Posted on 12/23/2002 2:57:04 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - Pledging to restore a Christmas he says is being "robbed" by an opposition strike, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez rushed on Monday to deliver gasoline and food as Venezuelans hit by shortages faced a bleak holiday.
The leftist Chavez, who has used the armed forces to move idle tankers and take over oil state terminals and ports, has dispatched soldiers to distribute cornmeal across the country as he steps up efforts ahead of Christmas to break a shutdown strangling the oil industry in the world's No. 5 exporter.
Frustration over an indefinite strike, called by opposition leaders to force Chavez to resign or call early elections, is mounting as Venezuelans endure long lines in gasoline stations and prowl stores to find food.
In a message to the nation on Sunday, Chavez, who was elected in 1998 and has ignored calls to step down, pledged to ruin opposition plans to "sabotage the holiday spirit" and said he will make sure "all Venezuelans have a happy Christmas."
"They wanted to sabotage cornmeal. That was very clever of them. Without cornmeal, you can't have hayacas on Christmas," a buoyant Chavez said during his weekly "Hello President" television show, referring to a traditional Venezuelan dish made of cornmeal, meat and vegetables wrapped in banana leaves.
"Our armed forces will be distributing cornmeal to the people so that all Venezuelans can have hayacas in Christmas."
But strike leaders, who have vowed to continue with their protest until Chavez leaves, urged the president to allow Venezuelans enjoy "Christmas in peace."
"The only one responsible here for us not having Christmas is you Mr. Chavez," said anti-Chavez union boss Carlos Ortega. "The only solution is your ouster."
Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez wipes his brow behind a helmet used by oil workers of the state-own company PDVSA during prior to the start of his weekly TV program 'Alo Presidente' at a gasoline distribution plant in Carenero, 80 miles east Caracas, Sunday, Dec. 22, 2002. (AP Photo/Ricardo Mazalan)
NO CHRISTMAS LIGHTS IN MALLS
As the two sides disagree about who is to blame for the strike chaos; cinemas and shopping malls in Caracas have stayed closed and dark and traffic on the capital's notoriously congested roads has thinned to a trickle.
The strike, which is costing millions of dollars every day, has become a war of attrition for control of state giant PDVSA.
Chavez, who has pledged to tough out the grueling strike, said his government was restarting halted oil output and exports. The opposition says the shutdown is holding firm.
Foes of Chavez, who survived a failed coup in April, accuse him of ruling like a dictator and of mismanaging the oil-rich economy, which contracted 6.4 percent in the first nine months of 2002.
Chavez, a populist former paratrooper, refuses to step down and has said the constitution only allows him to hold a referendum on his rule in August, halfway through his term.
He accuses his opponents, a loose group of business leaders, unions and media barons backed by Venezuela's upper and middle classes, of trying to roll back his leftist reforms he says are bridging the gap between the rich and the poor. \
Young Venezuelans shade themselves while waiting in line outside the National Election Center, CNE, to register to vote in Maracaibo in western Venezuela, Sunday, Dec. 22, 2002, on the 22nd day of a nationwide strike seeking the ouster of President Hugo Chavez. Leaders of the strike vowed to maintain the stoppage until Chavez resigns or calls early elections. Sunday was the last day to register to vote in the next elections. (AP Photo/Ana Maria Otero)
The shutdown, which has stoked fears of violence with daily rival demonstrations, has slowed the nation's vital oil industry to a trickle. Using replacement staff, the government has managed to maintain exports at about 5 percent of November's levels of 2.7 million barrels per day. OPEC member Venezuela normally supplies 13 percent of U.S. oil imports.
Along with fears of a U.S. war against Iraq, the Venezuelan oil drought has pushed oil prices to over $30 a barrel.
Elected in 1998 as a self-styled champion of the poor, Chavez, the son of humble school teachers, has divided Venezuelans with his combative style, class-based rhetoric and left-leaning policies, including land reform. His enemies say he is dragging the country toward Cuban-style communism.
Chavez, who led a botched coup in 1992, has appointed former military officers to government posts and has recruited the armed forces to build roads and paint schools and deliver food to the poor as part of his so-called "Bolivar Plan."
He has also angered the United States, Venezuela's largest trade partner, by forging closer ties with Fidel Castro's Cuba and OPEC fellow member countries Iran and Libya.
Although his popularity has fallen sharply, Chavez commands strong support in many poor neighborhoods and shantytowns, where he is revered as a popular hero.
Peace talks brokered by Organization of American States Secretary General Cesar Gaviria were due to resume on Monday. The talks have failed to produce results.
Chavez Claims Venezuela Oil Restart, Foes Say He's Lying***Foes accuse Chavez, a former army officer, of dragging the oil-rich nation toward Cuba-style communism, but the president says his self-styled "revolution" is aimed at helping poor Venezuelans who are the majority of its 23 million people. He maintains solid of support among the poor though his overall popularity has fallen sharply.
Along with fears of a U.S. war against Iraq, the Venezuelan oil drought has pushed oil prices to over $30 a barrel. Venezuela supplies more than 13 percent of U.S. oil imports. Speaking during his weekly "Hello President" television and radio show, Chavez said PDVSA was resuming shipments to clients like the United States and Cuba. He accused "international transnational interests" of being involved in the strike and denounced a U.S.-Canadian consortium, Sociedad Williams Enbridge y Compania, for "abandoning" and "sabotaging" an oil export loading terminal in eastern Venezuela it was operating under a long-term lease.
A pro-government PDVSA official, Luis Marin, told Chavez during the show that the departing foreign executives and staff had damaged the Jose terminal's electronics and equipment. "Venezuela is going to sue them for damaging national property. ... The contract is over, right?," said Chavez.***
Chavez Threatens To Jail Strike Leaders [Full Text] As Venezuela's punishing general strike enters its fourth week today with no solution in sight, President Hugo Chavez is threatening to imprison employees of the state oil corporation, the motor of the country's economy, unless they return to work.
The President said on his weekly television and radio programme Hello Mr President yesterday that the Attorney General was preparing to lay charges of "sabotage" against strike leaders.
After a supreme court ruling last week, interpreted by the government as ordering an end to the oil strike, those who engaged in "acts or omissions that obstruct the application" of a temporary injunction issued by the court's constitutional branch could be jailed, said General Jose Luis Prieto, the Defence Minister .
The law cited by the minister provides for prison sentences of between six and 15 months for contempt of court.
In a broadcast at the weekend, General Prieto announced the formation of a military-led "unified command" to guarantee "vital interests such as the oil industry". This suggests that civilians will be obliged to obey military orders and, according to opposition commentators, is one of several steps the government has taken in the direction of a de facto state of emergency. The political analyst Alberto Garrido said: "What we're beginning to see is the implementation of a left-wing version of the national security doctrine practised by South American military dictatorships of the Seventies."
As General Prieto spoke, the government's strike breaking efforts yielded a small breakthrough. The national oil company PDVSA's tanker Pilin Leon, whose crew were the first in the merchant navy to join the strike, on 4 December, was finally moved to the Bajo Grande tanker terminal on Lake Maracaibo, where it was expected to unload 260,000 barrels of petrol. That is the equivalent of just over a day's consumption Across Venezuela, motorists are queuing for up to 12 hours to fill their tanks, with petrol production halted and supplies dwindling. The strike, called by the opposition Democratic Coordinator in response to President Chavez's refusal to accept an early referendum on his rule, has already cost PDVSA more than $1bn (£624m) in lost export revenue. [End]
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