story.news.yahoo.com Wed Jan 22, 3:59 PM ET Add Business - Reuters to My Yahoo! By Patrick Markey

CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - Venezuela on Wednesday suspended foreign exchange trading in a desperate bid to stem capital flight and a slide in the bolivar as the government battled an opposition-led strike which has drained its oil-reliant economy.

The Central Bank said it would close the foreign exchange market for five trading days and prepare temporary currency exchange and transfer curbs to fend off the impact of the shutdown, which aims to force President Hugo Chavez to resign.

Finance Minister Tobias Nobrega said the government planned also to slash its 2003 budget by 10 percent or $2.2 billion, extend a temporary bank debit tax through 2003 and continue with a domestic public debt swap to counter the economic damage of the strike.

Venezuela's bolivar has tumbled more than 28 percent during the seven-week-old work stoppage and its international reserves have fallen. Oil output in the world's fifth-largest petroleum exporter has been slashed by the strike to a fraction of its normal levels.

Economists said foreign exchange controls would give the government some short-term breathing room, but the economy would suffer the longer the controls were maintained.

"This looks more like a knee-jerk reaction of theirs to the currency weakness," Jose Cerritelli, a Bear Stearns Andean economist, said. "But in the long term, people look to escape the controls by taking their money out."

A government source told Reuters on Tuesday that the cabinet was still not clear what currency measures it would introduce. But the government did not plan to devalue the bolivar for now, the source said.

The economic crunch has raised fears that Venezuela may default on its foreign debt later this year. But the Central Bank said the government would maintain the necessary operations to make those debt payments.

Chavez, a fiery populist who was elected in 1998 and survived a coup in April, has branded his foes as "terrorists" who are trying to topple him again through an economic coup and by draining hard currency from Venezuela. He has refused to quit and vows to defeat the strike.

Venezuela's Trade and Production Minister Ramon Rosales said the suspension of the exchange market aimed to halt what he called the "attack against our international reserves."

"The aim of this measure is to preserve our reserves which are the only guarantee of Venezuela's recovery after this oil sabotage," Rosales told Reuters.

FALLING RESERVES, BATTLE FOR OIL Venezuela's international reserves have fallen to $11.05 billion, a drop of 7.5 percent so far this year. The government also has $2.85 billion in its FIEM rainy-day savings fund and insisted recently that hard currency levels were sufficient.

Rattled by political uncertainty, the bolivar currency has lost more than 24 percent of its value this year alone. The central bank reference rate for the bolivar closed Tuesday trading down 5.1 percent at 1,849.50/1,853 bolivars.

Opposition leaders hope their strike, which began on Dec. 2, will pressure former paratrooper Chavez to agree to early elections. They say that rather than deliver on promises to ease poverty, he has wielded power like a dictator and driven Venezuela toward economic ruin and Cuba-style communism.

The bitter stalemate has raised international concern after the strike drove world oil prices to two-year highs. It has also severely disrupted domestic fuel and food supplies, pushing Venezuela's already weak economy deeper into recession and stoking social unrest.

But negotiations to break the deadlock have been stalled over the timing of possible elections. Former U.S. President and Nobel Peace Prize winner Jimmy Carter on Tuesday proposed to the government and the opposition a blueprint for elections that would also end the strike.

The currency trading shutdown is the latest government measure to combat the effects of the strike, now in its 52nd day. Many private businesses are still closed and the fuel shortages have forced Venezuelans to wait for hours outside gasoline pumps.

Chavez, who led a botched coup six years before his victory at the polls, has fought back, sending troops to seize control of oil installations and refineries and importing food and gasoline to offset shortages.

Strike leaders claim the government has failed to break the stoppage. But in a first sign of a crack in the oil shutdown, some tanker pilots in the key western oil and shipping hub of Maracaibo went back to work this week. (Reporting by Patrick Markey, additional reporting by Ana Isabel Martinez and Silene Ramirez; editing by Dave Zimmerman; Reuters Messaging: pat.markey.reuters.com@reuters.net; 58-212-277-2656; email: pat.markey@reuters.com) (Xtra clients: Click on topnews.session.rservices.com to see Top News pages in multimedia Web format. If you cannot access the pages, ask your IT department to check your Internet firewall settings. For a technical advisory, click on .)

www.granma.cu

PORTO ALEGRE, BRAZIL (PL).— This Wednesday Orlando Lugo Fontes, president of the Cuban National Association of Small Farmers (ANAP) called for the retention in this city of the World Social Forum before the World Campesino Assembly.

In his message of thanks to the event, organized by the Via Campesina, which groups together agricultural and indigenous farmers from all over the world, Lugo Fontes spoke of the extreme poverty, hunger and disease suffered by a large percentage of the planet’s population.

He affirmed that the links should not be broken in the series of Social Forums held to date in this city, capital of the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul, and called for the meetings to retain their venue in this country, or at least in Latin America.

