Venezuelan military forces President Hugo Chavez to resign after a day of bloodshed

 


Author:     JORGE RUEDA

  CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - President Hugo Chavez, whose social 
and economic policies polarized Venezuela and whose friendship 
with Cuba irritated the United States, resigned under military 
pressure Friday after a massive opposition demonstration ended 
in a bloodbath.

  Chavez, 47, presented his resignation to the military after top 
commanders confronted him at the presidential palace. He left 
the palace before dawn- wearing military fatigues and red beret, 
as he did when he led a failed 1992 coup - and was put in 
detention at Caracas' Fort Tiuna army base.

  He quit just hours after at least 13 people were killed and a 
reported 110 wounded during a demonstration by an estimated 
150,000 opposition supporters in downtown Caracas.

  Military officers said Chavez had ordered National Guard troops 
and civilian gunmen, including rooftop snipers, to stop the 
marchers from reaching the palace.

  The gigantic demonstration in Caracas late Thursday was the 
culmination of a strike called by the one-million-member 
Venezuelan Workers Confederation and the business association 
Fedecamaras. The strike was in support of the protesting 
executives at the state oil company, Petroleos de Venezuela.

  Opposition to Chavez's three-year presidency had been growing 
for some time. His one-time 80 per cent popularity ratings 
plunged to below 30 per cent this year. He accused business 
leaders of conspiring with major labour groups, the news media 
and the Roman Catholic hierarchy to overthrow him.

  The armed forces - which have traditionally strong ties to the 
U.S. military - resented Chavez's distancing of Venezuela from 
Washington, including a decision to suspend Venezuela's 
participation in regional military exercises.

  Many also resented Chavez's alleged ties with leftist Colombian 
guerrillas and with Fidel Castro's Cuba. A number of senior 
officers in the Venezuelan military had fought Cuban-backed 
communist guerrillas in the 1960s and early 1970s.

  With Chavez's ouster, jubilant executives at Venezuela's state 
oil monopoly, who had been engaged in a work slowdown, promised 
to bring production and exports up to speed as quickly as 
possible. Venezuela is the No. 3 supplier of oil to the United 
States and the world's fourth-biggest exporter.

  Oil prices dipped on news of Chavez' downfall, amid expectations 
of a production increase. Oil markets have been concerned over 
supply after Iraq's decision this week to suspend exports to 
Israeli allies.

  In London, Brent crude oil opened 44 cents down from Thursday at 
$24.60 US a barrel. In New York, May contracts of light sweet 
U.S. crude fell 46 cents a barrel to $24.53 US.

  Pedro Carmona, head of Venezuela's largest business association, 
announced he would head a transitional government to be 
installed later Friday.

  Chavez was being held at the army base while investigators 
decide what charges he could face, said army commander Gen. 
Efrain Vasquez Velasco.

  Chavez asked to be allowed to go into exile in Cuba, but the 
military turned him down, army Gen. Roman Fuemayor told 
Globovision television.

  
"He has to be held accountable to his country," Fuemayor said.

  In downtown Caracas, streets were littered with debris - and in 
some places, stained with blood. Shops and businesses remained 
closed, and most people simply stayed home, stunned and 
wondering what would come next. Buses were half-empty, and those 
reporting to work hurried amidst rubble-strewn sidewalks.

  Thousands of coup supporters celebrated overnight, waving flags, 
blowing whistles and jamming a main highway in Caracas.

  Police warned that Chavez supporters reportedly were 
distributing weapons, especially in the hillside slums 
surrounding the capital. Officers raided storehouses, seizing 
dozens of firearms.

  Chavez remains widely popular among Venezuela's poor, a large 
percentage of the population.

  "I urge Venezuelans to maintain calm, to keep faith, to continue 
working on the road toward democracy, freedom and peace," said 
retired Gen. Guaicaipuro Lameda, who until February headed the 
oil company and was a leader of the movement to oust Chavez.

  The Bush administration said it was closely monitoring the 
political upheaval in Venezuela. "Our interests are in democracy 
and democratic institutions," said a senior U.S. official 
travelling with U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell in 
Jerusalem.

  The wave of protests marked the end for a president whose rule 
had been a stormy one.

  Chavez had irritated Washington with his close ties to Cuban 
President Fidel Castro, visits to Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein 
and to Libya, and criticism of U.S. bombings in Afghanistan.

  And he had alienated many sectors of Venezuelan society, with 
his attacks on the news media and Roman Catholic Church leaders, 
his refusal to consult with business leaders, and his failed 
attempt to assert government control over labour groups.

  Chavez's government also inherited a staggering $21 billion US 
in back wages and pensions owed workers by previous 
administrations - a debt he was unable to pay.

  Domestic opponents claimed his government was secretly arming 
neighbourhood block committees known as Bolivarian Circles, 
named after South American liberator Simon Bolivar, to defend 
his revolution. The circles were created after Castro urged 
Chavez's supporters to organize during a 2000 visit.

  Chavez also exasperated Venezuelans with his frequent use of 
"cadenas" - hours-long presidential speeches that by law had to 
be broadcast by all Venezuelan TV and radio stations.

  The oil executives launched their slowdown last week, cutting 
production at the Paraguana refinery complex, one of the world's 
largest, to below 50 per cent capacity. They closed another 
refinery, disrupted gasoline deliveries and all but stopped 
loading of oil tankers. Oil generates 80 per cent of Venezuela's 
foreign earnings.

  The air force chief, Gen. Regulo Anselmi, said the military 
urged Chavez on Wednesday to negotiate. He agreed, but by then 
the Petroleos de Venezuela executives rejected his overtures.

  After Thursday's violence, the high command decided Chavez had 
to go, and they confronted him en masse in his offices, Anselmi 
said. Troops seized the government television station as tanks 
rumbled on the streets.



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