U.S. Revises Call for Early Elections in Venezuela to End Crisis

The White House on Monday backed off its call for early elections to end Venezuela’s political crisis after coming under fire for seeming to suggest a solution that violated the nation’s constitution.

After issuing a statement Friday urging “early elections” as the best way to end a strike by opponents of President Hugo Chavez that has crippled oil production in the United States’ third-largest petroleum supplier, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said Monday that Washington supports a “referendum” on Chavez’s rule as “anticipated in the Venezuelan Constitution.”

Opponents of Chavez began the general strike Dec. 2 by demanding a nonbinding referendum on his rule in February. Chavez has resisted that idea, saying the constitution does not allow a binding referendum until August. It was unclear Monday which date the Bush administration prefers.

The revised statement was the latest sign of U.S. indecision regarding policy toward Latin America and how best to handle the growing political divide between Chavez and his foes, a coalition that includes unions, businesspeople and opposition politicians. The top State Department post for Latin America is currently filled only by an acting director.

It was also a measure of the sensitivity in Latin America that surrounds the U.S. role in the crisis here. In April, the U.S. seemed to back a coup that ousted Chavez, even as Latin American leaders refused to recognize the new government. The coup collapsed after two days, and Chavez was restored to power by faithful military units and his supporters.

“This is what happens if you don’t have high-level political attention to a situation that needs heavy lifting,” said Michael Shifter, a Latin America expert with the Inter-American Dialogue, a Washington think tank. “It does a lot of damage when the situation is so difficult.”

Chavez strongly rejected the call for early elections in an interview with The Times and three other U.S. newspapers Sunday, saying -- as he has repeatedly -- that such elections are not allowed by the constitution.

Chavez said several other Latin American leaders had called him to voice concern about Friday’s statement from the U.S., which seemed to back opposition demands.

“Some of them are surprised,” Chavez said Sunday. “They tell me, how is it from Washington they are asking for early elections? They don’t exist.”

The opposition, which accuses Chavez of ruining the country, has hardened its demands and now wants his resignation or early elections -- not just a referendum -- in the first three months of 2003.

This weekend, Bush administration officials seemed to back that position when they urged the Venezuelan government to consider the possibility of amending the constitution to permit a presidential vote earlier than the one scheduled for 2006.

Thomas Shannon, a deputy assistant secretary of State who met this weekend with top Venezuelan government officials in Caracas, said: “You could argue that to a certain extent a recall referendum would be an early election or any referendum would be an early election, but we came to the conclusion that the situation was sufficiently grave enough that it was important that the Venezuelans understood that we thought moving toward early elections was the best way to resolve this.”

On Monday, however, Fleischer insisted that the U.S. was not suggesting changes to the Venezuelan Constitution.

Chavez’s foes dismissed the new statement, saying the White House apparently had misunderstood the constitution.

“Both a presidential resignation and an amendment [allowing early elections] are constitutional,” said Rafael Alfonso, an opposition negotiator. “There’s confusion in these declarations.”

Meanwhile Monday, Chavez supporters and opponents clashed several times in Caracas, the capital. Police had to break up a demonstration along a major highway with tear gas.