Opponents of President Hugo Chavez revived a nationwide movement to force him from office, turning out en masse to sign petitions for a referendum on his rule.
Chanting anti-Chavez slogans as they waited in block-long lines on Friday, government foes predicted the president's imminent downfall as they began a four-day signature drive for a presidential recall.
Venezuela has lurched from crisis to crisis -- including a short-lived coup last year and a two-month general strike that fizzled in February -- since the opposition began pushing for Chavez's ouster two years ago.
Venezuela's opposition needs 2.4 million signatures to force a vote next year. Results won't be known for weeks. The country's constitution allows recall votes halfway through a president's six-year term. Chavez passed that mark in August.
This oil-rich South American nation of 24 million people is sharply divided over Chavez, a former paratrooper who was elected in 1998 and re-elected to a six-year term in 2000. Critics accuse Chavez of becoming increasingly authoritarian and following the example of his close friend, Cuban President Fidel Castro.
In May, the Organization of American States (OAS), the UN and the US-based Carter Center got both sides to agree to play by constitutional rules in anticipation of a possible signature drive.
Chavez predicts opponents won't collect enough signatures to convoke a recall vote. He vowed Friday to win the next presidential elections in 2006 and to hand power over to another "revolutionary in 2013."
"There's no turning back," Chavez said.
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
DITCH TACTICS: Kenyan officers were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch suspected to have been deliberately dug by Haitian gang members A Kenyan policeman deployed in Haiti has gone missing after violent gangs attacked a group of officers on a rescue mission, a UN-backed multinational security mission said in a statement yesterday. The Kenyan officers on Tuesday were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch “suspected to have been deliberately dug by gangs,” the statement said, adding that “specialized teams have been deployed” to search for the missing officer. Local media outlets in Haiti reported that the officer had been killed and videos of a lifeless man clothed in Kenyan uniform were shared on social media. Gang violence has left
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
Japan unveiled a plan on Thursday to evacuate around 120,000 residents and tourists from its southern islets near Taiwan within six days in the event of an “emergency”. The plan was put together as “the security situation surrounding our nation grows severe” and with an “emergency” in mind, the government’s crisis management office said. Exactly what that emergency might be was left unspecified in the plan but it envisages the evacuation of around 120,000 people in five Japanese islets close to Taiwan. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has stepped up military pressure in recent years, including
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