer in 1998. The populist Chavez has never counted on industrialists. But on Monday, Chavez's populist "Bolivarian Revolution" will likely confront not just the umbrella organization of chambers of commerce, but also the Venezuelan labor federation, CTV, which represents 1.3 million public employees. Chavez will likely face homemakers banging their empty pots and drivers blowing their horns in a confrontation over Venezuela's future. ================================================================= 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 ================================================================= nytsa-12.11.01-05:10:34-2668