President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela yesterday accused his enemies of using witches to attack him with black magic and voodoo.

"I've been told they had hired 85 witches who work with the devil," he said during his Hello President weekly radio and television show.

"The other day they left an animal in a corner of the Miraflores [presidential] palace. A dead animal, an ugly animal," the president said. He laughed loudly, adding: "I don't believe in this, what do you call it, voodoo . . . black magic.

"But just in case, I have this," and he held up a cross decorated with an image of the Virgin Mary.

"There is no witch with more power than this," he said of the religious icon, drawing cheers and laughter from supporters among the invited audience for the live broadcast of the show.

28 December 2002: Venezuela imports oil as strikers vow to fight on

Shangai Daily english.eastday.com

Venezuela's capital braced for a series of anti-government demonstrations planned for yesterday, the 28th day of a general strike which has caused severe fuel shortages in the world's fifth largest oil exporter.

Seeking the resignation of President Hugo Chavez and early elections, Chavez' opponents called for nine marches throughout Caracas.

Demonstrators will then converge in what is being billed as "the great victory rally," according to Antonio Ledezma of the Democratic Coordinator political movement.

The work stoppage began on December 2 to demand Chavez accept a nonbinding referendum on his rule. Strike leaders vow to continue a civil disobedience campaign.

The strike - led by Venezuela's largest labor union, business chamber, and workers at the state-owned oil monopoly Petroleos de Venezuela S.A., or PDVSA - has reduced oil exports from 3 million barrels a day to 160,000 barrels, virtually evaporating the country's gasoline supplies.

Long lines formed for gasoline on Saturday. Some motorists protested by blocking the Pan-American Highway outside Caracas.

The oil-rich nation is seeking food and fuel abroad.

It received its first foreign shipment of gasolinem on Saturday, with the Brazilian tanker Amazonian Explorer delivering 525,000 barrels, barely more than a normal day's demand.

Trinidad and Tobago is sending 400,000 barrels of gasoline. The Dominican Republic sent rice and Colombia sent 180,000 tons of food.

Opposition leaders accuse Chavez of sending the country into its worst recession in years and trying to impose a Cuban-style revolution. Chavez insists he wants to distribute Venezuela's oil wealth to the majority poor.

Handing out medals to soldiers, industry workers and merchant mariners who refused to join the work stoppage, Chavez insisted the strike was failing.

Canadian Press Sunday, December 29, 2002

CARACAS (AP) - Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets demanding the resignation of President Hugo Chavez on Sunday, the 28th day of a national strike that has virtually halted oil exports and evaporated domestic gasoline supplies.

Protesters chanting "Elections now!" and "Chavez out!" converged on an avenue in the capital Caracas known as La Victoria, or victory. Politicians, businessmen and labour leaders listed their arguments of why Chavez should quit in a scene that has played many times during the strike - without success.

Chavez refuses to step down and insists the government is regaining control of the state oil monopoly, Petroleos de Venezuela S.A., where most managers are on strike. He said he will use the protest to downsize the mammoth corporation and has already replaced many strikers.

"I feel so loved that I am never going to leave," Chavez said during his weekly television show.

"It's a treacherous oligarchy that wants to break the government and break the Venezuelan people."

The strike has slashed oil exports, forcing the world's fifth-largest oil supplier to barter with other countries for food and fuel.

Chavez said during his show two gasoline shipments were arriving from Venezuela's La Isla refinery on Curacao island, carrying 400,000 barrels of gasoline. Another 400,000 barrels are expected from Trinidad soon.

Venezuela received its first foreign shipments of gasoline Saturday when a Brazilian tanker delivered 525,000 barrels of gasoline, roughly a day's supply.

Ali Rodriguez, president of PDVSA, said Venezuela currently is producing between 600,000 and 700,000 barrels a day. Striking PDVSA executives deny the company is pumping that much oil, saying it is producing less than 200,000 barrels a day.

Production normally exceeds three million barrels a day.

At the Caracas rally, Chavez foes threatened more civil disobedience, including not paying taxes. The head of the Caracas fire department, Rodolfo Briceno, said the crowd numbered in the hundreds of thousands.

Many protesters wanted to march on the presidential palace but the last time that happened, 19 people were killed in a clash between Chavez foes and followers. The April 11 violence provoked a coup that ousted Chavez for two days.

Venezuela's largest labour confederation and business chamber called the strike Dec. 2 to demand Chavez accept a non-binding referendum on his rule. Many in the opposition now demand an early election - which constitutionally can occur only if Chavez resigns.

Chavez repeatedly has said the only constitutional means of removing him from office is a binding plebiscite halfway through his term, or August. He was elected in 1998 and re-elected in 2000, and his term ends in 2007.

Opponents accuse Chavez of running roughshod over democratic institutions and wrecking the economy with leftist policies.

Phil Gunson - Caracas - 30 Dec 2002, 01:42 UTC

Listen to Phil Gunson's report from Caracas (RealAudio)   Gunson report - Download 275k (RealAudio)   www.voanews.com

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez reiterated Sunday he would not resign, despite a four-week-old general strike aimed at unseating him. Hundreds of thousands of opposition demonstrators marched through the streets of Caracas demanding immediate elections. Mr. Chavez's opponents are planning to march on his presidential palace.

