Oil Strike In Venezuela Vexes U.S.

The White House applied pressure Friday on Venezuela to hold prompt elections and to protect the rights of the people in the violence-wracked country.

But in Venezuela, foreign pressure to end a general strike and schedule elections has been ignored.

"The United States is deeply concerned about the deteriorating situation," the White House said in a statement.

It cautioned there could be further polarization and more violence if negotiations did not begin in the next few days.

"The United States is convinced that the only peaceful and politically viable path out of the crisis is through the holding of early elections," said the statement issued by presidential spokesman Ari Fleischer.

In the meantime, the permanent council of the Organization of American States met in Washington while OAS secretary general Cesar Gavirias tried to mediate in Caracas. A senior State Department official, Thomas Shannon, a deputy assistant secretary, was sent to Caracas on Thursday.

The Bush administration is supporting the OAS in seeking a solution to the turmoil while urging the Venezuelan government to develop a formula quickly for elections.

The White House noted the shooting of peaceful demonstrators and disruption of the economy. "These events have caused great hardship in Venezuela," the statement said. "The Venezuelan people deserve better."

In Caracas, supporters and foes of President Hugo Chavez called for more street demonstrations.

Chavez supporters planned a rally in the capital's downtown to celebrate the eight-month anniversary of the president's return to power after an April 12 coup.

Opposition leaders said they too would return to the streets Friday, the 12th day of a crippling general strike they launched in a bid to oust Chavez and his leftist government. The strike has paralyzed the world's fifth-largest oil exporting nation, a key U.S. supplier.

"We urge a peaceful, democratic, constitutional and politically viable electoral solution to Venezuela's crisis," the White House said.

It stressed the United States was backing OAS mediation efforts.

When Chavez was ousted briefly in the April coup, some criticized the United States for not condemning the overthrow quickly or forcefully enough. Otto Reich, a lead U.S. diplomat for the region, was in contact with the coup leader to tell him not to dissolve the National Assembly.

During the coup, the United States blamed Chavez for the violence. On April 12, State Department spokesman Philip Reeker said: " Though details are still unclear, undemocratic actions committed or encouraged by the Chavez administration provoked yesterday's crisis in Venezuela."

During the current strike, production at plants and refineries has been paralyzed. Crews on oil tankers have refused to move their cargo.

Venezuela's oil industry is the world's fifth-largest and the source of 70 percent of the country's export earnings. It ranks fourth among countries exporting oil to the United States, at 471 million barrels in 2001, behind Saudi Arabia, Mexico and Canada.

Critics charge that the leftist Chavez has hurt the economy, polarized the South American nation along class lines and is unfit to govern. Chavez accuses the opposition of trying to spark a coup against his elected government.

A former army paratrooper elected in 1998 and re-elected in 2000, Chavez has insisted Venezuela's constitution doesn't allow a referendum until midway through a presidential term — in his case, August 2003.