NYTimes -- Venezuela's Chief Proposes Global Effort to End Strike

Venezuela's embattled president, Hugo Chávez, said today that he favored the creation of a group of "Friends of Venezuela" to lead an international diplomatic effort to end the monthlong general strike that has crippled oil production and brought normal activity to a halt in his country.

Also in the Times:

Venezuela Outlook: Up and Down

With his visit to Brazil, a radiant President Hugo Chávez assured the world today that he would survive a month-old strike aimed at forcing him from power. But back home, Venezuelans were left to wonder if their country, as they know it, might not.

Mr. Chávez may not only survive this latest challenge to his presidency, analysts and some of his opponents are beginning to concede, but he may also emerge with new strength, even if his country emerges more polarized and economically hobbled than before.

In April, after a brief coup against him, Mr. Chávez said that as a gesture of reconciliation, he would not dismiss oil company executives accused of taking part. He has vowed not to be so forgiving this time.

Two weeks ago, the president, who has long wanted to tighten his control over the state-owned oil company, announced the suspension of nearly 100 executives and managers whom he charged with supporting or taking part in the strike.

On one side, Mr. Chávez, a former paratrooper who considers himself a champion of the poor, has refused to make concessions in negotiations with his opponents, calling their leaders "terrorists" and "coup plotters." Meanwhile, calls for violence, once an undercurrent of the crisis, now come openly in the opposition-controlled media and opposition rallies.

Still, even as Venezuela faces a grim prospects for 2003, Mr. Chávez beams with strength. He boasts that neighboring countries have rallied to his aid, sending shipments of food and gasoline that have helped the government meet nation's most pressing needs. He said he would seek foreign oil experts to restart wells and refineries. He has pledged to normalize the oil industry within the month.

Larry Birns, director of the Council on Hemispheric Affairs, said the opposition's strategy might backfire.

"The opposition was counting on people getting tired of President Chávez," he said. "But the opposition caused this crisis, and Chávez has every right to try to go out and fix it."

The lockout has backfired but rich people are used to getting their way. There are elements in the opposition as well that are not afraid of turning to violence. Added to that is a CIA with a skull and bones Republican administration with their control of all parts of US government...