Chavez’s Foes Keep Up the Pressure

CARACAS, Venezuela â€”  Hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans took to the streets Friday, pressing for President Hugo Chavez to resign and defying a Supreme Court order to resume vital oil operations paralyzed by an opposition strike.

Chanting, “Not one step back,� the protesters blocked highways in Caracas in the 19th day of a shutdown that has slashed oil production and crippled shipments from the world’s No. 5 petroleum exporter. It has also stoked fears of violence in this politically divided country of 23 million people.

Chavez sympathizers turned out in smaller numbers to support the president, who refuses to quit and has sent troops to seize state oil tankers, refineries and ports in an unsuccessful effort to break the strike.

There had been fears of clashes between the two sides but opposition leaders stopped short of marching to the presidential palace -- a potential flashpoint of violence. In April, more than 60 people were killed when rebel military officers toppled Chavez in a chaotic and short-lived coup.

Friday’s marches snarled traffic across the sprawling capital but were generally peaceful.

Women in bikini tops with the colors of the Venezuelan flag danced to salsa music as the anti-Chavez march streamed along a main highway. Some protesters carried a huge effigy of a shaggy gorilla with the words “I’m Chavez� on its forehead. The effigy also carried a banner that read, “I’m deaf, dumb and blind.�

“Chavez has to go. We will continue to pile on more and more pressure,� said German Delgado, 42, an accountant.

At the headquarters of the state oil firm, PDVSA, thousands of Chavez supporters gathered, chanting, “Long Live Chavez.�

“The oil belongs to the people. Chavez is a beautiful president,� said Orlando Colmenaras, 47, a farmer.

Opposition leaders, who include business groups, unions and civic groups, have pledged to press ahead with the strike until the populist Chavez quits.

While the shutdown choking off oil exports has delivered a bruising blow to the nation’s economic lifeline, the paratrooper-turned- president still controls the government and appears to command the loyalty of key armed forces leaders.

This, combined with potential access to state coffers and international reserves, gives him some weapons with which to try to tough out the strike as he has promised.

But in a show of civil disobedience, strike leaders ignored the temporary Supreme Court ruling Thursday to resume oil operations at PDVSA.

On Friday, rebel PDVSA employees voted in a noisy meeting to continue the strike, which has throttled exports to the United States, Venezuela’s largest single client. Venezuela normally provides more than 13% of U.S. oil imports.

PDVSA Vice President Jorge Kamkoff said that oil output, cut to less than 10% of normal, continued to slide.

The stalemate has kept world oil markets on tenterhooks. Coupled with fears of a U.S. war on Iraq, oil prices held near two-month highs of $30 a barrel.