CARACAS, Venezuela — Venezuela's oil exports stopped and protesters faced off in the streets Friday. As political violence loomed, President Hugo Chavez's government said it was ready to restart talks with the opposition on new elections.
A 5-day-old general strike against Chavez's government halted shipments from Venezuela, the world's fifth-largest oil exporter and a top supplier to the United States, where the worst ice storm in years devastated the South this week and heavy snow blanketed the Northeast.
Captains anchored tankers offshore, tugs stopped guiding ships from Venezuela's oil-rich Lake Maracaibo and dock crews stopped loading oil and natural gas. Operations at several refineries were shutting down in a process that takes several days.
Venezuela's society is split between supporters of Chavez and opponents bent on driving him from power. An attack on a central Venezuela newspaper today by Chavez supporters increased fears that more political violence was in store.
Since it no longer could fill orders, Venezuela's state oil monopoly freed buyers and sellers from fulfilling their contracts, said Jorge Kamkoff, a company vice president. Crude oil futures at the New York Mercantile Exchange rose as Venezuela's crisis deepened.
Luis Vierma, a top Venezuelan oil company official, met with U.S. Embassy officials to assure them Venezuela will do all it can to maintain supplies. Chavez vowed to use the military to protect the industry, which accounts for 75 percent of exports and half the government's income.
Both sides warned of violence as Chavez supporters and strikers demonstrated in Caracas and other cities. National guard troops were deployed to prevent clashes.
Violence between the two sides killed 19 people during a similar strike on April 11. Dissident officers deposed Chavez the next day, but loyalists restored him two days later after an interim government abolished the constitution, triggering a popular rebellion.
Resentment over the April revolt still runs deep among Venezuela's polarized people. Several people have been killed and dozens wounded in occasional political violence since the coup.
"We're living a kind of civil Cold War, because we haven't taken to arms yet, but to move from cold to hot all you need is a single badly aimed gunshot," said political analyst Alfredo Keller. "We are moving toward violent confrontation."
In the central city of Maracay, hundreds of Chavez supporters, some firing guns, attacked the offices of the newspaper El Siglo, said the paper's vice president, Tulio Capriles. Two employees were hospitalized with gunshot wounds. The newspaper did not publish Friday.
"We are scared. The news media and journalists have become a target in an undeclared war," said Evert Garcia, director of the Maracay newspaper El Aragueno. Garcia said Chavez supporters painted graffiti and shouted at employees at his newspaper early Friday.
Venezuela's news media have entered the conflict, with Chavez supporters complaining that most major newspapers and television stations are mouthpieces for the opposition.
Before Friday's incidents, 12 journalists had been injured covering demonstrations this week in Venezuela, the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders said.
Education Minister Aristobulo Isturiz, a government delegate, announced Thursday night that the government would return to formal talks with the opposition. It wasn't clear when they would begin, but opposition leader Manuel Cova called the government's return a sign of desperation.
"The government is returning to the table because it has no other solution," he said.
Formal talks broke down Monday when the strike began. Informal negotiations mediated by Cesar Gaviria, secretary general of the Organization of American States, collapsed Wednesday just as the two sides were close to a deal.
The deal would have ended the strike, withdrawn the army from the streets and let courts decide on a proposed referendum on Chavez's presidency, a source close to the talks told The Associated Press.
That day, the captain of a government tanker announced he had anchored his ship, carrying 280,000 barrels of gasoline, off the western city of Maracaibo to support the general strike. By Friday, at least seven other tanker captains had done the same.
The fate of the Pilin Leon, the tanker that began the rebellion, was unclear. The government said it had seized the ship, but First Pilot Javier Colina said navy officials who boarded told the crew they would look for replacements for the sailors, then left.
Tugboats in Maracaibo Lake, where 1 million barrels of crude are produced daily, joined the strike, refusing to bring ships into port, according to a worker at the largest tugboat company there.
All workers at shipping terminals stopped loading tankers, said shipping agent Jesus Cabrera. Another shipping agent, who refused to be identified, said exports from all ports in Venezuela stopped as of 3 p.m. Thursday. The agent said he had spoken with officials in Caracas and managers at all major docks.
Evidence of the shutdown showed outside Venezuela. Marine officials in Curacao, where Venezuela's oil company operates a refinery, said two tankers scheduled to arrive from Venezuela didn't show up Thursday.
Chavez accused strike leaders of seeking to privatize the Petroleos de Venezuela S.A. oil monopoly, known as PDVSA.
"Assaulting PDVSA is like assaulting the heart of Venezuela," Chavez said in a nationally broadcast speech. "Nobody stops Venezuela."