On the eve of the announcement on whether the U.S. backed opposition has enough signatures to force a Presidential recall referendum, hundreds of thousands of people turned out to support Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez Frias. In his speech, Chavez said "Here is Venezuela in the spirit of the Liberator Simon Bolivar to say NO to Yanqui interventionism, to say no to Mr. Bush, to his invading, imperialist and colonial regime ... and we will tell him that here is the people of Simon Bolivar and we will keep on telling him."

Protests will take place in Argentina, Bolivia, Brasil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Panama, Peru, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and Uruguay. Also Mexico; Washington, Los Angeles, Miami, Ohio and Boston in the USA plus protests in Spain, Berlin, Germany and France. ">

The U.S. led opposition claims to have 3.4 million signatures with 2.4 million needed. Privately some opposition leaders have admitted that they do not have enough. Many of the signatures are fake. Some are from dead people, foreigners, forged, or stolen. Preliminary statistics predict only 1.4 million verified signatures.

National Elections Council (CNE) officials have postponed any announcement on preliminary results until tomorrow, Monday, claiming that there is an overwhelming need to preserve peace after repeated threats by the radical opposition to impose a unilateral decision that would mandate a recall referendum without the constitutionally required number of verified signatures.

In April 2002, the U.S. backed a failed coup attempt. In December 2002, U.S. corporate interests were involved in an economic lockout to force the ouster of Chavez. In September 2003, Venzuelan government officials claim the CIA intended to assasinate President Chavez during a planned trip to the U.S. Now the wealthy elite, along with the U.S. backing, are trying to force the referendum.

From tomorrow, March 1, Chavez Frias says a series of campaigns will be begun in 22 countries around Latin America, Europe and in the United States itself, against the Bush government's intervention attempts and in solidarity with Venezuela's sovereign independence.

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