Opposition heats up

last updated 8 January 2015

Caracas

Crowds called for embattled Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to resign this week, after a gunman killed three anti-government protesters in the street. Opposition leaders launched a general strike early last week to demand a referendum on Chavez’s controversial rule, but after the shootings they vowed to keep pushing until he leaves office. “You have to get tough to fight a dictator,” said union leader Froilan Barrios. The strike all but paralyzed the country’s oil industry, the world’s fifth largest. Chavez, who survived a coup attempt in April, sent a navy ship to take back an oil tanker seized by protesters. He accused demonstrators of trying to “generate chaos” and vowed to defeat them. “Nobody stops Venezuela.”