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CNN Saturday Morning News
Chaos in Venezuela From Anti-Government Rally
Aired January 04, 2003 - 09:18 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: More trouble is brewing in Venezuela. Two people died and dozens were wounded yesterday when an antigovernment rally turned violent. Now the country's leader is considering martial law to quell the growing crisis.
Ingrid Arnesen joins us now by videophone from Caracas.
Ingrid, I understand there will be a protest there in about 45 minutes. What can we expect?
INGRID ARNESEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (via videophone): Good morning, John.
Yes, the situation yesterday took a drastic turn as the strike, the oil strike, now a general strike as well, reached its 33rd day, of an opposition march that had been planned to go to one of the largest military installations in Caracas turned into a confrontation as progovernment forces arrived at the scene.
A chance confrontation then turned into violent outbreak of violence between both forces as they were tantalizing each other across the bridge. The national guard, the army, and the police were brought in to try to defuse the violence, which they tried to do with massive amounts of spraying of tear gas. It was really, really just about impossible to breathe.
Further on in the afternoon, gunfire erupted. And at that point, it was total chaos in the street. And it's not quite clear who fired what shots. We do know that both camps, the opposition and the progovernment forces, some members were carrying arms. And also the metropolitan police was responding to gunfire.
So far there are two dead, one being a civilian defense policeman of -- there were 77 injured, mostly from tear gas, rock throwing, and bottle throwing, and another two were injured from bullet wounds.
Meanwhile across town, the secretary general of the OES was holding talks with President Chavez trying to re-jumpstart a very fragile negotiation that had been suspended for the holiday, the New Year holiday.
At the end of the day, Secretary General Cesar Cavillia (ph) came out with a very somber message saying there has been no agreement reached, leading many here on the streets to believe that really the outcome of the crisis, any resolution, could very well play itself out on the streets and not at the negotiating table, John.
VAUSE: OK, Ingrid Arnesen, reporting for us via videophone there from Caracas on the latest in that situation. Thank you, Ingrid.
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Aired January 4, 2003 - 09:18 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: More trouble is brewing in Venezuela. Two people died and dozens were wounded yesterday when an antigovernment rally turned violent. Now the country's leader is considering martial law to quell the growing crisis.
Ingrid Arnesen joins us now by videophone from Caracas.
Ingrid, I understand there will be a protest there in about 45 minutes. What can we expect?
INGRID ARNESEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (via videophone): Good morning, John.
Yes, the situation yesterday took a drastic turn as the strike, the oil strike, now a general strike as well, reached its 33rd day, of an opposition march that had been planned to go to one of the largest military installations in Caracas turned into a confrontation as progovernment forces arrived at the scene.
A chance confrontation then turned into violent outbreak of violence between both forces as they were tantalizing each other across the bridge. The national guard, the army, and the police were brought in to try to defuse the violence, which they tried to do with massive amounts of spraying of tear gas. It was really, really just about impossible to breathe.
Further on in the afternoon, gunfire erupted. And at that point, it was total chaos in the street. And it's not quite clear who fired what shots. We do know that both camps, the opposition and the progovernment forces, some members were carrying arms. And also the metropolitan police was responding to gunfire.
So far there are two dead, one being a civilian defense policeman of -- there were 77 injured, mostly from tear gas, rock throwing, and bottle throwing, and another two were injured from bullet wounds.
Meanwhile across town, the secretary general of the OES was holding talks with President Chavez trying to re-jumpstart a very fragile negotiation that had been suspended for the holiday, the New Year holiday.
At the end of the day, Secretary General Cesar Cavillia (ph) came out with a very somber message saying there has been no agreement reached, leading many here on the streets to believe that really the outcome of the crisis, any resolution, could very well play itself out on the streets and not at the negotiating table, John.
VAUSE: OK, Ingrid Arnesen, reporting for us via videophone there from Caracas on the latest in that situation. Thank you, Ingrid.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
