Venezuelan leader Chavez seeks unity following coup

CARACAS, Venezuela -- A week after protests set off bloodshed and toppled governments, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez opened "a great national debate" Thursday to bring this bitterly divided nation together.

Gathering governors and mayors, Chavez called for a discussion of the country's future "with great respect for our differences, which are valid and furthermore necessary."

After demonstrations that toppled and restored Chavez while killing at least 49 people, Chavez called on Venezuelans "to finally, by God, leave behind bloodshed."

But he leavened his plea with digs at his foes. Chavez called the turmoil that toppled him a "planned ambush."

"There will be no taboo subjects, nor should there be," Chavez said, but Venezuelans must accept the 1999 constitution he promoted and Venezuelans approved in a referendum.

Businessman Pedro Carmona, the man who dissolved Venezuela's Congress and other democratic institutions during his one-day rule, insisted he's not a "Pinochet Lite" and acted only to fill the vacuum of power.

In newspaper interviews published Thursday, Carmona dismissed comparisons to Augusto Pinochet's 1973 CIA-backed coup in Chile. But he admitted he made errors, including not receiving a confirmed resignation letter from Chavez before he swore himself in as president on Saturday.

In Washington, President Bush called on Chavez to respect democratic values such as freedom of the press.

Foreign ministers of the Organization of American States were to hear a report from the secretary-general, Cesar Gaviria, on his fact-finding mission in Venezuela. Gaviria castigated Venezuelans for refusing dialogue.

Venezuela's National Assembly debated who opened fire on the April 11 demonstration by hundreds of thousands of demonstrators. The slayings prompted leading generals to oust Chavez.

Both sides displayed videotapes showing their rivals firing guns and their comrades falling dead. At least 16 people died that day. Dozens more died Saturday and Sunday during riots preceding Chavez's return to power, and in widespread looting.

Never resigned

Chavez insists he never resigned April 12, as military commanders claimed. But a dissident general, Nestor Gonzalez, told local press Thursday he saw Chavez resign, calling the ouster "a humanitarian act meant to avoid having the army attack the people and produce a massacre."

Gonzalez said the high command balked at Chavez's order to call out troops, and asked Chavez to resign. A "depressed" president agreed "if he was allowed to go to Cuba," Gonzalez said. The generals grew tired of arguing whether to hold Chavez, so they arrested him and called for a new president "to fill the vacuum of power," Gonzalez said.

Cuba was ready to accept Chavez, according to Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, who told his parliament that Cuba had asked him to facilitate the departure since that was what Fidel Castro thought Chavez wanted.

Several top officers have been arrested in Venezuela. But Chavez reconfirmed Gen. Lucas Rincon, the top-ranking soldier who announced Chavez had resigned.

At least 80 people are accused of participating in the coup. Attorney Hidalgo Valero, defending five officers, said that if his clients go to trial, "they could add more than 3,000 officers to the trial, among them Lucas Rincon."

The 60-year-old Carmona said he agreed to become de facto leader only after calls from military commanders, whom he refused to identify.

Carmona, who is under house arrest, said he dissolved the National Assembly, Constitution, courts and other public offices to facilitate a rapid transition to new elections -- though he announced a time frame of one year, far longer than the Constitution allowed.

"I want to emphasize that I have a proven commitment to democracy, and that this image of a 'Pinochet Lite' they're trying to put on me is totally false," he said.