by Ana Mangoti
La Razón Digital
June 23, 2003
The radical wing of the Venezuelan opposition, the Bloque Democrático, urged the National Armed Forces (FAN) to demand the resignation of President Hugo Chávez and to "overthrow him by armed force" in the event that he refuses to hold a recall referendum. The leaders of the Bloque Democrático, Alfredo García and Miguel Ángel Nieto, declared that a "military uprising" of this kind would not constitute a coup.
"FAN and the people have the authority to reestablish the chain of consitutionality broken by the Government and to establish a provisional and temporary civilian-military government with a civilian president," they said, according to the Sunday edition of the paper...
They stated that they believed that Chávez would not allow a referendum to be held on the continuation of his presidency, and that the Government will "bog down the electoral process and continue to postpone it through inertia" until finally it is never held. The Bloque Democrático is made up of 34 military, business and labor groups that recently joined together and left the majority group, Coodinadora Democrática, which they accuse of "entering into a deal with the Government without realizing it."
With the aid of the Organization of American States and other international agencies, the Coordinadora Democrática negotiated with the Government several weeks ago to find an electoral solution to the national political crisis.
