The Venezuelan government will mount a special security plan for the 141st Special Meeting of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) that begins on Thursday in Caracas.

Venezuela's Interior Minister Jesse Chacon said in a statement on Tuesday that the plan would prevent any violent incident at the OPEC meeting.

"We are certain there will be no security problems at the meeting," he said. He added that there might be some student demonstrations, but that they were unlikely to disrupt the proceedings.

Last week, students clashed with police in the city of Merida in southeast Venezuela, leaving 30 injured.

He said that some people wanted to make vicious use of the meetings to give Venezuela a bad image by disrupting public order.

"It is... an opportunity for a group of subversives to demonstrate, so that internationally people will think there is a climate of violence in Venezuela; something I want everyone to know does not exist," Chacon said.

The OPEC meeting will be held in the Eurobuilding Hotel, where a heavy security presence had been observed inspecting people and vehicles seeking to enter.

Source: Xinhua