Offers two alternatives as strike continues

CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) --Nobel Peace Prize winner Jimmy Carter said on
Tuesday he had proposed an agreement on elections to leftist Venezuelan President
Hugo Chavez and his foes which he believed could help end the country's long-running
political crisis.

The former U.S. president said after talks with Chavez in Caracas his blueprint
included an end to the seven-week-old opposition strike that is crippling the
economy of the world's No. 5 oil exporter. Strike leaders have been calling for
the populist president to resign and hold early elections.

"My opinion is that both sides now want to reach an agreement to end the
impasse," Carter told a news conference.

"I think this is a step in a positive direction, but certainly not a definitive answer,"
he added.

Carter's proposal, outlined at the news conference, comprised two independent
alternatives.

One was for an amendment to Venezuela's constitution that would trigger early
elections. The other was for the country to wait until August 19, halfway through
Chavez's term, when the constitution allows for a binding referendum on the
president's rule, which is due to end in early 2007.

He stressed that, while he was pleased with the initial reaction he had received
from both Chavez and opposition representatives, his proposal would still have to
be formally debated and approved by negotiators from both sides.

More than two months of negotiations between Chavez's government and its
foes, brokered by Organization of American States Secretary-General Cesar
Gaviria, have failed to produce a deal on elections to end the Venezuelan conflict.

Carter said he would also present his proposal in Washington on Friday to the
first meeting of the foreign ministers of six nations forming a "group of friends"
whose task is to help seek a peaceful solution to the Venezuela crisis.

The six-nation group, comprising the United States, Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Spain
and Portugal, was created last week to back the OAS-brokered peace talks.

Copyright 2003 Reuters.