www.vheadline.com Posted: Sunday, February 16, 2003 By: Ronald De Souza

Date: Sun, 16 Feb 2003 10:45:56 -0500 From: Ronald De Souza desouzar@bellsouth.net To: Editor@VHeadline.com Subject: 59% of the vote in 2000

Dear Editor: I will never question that Chavez was elected fairly ... 59% of the vote in 2000 (a hell of a lot more than Bush). However, he is doing a terrible job, creating so much hate, that now in Venezuela, there are 2 extremes, the haves and the have-nots.

I also agree that there is absolutely no objective press in Venezuela ... not El Nacional, not El Universal, not Venpres, not Globovision, not VTV, not Aporrea, not Tal Cual, not VHeadline.

• However, in order for me to get a balanced view, I have to read just about all of them.

You call your publication "objective and independent" ... sorry, you are not.  You are biased mainly against the Venezuelan opposition, and in favor of the Chavez government, although once and a while you criticize it.

Please don't misunderstand me, I still like your publication; I think it is a publication of "criticism" (publicacion de critica) and sometimes is ok, just like Teodoro Petkoff's Tal Cual.

Please understand that I am not indicting you as being as pro-Chavez as Aporrea.com or Venpres. However, the way you indict the opposition, makes it sound like you are pro-Chavez. There are opposition leaders that are democratic, and now that the strike is over (ok, a failure) we are beginning to clearly see those divisions in the opposition.

Regardless of my views on your publication, I will continue to read it, just like I read the others,

Ronald De Souza desouzar@bellsouth.net

Editor's Note: Glad to hear that you will continue to read VHeadline.com ... that is your freedom!  What you may perceive as a pro-Chavez bias is sadly misplaced. VHeadline.com is supportive of constitutional government and the institution of the Presidency and this is not necessarily married to the personage of Chavez Frias.  There is unfortunately a lot of disinformation published in the traditional Venezuelan print & broadcast media and you should not necessarily rely on any information per se but seek yourself to find a truth in the multiplicity of news sources available to you and with which you feel comfortable.  Perhaps cause had better be sought in the anti-Chavez opposition itself.  Were they adherents of constitutional principle and democracy who put in place Dictator-for-a-Day Pedro Carmona Estanga last April?  Was it not he, who in the name of the opposition, proclaimed the Venezuelan Constitution, National Assembly and Judiciary dissolved in a single stroke of his pen?  Whereas Chavez Frias has constitutional legitimacy in democratic elections by the will of the people, can you explain on which democratic base the CTV's Carlos Ortega founds his democracy or Fedecamaras' Carlos Fernandez his?  Would you rather that VHeadline abandons all principles of democratic constitutionality to support the acts pf opposition saboteurs against a government (for good or bad) established by the will of the Venezuelan people to govern under established rules.  It is a general rule throught the world that any self-respecting publication should side with (ok, call it bias if that suits you!) with law and order, democracy, the country's constitution.  Therein lies the rub!

As our stated editorial policy proclaims VHeadline.com promotes democracy in its fullest expression and the inalienable right of all Venezuelans to self-determination and the pursuit of sovereign independence without interference. Our declared editorial bias is pro-democracy and pro-Venezuela.

Roy S. Carson Editor/Publisher Editor@VHeadline.com

www.ktul.com Sunday February 16, 2003 11:50am  

Gas Prices Continue To Rise Amid Political Unrest, Talk of War Oklahoma City (AP) - Industry experts can't agree on why crude oil prices are high or even when they might return to levels considered normal. Some analysts say there is plenty oil supply and the perceived threat of a war with Iraq is driving the price up. Others say the 11-week strike of Venezuela's oil workers is to blame. Whatever the case, Oklahomans are feeling the pinch. In Oklahoma, diesel fuel is less than a penny away from breaking its record high of a dollar-58, which was set in June 2001. Oklahoma has the second-lowest statewide average for regular unleaded gas which is at a dollar-54. The price has gone up nearly 20 cents in the past month. But it's still below the record high of a dollar-73 set in June 2000. A year ago, regular unleaded gasoline averaged a dollar and four cents in Oklahoma.

www.stuff.co.nz 17 February 2003

SINGAPORE: To paraphrase President George W. Bush, the climb in oil prices is the re-run of a bad movie that Asian economic policy makers would rather not watch.

