(4 Feb 1996) Spanish/Nat

Students clashed with police at a university in Venezuela over a proposed hike in student bus fares.

The riot comes during a wave of social unrest in Caracas

The government says students are trying to disrupt the visit of the Pope this week to draw attention to their cause.

Students at the Luis Caballero Mejias Technical College in Venezuela's capital have been rioting since Wednesday.

They've set fire to cars in this suburb of Caracas.

The students shouted obscenities at police, hurled homemade bottle bombs and fired stones from slingshots.

This clash was one of at least four such skirmishes in and around this city of 4 million.

Streets were barricaded and businesses closed in neighbourhoods near the riots.

Police say the students have the right to express their anger -- but not in this fashion.

SOUNDBITE: (Spanish)
"We all know our national constitution gives us the right to protest - but legally - not in the way they're doing it. They burn private and state vehicles, burn businesses and cause them substantial losses, wound officials, and cause major traffic problems because we have to detour around them."
SUPER CAPTION: Police official

The latest unrest was sparked by a proposed hike of student bus fares.

Students currently pay five bolivars a ticket, or about 1.7 cents.

The government is negotiating with private bus operators to perhaps quadruple that.

Either rate seems a pittance until you consider the minimum wage is a scant 15,000 bolivars a month, about $52.

Students say they feel abandoned by both the left and right in Venezuela.

SOUNDBITE: (Spanish)
This community has no leadership. That is why we call out to our colleagues, the supposed leftists of the last 20-30 years. They've let themselves be sucked into the establishment and they haven't assumed the leadership role they should.
SUPER CAPTION: Student Protester

After nearly three years of recession, unemployment in Venezuela stands at more than ten percent.

Food prices, the single largest monthly expense for most Venezuelan families, have shot up more than fifty percent..

Students aren't the only ones upset. Last week, parts of downtown Caracas were cordoned off several times for hours at a stretch as
Unions demonstrated for a hike in the minimum wage and against proposed cutbacks in social security.

Doctors at municipal hospitals took to the streets Wednesday, demanding back wages be paid.

The government has kept a tight lid on such demonstrations, in part because Pope John Paul II arrives in a week for a visit.

Anti-riot police backed by the National Guard are deployed at the first sign of trouble.

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