From News Services
 

CARACAS, Venezuela, April 6 -- Venezuela's largest labor group said today it would hold a one-day general strike to
support oil industry managers protesting attempts by President Hugo Chavez to tighten control over the state-owned oil
company.

The million-member Venezuelan Workers Confederation will strike on Tuesday -- or longer, if necessary -- to support
managers at the state firm, Petroleos de Venezuela, said confederation president Carlos Ortega. The group paralyzed
Venezuela with a one-day strike against Chavez's economic policies on Dec. 10.

A protest by the company's managers continued for a third day today with demonstrations outside offices in Caracas, the
capital, and Puerto La Cruz. The managers closed two of Venezuela's five major oil loading terminals Friday, stranding a dozen
ships waiting to load cargo, according to industry and trading sources.

On Thursday, a clash between government supporters and opposition party members at a drilling site resulted in the deaths of
two oil workers; three others were injured.

Ortega, an avowed political enemy of Chavez, declared "unstinting support" for the protesting staff, who said their
five-week-old campaign against government-ordered management changes was starting to affect domestic and international oil
deliveries.

The government, which has repeatedly rejected the managers' grievances, insisted Venezuela was maintaining its oil output and
exports.

"The situation of the country from the point of view of oil production is absolutely normal," the country's energy and mines
minister, Alvaro Silva, told Reuters news agency. "It's the same as far as shipments are concerned."

The unrest has shocked admirers of the company, an icon of efficiency in a country plagued by corruption in both the public
and private sectors.

The company oversees Venezuela's greatest resource -- crude oil reserves that are the largest outside the Middle East.
Venezuela is the world's fourth-largest oil producer and a major supplier to the U.S. market.

Venezuelan governments respected the firm's autonomy until Chavez, a former army officer who led a failed coup attempt in
1992, was elected on an anti-poverty, anti-corruption platform in 1998. He made taking control of the oil industry a central
goal.

Accusing executives of owning luxurious chalets in the Venezuelan Andes and other excesses, Chavez has said the company's
costs must be cut and its benefits spread to the 80 percent of Venezuelans who live in poverty.

On Feb. 25, Chavez installed a board of directors loyal to him and named a leftist economist, Gaston Parra, as president. Parra
had criticized company policies for two decades.

Company executives were outraged by the moves. Hundreds of managers want the appointments rescinded, arguing that
Chavez's changes were based on politics rather than merit.

After more than a month of negotiations, the government's refusal on Thursday to reinstate two dissident executives who were
forced to retire prompted the managers to protest.

                                 © 2002