BY MARIA VICTORIA VALDES-RODDA
After two months of trying to bring down President Hugo Chavez, Venezuela's right-wing opposition on February 2 announced the end to its "general strike". The opposition alliance, the Coordinadora Democratica (CD), acknowledged that the strike had failed in its goal of ousting Chavez.
According to press reports, by February 3 shops, banks and private schools in Caracas were operating. Froilan Barrios, a member of anti-government Confederation of Venezuelan Workers (CTV) leadership, which participated in the "strike" side-by-side with the employer-dominated CD, told Associated Press that "it's understandable that people would want to re-open their businesses after two months of strikes", but confirmed that opening times would be restricted. He described it as part of the new anti-Chavez strategy.
However, in Venezuela and abroad, attention was mainly focused on the impact of the bosses' and managers' strike on oil exports. The opposition hoped that the sabotage of Venezuela's most productive economic sector would lead to the collapse of the pro-poor Chavez government. Venezuela is the world's fifth largest exporter of crude oil.
Rafael Gomez, public relations manager for the Petroleos de Venezuela Corporation (PDVSA), told Prensa Latina that the company plans to import 12 million barrels of oil during February to slowly reestablish gasoline distribution for the internal market.
He revealed that the PDVSA is increasing production from its refineries and imports will cover more than 50 days of regular consumption, which will deliver "a strong blow to speculators who are hoarding petrol to resell at inflated prices". Production will soon would return to pre-crisis levels, PDVSA stated.
A recent PDVSA report confirmed losses of more than US$1.35 billion due to the opposition's sabotage activities, which paralysed the oil industry from December 2.
During a speech to the nation on February 2, Chavez declared that "the reactivation of PDVSA and increased production to 1.8 million barrels per day" is a triumph for the people. "We've combated and defeated the terrorist and coup plotters' sabotage plans and the oil industry is still in the hands of the people, now more than ever before", Venezuela's president said.
Chavez announced that a new official US dollar-bolivar exchange rate is aimed at ending the ban on hard-currency dealings, a measure that was imposed to stop the dollar's flight abroad. That situation was caused by individuals "trying to destabilise the nation's financial system", he commented.
The Venezuelan government is planning to enforce the constitutional obligation of banks to invest part of their credits in agriculture and to reaffirm the state's role of assigning foreign currency to national companies for their imports and payments, giving preference to those in favour of economic development.
Chavez reminded foreign governments "that any country wishing to help Venezuela [must] start by recognising that we have a legitimate government here". He asked his local opponents to abandon their hopes that "someone from outside" could change the will of the people and remove the legitimate government of Venezuela.
On January 22, hundreds of thousands of people demonstrated their support for Chavez in Caracas, chanting "Chavez won't go" and "Hey, hey, Chavez is here to stay". Many of the demonstrators waved palm-sized copies of the constitution and wore red berets, which has become emblematic of Chavez, a former paratrooper. One group held aloft a sign saying "don't drink Coca-Cola" and a giant cardboard replica of a bottle of the soft drink that was unavailable throughout the bosses' economic shutdown.
The pro-Chavez demonstration came a day after the Supreme Court issued a decision to call off the non-binding referendum the opposition had planned to hold on February 2 in a bid to force Chavez from office.
[Abridged from Granma International. Visit .]
From Â鶹´«Ã½ Weekly, February 19, 2003.
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