The Cuban agrarian leader stated that the continent is experiencing a complex and difficult period and the Social Forum is an important scenario for continuing discussions on problems negatively affecting our independence and development.

Lugo criticized the presence of the United States within the so-called Group of Friends of Venezuela, given that it is precisely the country where the fascist coup d’état against Hugo Chávez, the constitutional president, was cooked up.

www.miami.com Posted on Thu, Jan. 23, 2003 By FRANCES ROBLES frobles@herald.com

CARACAS - In what was dubbed ''The great Caracas takeover,'' at least a million people descended on Venezuela's capital Thursday to support President Hugo Chávez in the eighth week of a nationwide strike aimed at ousting him.

The event was also called to mark the 45-year anniversary of the fall of Marcos Pérez Jiménez, Venezuela's last dictator. The irony was intentional: those against Chávez believe he's a dictator in the making whose leftist policies show a tendency toward communism.

''We're out here telling the people this is a legitimate and democratic government,'' said Pedro Carreno, a pro-Chávez legislator. ``Nothing will overthrow it.''

Masses of people waving flags and chanting 'Ooh, Ahh, Chávez no se va'' -- ''Oh, Chávez won't go!'' -- filled major highways and boulevards.

Government leaders claimed ''millions and millions'' of people attended, many of whom drove in from the nation's interior.

While the government tried to paint the march as a spontaneous offering of support, the people arrived on hundreds of buses from around the nation. It was unclear how the travel was financed.

The march was intended as a smack in the face to the opposition movement, which organizes nearly daily rallies here.

www.alertnet.org 24 Jan 2003 00:49

(Adds Chavez reaction in paragraphs 5, 9, 11) By Tom Ashby

CARACAS, Venezuela, Jan 23 (Reuters) - Anti-government oil workers said Venezuelan crude output extended a two-week recovery on Thursday despite their prolonged strike, reaching 25 percent of capacity at 812,000 barrels per day (bpd).

The government has used troops and replacement crews to break the seven-week-old protest, intended to force President Hugo Chavez from office, but still faces huge problems restarting oil refineries and persuading foreign shippers to return to what was the world's fifth-largest oil exporter.

Opposition data lag government estimates on oil output, which peg production above 1 million bpd, but both figures show a steady recovery over the past fortnight.

"The government might get it up to 1.3 or even 1.5 million barrels per day, but alone they will never get back to the 3 million we had before," an opposition spokesman said.

President Hugo Chavez told a massive rally on Friday that output was rising faster than he had expected, and expected to reach 2 million bpd in the first week of February.

In a daily report on the oil industry, dissident employees of state-owned Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) said most of the latest output gain was in the east, where flows reached 498,000 bpd. In the western Lake Maracaibo, production dipped slightly to 222,000 bpd, while flows from southern fields near the Colombian border reached 92,000 bpd, the opposition said.

Oil used to provide more than half of Venezuelan state revenue, and the 53-day-old strike has caused an economic crisis in the OPEC member nation. Chavez announced a massive budget cut and suspended foreign exchange trading Wednesday.

Strikers want to force the left-wing leader to resign and hold early elections in the deeply divided South American nation of 26 million people.

Chavez raised the stakes in the bitter conflict on Thursday, telling supporters that he had already sacked more than 3,000 PDVSA rebels and blaming a spate of oil industry accidents on sabotage by the strikers.

The opposition said the government was neglecting crucial safety procedures in its rush to restore output, blaming the accidents on unqualified strike-breakers.

"The anti-patriotic, privatizing, neoliberal, fascist, coup-plotting, depraved oligarchy thought they would kick us out of power by the end of the year through the oil strike, or rather the oil sabotage, because there is no strike here," Chavez said, adding the strike had failed.

EXPORT STILL SLOW

Despite two weeks of higher flows at the wellhead, oil exports have remained around 500,000 bpd, a fifth of normal levels, according to shipping agents.

About 90 percent of the country's oil refining remains closed, according to opposition estimates, and foreign ship owners say insurance risks due to uncertified port staff and poor safety practices prevent them stopping in Venezuela.

Before the strike, Venezuela pumped 3.1 million bpd of crude oil and refined a third of the oil, supplying 13 percent of U.S. import needs.

The strike has helped drive world oil prices to two-year highs, and caused severe fuel shortages on the local market.

Some blue-collar oil workers have returned to work to avoid losing their jobs. But support for the strike remains strong among skilled workers at oilfields and refineries, and managerial staff in the company head offices.

Bladimiro Blanco, an anti-Chavez member of the Fedepetrol oil union, said 85 percent of his 20,000 membership, including blue collar PDVSA employees and contractors, stayed on strike on Thursday.

PDVSA chief Ali Rodriguez said last week that 75 percent of contract workers have returned to work, while half of the management was still out.

