abcnews.go.com The Associated Press CARACAS, Venezuela Jan. 28 —

Schools, restaurants and malls may reopen amid fears that a 57-day-old strike called to force President Hugo Chavez from office could backfire, business leaders said, as the government extended a freeze on foreign currency sales for another week to protect its battered currency.

Business representatives expressed concern Monday that discontent with food and fuel shortages caused by the strike could undermine its objective of removing Chavez from office.

Julio Brazon, president of the Consecomercio business chamber, which represents about 450,000 stores and retailers, said businesses need "to recover earnings and avoid labor problems." He said shopping malls and franchises may be permitted to open part-time next week.

Carlos Avila, executive president of Subway de Venezuela, said fast food franchises were considering opening four days a week. Each of Subway's 76 branches in Venezuela have lost an average of $30,000 during the strike.

The National Association of Private Education, which represents 911 private schools, convoked assemblies this week to decide whether schools should open Feb. 3.

Strike organizers, who accuse Chavez of dragging this South American country into political and economic chaos, warned that easing the work stoppage would be counterproductive.

"If some sectors of the opposition, business sectors or political sectors, think they can save themselves from this regime by easing the strike, they are totally mistaken," labor boss Carlos Ortega said.

Strike leaders said the work stoppage in the oil industry, which provides half of government revenue, would continue.

"The protest by oil workers will continue because this is the path we are taking to find a solution to the crisis," dissident oil executive Juan Fernandez said at a press conference.

Crude output reached 966,000 barrels a day on Monday, according to striking executives at state oil monopoly Petroleos de Venezuela S.A., or PDVSA. Chavez claimed Sunday that daily production had surpassed 1 million barrels.

Oil production dropped as low as 150,000 barrels per day in December compared to pre-strike levels of 3.2 million barrels per day.

A waning strike could give Chavez the upper hand in negotiations with the opposition. Negotiations, mediated by the Organization of American States, have focused on whether to hold early presidential elections.

Meanwhile Tuesday, the Finance Ministry extended a freeze on foreign currency sales, first imposed last Wednesday, until Feb. 5. The suspension is designed to give the government more time to implement a new policy of foreign exchange controls, which will limit the amount of dollars and other foreign currencies Venezuelan can buy.

Exchange controls would stem the slide of Venezuela's bolivar currency, which has lost a quarter of its value this year. But they could hurt businesses that depend on dollars to buy imported goods.

The strike has cost Venezuela at least $4 billion so far. The economy could shrink by as much as 40 percent in the first quarter of 2003, the Santander Central Hispano investment bank has warned.

Chavez, a firebrand former paratrooper, was elected in 1998 and re-elected two years later. His term in office ends in 2007.

Government adversaries are now pinning hopes on amending the constitution to allow early elections. They must gather signatures from at least 15 percent of Venezuela's 12 million registered voters to call a referendum to cut the presidential term to four years.

Another option is waiting until August, when the constitution allows for a legally binding referendum on the president's rule.

Opposition parties are organizing a massive signature collection campaign on Feb. 2, the same day a nonbinding referendum on Chavez's presidency was supposed to be held. Citing a technicality, Venezuela's Supreme Court ruled last week balloting must be postponed indefinitely.

www.forbes.com Reuters, 01.28.03, 4:17 PM ET  

CARACAS, Venezuela, Jan 28 (Reuters) - The number of Venezuelan oil workers who have been fired from their jobs topped 5,000 on Tuesday and will keep rising as the government steps up its attempts to break an eight-week-old strike that has crippled the world's fifth largest oil exporter, the state news agency said on Tuesday.

The total was 2,000 more than the previous estimate given on Sunday by President Hugo Chavez, who has vowed to break the general strike, which has involved state-owned Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) rather than negotiate early elections in the bitterly divided country.

The official Venpres news agency quoted PDVSA chief Ali Rodriguez as saying the number of dismissals for dereliction of duties had reached 5,111 and would continue to rise.

The company had 37,000 employees before the strike, which began Dec. 2.

www.alertnet.org 28 Jan 2003 20:40

By Tom Ashby

CARACAS, Venezuela, Jan 28 (Reuters) - Venezuela faces an uphill task to free up strike-hit oil tankers, ports and trading to restore output to two-thirds of pre-strike levels within three months, a strike leader said on Tuesday.

Luis Vielma, former exploration and production director for state oil giant Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), told Reuters current output of 1.05 million barrels per day (bpd) could double in 90 days only if the government succeeds in freeing bottlenecks in key areas of shipping and trade.

Restarting Venezuela's refineries, which process 1.3 million bpd, would take longer because of the lack of skilled staff, and Vielma saw this continuing to restrain crude flows.

"If they solve the problem of exports, they can easily pump two million barrels per day. If they fail to solve that problem, they won't," Vielma said in an interview. Vielma was among 3,000 managers fired for their part in the 58-day-old shutdown.

President Hugo Chavez said earlier this week Venezuela could reach 2.6 million bpd output within six weeks using replacement crews and troops to break the strike.

"What is limiting oil production is export capacity and refining," Vielma said.

The opposition says output had recovered to 1.05 million bpd on Tuesday, one third of pre-strike levels, while the government pegs crude flows at 1.3 million.

POLITICAL DEAL?

Vielma has previously said he does not expect the government to restore more than half of normal output levels without a political deal on early elections under which thousands of strikers would return to their jobs.

The strike in the fifth largest oil exporter has hit every aspect of the industry, from wellhead, to tankers, refining and ports. But it has been strongest among skilled workers, managers and traders, who are key to getting oil to market.

