Strike-stricken Venezuelan protest drying up gas supplies

CARACAS, Venezuela -- Venezuelans scrambled to buy food, fearing shortages, and gasoline supplies dried up amid a general strike aimed at forcing President Hugo Chavez from office. Britain urged its citizens to abandon the country.

With the strike in its 20th day, government security forces reportedly detained the captain and crew of a gasoline-laden ship moored for weeks on western Venezuela's Lake Maracaibo. The crew of the Pilin Leon, carrying 9.6 million gallons of gasoline, had heeded the strike call and refused to bring the ship to port.

The crew was detained Friday night.

The crew members were being held by National Guard troops and the ship has been taken by "an unqualified crew," Izarra told Globovision TV.

The general strike -- called Dec. 2 to force Chavez's resignation or early elections -- has crippled oil production in the world's fifth-largest exporter of crude and sent global oil prices climbing. At home, fuel supplies have dwindled, affecting public transportation Saturday.

Rafael Perez's beat-up bus sat idle in a working-class neighborhood as he waited for a friend to bring fuel.

Most gas stations were shut. National Guard troops stationed at the few open stations tried to keep impatient motorists in lines stretching blocks long.

'We all lose'

"I don't sympathize with any side, but this strike is endangering all of us," Perez muttered. "In a situation like this, we all lose."

Other Venezuelans, afraid the gasoline shortage could affect the availability of food, went to open-air street markets to stock up on supplies.

Chavez opponents accuse him of mismanaging the economy, widening class divisions and intending to impose a Cuban-style leftist state in this South American country of 24 million people. Leaders of the strike vowed to maintain the stoppage until Chavez meets their demands.

The government insists that Chavez, who is not obligated by the constitution to submit to a referendum on his rule until August, will not bend.

This week's protests by Chavez supporters and opponents mostly have been peaceful, but there is increased worry about security.

In London, the Foreign Office said only Britons with urgent business should remain in Venezuela. It said it was withdrawing families of British diplomats and nonessential embassy staffers.

The United States, Canada and Germany have made similar recommendations.

The serious gasoline shortage in Caracas and other major cities likely will make store shelves bare "and might in turn trigger disturbances," the Foreign Office said.

As the strike wore on, the resolve among some Chavez opponents seemed to strengthen. Merchants have closed stores during the peak Christmas buying season.

"I have faith that this strike will be a success with Chavez leaving," said Fabio Valencia, driving a taxi with just a quarter-tank of gasoline left. "I voted for him, and now I regret it."

Under Chavez, Venezuela's economy shrank 6 percent in the first nine months of this year, unemployment is at 17 percent and inflation 30 percent. Tensions between rich and poor are high.

Chavez, a former army paratroop commander who led an unsuccessful coup in 1992, was elected by a landslide in 1998 and re-elected in 2000. His popularity has dropped, according to a recent opinion poll, although it is higher in the shanty towns ringing Caracas.