Venezuela opposition protests recall delays
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Tens of thousands march in protest in Caracas, Venezuela.
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CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) -- Waving copies of voter signatures, Venezuela's opposition took to the streets Saturday to protest delays in the verification of its petitions for a recall referendum against President Hugo Chavez.
Thousands of protesters banged on drums, blew whistles and played anti-Chavez jingles on loudspeakers as they marched along several routes to a rallying point on a Caracas highway. Some held up signs with their signatures asking for a vote on Chavez in huge letters.
Several dozen Chavez sympathizers drove past in trucks, yelling, "Traitors!" at the protesters. The "Chavistas" held rallies of their own, blasting fireworks and chanting in defense of their president.
Venezuelans are bitterly torn between those who accuse Chavez of trying to impose an authoritarian regime and those who say he has given the poor a voice in politics and greater access to health and education.
Marchers had planned to go to the downtown National Elections Council headquarters, which has been surrounded by hundreds of Chavez supporters all week.
But Chavez's government organized a massive public market near the end of the planned route and posted hundreds of police and National Guard troops, backed by armored personnel carriers, in front of it.
Organizers agreed to cut the march short to avoid violence and rally instead at a park about a mile from the council headquarters.
It's been more than two months since opposition leaders said they turned in more than 3.4 million signatures to demand the recall.
The council missed a February 13 deadline to validate the petitions and now says it will finish the count by February 29.
The U.S. Embassy issued a statement of support for the Organization of American States and the U.S.-based Carter Center, which cautioned election officials against rejecting petitions on technicalities.
"They've done everything to rob us of the referendum but they won't succeed," 19-year-old protester Jose Figueroa said Saturday. "We won't allow a dictatorship in Venezuela."
The presence of "Chavistas" at the council headquarters upset at least one council director, who threatened Saturday to stop working because of harassment by the crowd outside.
"It's unacceptable that I have to go in through a hidden door, change cars, put on a hat as if I were a criminal. I've had it," council Vice President Ezequiel Zamora said before entering the building Saturday. "This will be the last time I will meet with my colleagues while this siege lasts."
Zamora and another council director are widely considered to be aligned with the opposition. The other three are seen as Chavez sympathizers.
Opposition leaders fear that many petition forms will be thrown out because they were filled out incorrectly. Council directors are split over what to do with thousands of forms that staff at sign-up centers completed themselves before letting citizens add their signatures.
Chavez insisted Friday that the forms be rejected.
Copyright 2004 The
Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
