[Cincinatus' Wife]

Venezuela's Fired Oilmen Fight Home Eviction *** "What right do they have to live there? They have to face the consequences of their actions," Carreno said at a recent rally at Tia Juana's loading docks. Hundreds of "Chavistas," as the president's supporters are called, shouted epithets and waved rocks and steel rods at a group of fired workers standing 400 yards away. This time National Guardsmen separated the mobs. But these nearly daily standoffs are getting more violent, with dozens hurt in recent clashes among strikers, non-strikers and replacement workers.

Former workers have a defense plan for their Los Semerucos housing complex, which adjoins the Amuay Refinery near Punto Fijo, 220 miles west of Caracas. Whenever Chavez supporters or National Guardsmen come to evict them, residents light fireworks and use portable radios to alert their neighbors. They set up barricades of burning tires. "We are not the violent ones. They are. But we are prepared to protect our families," said Victor Estrada, a 46-year-old computer technician fired in February. Chavez axed 18,000 PDVSA employees during the strike, including 7,000, from executives to mechanics, in western Venezuela's oil towns.

Most hang on in company housing. But PDVSA has asked the courts to evict them, and non-strikers are growing restless. Unapetrol, a union formed by strikers, has asked the courts to reinstate fired workers. It claims they didn't get severance pay and that new PDVSA managers have frozen their pension and savings accounts. Unapetrol attorney Aquiles Blanco says PDVSA owes the former workers $337 million. ***

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Venezuela Copes With Severe Recession - Under Chavez all will be destitute *** Immigrants who left Italy or Spain decades ago are applying to go back. In Caracas, lines form daily outside foreign consulates. Many in those lines are elderly. One out of four Venezuelans is jobless, the government says. But the state counts anyone who works more than one hour a week as employed.

Tourists who prefer more stable destinations have deserted Venezuela's pristine beaches, Andean peaks and rain forest. Their absence is especially felt in Sinamaica, a lagoon of Wayu and Anu Indian towns built on stilts north of Maracaibo. Tourists used to crowd boats to see Sinamaica's "palofitos," or wood and palm-thatch homes. Now boatsman Juan Cardenas spends his days just killing time. "On a Saturday or Sunday, I used to do six or seven boat tours," said Cardenas, who charges $15 for a one-hour tour. "Nowadays, I'm lucky if I do one."***