Leading Chavez adversary pledges cooperation as Caracas mayor-elect

Caracas’ new mayor, a leading opponent of President Hugo Chavez, says he wants to battle crime, trash and potholes – the issues that pushed this sprawling, chaotic capital to make a shift to opposition rule.

Antonio Ledezma is offering to work with his longtime adversary as he prepares to be sworn in later this week.

But Chavez is focused on the strikes, protests and brief coup d’etat he endured in 2002, the last time the city had an opposition mayor. He has warned Ledezma and other opponents not to try to undermine his government – or they could see tanks in the streets.

Increasing conflict seems inevitable. Yet the gray-haired, bespectacled mayor-elect still says both sides can work together on cleaning up Caracas.

“We need to have the skin of a crocodile to endure any provocation – not shoot from the hip,” Ledezma told The Associated Press in an interview last week. “But if we establish some rules of the game, and we obey those rules of the game, I think we can live together.”