Chavez Touts Oil Sector Rebound (washingtonpost.com)

President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela said today that his country's oil industry, crippled by a month-long general strike, is recovering and will reach its pre-strike capacity in 45 days. Domestic opponents said the claim was false.

Chavez met with Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who was sworn in as Brazil's president Wednesday, and asked him to send experts from Brazil's state-owned oil company to replace some of the 40,000 Venezuelan state oil company workers who have walked off the job.

Chavez is in control or he would have never left the country. There is also a sense that the lockout has lost unless they arrange a big incident.