Vielma said current export levels of about 500,000 bpd were going to Cuba, a key Chavez ally, and Venezuelan-owned subsidiaries in the United States, Citgo and Lyondell Citgo.

"Oil is a very special commodity which has special contracts for special clients, which have been filled by Mexico and Arab producers," Vielma said.

"Getting that market back will not be easy, but if the export problem is solved they could get back to two million," Vielma said.

Even if strikers went back to work tomorrow, Vielma said it would take PDVSA six months to recover previous output levels fully.

Ignacio Layrisse, who as PDVSA technical director of exploration and production was Vielma's deputy, said he thought that Venezuela had lost 400,000 bpd of production capacity due to the accelerated decline in some wells and lack of drilling activity in almost two months of strike.

However, this capacity could be replaced if PDVSA was allowed to invest in new drilling, Layrisse added.

www.islandpacket.com By FABIOLA SANCHEZ, Associated Press Published Tuesday, January 28th, 2003

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - Striking Venezuelan oil executives acknowledged Tuesday that daily production surpassed 1 million barrels, signaling that President Hugo Chavez may be regaining control of the nation's key industry.

The statement by dissident executives at the state monopoly Petroleos de Venezuela S.A., or PDVSA, came as opposition leaders debated whether to ease the 57-day-old strike against Chavez. Some fear Venezuelans' discontent with strike-induced food and fuel shortages could undermine their objective of removing Chavez from office.

Negotiations, mediated by the Organization of American States, have focused on whether to hold early presidential elections.

Also Tuesday, the Finance Ministry extended a freeze on foreign currency sales until Feb. 5. The suspension is designed to give the government more time to stem the slide of Venezuela's bolivar currency, which has lost a quarter of its value this year.

Dissident PDVSA executives said Tuesday that output by the world's fifth-largest exporter was 1.05 million barrels. Chavez claimed last week that daily production topped 1 million barrels.

That remains well below pre-strike levels of 3.2 million barrels per day, but well above the 150,000 barrels per day produced during the strike's early days.

The oil industry provides half of government income and 70 percent of export revenue.

The government has fired more than 5,000 PDVSA workers, corporation president Ali Rodriguez told state news agency Venpres on Tuesday.

Rodriguez, a Chavez ally, said more dismissals are forthcoming as the government takes advantage of the strike to downsize the company and eliminate dissent. PDVSA had almost 40,000 employees and the government claims most have returned to work.

Strike leaders deny this, saying the government has increased output by focusing on new oil wells, where it is easier to extract crude oil. They insist the strike, called Dec. 2, will continue in the oil industry despite the government's progress on bringing operations back online.

"The protest by oil workers will continue because this is the path we are taking to find a solution to the crisis," dissident oil executive Juan Fernandez said.

But several business leaders said schools, restaurants and malls should reopen amid concern that discontent with food and fuel shortages and financial losses caused by the strike could undermine the objective of removing Chavez.

Julio Brazon, president of the Consecomercio business chamber, which represents about 450,000 stores and retailers, said businesses need "to recover earnings and avoid labor problems." He said shopping malls and franchises may be permitted to open part-time next week.

Carlos Avila, executive president of Subway de Venezuela, said fast-food franchises were considering opening four days a week. Each of Subway's 76 branches in Venezuela have lost an average of $30,000 during the strike.

The National Association of Private Education, which represents 911 private schools, convoked assemblies this week to decide whether schools should open Feb. 3.

Strike organizers, who accuse Chavez of dragging this South American country into political and economic chaos, warned that easing the work stoppage would be counterproductive.

"If some sectors of the opposition, business sectors or political sectors, think they can save themselves from this regime by easing the strike, they are totally mistaken," said Carlos Ortega, president of the Venezuelan Workers Confederation, the country's largest labor union with 1 million members.

The government is struggling with the strike's impact on the economy. The strike has cost Venezuela at least $4 billion so far and the Santander Central Hispano investment bank has warned that the economy could shrink by as much as 40 percent in the first quarter of 2003.

The Finance Ministry's extended freeze on foreign currency sales is meant to give the government more time to implement a new policy of foreign exchange controls, which will limit the amount of dollars and other foreign currencies Venezuela can buy.

The exchange controls would stem the slide of Venezuela's bolivar currency but hurt businesses dependent on dollars to buy imported goods.

The strike was called to pressure Chavez to accept a referendum on his rule. The opposition hoped a referendum, though nonbinding, would embarrass Chavez into leaving office.

But Venezuela's Supreme Court ruled last week balloting must be postponed indefinitely, prompting opposition parties to organize a massive signature collection campaign on Feb. 2.

Government adversaries hope to amend the constitution to allow early elections.

Chavez, a former paratrooper, was elected in 1998 and re-elected two years later. His term in office ends in 2007.

www.vheadline.com Posted: Tuesday, January 28, 2003 - 1:44:01 PM By: Patrick J. O'Donoghue

Opposition Asamblea de Educacion group , which has been acting as coordinating committee for private and public sector schools that joined the national stoppage, is recommending a return to classes. The group’s director, Leonardo Carvajal admits that many private schools have re-opened their doors because of pressure from parents and representatives.

• The National Private Education Association has called on members to start classes on Monday, February 3.

According to Carvajal, Universidad Central de Venezuela (UCV), Andres Bello Catholic University (UCAB) and the Caracas Teachers Training Institute are scheduled to re-open next week.  He concludes that there doesn’t seem much point to continue the stoppage now that the consultative referendum has been called off and that any future elections will take time to organize.

The Asamblea de Education, Carvajal adds, will be monitoring possible retaliations against teachers and professors, who joined the national stoppage… “we will defend teachers’ labor rights and we are asking that the issue be placed on the opposition negotiating team’s agenda.”