opposition to Chávez Chávez's opposition originated from the response to the "cubanization" of Venezuela when mothers realized that the new textbooks in Venezuela were really Cuban books filled with revolutionary propaganda and with different covers causing them to protest. By the summer months of 2001, the opposition groups grew quickly from concerned mothers to labor unions, business interests, church groups, and right and leftwing political parties. The Venezuelan Federation of Chambers (cámaras) of Commerce, – Fedecámaras – and the Confederación de Trabajadores de Venezuela (CTV) – a labour union federation – then called for a general business strike (paro cívico) for 10 December 2001 to protest the 49 laws. According to López Maya, at this time the president of the Fedecamaras, Pedro Carmona Estanga, emerged as the leader of the opposition movement. The paro attracted thousands of people. With the strike, the positions of both government and opposition became more intractable. The opposition warned that if the 49 laws were not amended, they would take to the streets again to attempt to force the issue, and later demanded the outright revocation of the laws. The government, for its part, refused to consider amending the laws. 2002: Coup and strike/lockout The atmosphere of heightened confrontation initiated by the December 2001 paro cívico continued into the year 2002. The opposition formed a "Coordinating group for Democracy and Freedom," later known as the Democratic Coordinator (Coordinadora Democrática, CD) to organise joint action against the government. On 23 January, the opposition staged a massive march, which was met by a counter march by government sympathisers. On 4 February, a pro-government march was countered by opposition marches in several cities. According to economist Francisco Rodríguez, "real GDP contracted by 4.4 percent and the currency had lost more than 40 percent of its value in the first quarter of 2002 ... As early as January of that year, the Central Bank had already lost more than $7 billion in a futile attempt to defend the currency ... [an] economic crisis had started well before the political crisis—a fact that would be forgotten in the aftermath of the political tumult that followed." A few months after the coup, in December 2002, the Chávez presidency faced a two-month strike organized by management at the national oil company, Petróleos de Venezuela S.A. (PDVSA) when he took steps to dismiss 17,000 workers; the strike deepened the economic crisis and cut