As was the case during past oil shocks, the price surge induced by the spectre of war against Iraq is taking a toll on growth and trade balances in a region that, except for Indonesia and Malaysia, is a big net importer of oil.

A day after China reported its first monthly trade deficit in six years due to a soaring oil bill, Thailand forecast on Friday an Iraqi war lasting 45-90 days would shave 1.1 points off the country's projected 2003 GDP growth of 3.5-4.5 percent.

But even if the movie still ends unhappily for Asia, economists see a ray of hope: dearer energy is unlikely to increase inflationary pressures to the point that central banks would feel compelled to react by raising interest rates.

"What central banks don't want to see is the initial rise in headline inflation starting to seep into core inflation later down the track," said Rob Subbaraman of Lehman Brothers in Tokyo. Because inflation is already very low and fierce competition - especially from China - has sapped the pricing power of producers, Lehman Brothers projects that even if oil averages more than $30 a barrel this year inflation will remain below five percent except in Indonesia and the Philippines.

Such an outcome would be a replay of the second half of 2000, when a spike in oil prices was largely absorbed by a compression in corporate profit margins.

Still, consumers are unlikely to get off scot-free, even if a number of Asian governments have announced plans for subsidies to curb increases in pump and kerosene prices.

This leads economists such as Andy Xie at Morgan Stanley in Hong Kong to argue that, in the current weak global environment, rising oil prices will intensify deflationary pressures by reducing consumers' disposable incomes.

"Ultimately inflation depends on income, so in the short term you have a cost push and prices might rise some more. But over time a higher oil price is deflationary because people have less to spend," Xie said.

As a result, unless policy makers have their hands tied by wage indexation, a central bank should respond to an oil shock by easing monetary policy, Xie argues.

Even in the case of South Korea, Asia's biggest energy importer, Xie sees a case for the central bank to cut its discount rate by half a percentage point to 3.75 percent at its next policy-setting meeting on March 6.

Underlying Xie's view are beliefs that the South Korean economy is weakening rapidly as its credit bubble deflates and that oil prices are headed lower, not higher.

US oil prices jumped as much as 34 cents on Friday to $US36.70 ($NZ67.14) per barrel, the highest since mid-October 2000, as worries over Middle East oil supplies swelled before chief UN weapons inspector Blix reports to the Security Council.

But Xie said dear oil was already built into sagging stock prices. "The global trade cycle is heading down and a resolution of the Iraqi conflict is in sight," he said. "So for the market it is time to look beyond today's higher oil prices."

This is far from a universally held view.

David Roche of Independent Strategy agreed high energy prices would act as a tax on consumption and would not become a source of inflation. But in a note to clients he said any relief rally following an expected war against Iraq would be brief.

"Energy prices will stay high, kept there by supply risk and low inventories," Roche wrote.

Economists at investment bank Goldman Sachs also see oil staying high throughout the year, partly reflecting the disruption to the global supply/demand balance from the recent oil workers' strike in Venezuela as well the impact of sustained underinvestment throughout the oil industry.

There's no escaping the pain that Asia would endure if prices stay high. Goldman Sachs economists Sun-Bae Kim and Enoch Fung estimate Asian GDP growth in 2003 would be reduced by 0.9 percentage points, from their baseline forecast of six percent growth, if oil stays at $US35 a barrel for nine to 12 months.

That hit underscores Asia's energy dependency. On average, East Asia's oil bill equals 2.1 percent of GDP but in Singapore it is 7.6 percent and in South Korea it is 4.8 percent.

Under the same scenario, growth in the 30 industrial countries that are members of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development would be trimmed by just 0.2 percentage points from a baseline of 1.6 percent.

Still, Kim and Fung struck an optimistic note in a recent report, describing the impact of $US35 oil on Asia as manageable.

In short, the Iraq movie sequel won't produce a happy ending but it shouldn't be an economic tear-jerker.

"The shock is of course even more severe under a $US40 a barrel scenario, but still broadly manageable," they wrote.

www.vheadline.com Posted: Sunday, February 16, 2003 By: Charles Hardy

VHeadline.com commentarist Charles Hardy writes:

A friend once told me that, when she attended a ballet in Moscow, she experienced a different environment from that which she had sensed in New York.  She said that, when the lights went on for the intermission, she realized that the hands of the people in the audience were different.  They were the hands of working people and not the fine-manicured hands that one might see in a New York theater.

