VENEZUELA: Tensions Simmer as Strike Endures

By Humberto Márquez Reprint | | Print |

Humberto Márquez

CARACAS, Dec 9 2002 (IPS) - Long lines of cars extending from the few gasoline service stations still open Monday in Venezuela marked the second week of a general strike in which the opposition is standing firm in its demand for President Hugo Chávez’s resignation.

The banking sector on Monday joined the work stoppage that now affects nearly the entire petroleum industry, manufacturing, construction, education, health services and the major retail shops, and, to a lesser extent, public transportation, small businesses, restaurants and the main public offices.

The strike began a week ago, Dec 2, organised by the powerful Venezuelan Workers’ Confederation (CTV) and Fedecámaras, a federation of business associations.

The spectre of shortages has scared many consumers, who have waited in long lines at supermarkets and pharmacies – open only a few hours each day – to stock up on essential goods.

Meanwhile, government and opposition leaders are asking their respective supporters to remain alert and to continue the protests in city squares and streets.

The fear of further violent incidents weighed heavily in Venezuela’s larger cities, after gunmen opened fire Friday on a crowd in Caracas, killing three and injuring at least 20 more at Altamira Plaza, a stronghold of the opposition.

There, civilian groups maintain a constant presence in support of military officers who have declared themselves to be in "civil disobedience" of the government and the military command.

Chávez ordered the armed forces to protect the gasoline and oil supply stations, and in several regions military patrols requisitioned tanker trucks in order to transport fuel to some service stations.

The strike is costing the state-run oil company, Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) 35 million dollars a day in lost revenues from oil exports to the United States – some 1.5 million barrels a day – , reported Jorge Kamkoff, former vice-president of the giant state enterprise.

The international situation of oil supplies and prices has withstood the shut-off of Venezuelan wells "because there is a great deal of petroleum in the international system, an oversupply, and prices were already high," commented Luis Giusti, a former PDVSA president.

Chávez, in a dialogue with the foreign press on Saturday, said, "I am more concerned about the domestic petroleum supply, and that is where we are focusing our efforts."

César Gaviria, Secretary-General of the Organisation of American States (OAS), tried to convince the government and opposition delegates to sit back down to the talks that began more than a month ago to devise a way out of the crisis, but discussion has largely been paralysed since the strike began last week.

Washington issued a new appeal Monday for understanding between the two sides in the deeply polarised Venezuelan political crisis. White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said his government "reiterates its complete support for the Organisation of American States Secretary-General Cesar Gaviria’s efforts to mediate a peaceful, democratic, constitutional and electoral solution to Venezuela’s crisis."

"We call on all sides to act responsibly, to continue to support the dialogue process and to reject violence," Fleischer added.

From Oslo, former U.S. president Jimmy Carter, who is in Norway to receive the Nobel Prize for Peace, said he recommends negotiating in good faith, attempting to reach some sort of agreement, and considering whether the Venezuelan people can constitutional decide whether Chávez should end his presidency.

The Carter Centre, the OAS and the United Nations Development Programme make up the tripartite group sponsoring the government- opposition talks under Gaviria’s supervision, with the participation of six delegates from the government and six from the opposition Democratic Coordinator, which comprises 34 political parties and organisations.

Timoteo Zambrano, one of the opposition negotiators, said the OAS is preparing to convene its Permanent Council to take up the Venezuelan case. Zambrano formally requested that Gaviria petition for the opposition’s Democratic Coordinator to have a voice in that session.

In addition to the Democratic Coordinator, the CTV and Fedecámaras, the anti-Chávez coalitions includes dozens of military officials without troops and who have been engaged in what they call "legitimate civil disobedience" at Altamira Plaza since October.

Manuel Cova, another negotiator for the Coordinator, says "time has run out for the government. The electoral solution is already dominating the talks, or that the president resign and realise that his political project has failed."

Chávez has repeated that he will not resign, and instead invites the opposition to wait until August 2003, the halfway point of his presidential term, to hold the constitutionally allowed referendum on whether to revoke his mandate.

The opposition rejects that option, saying the solution to the country’s crisis cannot be put off until August.

On Tuesday, some ruling-coalition lawmakers who could incline the parliamentary balance in favour of the opposition are expected to propose a constitutional reform that would allow Congress to call early general elections.

VENEZUELA: Tensions Simmer as Strike Endures

By Humberto Márquez Reprint | | Print |

Humberto Márquez

CARACAS, Dec 9 2002 (IPS) - Long lines of cars extending from the few gasoline service stations still open Monday in Venezuela marked the second week of a general strike in which the opposition is standing firm in its demand for President Hugo Chávez’s resignation.
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