VENEZUELAN president Hugo Chavez has announced plans to deepen his social “revolution” for the poor by expanding state-subsidised markets and speeding up land reform.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and his Brazilian counterpart, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, signed bilateral trade agreements yesterday in their effort to establish a strategic and economic alliance between the two South American nations.

The confrontation between Venezuela's government and workers at one of the world's largest oil companies is beginning to affect exports of crude oil and refined products.