Earlier this week, oil tanker pilots in the western Lake Maracaibo oil hub went back to work after accepting a big pay packet from the government.

The move has eased port operations in the region which pumps half the country's crude oil, but export levels have not recovered partly because foreign ship owners have stayed away.

Pilots in the east of the country have been working normally since the beginning of January, but ship agents say very few tankers are leaving from these ports.

www.townonline.com By Susan May Danseyar / Journal Staff Thursday, January 23, 2003

Somerville chapter of Amnesty International is one of most active groups in the world

Despite their awareness that human rights violations are taking place - and possibly increasing - all over the world, members of Amnesty International Group 133 in Somerville are not discouraged but rather extremely encouraged by the progress they've made in abolishing heinous acts.

That may be because Group 133, one of 1,500 local and student branches in the United States, is one of the most active groups in the world, said Rick Roth, a former Somerville resident who owns his own T-shirt factory. He joined the group 21 years ago and said since its establishment 25 years ago, Group 133 has attracted unusually committed members who dedicate enormous amounts of time to research and action for the protection of human rights guaranteed to every individual on earth.

"It's not the amount of evil happening in the world that we focus on," said Carl Williams of Roxbury, a computer programmer who joined Group 133 10 years ago. "It's the resolve of people who want to do something about it which gives us encouragement."

And Group 133 has accomplished quite a bit, said Paul Bugala of Somerville, a market analyst who joined four years ago. In addition to writing thousands of letters to elected officials on behalf of changes they insist must take place in countries and regimes and attending demonstrations and educational events, members of the group were responsible for the release of two Tibetan nuns who were jailed, along with 12 others, for taking part in peaceful demonstrations. In addition, Group 133 was responsible for the release of Manuel Salazar who was sitting on Death Row in an Illinois prison by pushing for a second trial where he was found guilty of manslaughter and later released from jail.

"Once you accomplish something, you realize what you can do," said Roth. "And the continuity of the work this group has done over such a long period of time means we have so many individuals we can count on to dedicate their time."

Tamara Jenkins of Boston, a Web programmer who joined Group 133 three years ago and serves as group co-coordinator with Bugala, said Amnesty International has many concerns. "There are more slaves now than ever in the history of the world," she said. "What that means to us is that we have a lot of work to do."

And their unending energy comes from seeing tremendous accomplishment, said Roth. "One of the biggest inspirations came from seeing what happened in East Timor," he said. "If things could change there where 10 years ago things seemed so hopeless, then things can change anywhere."

Perhaps the campaign Group 133 worked on which had the most measurable changes was one which tackled the abolition of physical contact between guards and inmates in womens' prisons which was not illegal in many states, said Williams. "No one but Amnesty International was campaigning against this and, as a result of so many groups working on this, laws were passed in many states which now outlaw such contact," he said.

Serving Somerville as well as neighboring communities, Group 133 is divided into several action teams which work on specific themes or regions of the world. Current teams include those which work for refugees and asylum seekers forced to flee their homelands in fear for their safety; for worldwide abolition of the death penalty; opposing human rights violations in Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela; work for the five Tibetan nuns who remain in jail after being arrested and tortured for their taking part in peaceful demonstrations; defending the environment from large corporations which fail to ensure environmentally responsible behavior; and 'Get on the Bus.'

In 1995, Group 133 started 'Get on the Bus' - the largest human rights demonstration in the country which takes place each April in New York. It's a day of action where thousands of members from Amnesty International groups all over the Northeast congregate to take part in a rally and meet with various consulates to either persuade of further action that must be taken or to thank for those that have already taken place.

Another endeavor the group started is '14 for 14' - a series of concerts for 14 months in a row which will raise money for the effort on behalf of the Tibetan nuns. So far, there have been six concerts and there will be eight more at the Linwood Bar and Grill in Boston.

Jenkins said Amnesty International is completely non-partisan. The 40 or 50 active members of the organization are extremely diverse with a variety of political leanings, she said. "There are people who have supported extremely conservative politicians but we all agree on the issue of human rights."

This is a group of people who are doing the very best thing one can do with freedom, said Bugala. "The best patriotic act you can perform is to use your freedom to help others," he said.

Group 133 is always looking for new members, said Roth. One doesn't have to devote as many hours as he and many of the other members do but can help by just writing letters or contributing to its newsletter, he said. Or donations to Group 133 are accepted with all proceeds going to direct human rights work.

The group's action teams meet on Monday nights. The entire 133 meets on the second Tuesday of every month from 7 to 9:30 p.m. in the Northwest Regional Office at 58 Day Street in Davis Square. The next meeting is on Jan. 14 and new members are welcome to attend.

For additional information, see the group's Web site at www.Amnesty133.org or contact group co-coordinator Paul Bugala at pbugala@amnesty133.org or call him at 617-504-3991.