Chavez glories in interim success as strikes break
JEREMY MCDERMOTT THERE has been no formal admission of surrender but Venezuela’s president seems to have beaten the seven-week-old strike aimed at toppling him.
The core of the strike by Venezuela’s opposition was always the oil industry, the country’s economic lifeblood. But with more than 3,000 striking oil workers sacked and production up to almost a million barrels of oil a day, opposition figures are privately admitting it is all over.
"It seems [the president] has won this round. We never thought he would be able to hold on for long," said an opposition politician. "But it’s not over, we will beat him in August."
It is in August that the president, Hugo Chavez, has agreed to hold a referendum on his rule. If he loses he has pledged to go quietly. In the meantime he is tightening his grip on the levers of power, economic, military and political.
He has become increasingly exuberant as the strike collapses and has promised to get the oil industry back on its feet in record time.
"The oil wells are working and we have already exceeded one million barrels a day in oil production and the recovery has been much faster than we hoped," the fiery left-wing president said. "By the end of January, or at the latest in the first week of February, we should be at roughly two million barrels a day."
The key elements in the opposition’s national strike were the oil industry and a call for businesses to close.
After seven weeks businesses face the choice of going bankrupt or of breaking the strike; the vast majority have done the latter. The shopping malls in the wealthier suburbs have begun to open, as have restaurants.
Government supporters scent victory.
"The corrupt oligarchy has been defeated. The rich minority have been shown that the will of the people cannot be stopped," said Lina Ron, an ardent Chavista.
The opposition is by no means a spent force and was able to obtain two million signatures calling for a referendum next month, but the request was thrown out on a technicality by the country’s supreme court.
In addition, the opposition can still mobilise people and persuade them onto the streets. Last weekend over a 100,000 people blockaded one of Caracas’s main highways calling for the removal of Mr Chavez, whom they accuse of wanting to set up a Cuban-style dictatorship.
But the Chavistas have been able to match opposition numbers, with the poor neighbourhoods coming out in support of their idol.
The country is polarised like never before, but the opposition has no leader whilst the charismatic Mr Chavez has already shown he will cling onto power with every ounce of his strength.
But the strike has cost Mr Chavez dearly. Support has shrunk from 60 per cent early last year to less than 30 per cent, and government finances, along with the economy, are in tatters with almost £3 billion in losses. The economy shrank by an estimated 8 per cent last year, whilst unemployment stands at 17 per cent and inflation at 30 per cent.
The president has seven months to get country on course, whilst continuing his "peaceful revolution" to redistribute Venezuela’s wealth in the favour of the poor before he faces the electorate.