Venezuela runs out of petrol again
www.theage.com.au Saturday 11 January 2003, 12:05PM
Oil-rich Venezuela again ran out of petrol, further stoking tension as bank employees walked off the job for a second day in support of a 40-day-old strike that has throttled the petroleum sector.
The potentially explosive crisis has caused international concern, notably on oil markets, and US authorities said they were considering new initiatives aimed at breaking the deadlock between the government and the opposition.
The strike has mainly targeted the vital oil sector, crippling crude output, processing and shipments, and forced the world's fifth-largest petroleum exporter to import petrol.
The imports helped ease critical shortages for about a week, but huge lines again formed outside Caracas service stations, even though many ran out of petrol and new deliveries were uncertain.
Banks and supermarkets also shut down for a second day running, in a move that mainly affected the eastern areas of Caracas, considered a stronghold of the opposition that is seeking to force President Hugo Chavez from office. Numerous schools also were closed, which the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) denounced as a violation of children's right to education.
The crisis has also been marked by a series of violent incidents, including the use of firearms during clashes between supporters and foes of the leftist-populist president that left two people dead and dozens injured so far this year.
A fragmentation grenade was reportedly hurled at the residence of the Algerian ambassador after the North African country agreed to help Chavez restart the crippled oil industry.
The attack coincided with reports that Algerian technicians had arrived in the Paraguana refinery complex, the world's largest and among the installations severely affected by the strike.
Because it cut petroleum exports to a trickle, the strike has sent oil prices soaring in recent weeks, causing serious concern in the United States, which prepared for possible war with Iraq.