Panel pessimistic the truth will ever be known

                 CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) -- An Organization of American States
                 (OAS) panel probing killings during last month's coup in Venezuela
                 expressed pessimism on Thursday that it would ever establish what really
                 happened.

                 Juan Mendez, president of the Inter-American Human Rights Commission of the
                 OAS, told reporters both sides were showing inflexibility and animosity in their
                 account of the events of the April 11-14 coup.

                 "I am troubled that we may never really know the truth," Mendez said in Caracas,
                 where the OAS commission heard evidence about the coup and the violence that
                 accompanied it.

                 More than 60 people were killed in several days of rival street protests and looting
                 in which Chavez was briefly deposed by rebel military officers and then restored by
                 loyal troops.

                 Mendez and other commission members held talks with Chavez Thursday and also
                 met leading government and military figures.

                 "We were troubled by the fact that they already have a final version of events,"
                 Mendez said "On the opposition side, we also heard hard and fast theories about
                 what happened."

                 "Of course, the versions are completely incompatible with each other," he added.

                 Opponents of Chavez, a left-wing former paratroper who has ruled the world's No.
                 5 oil exporter since 1998, blame him and his supporters for the deaths of 17 people
                 who were shot during a huge anti-Chavez march in Caracas April 11.

                 Chavez and his aides deny responsibility and say the march was part of a carefully
                 prepared conspiracy by military and civilian coup plotters to overthrow his
                 government. They say anti-government gunmen fired on the protest march to
                 justify the takeover bid by senior military officers.

                 "We heard lots of theories and strongly held beliefs ... but precious little evidence of
                 who did what to whom," Mendez said. "We are very skeptical that there is going to
                 be an agreed upon version of events," he added.

                 Mendez said the unrelenting animosity between the government and its opponents
                 did not bode well for the possibility of a national dialogue to ease political tensions.

                 "It is hard to envisage that there is going to be any serious dialogue soon," he
                 added.

                 Leading up to the coup, foes of Chavez, including business and labor chiefs and
                 dissiden t military officers, had stepped up protests against his three-year-old rule.
                 They accused him of trying to install a Cuban-style left-wing regime.

                 Mendez said it was difficult to establish how much prior planning had gone into the
                 coup. "Even a fumbling coup like this one takes a little preparation," he said.

                  Copyright 2002 Reuters.