Supporters of Chavez surround the Petroleos de Venezuela SA main offices in support of the president, as the opposition continued their general strike

CARACAS, December 6 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - A crippling strike by opposition business and union leaders aimed at forcing Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez from power extended into a fifth day Friday, December 6, as the government took drastic measures to ensure crude oil deliveries.

Chavez on Thursday, December 5, ordered the navy to seize an oil tanker from a rebellious crew, and told army troops to protect Venezuelan oil installations, as he condemned the organizers of the general strike, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.

"I am guaranteeing the protection (of oil installations) with the armed forces," Chavez said in a radio and television broadcast.

The embattled leader said the strike would not hold up deliveries from Venezuela, which is the world's fifth-biggest exporter of crude oil.

"The navy has taken control of the tanker," General Alberto Gutierrez told the state-owned press agency following the seizure of the Pilin Leon, loaded with 280,000 barrels of oil.

The president ordered the navy and air force to take control of two other tankers held by strikers as they lay at anchor in the Maracaibo inlet, but they had no crude oil on board.

The strike, called by business and labor leaders fed up with Chavez's populist leadership, began Monday, December 2, and has been marked by violent clashes in Caracas and other cities.

Demonstrators have ratcheted up the protests daily, since Wednesday, December 4,  homing in on the oil industry.

Venezuelan Workers Confederation chief Carlos Ortega, said the strike would continue Friday, along with weekend street protests.

"The people, exercising their sovereignty, are continuing with the national civil strike," Ortega said.

He said the move was in anticipation of a "terrorist escalation" in "persecution and intimidation" that he predicted would be aimed at the opposition to Chavez in the next few hours.

Pro-Chavez activists countered, calling supporters to march Saturday, December 7.

Both sides late Thursday, December 5, held pot-banging demonstrations across the city -- anti-Chavez protesters in residential areas, Chavez supporters in the poorer districts of eastern Caracas.

On Thursday, a march to the main headquarters of state oil producing giant Petroleos de Venezuela was stopped by opposition leaders saying they feared clashes with presidential supporters.

Ortega said that the day had been a "success," and complimented the decision not to go ahead with the march, saying it had avoided a "massacre" at the hands of the government.

Business leader Carlos Fernandez, president of Fedecameras, said "snipers and armed personnel" had been positioned in front of the company's offices.

Organization of American States Secretary General Cesar Gaviria, who was mediating between the government and opposition before talks broke down, said negotiations interrupted by the strike would soon resume.

The threat of supply disruption initially caused crude oil prices to rise, but Chavez's measures later boosted trader confidence, causing a late rally.

Venezuela is a key supplier to the United States, the world's largest oil consumer.

A former paratrooper who once tried to take the country in a failed coup and was elected to the presidency in 1998, Chavez has ruled with an autocratic pro-worker style that has infuriated many.

His authoritarian tone erupted into a heated confrontation with the opposition a year ago when he pushed through 49 new laws, including controversial land reform, oil sector and banking legislation that angered the business class.

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