2002–2003 Venezuelan general strike
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The Venezuelan general strike of 2002–2003 was an attempt by the
Background
After April's
On 21 October a one-day general strike (paro) took place (two general strikes had taken place in December 2001 and in April 2002
In early November, there was a major clash of government and opposition demonstrators in downtown Caracas; and, in the middle of the month, a shootout which resulted in three deaths occurred in Caracas' Plaza Bolivar between the Metropolitan Police and the National Guard.[citation needed]
Strike
Launch
The
The key element of the strikemation and technology enterprise that was formed to run electronic operations at Petróleos de Venezuela, was at this time 60 pe was the stoppage of production at the state oil company
Petroleum production soon fell to one-third normal; Venezuela had to begin importing oil to meet its foreign obligations; and domestically, gasoline for cars became virtually unobtainable, with many filling stations closed and long queues at others.[citation needed]
Indefinite strike
Large pro- and anti-Chávez marches were held in the first weeks of the strike. On 6 December a Portuguese taxi driver named João de Gouveia killed three and injured 28 at Plaza Altamira. The opposition blamed Chávez, and the killings "energized the opposition movement". On 9 December the opposition declared the strike to be of indefinite duration, and said that only Chávez's resignation could end it.[citation needed]
Chávez took an increasingly hard line with PDVSA in an attempt to break the strike. On 12 December he fired four PDVSA executives leading the strike, after previously firing some in April. He continued to dismiss striking executives and managers on a daily basis, and by early January 300 were gone.[citation needed]
Collapse
The following year, "small- and medium-sized businesses reopened their doors, admitting that the strike now threatened to turn into a 'suicide watch' that could well bankrupt their businesses for good." The government gradually reestablished control over PDVSA, and oil production reached pre-strike levels by April 2003.
Aftermath
In the aftermath of the strike, the government fired 18,000 PDVSA employees, 40% of the company's workforce. Arrest warrants were issued for the presidents of
After the February 2003 collapse of the strike, the
The strike produced severe important economic consequences. Open unemployment, which was running about 15% before and after the shutdown, reached 20.3% in March 2003; the volume of crude oil produced was 5% less in 2003 than the previous year; and the volume of refined oil products was 17% less.[8]
In addition the transformation of
See also
References
- ^ "Fue ésta una clara decisión política y no jurídica del máximo tribunal, que abrió la puerta para una nueva aventura militar." (López Maya 2004)
- ^ Human rights group PROVEA denounced the decision as a denial of justice "only explicable by the politicisation of the court". "Negar la posibilidad de un juicio cuando es público y notorio la existencia de indicios de comisión del delito de rebelión militar sería un acto de impunidad de suma gravedad, sólo explicable por la politización del TSJ de la cual, como hemos dicho, el oficialismo es uno de sus principales responsables" (PROVEA, 14 August 2002, cited in López Maya 2004)
- ^ BBC, 9 April 2002, Venezuelan general strike extended
- ^ (López Maya 2004)
- ^ "Anunciaron que sólo abandonarían la plaza cuando cayera Chávez y llamaron a sus compañeros de armas a alzarse contra el gobierno." (López Maya 2004)
- ^ Andrew F. Cooper, and Thomas Legler (2005), "A Tale of Two Mesas: The OAS Defense of Democracy in Peru and Venezuela," Global Governance 11(4)
- ^ OAS, Agreement Between the Representatives of the Government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and the Political and Social Groups Supporting It, and the Coordinadora Democratica and the Political and Civil Society Organizations Supporting It, Caracas, 23 May 2003.
- ^ López Maya, p 19. Oil figures from OPEC, Annual Statistical Bulletin, 2004, tables 14, 19.
Sources
- López Maya, Margarita (August 2004). "Venezuela 2001-2004: actores y estrategias" [Venezuela 2001-2004: actors and strategies]. Cuadernos del Cendes (in Spanish). 21 (56): 109–132.
- Margarita López Maya , "Venezuela 2002–2003: Polarization, Confrontation, and Violence," in Olivia Burlingame Goumbri, The Venezuela Reader, Washington D.C., U.S.A., 2005.