01 Jan 2003 18:10

(Recasts with Chavez)

By Jason Webb

CARACAS, Venezuela, Jan 1 (Reuters) - Venezuela began the New Year in a grim deadlock on Wednesday, as leftist President Hugo Chavez said that strikers who have cut off the nation's petroleum lifeblood were doomed to defeat.

The 31-day-old general strike, led by business and unions and supported by most Venezuelans, according to polls, has reduced oil shipments from the world's fifth-largest oil exporter to a trickle in a bid to force the president to quit or call early elections.

But Chavez, a former paratrooper jailed for a coup attempt in 1992 but elected in 1998, was his usual defiant self as he attended the inauguration of Brazil's new president.

"This is a coup d'etat disguised as a strike," he told reporters in Brasilia, where he arrived wearing a dark suit instead of the military-style uniform and red beret he often favors for populist rallies.

"The coup-mongers have a date with defeat," said Chavez, who survived a coup attempt in April, dismissing the strike leaders as "a business elite and a corrupt union elite."

Tens of thousands of opposition supporters fired off fireworks and waved yellow-red-and-blue Venezuelan flags to see off 2002 on Tuesday night in Caracas, in a massive street party that was a show of determination to force Chavez out.

"We all want Chavez to go, preferably through elections," said Maria Pinto, whose family runs a clothing shop that has stayed shut for more than a month in support of the strike.

Although the key to the strike is petroleum in a country so dependent on oil, many other businesses have closed in the wealthier parts of Caracas, giving the tropical city a permanent holiday air.

The opposition accuses Chavez of abuse of authority, economic incompetence and corruption, accusing him of stirring class hatred with his inflammatory rhetoric and arming supporters in the slums.

It says he wants to convert Venezuela -- oil-rich but marked by gaping differences between rich and poor -- into a communist dictatorship.

Economic recession despite high oil prices has contributed to a slump in support for Chavez, whose term is due to run until 2007. But his popularity rating of just under 30 percent is still greater than that of any single opposition figure.

THREAT OF ECONOMIC DISASTER

Many of Venezuela's poor majority say Chavez, a man of mixed race and lower middle-class origins, is the only politician who has ever addressed their concerns.

The strike, overwhelmingly backed by managerial staff from state oil giant PDVSA, threatens economic disaster for a country where 80 percent of exports and 50 percent of government revenues come from oil.

But Chavez has fired PDVSA strike ringleaders and sent troops aboard halted oil tankers.

Lines for gasoline hundreds of cars long are now a common sight in the country. The government says it hopes to get oil production back up to 1.2 million barrels per day over the next week, but the opposition says wells are pumping only about 150,000 bpd, a twentieth of the normal rate.

Chavez is grateful to Brazil's new leader, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, like him a left-winger, for approving the sale of Brazilian gasoline to Venezuela. It was the first time the country had imported such fuel in 40 years.

World oil markets, already fretting about a possible war in Iraq, have been seriously unnerved by the strike in Venezuela, which normally supplies about 13 percent of U.S. crude imports. Prices are near two-year highs.

The opposition hopes to hold a nonbinding referendum on Chavez's rule on Feb. 2, but he has said he will pay no attention to the results. He is sticking to a date in August, halfway through his current term, when he says the constitution allows for a binding referendum on his mandate.

The strike has begun to fray at the edges, and smaller firms and restaurants are beginning to open again in Caracas.

Despite signs of frustration in the opposition ranks, leaders have vowed to pile up the pressure against Chavez in January with bolder street protests, including a possible march on the Miraflores presidential palace.

Miraflores has been off-limits to protesters since a coup was triggered in April by a demonstration that ended with 19 people shot to death by gunmen and more than 100 injured. Both government and opposition blamed each other for the killings.

Chavez says his reforms, which include a nationalistic oil strategy, increased state intervention in the economy and cheap credits and land grants for the poor, are aimed at eliminating minority privileges and distributing oil wealth more fairly.

