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Maryknoll missionaries in Venezuela say Chavez helping poor

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Maryknoll lay missionaries in Venezuela praised beleaguered President Hugo Chavez for improving conditions for the poor and said that unconstitutional means should not be used to topple the democratically elected president. "Our low-income communities give testimony to the fact that the government has indeed given priority to the poor," said a statement signed by all nine missionaries in the South American country. "If unconstitutional or violent means are used to overthrow a democratically elected government here in Venezuela, this may set an undesirable precedent for other countries of Latin America," said the statement. In subsequent telephone interviews with Catholic News Service, several signers said that under Chavez they could see benefits to the poor in terms of better education, health and housing conditions in the low-income neighborhoods where the missionaries work.

U.S. religious criticize embassy's use of theologian to defend war

ROME (CNS) -- A group of American religious superiors and theologians wrote to U.S. Ambassador to the Vatican Jim Nicholson to protest his enlistment of a U.S. theologian to defend the idea of "preventive war" to Vatican officials. In a letter faxed to Nicholson Feb. 3, the group said the theologian, Michael Novak, varied from the "almost unanimous" church condemnation of a new war on Iraq and said his "appointment" by the embassy seemed to violate the principle of separation of church and state. The group chided the ambassador for not consulting with U.S. church leaders in his choice of Novak and urged Nicholson to "represent the full voice of the (U.S.) Catholic community" by opening up his meetings with Vatican officials "to others beyond your appointed theologian." The letter was faxed by the Justice and Peace Office of the Conference of Major Superiors of Men, based in Silver Spring, Md., and bore nearly 60 names of superiors of men's and women's religious orders, officials of the peace organization Pax Christi USA and various theologians. A copy of the text was obtained Feb. 4 by Catholic News Service. Officials at the U.S. Embassy to the Vatican had no immediate comment on the letter.

New Zealand cardinal says attack on Iraq lacks moral justification

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (CNS) -- A New Zealand cardinal said a U.S.-led attack on Iraq has no justification "on grounds of international law or sane morality." Cardinal Thomas Williams of Wellington said while U.N. inspectors have failed to find proof of Iraq's development of weapons of mass destruction U.S. President George W. Bush still appears intent on invading the Middle East nation. "Why in heaven's name is the Bush administration so hell-bent on attacking Iraq?" Cardinal Williams asked in a Feb. 4 statement. In a separate statement, the Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference appealed to Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair "to refrain from an armed offensive against the Iraqi people." In a Jan. 31 statement from their plenary meeting in Pretoria, the bishops said, "To wage war at this stage is immoral and illegal, and therefore must be excluded."

www.csmonitor.com from the February 05, 2003 edition

American troops arrived recently to train local soldiers in how to guard pipelines.

By Rachel Van Dongen | Special to The Christian Science Monitor BOGOTÁ, COLOMBIA – In a sign of how important protecting oil has become to the US, 70 Army Green Berets are training Colombian soldiers how to guard a 500-mile stretch of oil pipeline in a lawless portion of the country.

Every drop of oil has taken on new significance for Washington as uncertainty grows in the petroleum-rich Middle East, and a two-month strike in neighboring Venezuela has slowed exports from there.

That means more attention on relatively small producers like Colombia, where the oil potential ranks behind Mexico, Venezuela, and even Brazil, analysts say.

"It's not so much that Colombia is a large oil supplier, or that it is the most important oil supplier," says Amy Jaffe, a senior energy analyst at the James A. Baker Center for Public Policy at Rice University. "It's really more a timing issue."

But US priorities in Colombia, the 10th-largest oil supplier to the US, have been shifting for some time. American troops are now authorized to train Colombian troops to fight rebels rather than just intercept drugs.

Six months ago, Congress authorized $98 million for equipment and troops to help protect the pipeline from guerrilla attacks.

Guarding Caño-Limón is the first step in this new policy, which was designed to help protect infrastructure such as roads and electrical towers from rebel attacks.

Oil "is an increasing priority" in Colombia, says Adam Isacson, an analyst at the Washington-based Center for International Policy, which supports demilitarization of the Colombian conflict. "It could even make the difference in [stabilizing] the price of oil," he says.

But first, the political situation must be stabilized in the violence-ridden state of Arauca, where the majority of rebel attacks against the pipeline occur. Arauca has seen four car bombs, the murder of 30 people, and the kidnapping of two Western journalists - who were released last week - since the start of 2003.

The mouth of the Caño-Limón complex sits in the middle of the dusty road between Saravena and Arauca City in northeastern Colombia, just six miles from the Venezuelan border.

