According to a popular survey, 49 percent of those polled said they would vote for the stay of Chavez, while 41 percent said they would vote against him.

The survey, requested by the company PDV Holding, a branch of state-run oil company PDVSA, was conducted on July 16-22 among 2,000 people in 18 out of the 24 states that form Venezuela, with an error margin of 2.2 percent.

Fifty five percent of those polled said Chavez cares for the poor.

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

Chavez, who was elected in 1998 and re-elected to a six-year term in 2000, has been accused by his opponents of wrecking Venezuela's economy.

On June 8, the National Electoral Council of Venezuela announced that the opposition had collected 2.5 million signatures against Chavez, more than the 2.4 million required to call a recall vote.

Chavez has experienced two general strikes, a 48-hour military coup in April 2002 and a strike at the beginning of last year.
 

Venezuelan vice president denies possessing stolen arms
Venezuelan Vice President Jose Rangel denied Tuesday that he possessed arms stolen from military facilities of the country's central Carabobo state.

He was responding to the accusation by the opposition governor of Carabobo, Salas Feo, of having weapons lost from military installations in the region.

Earlier, Feo said on local radio that Rangel had these weapons, but offered no evidence.

"Here in Venezuela, the arms and explosives that have been stolen are in possession of subversive groups controlled by Jose Rangel," Feo said. This situation is unknown to most of the government members, he noted.

In response, Rangel said he would not make recrimination against the governor and only wanted him to calm down.

Last Wednesday, it was reported that 14 FAL assault-rifles, an UZI sub-machine gun, three revolvers and nine assault-rifle clips were stolen from a military facility in Yagua, Carabobo.

Four days earlier, 67 kg of C-4 explosives were stolen from a naval depository in Carabobo's coastal city of Puerto Cabello, 120km west of Caracas, capital of Venezuela.
 

Colombia rebels free kidnapped bishop
Colombian rebels have freed a Roman Catholic bishop they kidnapped over the weekend, the church said Tuesday.

Misael Vaca, bishop of Yopal, was safe in the small town of Morcote, not far from where he was kidnapped by rebels of the National Liberation Army (ELN) in mountains northeast of the capital Bogota, his office said.

Both the Vatican and Colombian President Alvaro Uribe have appealed for Vaca's release.

Colombian President Alvaro Uribe has ordered his troops to launch a rescue operation to find the bishop being held by rebels.

The Catholic Church of Colombia had indicated earlier Tuesday that it did not oppose to a military rescue of the bishop of Yopal.

Vaca was kidnapped on July 24 by the rebels to issue a political message. The bishop had been involved in peace efforts between the government, leftist rebels and right-wing paramilitary groups battling for control of the oil-rich Casanare and Boyaca regions when he was abducted.

The ELN is the country's second largest rebel group, next only to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). The former is currently engaged in talks for eventual peace with the government of President Alvaro Uribe, through Mexican mediator Andres Valencia.

Kidnappings have been frequent in Colombia, about 3,000 cases a year on average. They are mostly conducted by illegal armed groups.

The church has for years been involved in promoting peace efforts in Colombia, often putting the lives of clergymen at risk. Over the past 20 years, an archbishop, a bishop, at least 50 priests and three nuns have been murdered. Dozens of others have been kidnapped.
 

Colombian paramilitary leaders to address Congress on peace
Leaders of Colombia's far-right paramilitaries, blamed for massacres and drug trafficking, will appear at Congress Wednesday to speak about peace talks with the government Wednesday, the government confirmed on Tuesday.

The Colombian government on Monday gave permission to three right-wing paramilitary outlaws to address Congress. It will be the first time that members of the 20,000-strong United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), speak in Congress.

The three AUC senior leaders -- Salvatore Mancuso, head of the AUC, and commanders Ramon Isaza and Ivan Roberto Duque -- will travel to the capital to speak at a public hearing about talks with the government, the government said in a document signed by President Alvaro Uribe, and Interior and Justice Minister Sabas Pretelt.

The trio were given a two-day safe conduct pass by the government so they can visit Bogota without fear of arrest. Colombia's air force will fly them from the nation's northwest to Bogota, where they will be escorted by police.

The AUC leaders' visit was approved by the Lower House of Congress. It is still unclear who will attend the hearing in Congress, in which each militia leader will speak for about 30 minutes. No lawmakers are obligated to attend the hearing and it is said that more than a dozen foreign diplomats will be there.

The paramilitaries emerged in the 1980s as vigilante groups to combat leftist guerrillas that government forces could not contain, but wound up waging their own dirty war and now fund themselves mainly through drug trafficking.

The Colombian government accuses the AUC of killing thousands of people, mainly peasants, in the war against leftist rebels. The United States wants to extradite AUC chief Mancuso for cocaine trafficking.

The AUC formally began peace negotiations with the government earlier this month at a rural safe haven in northwest Colombia. Ifthe talks end successfully, the AUC will turn into a political movement and its 20,000 members will be demobilized by 2005.