The Angolan Foreign Minister, João Miranda, on Monday here assured that the "excellent" political and commercial relations between Angola and Brazil will be maintained with the Government of President Lula da Silva.

João Miranda said so while addressing press, at Luanda airport, before leaving to Brazil, where he will represent the Angolan Head of State, José Eduardo dos Santos, at the swear-in ceremony of Lula da Silva, on January 01, 2003, in Brazilia.

He informed that he got sureties from the future Brazilian Minister of Treasury, António Palloci, on the reinforcement of ties between both countries, during his visit to Brazil.

Mr João Miranda added that the Secretary General of Brazil's Labour Party (PT) assured him that the relations will be good, due to the traditional ties and political "neighbourhood" between the ruling parties of Angola (MPLA) and Brazil (PT), which will rule that south American country.

"The signs that we have been receiving from the new authorities tell us that the relationship will be reinforced more and more", the Angolan chief diplomat said.

João Miranda also said that in case of a contact with President Lula da Silva, he will transmit to him a message of hope so that major solidarity from Brazil's people and Government toward the Angolan could exist.

He said he will also ask Brazilian business people to invest in Angola, where the doors are opened to whoever whishes to do so.

Sources with the Brazilian Foreign Ministry confirmed the presences of the Heads of State of Portugal (Jorge Sampaio,) Argentina (Eduardo Dugalde), Bolivia (Gonzalo Lozada), Chile (Ricardo Lagos), Peru (Alejandro Toledo), Uruguay (Jeorge Batle), and Venezuela (Hugo Chaves) at the ceremony.

Present at the event will also be the Heads of State of Sweden (Goeran Persson), of Guyana (Samuel Hinds), of Belize (Said Nuzio Dangieri), plus Prince Filipe of Spain.

Lula da Silva, winner of the October Presidential elections, will replace President Fernando Henrique Cardoso, who ruled the country during two consecutive mandates, from 1995 to 2002.

VOA News 01 Jan 2003, 15:25 UTC AP

Venezuelan protesters celebrate the arrival of New Year Rival political demonstrators in Venezuela have begun the new year with pro- and anti-government rallies amid a crippling, five-week general strike.

Tens of thousands of opponents of President Hugo Chavez filled a stretch of highway in Caracas Tuesday for New Year's celebrations, and protests calling for the president to resign.

Meanwhile, Chavez supporters staged pro-government rallies a few kilometers away.

In a televised speech Tuesday, Mr. Chavez said the government was triumphing over what he called the opposition's efforts to ruin Venezuela. The embattled leader left Venezuela Wednesday for Brazil to attend the presidential inauguration of Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

Venezuela is the world's fifth-largest oil exporter and the strike has cut production by about 90 percent and forced the country to import fuel and other supplies. The work stoppage has also put upward pressure on world oil prices.

A key strike leader, Carlos Ortega, says the work stoppage will continue with greater strength. He also repeated an opposition call for Venezuelans to stop paying taxes as part of the effort to force President Chavez from power.

Opponents of President Chavez began the strike December 2 in a bid to force him to resign and call early elections.

The president has responded to the strike by firing dissident executives from the state-owned oil company Petroleos de Venezuela and ordering troops to take over idle tankers. He says the strike amounts to a coup attempt.

Mr. Chavez was ousted in a coup in April, but loyalist troops quickly restored him to power.

VOA News 01 Jan 2003, 15:25 UTC AP

Venezuelan protesters celebrate the arrival of New Year Rival political demonstrators in Venezuela have begun the new year with pro- and anti-government rallies amid a crippling, five-week general strike.

Tens of thousands of opponents of President Hugo Chavez filled a stretch of highway in Caracas Tuesday for New Year's celebrations, and protests calling for the president to resign.

Meanwhile, Chavez supporters staged pro-government rallies a few kilometers away.

In a televised speech Tuesday, Mr. Chavez said the government was triumphing over what he called the opposition's efforts to ruin Venezuela. The embattled leader left Venezuela Wednesday for Brazil to attend the presidential inauguration of Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

Venezuela is the world's fifth-largest oil exporter and the strike has cut production by about 90 percent and forced the country to import fuel and other supplies. The work stoppage has also put upward pressure on world oil prices.

