British Embassy Staff Leave Strike-Hit Venezuela

CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - Fearing violence over dwindling gasoline supplies in strike-hit Venezuela, Britain on Saturday joined other countries in evacuating nonessential embassy staff as an opposition shutdown mauled the nation's vital oil industry.

The United States, Canada and Germany have already pulled out some embassy staff as the opposition presses on with a 20-day-old strike to force leftist President Hugo Chavez to resign and call elections in the world's No. 5 oil exporter.

"This is likely to impact on critical supplies of essential commodities in coming days and might trigger disturbances," Britain's Foreign Office said in a statement.

Frustrations are growing nearly three weeks into the strike as attempts by international mediators have failed to break the political stalemate over the president's rule.

Hundreds of cars, buses and trucks on Saturday lined up outside gasoline stations as drivers hunted for increasingly scarce petrol supplies. Panicky shoppers packed supermarkets to stock up on food and other basic supplies.

Massive political protests, rallies and street clashes have kept tensions in Venezuela running high since April when Chavez survived a brief coup by rebel military officers. More than 60 people died during the chaotic uprising.

But the strike has further stoked fears of turmoil. Opposition leaders, including political parties, unions and dissident executives at PDVSA state oil firm, have vowed to keep up their shutdown until Chavez agrees to an early vote. But former paratrooper Chavez says the constitution only allows for a referendum on his rule in August.

With political negotiations at a stalemate, the strike has essentially become a grueling war of attrition over the oil industry, which accounts for half of government revenues.

"This will be a sad Christmas. But it's a sacrifice for a better tomorrow. What is it we are asking for? An electoral consultation," Carlos Fernandez, head of the anti-Chavez Fedecamaras business association, said on Saturday.

Chavez has sent in troops to control gasoline plants, refineries and oil tankers whose crews have joined the strike. But strikers have dismissed his efforts and ignored a temporary Supreme Court ruling ordering them back to work. The oil industry has been brought to its knees by the shutdown.

PDVSA President Ali Rodriguez in a late-night Friday television address said the oil firm had lost $1 billion since the strike began and urged staff to go back to work.

"If they persist with this attitude that hurts so much of the Venezuelan population, it could become a huge boomerang that ends up hitting them," Rodriguez said.

Nearly 40 oil tankers remain moored off Venezuela's ports without instructions from striking PDVSA managers. With refineries hit, the nation's oil output is below 10 percent. Last month Venezuela produced 3.1 million barrels a day.

Chavez, who won a landslide election in 1998 on promises to ease poverty, has repeatedly shrugged off the barrage of criticism from foes who accuse him of driving Venezuela toward economic ruin and communist dictatorship.

While the combative ex-army officer is struggling to restart the oil industry, he maintains control of the government and appears to have the backing of key armed forces leaders. Opinion polls show he still has backing from 30 percent of the population though his rating has plummeted since his first election victory.

Oil workers, Chavez foes protest - Venezuelan leader insists opponents are elite minority *** Chavez's sympathizers, many in red berets like the one worn by the former paratrooper, staged a smaller march yesterday to rally support for the beleaguered president. Many were residents of the grim housing projects that cling to the mountains surrounding Caracas. Chavez, who swept to power in 1998 promising to end corruption and endemic poverty, has refused demands for a new election, saying the constitution bars him from calling a vote until August, when he will have completed half of his six-year term. He has sought to paint his opponents as an elite minority who object to his policies on behalf of the 80 percent of Venezuelans who are poor.

But Perez, who voted for Chavez before becoming increasingly alarmed by the president's leftist politics, said it was wrong to assume that all of the thousands of protesters were fighting to preserve their privileged status. ''Me, rich?'' he said with incredulity, gesturing to his worn tennis shoes and threadbare track pants. ''I make $150 a month if I'm lucky. I live in a working-class neighborhood. But that doesn't mean I want Venezuela to become like Cuba. There, everyone is poor.'' Chavez's opponents accuse him of trying to remake this conservative South American nation in the image of communist-run Cuba. They point to Chavez's close ties to President Fidel Castro of Cuba, his increasingly leftist rhetoric, and his creation of neighborhood watchdog groups modeled on Cuba's Committee for the Defense of the Revolution.

Chavez opponents accuse the groups - called Boliviariano Circles after the South American independence leader, Simon Bolivar - of inciting violence during protest rallies, including the bloody clashes in April that killed 19 people. Those deaths helped trigger an abortive 48-hour coup, after which Chavez resumed control. But the president's once sky-high popularity ratings have slumped to 25 percent, according to some newspaper surveys. Despite fears of more violence, the mood among anti-Chavez protesters yesterday was one of jubilation, with many participants equating their struggle with that of Eastern Europeans in the days before the fall of the Berlin Wall. ***

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