The Venezuelan military seized products from the country’s Coca-Cola bottler Panamerican Beverages (Panamco) on Friday as tension surrounding the general strike against President Hugo Chavez’s leadership escalated.
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Troops from the National Guard entered the bottling plant, which had shut its doors in support of the strike, and seized bottled water and soft drinks to distribute to alleviate shortages in the country.
However Romulo Salazar, the plant’s sales manager, was interviewed on local radio and said the seizures were illegal. He claimed Chavez had said seizures would only result from shortages of goods considered of “primary necessity,” which Coca-Cola was not.
Chavez though believes the media magnate Gustavo Cisneros, who is a major shareholder in Panamco, is attempting to oust him, and considers him one of the leaders behind events on April 11, 2002, that led to the president’s brief fall from power. Chavez was restored to power by loyalist troops two days later.
Opposition leaders have said they won’t call off the general strike aimed at forcing Chavez to declare early elections.
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