Reports: Venezuelan President Chavez resigns

Opinion polls earlier this year showed Chavez's support was waning.

CARACAS, Venezuela (CNN) -- Unconfirmed reports early Friday said Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez had resigned after the country's military withdrew its support for his government.

Hours earlier, the country's vice minister for citizen security had declared the armed forces in control of the nation after a day of violent demonstrations that saw 12 protesters shot to death by police and supporters of Chavez.

Dozens more were wounded when gunfire met the anti-Chavez protesters as they marched near Miraflores, the presidential palace.

The vice minister, Gen. Luis Alberto Camacho Kairuz, made the announcement as tanks surrounded Miraflores.

CNN NewsPass VIDEO CNN's Harris Whitbeck reports the Venezuela military high command claims to have withdrawn support for President Hugo Chavez (April 11) Play video

Rumors circulated in the capital concerning the whereabouts of Chavez, after a small private jet took off from a city airfield earlier in the day. Local television reports said Chavez's wife was aboard, heading to another city in the countryside. But a sergeant at Miraflores told CNN's Harris Whitbeck that Chavez and his executive council were still at the palace Thursday night.

Globovision, a Spanish-language television news network, reported that Chavez had handed in his resignation to several Army generals.

In a televised address Thursday, the commander general of the army, Efrain Vasquez Velasco, asked Venezuelans for their forgiveness as he declared the army in open rebellion against Chavez.

"This is not a coup d'etat, nor an act of insubordination," Vasquez said. "It is a position of solidarity with all people of Venezuela. Mr. President of the Republic, I was loyal till the end, until this afternoon I was fully in your service, but the deaths of today cannot be tolerated."

Streets of capital now quiet

The streets of Caracas were calm late Thursday, save for pockets of demonstrators near the headquarters of the National Oil Industry. There was only a light military presence on the streets.

The protests began Thursday morning when tens of thousands of people set out peacefully from a park on the east side of the city and headed toward the place, where Chavez was, said reporter Adrian Criscaut.

Riot police push Gen. Guicaipuro Lameda, the former head of the state oil monopoly, and fellow protesters on Thursday.

As they neared the palace, violence erupted, and shots were fired. A photographer from a local newspaper was among the dead, Criscaut said, claiming that the shooters included police snipers stationed atop buildings.

The shootings came a day after protest leaders had declared that a general strike that began Tuesday would continue indefinitely. The protesters oppose what they say is Chavez's authoritarian regime and the decisions made by his top officials, especially Chavez's appointment of a new administration for the oil industry.

Criscaut said 10 generals from the three branches of the military met Thursday afternoon and declared they will not support the president.

Radio and television communication in the city has been cut, Criscaut said. Only cable and satellite connections remained on.

The ongoing general strike by labor and business has disrupted oil production in Venezuela, the No. 3 oil supplier to the United States.

The strike was called to support oil executives who opposed Chavez's move to appoint his own managers at the state oil monopoly, Petroleos de Venezuela. Venezuela has the fourth-largest economy in Latin America.

The International Energy Agency has warned that Venezuela's crisis -- combined with the Mideast's current unrest -- could upset the world oil market.

Controversial leader

Chavez's three years in power have been controversial. Detractors have accused him of engaging in a near-dictatorship, while others have said he wants to impose a left-wing regime similar to Fidel Castro's in Cuba.

A former paratrooper, Chavez -- known as "The Commander" -- was elected in 1998 with 80 percent of the vote, but opinion polls earlier this year showed his support has been slashed in half.

Chavez called for a "peaceful revolution" aimed at lifting half of the nation's 24 million people out of poverty and fighting unemployment and corruption.

His opponents, the rich, the middle class, the media and some unions, said he has failed on key election promises and was squeezing out private enterprise to give the states a greater role in the economy.

-- CNN Correspondent Harris Whitbeck contributed to this report.