25-09-03 Venezuela's National Assembly has launched an investigation into alleged sabotage by a group of oil workers who oppose the administration of President Hugo Chavez, said Roger Rondon, a lawmaker for the ruling party who heads the National Assembly's Energy and Mines Commission.
"There are still some areas where people from Gente de Petroleo are trying to create uncertainty," Rondon told, referring to group of oil workers who went on strike last December.

Chavez fired over 18,000 striking oil workers earlier this year, but Rondon said Gente de Petroleo members still working at oil facilities are looking to wreak havoc in Venezuela's dominant oil industry.
"There are people working with explosives in critical areas close to natural gas and oil pipelines," said Rondon. "They are looking to heat up the political climate," he added.
The oil workers group denied the charges. "We would never act against oil installations," said Gonzalo Feijoo, a former oil executive who belongs to Gente de Petroleo. "The only ones destroying the oil industry are the Chavistas," he said, referring to supporters of the president.

Gente de Petroleo encouraged a majority of workers at Petroleos de Venezuela, or PdVSA, to walk off the job last December, complaining of political interference in the state-owned oil company and the sale of cheap oil to communist Cuba. Oil production slowed to a trickle for over two months.
The group is now one of Chavez's most vocal detractors and has taken a leading role in drumming up support for a recall vote against the controversial leader.