WHAT a mess in Venezuela. 2003-01-04 www.newsok.com

A national strike that began Dec. 2 is entering its second month, its organizers -- an unusual alliance of business and union leaders -- calling for an immediate referendum on President Hugo Chavez's continued rule.

The stoppage has put hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans in the streets in a stormy atmosphere the Los Angeles Times likened to a chair- throwing episode of "Jerry Springer."

Some are protesting Chavez's dabbling in Cuban-style socialism and an economy in recession. Others are marching in support of the president, who claims he is trying to distribute the country's oil wealth to the poor, which make up about 60 percent of the population.

Venezuela's oil industry, the world's fifth-largest, has been crippled. Long gas lines are common in Caracas. Recently the unthinkable occurred: importation of gasoline from neighboring Brazil. The U.S., which gets about 15 percent of its oil from Venezuela, is watching carefully.

The Bush administration has been criticized for meeting with members of Chavez's opposition. It was no more than a pro forma meeting, standard practice for U.S. governments, but still it drew a letter of protest from a handful of Democrats.

"While the Venezuelan president is trying to confiscate property, militarize the civilian government, take over the labor unions and squash a free press, congressional Democrats believe the biggest threat to life and liberty in Venezuela is America," the Wall Street Journal editorialized.

Others are criticizing the administration for not doing enough.

President Bush is taking the proper course for now: maintain contact but at a safe distance.

Venezuela's stalemate is largely Chavez's own doing. According to the country's El Nacional newspaper, 67 percent of those who supported Chavez now think there should be a new election.

America should let the Venezuelan drama run its course and stand ready to assist responsible leaders when the dust settles.

Calgary Herald Saturday, January 04, 2003

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva plans to keep Petroleo Brasileiro SA exploring for new oil reserves at home and abroad, as the state-run producer strives to end the country's dependence on imports.

Petrobras' new president, Jose Eduardo Dutra, said he would stick to company plans to spend $32 billion to boost oil output by almost half by 2006. Petrobras also will increase efforts to add reserves outside of Brazil, he said.

"This company has a strategy and it will be followed," Dutra said in a news conference. "We plan to complete our $32-billion expansion."

Lula, who took office Jan. 1, wants to use Latin America's largest publicly traded company to help meet his economic goals such as creating jobs, boosting demand for Brazilian goods and services and to contain inflation.

Petrobras produces about 1.7 million barrels of oil a day and is expanding output to reduce the country's oil deficit. Brazil today imports about 20 per cent of the oil it consumes.

The new government also plans to offer subsidies, low-priced credit and other incentives for local contractors to bid competitively on offshore oil platforms and other Petrobras projects, said Dilma Rousseff, Brazil's new mines and energy minister.

"This government is interested in strengthening national industry," Rousseff told a news conference. "We need to develop an industrial policy."

© Copyright  2003 Calgary Herald

www.islam-online.net

Chavez can call a “state of exception”, allowing him to suspend certain constitutional rights

CARACAS, January 4 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – Clashes between supporters and opponents of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez late Friday, January 3, claimed two lives and several more were wounded, as Chavez said that Algeria was sending petroleum experts to help jumpstart the country’s strike-crippled oil industry.

Snipers fired at anti-government demonstrators, police shot back and protesters from both sides hurled rocks at each other, witnesses and officials said, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Pedro Aristumono told Globovision TV that two people died of bullet wounds in hospital following the violent clashes between supporters and foes of President Hugo Chavez.

Globovision earlier quoted firefighters as saying six people suffered gunshot wounds, 12 people were injured by rocks and bottles and another 75 were treated for teargas inhalation.

The reports came after Caracas metropolitan police fired live ammunition at snipers who shot into a crowd of anti-government protesters, while military troops repeatedly fired teargas and rubber bullets at pro and anti-government demonstrators.

The clashes further fueled tension as a crippling strike, led by rich businessmen, aimed at forcing Chavez, branded “voice of Venezuelan poor and needy”, from office entered its second month with no solution in sight.

The incidents started after hundreds of thousands of people marched in protest to the Fuerte Tiuna military complex, where tens of thousands of Chavez supporters, known as “chavistas,” staged a counter-demonstration.

The chavistas (allegedly) hurled rocks and bottles at the protesters, some of whom responded in kind. “Voice of Venezuelan poor and needy”, among his supporters

The protesters threw themselves to the ground as a first shot hit an 18-year-old paramedic, who suffered a flesh wound. A little later, an AFP reporter also saw a police officer fall to the ground after being shot in the knee.

Late in the day, as most protesters dispersed, a few from both sides engaged in running street battles, and at least two people fired revolvers from their windows toward the chavista camp.

Demonstrators at one stage prevented heavily armed members of the staunchly pro-government political police from entering a building where armed anti-Chavez protesters were hiding.

The opposition claimed 30 of its members were detained.

Alberto Carrillas, a leader of the pro-Chavez Tupamaro vigilantes told AFP: “We will take to the streets with or without arms, masked or not, whatever it takes to defend the constitution.”

