The strike failed, but Ortega is unrepentant

Carlos Ortega was facing charges of rebellion and treason - charges that can be punished with 20-year jail sentences - when he walked into the Costa Rican embassy and asked for political asylum on 14 March.

The head of the one-million-member Venezuelan Labour Federation said he feared for his personal safety and was granted asylum.

On Thursday, Venezuelan television showed him boarding a plane bound for the Costa Rican capital San Jose, having been given a federal police escort to the airport.

Earlier, as he got into the car, he reportedly raised his fists in a final victory salute to a number of fellow government adversaries.

Others emerge

Another strike leader, Carlos Fernandez of the Venezuelan business confederation Fedecameras, is under house arrest facing treason charges.

A court ordered him to be released last week after deeming the evidence insufficient, but the attorney general has appealed the decision.

Seven former executives of the state oil company PDVSA emerged from hiding last week after a judge revoked warrants for their arrests on charges of interrupting the country's fuel supply.

President Hugo Chavez has allowed two other major political foes to leave the country over the past year:

• Pedro Carmona, who briefly replaced him as president during a short-lived coup in April last year, was allowed to leave for Colombia

• Naval officer Carlos Molina, who faced an investigation for his part in the coup, was granted refuge in El Salvador

Bill of billions

Before petering out in January, the strike severely affected oil exports and in some areas caused food and fuel shortages.

It is estimated to have cost the economy between $4bn and $6bn.