Rivals Go Forward Even as Venezuela Remains Paralyzed

The nation’s deepening schism was plain to see on this capital’s broad avenues Saturday.

In the poor city center, more than 100,000 backers rallied in support of embattled President Hugo Chavez, flooding the narrow streets around the presidential palace with a human sea. They danced. They sang. And they donned bright red berets to celebrate the election of the former paratrooper four years ago.

On the upper-class east side, meanwhile, a smaller demonstration of Chavez’s opposition marched slowly along leafy thoroughfares. The participants wore black. They walked in silence. And they mourned three of their own killed at a protest Friday night.

The two groups did not pass. They did not clash. But the country seemed in a daze, paralyzed not only by a nationwide strike that organizers threatened Saturday to extend for a seventh day but by plummeting oil production and the fear of violence coiled in ever-spreading rumors.

“Chavez is driving them crazy! Chavez is driving them crazy!” the crowd in the city’s gritty center chanted gleefully.

“Not one step back! Not one step back!” shouted the demonstrators who later gathered at the scene of Friday’s killings, an elegant square that has become the center of opposition protests.

Venezuela’s political crisis pits a large, disorganized coalition of businesses, unions and politicians against Chavez, a fiery leftist leader who has based his “revolution” on a promise to improve the lot of the 80% of the people who live in poverty.

On Saturday, Chavez seemed to make no effort to assuage the growing tensions. Wearing his military beret, the former lieutenant colonel addressed his followers in an hours-long address in which he accused his opponents of being “terrorists,” “coup plotters” and “conspirators.”

Chavez said the strike was similar to a coup against him in April, when he was briefly ousted. He was restored to power 48 hours later by faithful military units and supporters.

“This is our future: to fight and fight and fight,” said Chavez, himself one of the leaders of a failed coup in 1992. “We will maintain our revolutionary battle, wherever it may take place!”

Fears of violence were so great that the Venezuelan defense minister and the joint chiefs of staff appeared on national television to assure viewers that there was no risk of a coup by the military.

U.S. Ambassador Charles Shapiro also repeatedly appeared on television both Friday and Saturday to warn against future such attempts. The U.S. was widely criticized for appearing to back the coup in April.

A political solution never seemed further away, though representatives from both sides pledged to sit down at the negotiating table Saturday night for the first time in a week.

The opposition position seemed to have hardened since the attack Friday. Previously, its goal was to convince Chavez to allow a nonbinding referendum on his rule in February. Chavez insists no vote is permitted by the constitution before August.

But Saturday, some within the fragmented opposition insisted that now, Chavez must resign and agree to early elections or face the possibility of widespread civil disobedience.

The opposition says the president’s ill-defined revolution has plunged the country into misery. Inflation has rocketed to 30%, unemployment stands at 17%, and the economy has contracted by 7% this year.

The strike launched Monday gained force during the week with the participation of the country’s oil industry, the most important sector in the economy. Oil revenue accounts for more than half the country’s budget.

Striking administrators, ship captains and dockworkers have brought exports to a near halt, with most refineries operating at minimum levels. On Saturday, Venezuelan military forces took over an oil tanker holding 280,000 barrels of gasoline that had been anchored in Lake Maracaibo in western Venezuela by a rebel captain.

Also Saturday, in an interview with foreign correspondents, Chavez admitted for the first time that the oil strike was beginning to affect production.

Venezuela is the United States’ third-largest oil supplier, sending 1.2 million barrels daily, or more than 10% of all America’s oil imports.

“Some production has already been affected, and some oil fields have been closed,” said Chavez, who earlier denied the strike had affected the economy. “If the strike continues, international clients would of course be affected, but we are taking measures so that doesn’t happen.”

In the center of Caracas, the president’s tone was more pugnacious.

“The country must rise up now and defend its petroleum industry, which belongs to all men and women in Venezuela,” he shouted to his supporters.

At the other end of the city, those in Plaza Altamira focused on mourning the dead, a 17-year-old girl, a 70-year-old woman and a 44-year-old man. Twenty-eight others were wounded Friday.

Police arrested at least seven people in connection with the shooting, with one of the men, identified as Joao Goveia, a Portuguese, accused of firing into the crowd.