I don't know if her observation was valid or not.  I've never been to a ballet in New York or in Moscow.  But I did experience a similar feeling on January 18, in the Caracas Municipal Theater.  It was a free cultural presentation given by a group of actors, musicians, and artists who call themselves 'The Artists and Cultural Workers for the Constitution.'

When I entered the theater, it was already half-full and the line outside still stretched six blocks.  The atmosphere was joyful.  While waiting in line, the people had been entertained by clowns on stilts and a variety of musical groups.  All of a sudden, a woman in the audience stood up and started addressing those in the theater.  She was not part of the presentation.  She had a message.  Gradually everyone quieted down and she spoke.  Someone shouted, "Go up on stage!  Use a microphone."  With a smile on her face, she did.

Then someone shouted, "There is a woman here with a poem."  An elderly woman ... in her seventies or eighties I would guess ... was helped on stage.  She read her poem.  The audience applauded.  Then, before leaving the stage she shouted, "Uh, ah, Chavez no se va!"  (Oh, ah, Chavez isn't leaving!)  Smiling, she was helped off the stage.

The Teatro Municipal de Caracas is a beautiful historic landmark that has been renovated by the present government.  (One of those accomplishments of a government that supposedly hasnt accomplished anything).  It is a wonderful building that, in times past, certainly held the elite of Caracas ... now it is used frequently again, but for conferences and meetings of those who support the government.

When the scheduled act began, there were stilt-walkers and stories, traditional music and contemporary dancing.  I learned afterwards that none of those participating were paid.  It was a act of love, of solidarity with the Constitutional process in Venezuela.

Outside were the masses that couldn't enter the theater for lack of space.  Musicians on the steps of the theater entertained them.

A few days after the performance, I received a copy of a statement from the Artists & Cultural Workers for the Constitution organization.  I didn't pay too much attention to it until I saw a page 3 article in Ultimas Noticias on January 25.  It turns out that there's another group called "The People of Culture" (Gente de la Cultura) that doesn't see things from the same perspective.  They held a press conference at the Hotel Eurobuilding during which Ibeyisse Pacheco spoke and Frank Quintero sang ... their document also appeared as a paid advertisement.

I called the person who gave me the first statement and asked if they had held a news conference since I hadn't see anything in the paper about their statement.  She said that they would have liked to have published it, but they didn't have that kind of money.

One thing that is interesting about this to me, is the fact that I know the people personally who signed these two documents.  I also know other artists who signed neither.  I consider many to be my friends.  I suppose it is simply another manifestation of the divisions that exist within the country.

But there's another dimension that caught my attention.  The presentation of the "Manifesto of The People of Culture" was made at a 5-star hotel.  Why do all the opposition press conferences seem to be in Caracas' luxury hotels (or under their shadow as is the case of the five-star-hotel-generals in Altamira)?  Doesn't the opposition realize what they are saying, and have been saying to the ordinary Venezuelan who only enters such places to clean rooms or to guard their doors?  Or don't they care?

One would almost think that Carlos Ortega and his crew work for the Melia Caracas since that banner is always in the background at their press conferences.  I wouldn't be surprised that, if the opposition reads this editorial, the banner will disappear and that soon they'll all be wearing baseball caps backwards like the governor of Miranda.

As I mentioned, I have friends in both camps ... but to this day I have never been in the Eurobuilding, the Melia Caracas or the Four Seasons.  I suppose they are nice.

• I did enjoy that afternoon at the Municipal Theater, however ... it, too, is nice.

It wasn't the Russian ballet that I watched that Saturday afternoon, but the performance was worthwhile ... and, the hands of the audience were not all manicured, in case that says something.

Charlie A native of Cheyenne, Wyoming (USA), VHeadline.com columnist Charles Hardy has many years experience  as an international correspondent in Venezuela. You may email him at: hardyce2@yahoo.com

www.vheadline.com Posted: Sunday, February 16, 2003 By: The Very Reverend Roger Dawson dawson@cantv.net

Second Sunday before Lent sermon by The Very Reverend Roger Dawson Dean of St. Mary's Anglican Cathedral, Caracas

When we first came to Venezuela, we were met off the aeroplane by a young lady who ushered us down to an immigration official who stamped our passports looking at us with curiosity more than anything else, and within a five minutes we were out in the reception area where we collected our bags and were then waived through the security to be taken to a waiting driver. He put the bags in the boot, we climbed into the air-conditioned vehicle and we were on our way to Caracas. The whole operation took less than fifteen minutes and we felt like top VIPs.

