VENEZUELA: Thousands of pro-government demonstrators laid siege to private television channels in Caracas yesterday, denouncing a campaign of "media terrorism" aimed at toppling embattled Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.
The country's private media have campaigned actively against the government, urging citizens to take to the streets during a previous coup attempt in April.
Venezuela's general strike entered its second week with oil supplies at a standstill, provoking long queues at petrol stations and panic buying in supermarkets.
The successful oil strike has forced Mr Chavez to accept a timetable for early elections, with a date due to be announced today. Mr Cesar Gaviria, secretary-general of the Organisation of American States, rejected calls for Mr Chavez's resignation but accepted the demand for early elections to determine whether the Venezuelan leader has sufficient support to remain in office until 2006.
While troops occupied oil installations, Mr Chavez stopped short of declaring a state of emergency as tension gripped the capital. "The army will not shoot the people," said Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, "but the people will remain in the streets as long as our democracy and our constitution are under threat".
Chavez supporters volunteered to help reopen petrol stations and operate other services disrupted by the strike.
The opposition maintained a makeshift camp in a public square in Caracas, where 100 dissident military officers declared a "liberated republic" in advance of the general strike, with just one non-negotiable demand - the resignation of Mr Chavez.
"You cannot negotiate with a gun to your head," insisted Vice-President Jose Vicente Rangel, demanding that the general strike be called off to facilitate the resumption of peace talks.
A previous attempt to overthrow Mr Chavez failed last April when loyal troops and civilian supporters took to the streets and reinstalled the ousted president.
The Chavez administration regards the general strike as the continuation of the April coup by other means; "we must strangle the economy until Chavez has no option but to abandon power," said opposition spokesman Timoteo Zambrano, echoing the words of Henry Kissinger in the run up to the 1973 Chilean coup which ousted socialist president Salvador Allende.
Mr Chavez swept into office in December 1998 and has since ratified his rule through seven referendums. But opposition activists refuse to recognise his legitimacy, accusing him of installing a "second Cuba" in the region.
The victory of left-wing presidential candidate Lula da Silva in nearby Brazil in October offered a lifeline to Mr Chavez, but his enemies appear determined to see him out of office before Lula takes power in January.