Amid the general strike against President Hugo Chávez, the
Venezuelan bishops' conference urged government and opposition negotiators to
offer "reasonable and urgent" proposals for the good of the country.
The bishops' statement, entitled "Let Us Avoid Destruction, Let Us Build
Reconciliation" and published Friday, appeals for peace and tolerance.
Asked if he could suggest ways out of the crisis, the president of the
episcopal conference, Archbishop Baltazar Porras of Merida, answered: "We
do not have a concrete answer to that, but what we do ask with anguish,
firmness and hope is that those who have this responsibility offer an
alternative."
"It is imperative to find ways that are peaceful, democratic, political in
the noblest sense, in keeping with the manifest will of the sovereign
people," the bishops' statement says.
"The escalation of confrontations that we have experienced in recent days
threatens to become a national tragedy," the episcopal conference
explained. "This crisis already has claimed its dead, whom we must not
forget."
The bishops made an appeal for respect for the media, the object of violent
attacks in recent days. At the same time, they called on the media to exercise
"its ethical and professional responsibility, without manipulation or
alarmism."