MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Agreement in Venezuela.

The Venezuelan Government and opposition reached an agreement for the Calling of a revocatory referendum sometime after August 19 when President Hugo Chávez will have completed half of his six year term, announced Mr. Fernando Jaramillo head of the Organization of American States, OAS, delegation that is mediating in the extended civil and political conflict.

United States praised the agreement and said it was confident that Venezuela, --one of its main oil suppliers--, would soon overcome the political crisis going to the polls.

The agreement opens the way for a "voting" solution to the almost chaotic situation that Venezuela is confronting for over a year following the frustrated coup attempt (April11/02) that triggered street fighting with 19 dead and over 300 wounded when pro-government mobs opened fire on an opposition protest march.

However even when the OAS delegate was announcing the terms of agreement, President Chavez in a press conference with foreign correspondents in Government House was saying he wanted a "true dialogue with authentic political leaders".

"Let's hope these negotiations advance, because they actually didn't start well. Those sitting at the table are representatives of coup sponsors and not political figures of relevance", said Mr. Chavez.

The Venezuelan president was also critical of the "Friends of Venezuela" group that was created at the beginning of the year to support OAS mediation efforts. The group is formed by United States, Mexico, Spain, Brazil, Chile and Portugal.

"I'd say the group has failed, but at least they've tried and now they know which is Venezuela's president", stressed Mr. Chavez who is accused by the opposition of promoting class division and attempting to impose a Cuban style regime.

The August referendum solution is the second agreement reached between government and opposition delegates. At the beginning of the year both sides signed a document condemning violence and favoring peace.

Mr. Jaramillo said both sides are committed to the participation in the revocatory referendum next August.

However according to the Venezuelan constitution a mid term referendum on the Executive can only take place if 20% of the Electoral roll agrees and supports the initiative. That is 2,5 million of the 11 million Venezuelan voters.

Both sides also agreed to the naming of an "impartial" National Electoral Council as soon as possible to guarantee the transparency of the whole signatures collection effort and the August voting. Ruling legislators that have majority in Congress anticipated they would not impede the process.

The opposition is confident about reaching the required number of signatures since last February it managed to collect "four million signatures".

Overall the agreement is a victory for Mr. Chavez and his followers who all the time argued that no referendum could be convened until after the president's mid term. The opposition had unsuccessfully insisted that elections had to be held before August 2003.

Venezuela's major business organizations and trade unions organized a strike that extended from last December to February in an attempt to force president Chavez resignation and new elections. They failed but the economy suffered greatly with the stoppage of oil production, (the country's main source of income), and Venezuela was left in the verge of defaulting.