Caracas, Venezuela ? After a brief Christmas break, thousands of people renewed protests Thursday across Venezuela, the 25th day of a strike to force President Hugo Chavez to call elections.

In Caracas, workers, journalists, business leaders, artists and politicians staged rallies under a new rallying cry: “Freedom!”

Thousands of protesters demonstrated in the streets and at the headquarters of the state-owned oil monopoly Petroleos de Venezuela S.A. Oil executives at a rally shouted “Not one step back!” and “We are not afraid!” as speakers denounced government firings of striking oil workers and arrests of tanker crews.

The strike, which began Dec. 2, has shut most gasoline stations, factories and many stores, causing fuel and food shortages in this food-importing nation of 24 million.

In a first sign of unrest sparked by shortages, about 300 people from poor districts blocked a highway for two hours to demand propane cooking gas.

“We are desperate. We’ve been using charcoal and kerosene to cook for two weeks now. We can’t stand it any more,” said Faustino Gonzalez, a 59-year-old taxi driver.

Chavez’s government is seeking food and fuel overseas.

Brazil’s state oil company Petroleo Brasileiro shipped 520,000 barrels of gasoline to Venezuela. The tanker should arrive by the weekend, Brazilian officials said.

Members of the opposition Democratic Coordinator movement met with Brazil’s ambassador Thursday to urge Brazil not to interfere in Venezuela’s crisis by helping Chavez break the oil strike.

Venezuela will pay oil for food from the Dominican Republic, Agriculture Minister Efren Andrade said. The deal includes a rice shipment delivered Thursday by a Venezuelan navy vessel. Talks for milk and meat from Colombia are continuing.

The strike has all but stopped exports from Venezuela, the world’s fifth-biggest oil supplier, which usually provides 14 percent of U.S. oil imports.