It has all changed now, and we are herded along with every other passenger into the overcrowded immigration passage and, more often than not, there is at least one other plane load of passengers who have disembarked five minutes before us.

• Thirty minutes later, if you are lucky, we enter the luggage area and wait while we get shunted up and down as someone decides which luggage terminal they are going to use.

My luggage has a special tag that says, please put me on the conveyor belt last of all. We then run the gauntlet of security. They are in two minds as to who should be next to have all their luggage inspected. We have devised a system that if we get the red light we are on our own, but if we get a green light we are together. We try and hover around and go in directly after a red light.

It isn't that we mind the security that much, in principle, and certainly we have had all our carefully-packed belongings sorted through, creased and crumpled and then stuffed back into our cases on plenty of occasions during the past few years.

I guess it is the inconvenience of it all ... the idea that someone should think that we were potential terrorists, but worse than that that we are people of no consequence who are a threat to humanity ... that we are people who can be ordered around and all our underwear put out for everyone to view.

We are no longer VIPs and no one treats us as such. We are simply Mr. and Mrs. Nobody -- travellers with few rights; no privacy and frankly, we are something of a nuisance wanting to travel at this time and spoiling everyone's pleasure.

We ... all of us ... consider that we are people of dignity, who deserve not just reasonable deference but respect of the highest order.

It was not always like this ... at one time respect was given only to the wealthy and the aristocracy and the rest of us were nobodies ... everyone knew which category they were in, and everyone followed the conventions.

Change came through war and revolution.

In Europe it happened slowly over a period of three hundred years, the French Revolution, the Russian Revolution, the Industrial Revolution, the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and two world wars.

By the end of all that, actors ... who were a despised race in earlier times ... suddenly found themselves the heroes, and top of the social heap, with more VIP treatment than kings had ever been afforded.

The world had been turned upside down but not in the way that Jesus had preached.

In Jesus' day the VIPs were high-ranking soldiers, wealthy aristocrats and priests. It had been like that for many a day and looked set to remain so for many years to come. Naaman was a soldier-diplomat and he knew what VIP treatment was all about. He was so used to it that he expected everyone to give him the respect to which he was accustomed, and which he felt he deserved.

To find that he had a skin disorder that may or may not have been leprosy was a shock to his dignity ... he felt worse than having to have his luggage opened in a public place.

High officials hold their positions by playing the part of high officials, and assuming airs and graces that are not natural to them as people, but are part and parcel of their believed position in life.

Now film stars who actually are nobody, and have come from nowhere, but who have vast bank accounts, play the part of shocked and distressed gentlefolk because a magazine shows pictures of their wedding from which they did not benefit by a million dollars.

Naaman was equal to the act. When he arrived at Elisha's house, after first admitting to the humiliation of not having Elisha coming to him, he was furious to find no reception committee waiting to give him the honor due to his person and his position.

Hearing that he was to wash in the river, out came his best acting ability and he threw a tantrum in front of everyone. I thought that for me, he said, he would come out and stand and call upon the name of the Lord his God, and would wave his hand over the spot and cure my disease.

No matter that Elisha was already doing him a favor, he wanted his position as the member of a foreign government to be also taken into account. He lived too many years before Jesus to know that God is not interested in the hierarchies that men create.

The hierarchy that we should be looking to enter is one in which we can be leaders, and that leadership is achieved through service to others.

Ironically, one part of that service is to give due deference to others by generously affirming them. However we are to treat all people the same ... President or pauper ... they equally deserve our respect and help.

What about our dignity you ask? Well other people's dignity matters more than our own, but our's will be enhanced if we put others before ourselves.

That is one of the strange facts of life ... the more we put ourselves at the service of others, the greater other people's respect for us grows. In this modern world, we are all too swift to believe that our dignity has been affronted, but please, let us not wallow in mock hurt and instead share something worthwhile with those who are nearest to us.

I think that our hardest days in Venezuela are yet to come, and, as the days grow more difficult, there will be plenty who will show little regard for us, thus it will be easy to slip into the Naaman tantrums of hurt pride.

We must be on our guard and avoid all kinds of conflict and spend our time in devising ways of healing rather than revenge or displays of pride good enough to win an Oscar.

If there is to be a solution between the people of this country, it will not come because we have put them in their place and made them feel worthless, but because we have healed each others infirmities and affirmed each others dignity and worth.