President calls eased strike a win - But Chavez's opponents continue petition drive to oust him from office

www.charlotte.com Posted on Mon, Feb. 03, 2003 STEPHEN IXER Associated Press

CARACAS, Venezuela - President Hugo Chavez declared victory Sunday after his opponents agreed to ease a two-month national strike, but thousands of Venezuelans still lined up for a petition drive seeking his ouster.

Strike organizers, who began the protest Dec. 2 to pressure Chavez into accepting a referendum on his rule, said Friday they would ease the work stoppage, already waning, this week to protect businesses from bankruptcy.

The strike will continue in the vital oil industry, where production was cut from 3 million barrels a day to 150,000 at the height of the strike.

"Today is a victorious day," the president said in his weekly television and radio program. "We have beaten once and for all a new destabilizing attempt."

But opposition leaders -- who accuse Chavez of ruining the economy with leftist policies and trying to accumulate too much power -- were far from conceding.

Thousands of Venezuelans waited hours Sunday to sign petitions at tables nationwide in support of measures seeking Chavez's ouster.

Four people were injured when pro-Chavez protesters threw stones, fireworks and tear gas canisters near two petition tables in downtown Caracas, Police Chief Henry Vivas said. A car belonging to a private, local television channel was set alight.

The opposition hopes a petition for a constitutional amendment reducing Chavez's term from six to four years will succeed, paving the way for general elections later this year.