Protests intensified across Venezuela Tuesday after the elections council ruled that government opponents lacked enough signatures to force a recall referendum against President Hugo Chavez. Television news footage showed troops firing at anti-Chavez protesters, who fought back with rocks and Molotov cocktails in Caracas. Rioting - which began earlier Tuesday as the opposition anticipated the ruling - was also reported in several of Venezuela's most important cities in the hours after the council's decision.
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 Tuesday evening 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. Many opposition leaders had said they would not accept a decision requiring voters to confirm their signatures. The council said that voters would have between March 18 and March 22 to confirm their signatures.
"What do you want?"
"Um, um, el jefe, I'm here to .. to confirm my signature."
"Do ya see your signature on the end of this rifle butt?"
"Um, no, el jefe."
"Then you didn't sign. Now beat it." |
Venezuela's opposition claims that such a monumental task, involving hundreds of thousands of citizens, would postpone the referendum or derail it entirely. Besides Caracas, the capital, protests hit Merida, Puerto La Cruz, Maracay, San Felipe, the industrial centers of Valencia and Barquisimeto and the western oil city of Maracaibo. National guard troops in armored personnel carriers rolled through several of the cities as demonstrators burned tires and hurled rocks and gasoline bombs at soldiers. Sporadic gunfire was heard for a second straight night in Caracas. At least one person has been killed and 60 wounded since Friday. Dozens have been arrested.
| "My people love me. That's why I rule with an iron hand." |
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. Government opponents claim three of the five election council's directors are pro-Chavez, but ruling party members deny the body is biased toward the president.
After Tuesday's decision, the OAS and Jemmauh 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. 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. 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."
| And the day after that, everything else. |
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