"Venezuela is actually the second front in the Bush war against Iraq," says journalist Greg Palast. "In order to continue its control over oil supply and price during an invasion of Iraq, the Bush administration is pushing hard to get rid of the non-compliant, elected Chavez."

Democratically elected in 1998, and again in 2000, Hugo Chavez's reform/revolution agenda has set him at odds with Venezuela's oil rich oligarchy, and their backers in Washington. And despite US encouragement for, and covert support of, efforts to depose him and terminate his "Bolivaran Revolution," the leftist president retains the firm support of Venezuela's poor, an overwhelming majority in a nation where 80% of the population live in poverty.

Chavez has survived an April Coup, and recently a 63-day "general strike" of oil executives, US corporate franchises, and wealthy business owners that was intended to topple him in a matter of days in early December. Apart from its effect on the oil industry, the strike was largely an illusion maintained by the Venezuelan media, whose TV stations showed round the clock pro "strike," anti-Chavez coverage. Breathlessly reported by the corporate media in the US as a "grueling national strike," and "a nationwide shutdown," the "strike," was really a lockout that hurt its supporters perhaps more than the government it targeted. Observers like Al Giordano of www.narconews.com, early on dismissed the "strike that wasn't" as the latest in a series of desperate and ineffective efforts to topple Chavez and return the country to its former rulers--the rich.

In Venezuela, wealth and white skin go together, and it is the brown majority that sustains Chavez's revolution. Plain old racism, in addition to economics, plays a part in the agitation of the privileged classes, who grow louder and more strident as their historical privileges are eroded. And as Chavez refuses to be toppled, and the majority refuses to go back to their historical subservience, the situation grows more precarious and the possibility of civil war, a Pinochet style coup or even US military intervention remains an ever present danger. But after surviving more than a year of continual efforts to drive him from office, Chavez and his revolution strengthen their position day by day.

Support for the recent strike was most effective among in the privileged oil industry and managed to practically halt oil production for most of December. Fellow OPEC members responded to Chavez's calls for assistance by providing skilled technicians to restart production.

Having restored most of the lost production, and fired 13,000 thousands oil industry workers, Chavez appears to have resolidified his control of the industry. Before the constitutional reforms of Chavez's "Bolivaran Revolution," Venezuela's oil industry was undergoing privatization, and less and less of the oil profits were going into the public coffers. Chavez has reversed the push toward privatization, and much of the urgency of Chavez's opposition, and their US supporters, can be traced to these and other possibly irreversible reforms.

Chavez's political strength comes from the "Bolivaran circles," small grassroots organizations, community education groups, independent media--people trading skills and resources apart from the corporate economy. These were the people who took to the streets and rescued the revolution when Chavez was imprisoned during April's coup. After returning to office two days after being imprisoned by the coup plotters, Chavez purged many officers from the military and put loyal supporters into key positions, strengthening his position in the process.

Following the "strike," his government appears to be doing the same thing, consolidating control over the oil industry and ordering the arrest of key leaders of the opposition.

A main strike leader, Carlos Fernandez, President of the Venezuelan Chamber of Commerce was arrested on February 19 by State Security Police and charged with "rebellion, treason against the motherland, incitement, association with criminals and destruction of property." The judge who issued the order has also ordered the arrest of labor union leader Carlos Ortega for his role in the alleged plot.

Despite reports that Chavez's government plans to arrest hundreds of opposition members, and Chavez's threats against Venezuelan powerful media owners, the Attorney General says that only Fernandez and Ortega are being targeted.

The arrests are certain to increase tensions in Venezuela. The US State Department says the incident "increases our concerns about human rights in Venezuela." Chavez responded by pointing out that the State Department didn't express any concern over his human rights when he was imprisoned by the coup plotters in April. The US openly welcomed the coup at the time, and many people believe the Bush administration encouraged if not directed it. Both the State Department's Otto Reich and White House advisor Elliott Abrams, old hands from the Reagan Administration's covert terror war on Nicaragua in the 1980s, had met repeatedly with the coup's planners.

The General Secretary of the Organization of American States (OAS), Cesar Gaviria, also angered Chavez by calling on the Venezuelan government to accord Fernandez and Ortega privileges "in accord with their highly-placed status in Venezuelan society."

Fernandez replaced the previous head of the Chamber of Commerce, who fled to Colombia after losing his position as "dictator for a day" during April's coup.

As the consumer of 70 percent of Venezuela's oil production of 2.5 million barrels a day--13 percent of US supply, the current US regime is certain to continue its interference with Chavez's revolution. Despite some accommodations by his government, such as promising to remain a reliable US oil supplier, and willingness to largely abide by IMF policies, Chavez represents serious trouble for powerful US interests. Along with new, democratically elected, leftist governments in Brazil and Ecuador, and widespread popular revolts in Bolivia and Peru, Venezuela threatens US political and economic hegemony in the South America. And with even Vicente Fox's Mexico asserting its independence from Uncle Sam, Venezuela's's Bolivaran Revolution is the leading edge of what promises to be a decade of dangerous, exciting changes in Latin America.