Venezuela grinds to a halt in first national strike since Chavez

Large swaths of Venezuela’s capital were shuttered and silent yesterday as opponents of president Nicolas Maduro called the first major national strike since a 2002 stoppage that failed to topple his predecessor Hugo Chavez.

A public transport strike appeared to have halted nearly all bus traffic and thousands of private businesses defied government demands to stay open. State-run firms were open, though many were short on staff after employees failed to appear. Improvised roadblocks closed many streets.

The 24-hour strike was meant as an expression of national disapproval of Mr Maduro’s plan to convene a constitutional assembly that would reshape the system to consolidate the ruling party’s power over the few institutions that remain outside its control. The opposition is boycotting a 30 July election to select members of the assembly.

“Definitively, we need a change,” said teacher Katherina Alvarez. “The main objective is for people to see how dissatisfied people are.”

The country’s largest business group, Fedecamaras, has cautiously avoided full endorsement of the strike, but its members have told employees that they won’t be punished for coming to work. Fedecamaras played a central role in the months-long 2002-3 strike that Mr Chavez’s political rivals and opponents in Venezuela’s private business sector orchestrated in an attempt to topple him.

Mr Chavez emerged from the strike and exerted control over the private sector with years of expropriations, strict regulations and imports bought with oil money and meant to replace local production. Business groups estimate that 150,000 Venezuelan businesses have closed over the past 15 years. The opposition called a 12-hour national strike last year that saw little response and was widely seen as a failure.

“This is a work stoppage by civil society. He who wants to work, work. Who wants to stop, stop,” said Francisco Martinez, the president of Fedecamaras.

Government-run industries will remain open and labour minister Nestor Ovalles said the Maduro administration would punish private companies that close in sympathy with the strike.

“We won’t allow, and we’ll be closely watching, any disruption that violates the working class’ right to work,” he said. “Businesses that join the strike will be punished.”

The business group’s incoming president said the strike would be of limited duration to avoid worsening Venezuela’s already dire shortages of food and other basic products.