In 2001, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the National Liberation Army (ELN) bombed the pipeline 170 times, stalling production for seven months and causing a loss of $500 million to the Colombian government. In 2002, as Colombian protection grew, rebel attacks decreased, but it is still a prime target.

Occidental Petroleum spokes- man Larry Meriage, calls the arrival of US troops "reassuring." He points to a December explosion outside the Caño-Limón complex that killed two and wounded 11 Colombian Occidental security contractors.

Mr. Meriage says Occidental, which owns a large stake in the Caño-Limón pipeline, is exploring other opportunities in Colombia's upper Magdalena Valley and the central Llanos basin.

Security will come from 70 members of the 7th Special Forces Group based at Fort Bragg, N.C. who arrived in Colombia two weeks ago to train local troops. A US official, who requested anonymity, said he was unaware of any other military unit directly deployed to help protect an oil pipeline.

The American troops will train about 450 Colombian men for eight to 10 weeks in basic infantry skills, intelligence, and rapid- response to rebel threats.

Of the $88 million that is certain to be used for what is known as the "infrastructure security program," US officials said $71 million would be provided for badly needed helicopters - the pipeline brigade currently has none - and $17 million for actual training programs.

The same official said that once training of a battalion had been completed, another Special-Forces unit would move in and begin schooling a second Colombian unit. The goal is to train about 900 Colombian soldiers by the end of 2003.

Colombian troops have a pragmatic view of the American presence. "The United States is interested in oil the same way it interests any other country in the world," says Maj. Julio Burgos of the 18th Brigade. "There is a US company that has its interests in this country. The US is defending its interests."

Analysts say maintaining the flow in Colombia contributes to political stability in the region. Michelle Foss, an energy specialist at the University of Houston, suggests that American involvement in protecting the pipeline had to do with geopolitical interests in South and Central America, which depend more heavily on Colombian oil.

abcnews.go.com Feb. 4 — By Pascal Fletcher

CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, gloating over his opponents' failure to oust him in a two-month strike, said Tuesday he would deny them access to hard currency through foreign exchange controls to be introduced this week.

"We're going to shut the door on them ... not a single dollar more for the coup mongers," left-wing populist Chavez said in a fiery speech promising a "revolutionary offensive" against his foes, who include many private businessmen.

Speaking at a ceremony to commemorate a botched coup bid he led in 1992, Chavez said foreign exchange curbs to be introduced Thursday would be administered by a loyal retired army officer, Capt. Edgar Hernandez.

Hernandez will head a currency control office set up to counter the economic damage from the nine-week-old opposition strike, which has triggered a financial crisis in the world's No. 5 oil exporter.

The government announced the controls, along with heavy budget cuts, to halt capital flight and a sharp drop in the bolivar currency caused by the grueling protest shutdown.

After support for the strike had crumbled, opposition leaders Sunday scaled it back, keeping it alive only in the strategic oil industry. The walkout there by thousands of state oil employees has slashed production and exports.

Chavez, wearing the red paratrooper's beret that is the symbol of his self-styled "revolution," said oil production was rising again. He said it was fast approaching 2 million barrels per day (bpd), two thirds of pre-strike levels.

Opposition oil strikers put output at 1.2 million bpd.

Chavez used baseball imagery to say the strikers had suffered a "tremendous defeat." "The coup mongering, fascist opposition had their turn with the bat and they've struck out three times ... now it's our turn to bat," he said.

"This is the year of the revolutionary offensive ... Chavez is still here, tougher and stronger than ever," he added after distributing property titles to poor families.

Anti-Chavez business leaders, their companies already hurting from the effects of the strike, say they fear the president will use the exchange controls to block their access to dollars and favor government supporters.

GOOD COUP, BAD COUP

Although full details of the controls have yet to be announced, Finance Minister Tobias Nobrega has said they will initially consist of a single exchange rate, to be adjusted monthly, followed by a dual rate later. The government will give priority to imports of fuel, medicine and food.

Chavez, who survived a coup by military opponents last year and repeatedly accuses his foes of trying to topple him again, taunted his opponents Tuesday by leading an official commemoration of his own Feb. 4, 1992 coup attempt.

"The coup plotters of 2002 are enemies of the nation, while we rebels of 1992 are patriots who always defend, and always will defend, the nation," the president said.

After his bungled assault against the presidential palace in 1992, Chavez was arrested and served two years in jail. The publicity he gained launched him on the path to the presidency, which he won with widespread support in a 1998 election.

