Article

2005-03-02 Caribbean-Latin America

Prominent opposition leader arrested by Chavez

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Posted by Seafarious 2005-03-02 1:14:33 AM|| || Front Page|| [11 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 I hope people here realize that www.venezuelanalysis.com is a government website.

"From December 2002 to February, 2003 the CTV and the countryâs principal employer association Fedecamaras called a general strike in an effort to force Chavez to resign from office. The strike lasted two months and its main feature was a general shutdown and sabotage of Venezuelaâs lifeblood oil industry. While workers loyal to Ortegaâs CTV refused to go to work, many who did not support the politically motivated general strike were locked out by employers who closed their doors for the duration of the strike. Many cases of sabotage were reported in the oil industry. Refinery computers were destroyed, passcodes were stolen and valves were sabotaged. Venezuela's economy shrunk by 9% in 2003 as a result of the shutdown and unemployment jumped from 15% to 22%, as hundreds of thousands lost their jobs. The country lost an estimated 14 billion dollars."

Bullshit! Find a case where sabotage was proven. Venezuela's economy shrinkage was due more to Chavez's idiotic economic policies (price control, currency exchange controls, methodical destruction of the private industry, reckless spenditure on social programs that go nowhere, increase on subsidies, etc, etc) than to the strike. The rise in umemployement was due to his decision to fire 17,000 oil workers, some of them with 20 years of experience. They are now working in Canada, Saudi Arabia and other places.

For a balanced view, I beg pleople here to read sites like:
http://www.venezuelatoday.net/ This particular site lists several news sources in English, including government websites.
http://veneconomy.com
http://www.petroleumworld.com

Posted by TMH 2005-03-02 9:28:33 AM|| 2005-03-02 9:28:33 AM|| Front Page Top

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