"We hope to bring about a climate of understanding between all Venezuelans with this declaration," said Gaviria

CARACAS, February 19 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – In what is seen as the first concrete step in three months of talks, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and opposition forces signed late Tuesday, February 18, a non-violence pact, curtailing a 63-day general strike called on December 2 to oust Chavez.

The seven-point pact rejected "verbal intemperance, mutual recrimination, verbal attacks and any rhetoric aimed at confrontation," Agence France-Presse (AFP) quoted Cesar Gaviria, head of the Organization of American States (OAS), as saying.

"We hope to bring about a climate of understanding between all Venezuelans with this declaration," said Gaviria, who has been heading negotiations backed by a six-nation group led by the U.S.

One of the aims of the pact, in effect, is to tone down the rhetoric between Chaves and his opponents.

Before inking the pact, Chavez and his opponents had been trading insults and swear words.

Chaves frequently described his opponents as "squalid ones" or "fascist coup-plotters", while his opponents called him a "tyrant".

The pact urged all political and social factions to "create a climate of peace and calm in the country".

It also called on the legislature to form a "Peace Commission" to investigate the 70 deaths during the April bloody coup.

"The document is a confidence-building measure that does not carry any sanctions, " BBC News Online quoted some political analysts as saying.

For his part, oopposition leader Timoteo Zambrana told BBC that he hoped the pact would help reduce tensions in Venezuela.

Political tensions have run extremely high since April, when the leftist-populist elected president was briefly ousted for 47 hours.

There have been almost 70 political killings in Caracas, in addition to massive rallies against and in defence of Chavez's government.

Aimed at ending the political and economic standoffs that have gripped the country for more than a year, the mediation talks were centred on proposals by co-mediator former U.S. president Jimmy Carter.

Carter had proposed a constitutional amendment allowing early elections or a referendum on continuation of Chavez's term of office, to be scheduled for August 19, the mid-point of the president's term.

Accusing him of being too authoritarian and blaming him for the country's economic woes, the opposition wants President Chavez to stand down and call a referendum on his rule.

But the president, who was re-elected in 2000, has refused to consider a vote before August.

During the strike, Chavez said he would order military takeovers of food plants allegedly holding back products on the government list of staple items.

Trying to rule with an iron-fist, Chavez had warned Sunday, February 16, that if businessmen close food plants to protest his government's recently-introduced currency exchange and price controls, he would order the military to take them over.

"Oligarchic businessmen ... will not take away the people's arepa," Chavez said, referring to a cornmeal patty that is a staple of the working class dinner table.

He also stressed on the weekend that his government would step up its "war" on large landowners in Venezuela.

"War against large landholdings -- the land is for those who work it, not for the country's Little Lord Landholders," Chavez promised.

He also said Venezuela's daily oil production was back up to 2.1 million barrels per day as he pushed for the crucial industry to get back on its feet after the crippling two-month strike.

Before the strike, Venezuela, the world's eighth oil producer, and fifth exporter to the U.S., was exporting 2.8 million barrels a day.