However, strike leader Carlos Ortega denounced what he called “this criminal attitude by the current government against peaceful demonstrations.”

At the protest, architect Delfos Lopez claimed Chavez supporters “have been paid to come here, to spread terror.”

After 33 days of disruption, both sides were deeply entrenched in their positions.

Algerian Oil Experts May Help Clashes in Venezuela took a new bloody turn

Meanwhile, Chavez declared Friday that Algeria was sending petroleum experts to help jumpstart the strike-crippled oil industry, adding, however, that it was improving slowly but surely.

The state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) was making progress “despite ... the complexity of the operations ... and ... the progressive way an operation of this type must be handled,” he told reporters.

“Nobody should think that an act of sabotage of the oil industry ... can be rectified in one day,” he said.

Chavez said he met Friday with an Algerian delegation headed by ministerial advisor Abdelaziz Djafri and a member of President Abdelaziz Buteflika’s cabinet, Djaballah Zatout, who said Algeria was ready to “do all it could to cooperate.”

Both countries are members of OPEC, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.

The Algerian delegation, he said, was to make a preliminary evaluation of Venezuela's oil situation, visiting refineries and other PDVSA installations, to gauge the compatibility of assistance that Algeria could provide.

State of Exception

Chavez Friday raised the possibility of calling a “state of exception” which would allow him to suspend certain constitutional rights, but said he did not intend to do so at this stage.

“If they force me to do it, I will, let’s hope that’s not the case,” he said.

The latest anti-government rally was in protest at what the opposition called the illegal house arrest within Fuerte Tiuna of a dissident general, one of about 150 soldiers who have declared themselves in rebellion.

Brazzil.com Politics January 2003

So far so good, but the new President is untried as a national leader and we do not know how he will cope with the constant crises which mark Brazil. Lula has little patience for the ins and outs of politics and seems incapable of sticking to a script. And he has to stop being a man of the people and become the leader of the people.

John Fitzpatrick

No sooner had Fernando Henrique Cardoso handed over the presidential sash to Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on New Year's Day (knocking his own glasses off in the excitement as he did so) than he headed for the airport and set off for Paris. The haste with which he left Brasília makes one wonder whether he knows something the rest of us don't. Perhaps his abrupt departure after eight years may have been meant to show the Brazilian people that they are on their own now with Lula and his team. Since it is unlikely that Lula would seek any advice from his predecessor it may not matter that Cardoso practically fled, but the manner in which he departed leaves a rather sour taste in the mouth.

We are now in the hands of Lula and for the sake of Brazil let us hope he learns fast because the honeymoon is over. Electors will no longer be satisfied with the ear-to-ear grins and the tearful descriptions of his life and hard times with which he has been regaling them since his victory in October.

Behind the scenes the PT team has been busy assembling a government. This is obviously a complex process and appears to have been handled fairly well. At the same time, failing to win over the PMDB, the largest party in the Congress, was a setback. However, the PMDB is as greedy for power as any other party and this door has not been completely slammed shut. In the months to come we will start seeing shifting political alliances as the familiar mosaic of Brazilian politics shapes and reshapes itself. Despite the grouping of disparate parties in his election coalition, Lula's government is top heavy with PT members.

The key ministers have started outlining their priorities in line with the PT's electoral program. The focus will be on ending social inequality although with no drastic action such as defaulting on international or domestic debt obligations. Finance Minister, Antônio Palocci, has said the right things and pledged to reform the scandalous situation in which millions of former civil servants, some only in their 40s or early 50s, enjoy generous inflation-linked pensions, mainly paid for by those in the private sector who have no such cushion to fall back on.

In the first few days of the new administration we have already seen some changes. For example, the state-owned oil company Petrobras, the largest company in South America, has had its board shaken up. The new chairman is a PT senator from the Northeast and the advisers include Finance Minister Palocci and Lula's chief of staff, José Dirceu. Moves have already been made to reduce the effects of oil price increases on the final consumer by tinkering with taxes. (To be fair here, even the Cardoso government interfered in Petrobras's pricing policy at times, although it left the company in the hands of professionals rather than politicians.)

The new energy minister has spoken against further privatizations in the sector and of the need for more investment and lower prices. The defense minister announced that Lula had suspended for a year a multi-million dollar contract to renew the Air Force's fleet of fighter planes. According to the minister, priority would be given to fighting hunger.

So far so good, but your correspondent is still apprehensive and a bit fearful of what lies ahead. Lula is untried as a national, as opposed to a party, leader and we do not know how he will cope with the constant crises which mark Brazil and the day-to-day political bargaining in Congress. One must hope Lula will stick to the script and let his team, which appears to be fairly competent, get on with things. The problem is that Lula has little patience for the ins and outs of politics and seems incapable of sticking to a script. An example of the Lula style was the casual manner in which he announced the name of his finance minister during a visit to Washington in December. This was the key appointment eagerly awaited in Brazil yet Lula tossed it out to some journalists as though he was making a banal comment on the weather.

