Canada Tells Citizens to Leave Venezuela - [Full Text] OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada on Monday told its citizens in Venezuela to leave and said it was withdrawing some diplomats from the increasingly violent South American country. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is vowing to punish opposition strikers who have crippled the vital oil industry as part of their bid to force his resignation. Two people were killed over the weekend in street clashes in Caracas.
"Canadians should not travel to Venezuela. Canadians in Venezuela should leave the country," the Canadian foreign ministry said in a travel advisory that referred to the "highly volatile" security situation. "In light of the deteriorating political and security situation in Venezuela and accompanying severe shortages of goods and services, the Government of Canada has authorized the departure of all dependents of Canadian government personnel and nonessential Canadian staff members."
Chavez supporters and foes are pledging no letup in their conflict, which has plunged the world's fifth-largest oil exporter into political turmoil and economic chaos.[End]
Brazilian Oil Workers Refuse to Replace Stiking Venezuelans***RÍO DE JANEIRO.- Los trabajadores petroleros brasileños rechazarán una posible invitación para sustituir a los venezolanos que están en huelga en su país, advirtió el director del Sindicato Unificado de Petroleros de Sao Paulo, Antonio Carlos Spis. "El petrolero brasileño no es un frustra huelgas. Somos una categoría reconocida por nuestra actuación combativa y si respetamos las huelgas en Brasil ¿por qué no lo haríamos en otro país?", dijo Spis, que también es presidente de la Central Unitaria de los Trabajadores (CUT) en el estado de Sao Paulo, en declaraciones publicadas hoy por la prensa. El líder sindical hizo la advertencia dos días después de que el presidente venezolano, Hugo Chávez, en un encuentro con el mandatario brasileño, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, solicitara el envío de técnicos de la petrolera brasileña Petrobras a Venezuela para superar la huelga en su país.***