Chávez camp sees Venezuelan situation less critical than foes ……….Inside the president's compound, soldiers with rifles patrol the grounds around the main palace, a square one-story building set around a Moorish-styled fountain, and a newer office tower. ''There's not that much work now, not so many public functions and more meetings inside the palace,'' one presidential photographer said. The strike demanding that Chávez resign or call early elections has cut the world's fifth largest oil industry to 30 percent of its normal output, shuttered stores and factories and blocked streets and highways
César Gaviria, secretary-general of the Organization of American States, has repeatedly warned of widespread violence if the negotiations he's overseeing between Chávez and opposition envoys do not reach agreement soon. But the presidential guard sergeant's easy flirting on Wednesday underscored the view in Miraflores that Chávez's vast shuffling of military commanders this summer thwarted any chance of another coup. ''The president's people really believe they are over that hump, something that gives them time to dig in and break the strike,'' said a Western diplomat who meets often with government officials.
Chávez brands his opponents as a small group of corrupt rich people and labor leaders bent on triggering another coup and ending his leftist ''Bolivarian Revolution'' on behalf of Venezuela's poor majority. Like most Chávez supporters, Max Arvelaiz, a French native who works in the palace as an advisor to the Ministry of the Presidency, does not perceive the situation outside as critical as the president's foes. ''We know that anything can still happen. We are going through a deep crisis,'' Arvelaiz said, ``but things are starting to move in our favor, and when [the opposition] decided to strike, we knew it was something crazy, their last chance.''***
Venezuela Oil Still Halted Despite Ruling - "Not one step backward"*** "The situation is the same; the whole thing is shut down," PDVSA Vice President Jorge Kamkoff told Reuters on Friday. He said that oil output, reduced to less than 10 percent of normal, continued to slide. Venezuela in November produced 3.1 million barrels per day. Nearly 40 oil tankers remained anchored off Venezuelan ports without instructions from striking PDVSA staff and without certified crews to attend them, shippers said. Venezuela's Supreme Court on Thursday ordered authorities and individuals to obey government instructions to guarantee oil operations in the world's No. 5 crude exporter, which have been severely disrupted by the strike. Striking PDVSA workers chanted "Not one step backward" as they gathered in capital city Caracas on Friday morning in a rally to support the stoppage.***