Y2A
28th February 2004, 17:06
Multimedia
http://news.yahoo.com/p/v?u=/ap_av/2004022...=452&f=53746348 (http://news.yahoo.com/p/v?u=/ap_av/20040227/av_ap_wl/bdf2a7f9655bce7ddac898cef83ed44a&cid=452&f=53746348)
"Venezuelan National Guard troops fired tear gas and charged at opposition demonstrators Friday, as thousands of protesters took to the streets to demand a vote to recall President Hugo Chavez. At least six people were hurt in the melee, officials said."
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Article
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor...it&e=2&ncid=734 (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/ap/20040228/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/venezuela_summit&e=2&ncid=734)
CARACAS, Venezuela - Clashes between police and thousands of protesters pressing for the recall of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez overshadowed a summit of developing nations, with at least two people killed and dozens injured.
The confrontation came Friday as Chavez opened a two-day summit with the leaders of 18 other developing nations in Caracas, urging them to reject free-market policies imposed by industrialized nations.
"Globalization has not brought expected independence. It has increased dependence. ... It has extended poverty," Chavez said. "Free market ideology was created by the North to serve its own interests."
Near the summit site at the downtown Hilton Hotel in the capital, guard troops fired dozens of tear gas canisters at the jeering crowd of anti-Chavez protesters, who responded by throwing rocks. Some in the crowd set trash and tires ablaze and blocked a highway.
Two people were killed, Interior Minister Lucas Rincon said. Hospital officials said at least 26 people were injured.
Dozens of opposition protesters blocked a Caracas highway late Friday with burning tire barricades, while others banged pots and pans to protest the violence.
The military had put 50,000 troops and police on the streets for the summit and warned it would not tolerate opposition protests.
Venezuela's government cut live TV and radio broadcasts of the violence on private channels and replaced it with summit coverage.
Citing the possibility of more violence, the U.S. State Department late Friday urged Americans in Venezuela to monitor news broadcasts and avoid demonstrations.
At the summit, Chavez accused the United States and the European Union (news - web sites) of spending billions of dollars on subsidies that shut out Third World products while demanding that poor countries eliminate any barriers to their imports.
Fighting poverty with oil wealth, dismantling industrialized nations' protectionist trade barriers and reducing foreign debt were central themes of a draft summit declaration circulated Friday. A final declaration was to be issued after another round of talks Saturday.
Since his 1998 election, Chavez has emerged as one of the Third World's fiercest critics of U.S. economic and political domination. He is a vocal opponent of U.S.-led negotiations to establish a free trade zone throughout the Western Hemisphere.
Venezuelan Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel accused an "aggressive, coup-plotting and terrorist" opposition of provoking Friday's violence. He said a house owned by a pro-government party was burned.
A government statement claimed radicals from the leftist Red Flag party and the center-right Democratic Action party triggered the confrontation.
Manuel Cova, head of the Venezuelan Labor Confederation, and other opposition leaders said the protests would continue.
Chavez insists an opposition petition for a recall referendum — being scrutinized by elections officials — is ridden with fraud. Elections officials have suggested they may toss out the petition for technical reasons.
The Organization of American States, the EU and the U.S.-based Carter Center have urged Venezuela to ignore technical glitches in favor of voters' apparent intent. Chavez was elected in 1998 and re-elected in 2000 to a six-year term.
Relations between Venezuela, a top U.S. oil supplier, and the United States have been strained over Chavez's friendship with Cuba's Fidel Castro (news - web sites) and his criticism of free market policies.
Formed in 1989 and still known as the Group of 15, the summit actually includes 19 countries: Algeria, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Iran, Jamaica, Kenya, Malaysia, Mexico, Nigeria, Peru, Senegal, Sri Lanka, Venezuela and Zimbabwe.
The group's influence and work have waned in recent years, and a summit was canceled last year because of unrest in Caracas.
