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Chavez denounces Bush as foes fight troops
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-03-01 09:06 Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez called U.S.
President Bush an "---hole" on Sunday and told him not to meddle as his
opponents battled troops ahead of a ruling on a recall vote against him.
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| Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez looks out
upon his supporters with binoculars in Caracas, Venezuela, Sunday, Feb.
29, 2004. [AP] | Chavez, who often says the
U.S. is backing opposition efforts to topple his government, accused Bush of
listening to "imperialist" aides whom he said advised the U.S. leader to support
a brief 2002 coup against him.
"He was an ---hole to believe them," Chavez roared at a rally of supporters
in Caracas.
The Venezuelan leader's comments came as fresh violence broke out on the
streets of the capital where National Guard troops clashed with opposition
protesters pressing for a referendum to end his five-year rule.
Military helicopters roared in low runs overhead as
soldiers fired tear gas and plastic bullets to repel hundreds of opposition
demonstrators who threw stones and set up burning barricades in eastern Caracas.
A soldier and a cameraman were shot and injured during the clashes and an
opposition protester was wounded in the head by gunmen firing from motorbikes,
witnesses and officials said. It was unclear who opened fire during the confused
battles.
One demonstrator carried a banner reading: "Bye bye Aristide, Chavez you're
next," referring to Haiti's leader Jean-Bertrand Aristide who fled into exile on
Sunday in the face of an armed rebellion.
Electoral authorities, citing the need to preserve peace in the country, said
they were postponing until Monday the preliminary results of their verification
of the opposition's petition for a recall vote.
The violence broke out as tens of thousands of Chavez supporters marched on
Sunday to protest what they condemned as U.S. meddling in Venezuelan affairs and
to rally support for the president as he battles the referendum challenge. The
firebrand Populist vowed to defeat any attempts to unseat him.
"I have to say to those here who would try to apply the Haiti formula, that
Venezuela is not Haiti and that Chavez is not Aristide," he said.
The State Department routinely dismisses the president's accusations
Washington supports his opponents.
WAIT FOR PRELIMINARY RULING
The referendum campaign is the latest political fight for Chavez, who
survived the short-lived 2002 coup and a strike last year by opponents who fear
his self-styled "revolution" is slowly turning the world's No. 5 oil exporter
into a Cuba-style communist state.
Since his first election in 1998, the president has vowed to improve the
lives of the impoverished who see little of the country's oil wealth. But his
opponents say he has failed and has instead pushed the country into economic
ruin.
Political tensions have flared again recently as setbacks delayed a ruling by
the National Electoral Council on whether to allow the recall referendum to go
ahead. Two protesters were shot and killed on Friday during an opposition march.
Electoral authorities said they would make a preliminary ruling Monday on
whether the opposition collected the minimum 2.4 million valid signatures
required for a vote. The opposition says it handed over 3.4 million signatures.
But the council is preparing to make additional checks on about one million
signatures, a measure which could delay a final decision on the referendum until
March.
Opposition leaders accuse pro-government officials in the electoral council
of trying to block the poll by disqualifying many valid signatures. Chavez says
his opponent's petition is riddled with forgeries.
The United States, a major client for Venezuelan oil, has backed efforts by
the Organization of American States to negotiate an end to the political
standoff over Chavez's rule.
But Chavez accuses Washington of financing his opponents. He was a fierce
critic of the U.S.-led war in Iraq and has strengthened ties with states
seen as hostile to the United States such as Cuba and Libya.
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