One dead in Venezuelan election protest

CARACAS -- One person was shot dead yesterday when protesters seeking a recall vote against Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez clashed with troops for the fourth day, as international efforts to save the referendum process faltered.

The battles between opposition demonstrators and troops firing tear gas and shotgun pellets took place in eastern parts of the capital and in Valencia, Merida, and on the holiday island of Margarita, local television said.

The shooting of a man during clashes in the southeast Caracas suburb of San Antonio brought to at least three the number of people killed in four days of protests by opponents of Chavez. Dozens of people have been injured and about 30 detained.

Foes of the leftist president accuse him of ruling the world's number five oil exporter like a dictator and of blocking their bid to hold a referendum to try to vote him out of office.

Venezuela's National Electoral Council yesterday postponed for the second consecutive day an announcement of the preliminary results of the opposition referendum petition. They promised to give the results by midday today.

Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel said the government was not planning to declare a state of emergency. Defense Minister General Jorge Garcia said the armed forces would maintain order.

In the Caracas opposition stronghold of Altamira, National Guard troops used an armored vehicle to keep back between 500 and 1,000 protesters who threw stones, bottles, and fireworks. Confused shooting later broke out, scattering the protesters.

In other parts of the capital, demonstrators barricaded streets with burning tires and debris, causing traffic chaos.

Opposition leaders say that unless their demand for a referendum this year is approved, the protests will continue.

"This will go on as long as God wills it. Venezuela is fighting its own war now. We don't want a referendum now, we want [Chavez] to resign," said Juan Carlos Pirela, a protester.

The chances of a referendum ever being held suffered another blow yesterday when Venezuela's top electoral official quarreled with the Atlanta-based Carter Center over whether that US observer mission was withdrawing from the nation.

National Electoral Council President Francisco Carrasquero announced that a Carter Center observer had told him they were pulling out, because of a row among divided electoral officers over how to proceed with the much-delayed referendum process.

Denying this, Carter Center mission leader Jennifer McCoy said, "The mission remains in Venezuela."

The Organization of American States, which is also observing the referendum process, did not comment. But it has called on the National Electoral Council, where Chavez supporters hold a 3-to-2 majority, to speed up the evaluation of the referendum petition and keep it fair and transparent.

The council was expected to announce further checks on about 1 million proreferendum signatures, a move that opposition leaders condemn as a tactic to torpedo the poll. Chavez says the vote petition is riddled with forgeries.

Electoral officer Jorge Rodriguez said he hoped the government and opposition could agree to a compromise on how disputed signatures could be reconfirmed by voters.

The opposition says it handed in 3.4 million proreferendum signatures in December, well above the 2.4 million required to trigger a vote.