Venezuelan opposition extends strike into 50th day

www.forbes.com Reuters, 01.19.03, 6:45 PM ET

CARACAS, Venezuela, Jan 17 (Reuters) - Foes of Venezuela's embattled President Hugo Chavez on Sunday extended for a 50th day a protest strike aimed at forcing the leftist leader to resign and call immediate elections in the world's fifth largest oil exporter.

The opposition shutdown, which began on Dec. 2, has slashed Venezuela's vital petroleum production, hiked oil prices and inflamed the feud over the populist ex-paratrooper's rule. Before the strike, Venezuela supplied about one sixth of U.S. oil imports. "Let's carry on ... not one step backwards," anti-Chavez business leader Jose Luis Betancourt told a news conference.

The anti-Chavez leaders, including rebel managers at state oil firm PDVSA have vowed to keep up the shutdown until the president resigns. But the tough-talking former paratrooper has dismissed calls for early elections. He rejects charges from foes that his government has been marred by corruption, economic mismanagement and authoritarian rule.

Chavez, who was elected in 1998 and survived a coup in April, has promised to defeat the strike, which he dismisses as an attempt to oust him through oil industry sabotage. Oil sales provide about half of government revenues.