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2 dead in the protests, I saw it on the spanish stations and thought maybe you guys would be interested.
http://news.yahoo.com/p/v?u=/ap_av/2004022...=452&f=53746348 (http://news.yahoo.com/p/v?u=/ap_av/20040227/av_ap_wl/bdf2a7f9655bce7ddac898cef83ed44a&cid=452&f=53746348)
"Venezuelan National Guard troops fired tear gas and charged at opposition demonstrators Friday, as thousands of protesters took to the streets to demand a vote to recall President Hugo Chavez. At least six people were hurt in the melee, officials said."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Article
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor...it&e=2&ncid=734 (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/ap/20040228/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/venezuela_summit&e=2&ncid=734)
CARACAS, Venezuela - Clashes between police and thousands of protesters pressing for the recall of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez overshadowed a summit of developing nations, with at least two people killed and dozens injured.
The confrontation came Friday as Chavez opened a two-day summit with the leaders of 18 other developing nations in Caracas, urging them to reject free-market policies imposed by industrialized nations.
"Globalization has not brought expected independence. It has increased dependence. ... It has extended poverty," Chavez said. "Free market ideology was created by the North to serve its own interests."
Near the summit site at the downtown Hilton Hotel in the capital, guard troops fired dozens of tear gas canisters at the jeering crowd of anti-Chavez protesters, who responded by throwing rocks. Some in the crowd set trash and tires ablaze and blocked a highway.
Two people were killed, Interior Minister Lucas Rincon said. Hospital officials said at least 26 people were injured.
Dozens of opposition protesters blocked a Caracas highway late Friday with burning tire barricades, while others banged pots and pans to protest the violence.
The military had put 50,000 troops and police on the streets for the summit and warned it would not tolerate opposition protests.
Venezuela's government cut live TV and radio broadcasts of the violence on private channels and replaced it with summit coverage.
Citing the possibility of more violence, the U.S. State Department late Friday urged Americans in Venezuela to monitor news broadcasts and avoid demonstrations.
At the summit, Chavez accused the United States and the European Union (news - web sites) of spending billions of dollars on subsidies that shut out Third World products while demanding that poor countries eliminate any barriers to their imports.
Fighting poverty with oil wealth, dismantling industrialized nations' protectionist trade barriers and reducing foreign debt were central themes of a draft summit declaration circulated Friday. A final declaration was to be issued after another round of talks Saturday.
Since his 1998 election, Chavez has emerged as one of the Third World's fiercest critics of U.S. economic and political domination. He is a vocal opponent of U.S.-led negotiations to establish a free trade zone throughout the Western Hemisphere.
Venezuelan Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel accused an "aggressive, coup-plotting and terrorist" opposition of provoking Friday's violence. He said a house owned by a pro-government party was burned.
A government statement claimed radicals from the leftist Red Flag party and the center-right Democratic Action party triggered the confrontation.
Manuel Cova, head of the Venezuelan Labor Confederation, and other opposition leaders said the protests would continue.
Chavez insists an opposition petition for a recall referendum — being scrutinized by elections officials — is ridden with fraud. Elections officials have suggested they may toss out the petition for technical reasons.
The Organization of American States, the EU and the U.S.-based Carter Center have urged Venezuela to ignore technical glitches in favor of voters' apparent intent. Chavez was elected in 1998 and re-elected in 2000 to a six-year term.
Relations between Venezuela, a top U.S. oil supplier, and the United States have been strained over Chavez's friendship with Cuba's Fidel Castro (news - web sites) and his criticism of free market policies.
Formed in 1989 and still known as the Group of 15, the summit actually includes 19 countries: Algeria, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Iran, Jamaica, Kenya, Malaysia, Mexico, Nigeria, Peru, Senegal, Sri Lanka, Venezuela and Zimbabwe.
The group's influence and work have waned in recent years, and a summit was canceled last year because of unrest in Caracas.
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2 dead in the protests, I saw it on the spanish stations and thought maybe you guys would be interested.