VENEZUELA: VENEZUELAN OPPOSITION LEADERS HAVE EXTENDED FOR A FOURTH DAY A NATION-WIDE STRIKE AGAINST PRESIDENT HUGO CHAVEZ

Record ID: 645670

  • Title: VENEZUELA: VENEZUELAN OPPOSITION LEADERS HAVE EXTENDED FOR A FOURTH DAY A NATION-WIDE STRIKE AGAINST PRESIDENT HUGO CHAVEZ
  • Date: 4th December 2002
  • Summary: CARACAS, VENEZUELA (DECEMBER 04, 2002) (REUTERS) MCU (Spanish) LABOUR LEADER, CARLOS ORTEGA, SAYING: ""We announce to the nation and the world that the national civic strike continues." SV PEOPLE APPLAUDING MCU (Spanish) PRESIDENT OF FEDECAMARAS (LARGEST BUSINESS ORGANISATION OF VENEZUELA), CARLOS FERNANDEZ, SAYING: "Fedecamaras has decided to continue the national strike in coordination with the CTV (labour union)." LV/SLV/SV OF PEOPLE BANGING ON POTS AND PANS IN BUILDINGS AND ON THE STREETS IN SUPPORT OF STRIKE (6 SHOTS)
  • Embargoed: 19th December 2002 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: CARACAS AND MARACAIBO LAKE, VENEZUELA
  • Country: Venezuela
  • Topics: General,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAF1ZM1RNOO9Q1666JMFNM87USN
  • Story Text: Venezuelan opposition leaders have extended for a fourth day a nation-wide strike against President Hugo Chavez as international mediators scrambled to salvage stalled peace talks in the world's No. 5 oil exporter.
    The ongoing shutdown raised fears of disruptions in vital oil supplies and escalated the bitter feud between Chavez and his foes, who are demanding the populist president agree to an early vote on his rule.
    The nation-wide strike that began on Monday (December 02) has helped drive up crude prices this week amid market jitters over Venezuelan shipments, which account for 13 percent of U.S. oil imports.
    Opposition leaders, who say Chavez's left-leaning policies are driving Venezuela into economic ruin and social turmoil, said on Wednesday the government's refusal to accept an early referendum forced them to prolong the walkout.
    "We announce to the nation ... that the national civic strike continues," Carlos Ortega, an anti-Chavez union boss, and a member of the loose coalition of unions, opposition political parties and business leaders leading the strike.
    For the third consecutive night, strike supporters banged pots and pans and set off fireworks in noisy protests around Caracas. Ortega said strike leaders would evaluate again on Thursday whether to further prolong the stoppage.
    Chavez, a retired paratrooper who was elected in 1998 and survived a coup in April, has refused to accept opposition demands for an immediate vote and says the people still support his left-wing reforms. He says a binding poll can only be held halfway into his term in August 2003.
    Thousands of anti-government protesters marched through the capital earlier Wednesday (December 04) to a hotel where the Organization of American States struggled to keep alive talks between the government and the opposition.
    Demonstrators demanded Chavez accept a referendum in February and condemned Tuesday's (December 03) heavy-handed crackdown on protesting oil executives by National Guard troops. Fresh violence broke out on Wednesday in several states when police clashed with supporters and foes of the president.
    General support for the strike -- the fourth against Chavez in a year -- has weakened since it began on Monday. But the impact on the petroleum industry appears to be widening with anti-Chavez executives at the state oil firm PDVSA spearheading the stoppage.
    The strike and recent protests by PDVSA managers have stoked fears of a repeat of demonstrations that severely disrupted crude oil supplies earlier this year and led up to April's coup. Oil supplies half of overall government revenues and 80 percent of export revenues.
    In a sign of increasing disruption within PDVSA on Wednesday, crew members of a company oil tanker carrying 280,000 barrels of gasoline for domestic use said they were halting their vessel.
    "We want to inform the country and the people in general, in a responsible way, that we have decided to join the national strike, ceasing our operations, in that way we have anchored this tanker in the Maracaibo lake," said merchant marine captain, Daniel Alfaro.
    Oil tanker loadings at some Venezuelan ports were delayed by the strike and staffing problems threatened installations, including some refineries.
    The government said the nation's oil supplies, both internal and for export, would not be halted by the shutdown.
    But it has admitted to some delays and some gas stations have reported gasoline shortages.
    The three-day opposition shutdown has closed many shops and businesses, especially in the opposition stronghold of east Caracas. But state steel, aluminium and mining industries were mostly unaffected.
    Amid growing tensions, Chavez cancelled a planned trip to Brazil. Officials gave no explanation.
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