Shutdown forces Venezuela to import fuel from Brazil

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.