If the Organization of American States (OAS), non-government organization Carter Center and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) approve the results of the referendum, then the opposition will do the same, said opposition leader Asdrubal Aguiar.

"We will abide by the electoral results as long as they are approved" by the three organizations, Aguiar, leader of opposition alliance Democratic Coordination (CD), said Tuesday night after meeting with representatives of the OAS and the Carter Center.

The referendum was scheduled to take place from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., local time, on Aug. 15. Some 14 million Venezuelans are expected to vote on President Hugo Chavez's rule.

The OAS will assess the transparency of the recall referendum at the end of the process, Valter Moreira, chief of the OAS observers mission, said on Wednesday.

The OAS believes its evaluation of the referendum will "exactly coincide" with the results to be released by the National Election Council (CNE) of Venezuela, Moreira said.

the OAS will not release the results "but we will be allowed to indicate whether or not they reflect the will of the Venezuelan citizens," he added.

The OAS mission chief said that previous tests indicated that the voting systems are reliable, so he is confident on the transparency of the process.

Former presidents of Argentina, Raul Alfonsin, and Costa Rica, Rodrigo Carazzo, on Wednesday expressed their wish for the recall referendum to be peaceful and lead to a cordial coexistence.

Alfonsin and Carazzo are among the international observers in Venezuela to witness the referendum process.

What matters is that "a dialogue between the parties in conflict starts, regardless of who wins, because we have to live in peace, for without it there is no politics nor democracy," said the former Argentine president.

"You will agree with me that procuring peace is a task of everyone, and through it common denominators in fundamental state policies have to be sought," added Alfonsin.

Carazzo expressed his "solidarity" with the Venezuelan people and said that "the observation will take place in accordance with what the events indicate."

"At this moment we rule out every speculation because we are neither participants nor commentators on the process, yet, we could still wish the process to be peaceful, democratic and successful," Carazzo said.

Also on Wednesday, Catholic, Jewish and Protestant leaders of Venezuela called on people to participate with responsibility and in peace during the recall referendum.

They expressed confidence in the transparency of the process and the results, the impartial performance of the CNE, and the perspective of the international observers.

To ensure the order of the voting process, some 118,000 military personnel will be deployed to guard the voting centers as of Thursday, Defense Minister Jose Garcia said on Wednesday.

He said vigilance will be reinforced at every border points of the country during the referendum.

The armed forces have plans to prevent riots, while ruling-party leaders fear the opposition may plan acts of violence on Sunday afternoon, should the results not in their favor, said Garcia.

Garcia warned that those attempting to break the order will receive a "response" from the armed forces and other security organizations.

Under the Venezuelan Constitution, in order to oust Chavez, the opposition has to collect a number of votes equal to or more than that obtained by the president in the 2000 election, which is at least 3.7 million votes.

Chavez, who was elected in 1998 and reelected to a six-year term in 2000, has experienced two general strikes, a 48-hour military coup in April 2002 and a strike at the beginning of last year.

If the opposition succeeds, a new election would be held within 30 days and the winner would serve out Chavez's term, which ends in January 2007.
 

50 Dominicans die at sea in deadly journey to Puerto Rico
At least 55 Dominican migrants trying to reach the US territory of Puerto Rico for a better life died after engine failure set them adrift at sea for nearly two weeks, said reports reaching here Wednesday from Santo Domingo, capital of the Dominican Republic.

Fishermen rescued 36 survivors Tuesday from a boat crammed with dead bodies, said Dominican officials. 20 or so of them remained in precarious condition and six have died in hospitals in Nagua and San Francisco de Macoris in the northeast of the country.

The 9-meter boat was found in Nagua, less than 50 kilometers from where the 86 people started the journey from the village of El Limon on July 29, he said.

The boat engine failed two days later when it had almost reached the Puerto Rican island of Desecheo.

The captain abandoned the ship and got on a passing migrant boat, promising to fetch help. He never returned.

Migrants on board began to die a couple of days after all of the water and food ran out by the third day, said a survivor.

Recent years have witnessed a surge in the number of Dominicans trying to reach Puerto Rico, some 160 kilometers from their country, in desperate attempts to get away from its worst economic crisis in decades.

More than 7,000 Dominicans have been caught making the perilous journey since last October. At least 60 people died during the period.
 

Colombian paramilitary chief involved in kidnapping arrested
Colombian police have arrested paramilitary leader Elkin Loaiza, who was accused of kidnapping, authorities said Wednesday.

Loaiza, also known as "El Negro Elkin," was a leader of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC). He was captured at apolice roadblock near Sabaneta in the northwestern province of Antioquia.

When captured, he tried to offer a 97,000-US dollar bribe, which was rejected by the agents in Sabaneta, 20 km south of Antioquia's capital, Medellin.

The Medellin Metropolitan Police said that the paramilitary chief was accused of kidnapping by the Attorney General's office on July 15.

Loaiza had been arrested twice before, in November 1999 and January 2000, for carrying arms without permit.

The AUC is a far-right paramilitary organization that has embarked on a peace process with the government to demobilize 20,000 combatants by 2006.

Colombia has been plagued by a four-decade-old civil war, in which leftist rebels, far-right paramilitary and governmental troops fight one another, with an average of 3,500 people killed every year.
 

Brazil, Peru, Bolivia strengthen integration
Brazil opened a new bridge into Bolivia and set the cornerstone for another to link with Peru on Wednesday in a bid to speed up South American integration process.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva met his Bolivian and Peruvian counterparts Carlos Mesa and Alejandro Toledo along their shared borders in Assis, Brazil.

After Lula and Mesa inaugurated a new bridge, named "friendship," between Brasileia, Brazil, and Cobija, Bolivia, the Brazilian president and Toledo inaugurated the construction of a Brazilian-funded suspension bridge between Assis and Inapari, Peru.

The bridge, named "integration," is expected to be completed in one year and will become an important link between Peru and the South America's largest country.

"The construction of a South American nation begins with the physical integration of the towns," Lula said at the ceremony. He called the border meeting as "historical unity" among the three South American nations.

Mesa said that the three countries will create, "shoulder to shoulder, a South American nation that we are all dreaming of."

All three leaders lauded the bridges as a way to boost trade between the neighboring nations. Analysts say the construction of border bridges is part of a proposal on the South American infrastructure integration, which will speed up South American integration process.

In addition, the three leaders signed pacts on strengthening technological cooperation in natural resources and the environment and easing the entry limits between the nations.