MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Group of 15 Summit close yesterday in Venezuela

The 12th summit of the Group of 15 developing nations drew to a close Saturday marred by the slaying of one person and the wounding of dozens in violent clashes between opponents of President Hugo Chavez and his National Guard.

Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel confirmed Saturday that one person - not two, as previously reported - had been killed and 41 wounded, some by gunfire, in clashes between protesters who wanted to present the summit leadership with a document and security forces charged with keeping them away from the meeting.

The summit opening was delayed several hours Friday while the tear gas in the air dissipated. The National Guard used tear gas to break up the march that overstepped the security perimeter police had set up around the summit venue in downtown Caracas.

After a tense night, the city awoke to calm on Saturday, and the summit closed as planned, with a resolution to boost the G-15's role and unity among developing nations.

No one rules out a resurgence of violence, as the opposition coalition dubbed the Democratic Coordinator has vowed it will keep up street protests on Sunday, while the government has called a march the same day in support of Chavez and "national sovereignty." In addition, the National Electoral Council (CNE) announced that on Sunday it will make known how many questionable signatures on petitions to call a referendum on Chavez's continuance in office will be subjected to yet more scrutiny.

The opposition vows it will keep up its "resistance," insisting on the acceptance of the 3.4 million signatures is says it has collected, while the government maintains that many of the signatures are fraudulent, and that the total falls fall short of the 2.4 million, or 20 percent of the electorate, the Constitution requires to force the vote.

The G-15's Caracas Declaration stressed the need to boost cooperation among member nations, especially with regard to the energy industry, trade and exchange of technology.

The group also plans to make an executive committee composed of Algeria, Venezuela and Iran official and to ask the triumvirate's foreign ministers to lay out a plan of action to implement the decisions made at the Caracas summit.

The Group of 15 was formed at the 1989 Summit of Non-Aligned Countries in Belgrade, which became obsolete after the Soviet system fell apart.

The group currently comprises 19 nations: Algeria, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Egypt, Jamaica. India, Indonesia, Iran, Kenya, Malaysia, Mexico, Nigeria, Peru, Senegal, Sri Lanka, Venezuela and Zimbabwe.