- Title: VENEZUELA: Security tightened ahead of general strike
- Date: 21st October 2002
- Summary: (W5) CARACAS, VENEZUELA (OCTOBER 21, 2002) (REUTERS) GV/MV/MCU: VARIOUS OF POLICE AND ARMED FORCES PUTTING ON RIOT GEAR (3 SHOTS) GV: STREET SCENE OF LIGHT MORNING TAFFIC GV: SOLDIER WALKING DOWN STREET GV/MCU: VARIOUS OF CLERK STOCKING GROCERIES (2 SHOTS) GV: WOMAN IN FRONT OF SCHOOL GV: CHILDREN ARRIVING AT SCHOOL MCU: SOUNDBITE (Spanish) UNIDENTIFIED LOCAL MAN, SAYING: "Now, the children are arriving (at school). It is full of people. It's irresponsible of these people not to have told us on Friday that they weren't going to work, that they were going to take the day off, but they're politicians and they see us standing here." GV: CLOSED SHOP MV: MAN AT COUNTER OF OPEN FOOD COUNTER MCU: SOUNDBITE (Spanish) UNIDENTIFIED SHOP OWNER, SAYING: "Today we opened because we need to work, you know? We work because we need to and that's why we're working. Here we work everyday." MCU: POLICE PUTTING ON HELMET GV: STREET SCENES AND PEOPLE WALKING DOWN STREET GV: MORNING TRAFFIC, STREET SCENES (5 SHOTS)
- Embargoed: 5th November 2002 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: CARACAS, VENEZUELA
- Country: Venezuela
- Topics: Domestic Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA1AZT1O46S8JWFKM1DLT4IU8J2
- Story Text: Security has been tightened throughout Caracas as the country prepares for a 12-hour general strike organized by foes of embattled President Hugo Chavez.
Venezuelans geared up on Monday (October 21) for the start of a general strike organized by opponents of embattled President Hugo Chavez.
Hundreds of security agents were dispersed throughout parts of the city with heavy gear.
One day before the strike, Chavez said during his weekly television and radio address that his government had foiled an assassination attempt, displaying an anti-tank bazooka that was allegedly seized.
Opponents of the outspoken, left-wing former paratrooper quickly dismissed the assassination allegation as "a fairy tale" and accused the president of trying to discredit them ahead of the 12-hour strike protesting Chavez's rule.
The populist president, who survived a short-lived coup by rebel military officers in April and has frequently denounced plots to overthrow or kill him, said he would reduce his public appearances because of the assassination threat.
The Venezuelan leader, who was elected in 1998 six years after himself staging a botched coup bid, is refusing opposition calls for him to quit and call early elections.
Chavez's foes say his self-proclaimed "revolution,"
confrontational leadership style and interventionist leftist economic reforms are dragging the world's No. 5 oil exporter toward chaos, ruin and Cuban-style communism.
While the organizers of Monday's protest strike say thousands of shops and businesses will support it, Chavez said strategic state-run sectors, like the oil, steel and aluminum industries and the Caracas Metro, would keep on working.
Several store owners opened for business despite the call for the strike, saying they had to work.
"Today we opened because we need to work, you know?"
said one shop owner. "We work because we need to and that's why we're working. Here we work everyday."
Chavez said the police and armed forces would be on alert to prevent violence during the stoppage. Strike leaders have accused militant supporters of the president of threatening to loot shops and businesses that close Monday. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