Opponents of Hugo Chavez march in CaracasPresident Chavez hosted his weekly radio and TV show from a gasoline distribution center, in an effort to prove that gas supplies would soon be back to normal. Even by the government's own figures, the country's vital oil industry is three-quarters paralyzed.

As each tanker truck departed, the president led a round of applause for what he calls the heroes of the "great oil battle." According to the government, the strike, which is centered on the oil industry, is the work of those who would like to see the state-owned oil company privatized. He has even suggested that foreign interests may be behind it.

Across the country, motorists have to wait in line for hours, even days, to fill their tanks - a paradox in a country ranking among the world's top five oil exporters. As a result of gas shortages and strikes in other sectors of the economy, supplies of goods, including some food items, are starting to become scarce.

Mr. Chavez, however, says gasoline is on its way from neighboring Trinidad and Curacao, and the situation is under control.

A Brazilian tanker docked Saturday with enough gasoline for a few days. But oil production is less than a quarter of the normal level of about 3 million barrels a day. Refineries are mostly shut down and exports are running at under 10 percent. Venezuela depends on exports of crude oil and refined products for over three quarters of its dollar earnings.

The president said striking oil company employees were guilty of treason and faced possible jail terms. But the strikers themselves remain defiant, and in a speech to an opposition rally, labor leader Carlos Ortega said the president would have to kill them if he wanted the strike lifted.

At Sunday's huge rally, copies of a civil disobedience handbook were distributed as part of the opposition's new strategy to cut short the president's term, which ends in 2007. The disobedience plan includes withholding taxes from the government.

While Mr. Chavez insists he will not step down, saying, "I think I'll never leave," the opposition says it is planning a march on the presidential palace on an as-yet unannounced date, in a bid to force him out. The last time that happened, back in April, 19 demonstrators were shot dead and the president was restored to power after a brief, two-day absence.

By Christopher Toothaker, Associated Press, 12/29/2002

CARACAS - Venezuela got some desperately needed gasoline from abroad yesterday as President Hugo Chavez said he was winning the battle against striking workers who have shut down the world's fifth-largest petroleum-exporting industry.

The Brazilian tanker Amazonian Explorer arrived with 525,000 barrels of gas off the coast of the eastern state of Anzoategui, Globovision television reported.

Smaller tankers were to ship the cargo - little more than a normal day's demand of 400,000 barrels - to several ports.

Fuel shortages continued and hundreds of drivers sat in long gas lines in Caracas yesterday, the strike's 27th day. Strike leaders called for more protests in cities and towns throughout the nation in their drive to force Chavez from power.

The shutdown has forced Venezuela to turn to other countries for fuel and food. Still, Chavez said Friday that ''we are emerging from the critical situation into which the country fell.''

He awarded medals to troops participating in efforts to reactivate the state-owned oil monopoly. Chavez has sent soldiers to take over oil facilities and commandeer trucks to distribute gasoline. His government is seeking replacement dockworkers, tug boat and tanker crews, field hands, and executives.

Venezuela's opposition, including the largest labor union, business chamber, and thousands of workers at Petroleos de Venezuela S.A. began the strike on Dec. 2 to demand that Chavez call a nonbinding referendum on his rule.

Juan Fernandez, a high-ranking oil executive who was fired for joining the strike, accused government ministers of misleading citizens by repeatedly telling them the energy crisis, which has cut oil exports from 3 million barrels a day to 160,000 per day, would soon be over.

''We aren't going to give up,'' Fernandez said. ''All we want is a free and democratic Venezuela.''

Opposition leaders accuse Chavez of sending the country into its worst recession in years and trying to impose a Cuban-style revolution. Chavez insists he wants to distribute Venezuela's oil wealth to the majority poor.

Chavez balked at his opponents' demands, saying they must wait until August, when a binding referendum may be held.

Talks being mediated by Cesar Gaviria, secretary general of the Organization of American States, will resume on Thursday, Gaviria said. He said delegates from both sides will work on possible election scenarios.

Venezuela supplied the United States with 14 percent of its oil before the strike. Concern that the strike could continue well into 2003, as well as fears of war in Iraq, pushed oil prices above $32 a barrel. Oil tankers that striking crews refused to bring to port are beginning to dock, because of the military and ''patriotic'' sailors, Chavez said.

''I'm sure that in a few days, or weeks, the long [gas] lines will disappear,'' said Chavez .

Energy Minister Rafael Ramirez said new managers would soon reopen a giant refinery in the Caribbean island of Curacao to produce 200,000 barrels of gasoline per day for Venezuelan use.

But the leader of the Curacao refinery's oil workers union, Elvis Andrade, said the Refineria Isla sent its last gasoline shipment Friday and shut down. A tanker left Willemstad harbor for Venezuela carrying 170,000 barrels of unleaded gasoline.

The refinery is owned by Curacao's government but is operated by Petroleos de Venezuela S.A. At full capacity, it can process 335,000 barrels of crude a day.

Scarcity has forced the Chavez government to seek international help. Trinidad was sending 400,000 barrels of gasoline. The Dominican Republic sent rice. Colombia sent 180,000 tons of food, the agriculture ministry said.

A small black market in gasoline emerged, with vendors selling gas at five to 10 times the normal price of 26 cents a gallon. ''I bought 20 liters [5 gallons] from speculators for 10,000 bolivares [$7]. That's a robbery, but what else can I do? I have a family to feed,'' said taxi driver David Pena.