The inaugural ceremony itself showed the perils of this informality. By bussing in hundreds of thousands of supporters from all the country, the PT enlivened the dreary avenues and concrete squares of Brasilia but gave the security forces a headache they could have done without. Lula's open-top car was soon swamped by well wishers, one of whom even managed to jump inside and give Lula a hug.

Later, even when the security had been beefed up, a young woman still managed to get through and Lula posed for a picture with her. Presumably one of the bodyguards took the picture. During the inaugural ceremony in the Congress, House representative Severino Cavalcanti, from Pernambuco, whose constitutional role was to wind up the ceremony, started speaking off the cuff and congratulated Lula, who was born in the Northeast, as though they were in a bar.

None of this mattered to Lula, who said at one point, "Vamos quebrar o protocolo, mas nem tanto, hein?" ("We'll break with protocol, but not too much.") Afterwards, Lula allowed every Tom, Dick and Harry congressman to give him a hug and slap on the back and even gave autographs. One wonders what Fernando Henrique Cardoso was thinking as he watched this display, while awaiting the arrival of Lula at the Planalto Palace to receive the sash of office. OK, it was Lula's big day but he will soon have to stop being a man of the people and become the leader of the people.

Finally, it was disappointing to see that no major democratic leader took the pains to turn up at the ceremony. If George Bush was busy planning to invade Iraq then why did he not send his vice-president? In recent years the French, German and British government leaders have all visited Brazil and pledged to support the country's maturing democracy and efforts to get a fairer deal in international trade. But where were they on New Year's Day?

At least the American trade secretary, Robert Zoellick, the man Brazilians love to hate, attended. The result of this pitiful turnout was that two high-profile despots, Fidel Castro of Cuba and Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, were the main "guests of honor." A sorry sight indeed when, for the first day since the return to democracy in Brazil, one elected president passed power over to another elected president.

John Fitzpatrick is a Scottish journalist who first visited Brazil in 1987 and has lived in São Paulo since 1995. He writes on politics and finance and runs his own company, Celtic Comunicações—www.celt.com.br, which specializes in editorial and translation services for Brazilian and foreign clients. You can reach him at jf@celt.com.br

© John Fitzpatrick 2002

You can also read John Fitzpatrick's articles in Infobrazil, at www.infobrazil.com

Two people have died and several more were wounded after snipers fired at anti-government demonstrators, police shot back and protesters from both sides hurled rocks at each other, witnesses and officials say. Pedro Aristumono told Globovision televison two people died of bullet wounds in hospital following the violent clashes between supporters and foes of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. Globovision earlier quoted firefighters as saying six people suffered gunshot wounds, 12 people were injured by rocks and bottles and another 75 were treated for teargas inhalation. The reports came after Caracas metropolitan police fired live ammunition at snipers who shot into a crowd of anti-government protesters, while military troops repeatedly fired teargas and rubber bullets at pro and anti-government demonstrators. The clashes further fueled tension as a crippling strike aimed at forcing Mr Chavez from office entered its second month with no solution in sight. The incidents started after hundreds of thousands of people marched in protest to the Fuerte Tiuna military complex, where tens of thousands of Chavez supporters, known as "chavistas," staged a counter-demonstration. The chavistas hurled rocks and bottles at the protesters, some of whom responded in kind. The protesters threw themselves to the ground as a first shot hit an 18-year-old paramedic, who suffered a flesh wound. A little later an AFP reporter also saw a police officer fall to the ground after being shot in the knee. Late in the day, as most protesters dispersed, a few from both sides engaged in running streets battles, and at least two people fired revolvers from their windows toward the chavista camp. Demonstrators at one stage prevented heavily armed members of the staunchly pro-government political police from entering a building where armed anti-Chavez protesters were allegedly hiding. The opposition claimed 30 of its members were detained. Strike leader Carlos Ortega denounced what he called "this criminal attitude by the current government against peaceful demonstrations." At the protest, architect Delfos Lopez claimed Chavez supporters "have been paid to come here, to spread terror." A few meters away, Alberto Carrillas, a leader of the pro-Chavez Tupamaro vigilantes told AFP: "We will take to the streets with or without arms, masked or not, whatever it takes to defend the constitution." After 33 days of disruption, both sides were deeply entrenched in their positions. Mr Chavez raised on Friday local time, the possibility of calling a "state of exception" which would allow him to suspend certain constitutional rights, but said he did not intend to do so at this stage. "If they force me to do it, I will, let's hope that's not the case," he said. The latest anti-government rally was in protest at what the opposition called the illegal house arrest within Fuerte Tiuna of a dissident general, one of about 150 soldiers who have declared themselves in rebellion. Opposition leaders urged the armed forces to join their campaign, while oil industry employees expressed their determination to pursue the strike that choked the vital sector. Worries about the impact of the strike on US oil stocks pushed oil prices upward.