Venezuela Fires Strike Leaders

President Hugo Chavez’s government fired the leaders of an oil industry shutdown in a bid Thursday to break an 11-day general strike that has crippled Venezuela’s petroleum exports.

In a defiant response, oil industry strikers said they would not return to work until Chavez resigned.

The strike has halted exports from the state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela, better known as PDVSA. Venezuela is the world’s No. 5 petroleum exporter and supplies more than 10% of U.S. oil imports.

The four fired PDVSA executives have coordinated the shutdown. Others were transferred in an attempt to end the strike, which has affected gasoline supplies, food distribution and other industries.

“We are in a war situation, because we are being attacked, sabotaged in our oil industry,” Planning Minister Felipe Perez said. “We are going to take tough measures.”

At a meeting in Caracas, the capital, several hundred striking PDVSA employees chanted, “Not one step backward!” and vowed to keep ports and refineries closed across the nation.

Chavez opponents launched the strike Dec. 2, demanding a nonbinding referendum on his rule. Chavez has refused, and they now say they will end the strike only if he calls general elections, a source close to the negotiations said.

Meanwhile, an army colonel and a major added themselves to the list of more than 100 dissident military officers who have called for Chavez to step down.

Col. Aguedo d’Hoy and Maj. Jesus d’Hoy -- who are brothers -- accused the president of indoctrinating the armed forces with leftist ideals and arming bands called Bolivarian Circles to intimidate dissenters. Chavez has denied those allegations.

After a meeting with President Bush this week, Brazilian President-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva -- a Chavez friend and ally -- called on Chavez to negotiate a settlement.