A key strike leader, Carlos Ortega, says the work stoppage will continue with greater strength. He also repeated an opposition call for Venezuelans to stop paying taxes as part of the effort to force President Chavez from power.

Opponents of President Chavez began the strike December 2 in a bid to force him to resign and call early elections.

The president has responded to the strike by firing dissident executives from the state-owned oil company Petroleos de Venezuela and ordering troops to take over idle tankers. He says the strike amounts to a coup attempt.

Mr. Chavez was ousted in a coup in April, but loyalist troops quickly restored him to power.

Embattled President Chavez Leaves Venezuela to Attend Inauguration of Brazilian President

The Associated Press The embattled Venezuelan president his rule under threat from turmoil in the strikebound oil-producing nation left the country Wednesday to attend the inauguration of the new Brazilian president.

In what could be a daring move given the upheaval shaking Venezuela, President Hugo Chavez arrived in Brasilia for the ceremony installing President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, whom he considers a friend and ally.

As the old year turned to new Wednesday, thousands of protesters filled a downtown highway in Caracas to celebrate and demand that Chavez hold a referendum on his embattled presidency.

The demonstrators waved flags, shot off firecrackers and chanted, "Not one step back," in a call to continue a month-long general strike aimed at ousting Chavez from power.

A few miles away, about 1,000 Chavez supporters held their own rally with a loud celebration party outside one of Venezuela's state-run oil company buildings.

The capital awoke to silence Wednesday morning and streets littered with exploded fire crackers and broken beer glass. People stayed home and shops were closed either for the strike or for the holiday.

The dueling celebrations highlighted the divisions in this South American country, where even family holidays have turned political. New Year's is traditionally a family celebration in Venezuela, the world's fifth-largest oil exporter.

The oil industry, which produces one-third of the gross domestic product and 70 percent of export revenue, has been paralyzed by the strike, which began Dec. 2. Chavez responded by firing dozens of strikers at Petroleos de Venezuela S.A. and importing gasoline and food to counteract shortages.

At the opposition rally, the rhetoric toward Chavez was bitter.

"He is a bandit, an illiterate. He doesn't know how to speak well; he's primitive," said Carmen Carrillo, 63, as she watched what the opposition called a Party for Peace.

"The thing is, the situation is truly bad in Venezuela right now."

Strike leaders said Tuesday that if Chavez does not bow to demands for a Feb. 2 referendum on his presidency, they will lead another march on the heavily defended presidential palace.

"I say let's go," said Carlos Ortega, head of Venezuela's largest labor confederation. "And if they are going to kill us, let them kill us once and for all."

Nineteen people were killed in the opposition's last march on the palace, which prompted a failed two-day coup last April.

Already, protests have erupted at empty service stations. Many Venezuelans predict full-scale riots if Chavez cannot begin delivering gasoline.

Many citizens also are embarrassed that a nation with the largest oil reserves outside the Middle East has been forced to import gasoline from other countries.

At the pro-Chavez rally, the president's supporters listened closely to Chavez' year-end message. The speech, broadcast nationally and presented on a giant screen at the rally, offered little hope for a quick end to the crisis. The president instead braced his country for a tough year to come.

"We must prepare to face difficulties in the first quarter of the year: economic difficulties and difficulties in continuing all the government's plans," he said.

"Let's prepare ourselves for the battle, but prepare ourselves with the conviction that 2003 will be a good year. A year of bounty, progress, prosperity, and the consolidation of peace, to leave behind the winds of war that still blow."

The Chavistas, as the president's supporters are called, danced under Christmas lights as a 13-piece band played "gaitas," traditional holiday music, while fireworks lit the sky.

"Chavez is the president of the poor and we trust he'll make our lives better. That's why we're going to continue by his side in 2003," said 69-year-old Lourdes Cardenas. "United, we'll overcome adversity."