He has rejected calls for early elections. In a switch of tactics, opposition leaders grouped in the Coordinadora Democratica coalition are now relaunching a campaign to try to trigger an early poll using constitutional mechanisms.

Chavez portrays his foes as a rich, resentful elite trying to defend their privileges. They condemn him as corrupt and inept, say he is seeking to install Cuba-style communism and accuse him of obstructing their campaign for early elections.

In a nationwide operation on Sunday, opposition leaders said they had collected more than 4 million signatures backing a constitutional amendment that would trigger early elections.

The government says its foes must wait until Aug. 19, halfway though the president's term. After that date, the constitution allows for a binding referendum on Chavez's rule.

The opposition, which appears divided over strategy and lacks a clear leader, wants elections sooner, or at the latest on Aug 19. The Organization of American States and a six-nation "group of friends" are backing the ongoing negotiations for an agreement on elections. (Additional reporting by Ana Isabel Martinez)

afr.com Feb 5 07:42 AFP

The recent surge in world oil prices amid war jitters over Iraq remain a source of concern as to their impact on economic growth, the European Commission said on Tuesday.

But a strengthening of the euro is offsetting the impact of the crude price increase, which is also being tempered by a resumption of production by Venezuela, said the EU executive.

Oil price rises "remain a concern" but are "compensated for, to a certain extent, by the increase" in the value of Europe's single currency, said a spokesman for Monetary Affairs Commissioner Pedro Solbes.

The latest commission forecasts, which predicted an average of 1.8 per cent growth in the 12 member eurozone, were based on the assumption of an average crude price of $24 a barrel.

If crude prices were to rise by $10, to an average of $34, growth would be reduced by 0.2 percentage points this year and by the same amount next year, said the spokesman.

Around midday on Tuesday a barrel of reference Brent crude for March delivery stood at $30.20, amid continuing tension ahead of a presentation by US Secretary of State Colin Powell to the UN on Wednesday of new evidence concerning alleged Iraqi weapons of mass destruction.

The euro has surged against the dollar in recent months, with dealers selling off the greenback as sabre rattling by Washington appeared to bring the prospect of a Gulf conflict closer.

news.ft.com By Carola Hoyos in London and Andy Webb-Vidal in Caracas Published: February 4 2003 20:34 | Last Updated: February 4 2003 20:34

The return of Venezuelan exports is prompting the Opec oil cartel to consider reining in crude oil production, despite the advancing beat of Washington's war drums.

Bijan Namdar Zangeneh, Iran's oil minister, said on Tuesday: "If we have Iraq and Venezuela sustaining production, I'm sure we will have to reduce production in the second quarter."

World oil seasonal demand usually drops 2m barrels a day in the second quarter of the year, a factor - together with Iraq and Venezuela - that Opec ministers will have to take into account when they meet to review their 24.5m b/d output quota next month.

Crude oil production from Venezuela has recovered at a faster pace than many analysts expected, following the strike by managers at Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), the state oil company.

Venezuela was producing 3.2m b/d in November, and the stoppage left output as low as 150,000 b/d at one point in December.

Ali Rodriguez, head of PDVSA, said output had now reached 1.8m b/d, and "near-normal" levels would be reached by the end of February.

But there is scepticism about the current figure, and even more about the chances of PDVSA being able to raise output much above present levels in the coming weeks, due to the lack of experienced technicians for the maintenance of oil wells and facilities. Dissident PDVSA managers, several thousand of whom have been dismissed and appear unlikely to return, say crude production currently stands at 1.2m b/d and is close to reaching a "technical ceiling" of 1.5m.

Cashflow problems are likely to prevent PDVSA from carrying out vital investment to keep up capacity, particularly from its heavier oilfields, analysts say.

"We don't see them reaching 2.5m before the end of the year - it's going to ramp up quite slowly here," said Fareed Mohamedi, chief economist at PFC Energy, a Washington-based consultancy.

Local oil industry sources estimate that exports currently stand at about 500,000 b/d, almost all of which is crude oil. So far PDVSA has been using its own vessels to carry its exports, but Dow Jones news wires reported yesterday that a major international shipping company had received the green light from insurers to again load oil and products from Venezuela.

The situation within the country continues to look bleak, however. PDVSA has so far been unable to restart its Paraguaná refinery, the world's largest, and fuel shortages, still acute in many parts of Venezuela, look set to continue for some time. The government said yesterday that it would import 12m barrels of petrol to meet demand in February - enough to satisfy daily consumption levels.