Thousands of businesses in Venezuela closed and millions of people stayed home in a strike against new economic laws President Mr Hugo Chavez has decreed that
critics say will smother the economy.
Mr Chavez responded by calling out troops and police to patrol the tense streets and accusing "corrupt economic elites" of conspiring against his government. Thousands of Chavez supporters joined rallies in Caracas and his home state of Barinas.
The 12-hour strike was called by Fedecamaras, Venezuela's biggest business confederation whose affiliates control 90 per cent of the country's non-oil production.