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A sign reading "We pray for peace," center, is displayed along with Venezuelan flags at a gathering to pray for peace in Caracas, Venezuela, Sunday, Feb. 16, 2003. Thousands of Venezuelans gathered on a Caracas highway to pray for peace in their bitterly divided nation.

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) -- President Hugo Chavez said Sunday interest rates should be fixed to reverse Venezuela's deteriorating economic situation, just days after he imposed exchange controls and price controls for the same reason. "I want interest rates to be lowered," Chavez said. "I want the interest rates to be fixed ... and I call on the Central Bank of Venezuela to fix them." Chavez suggested a maximum rate of 30 percent for commercial banks' lending rates, compared with well over 40 percent at present. This would give small companies and farmers better access to credit, he said. The central bank's current lending rate is 37 percent. Chavez, speaking on his weekly TV and radio program, also threatened to send troops to seize food-processing plants that have threatened to stop producing because of newly imposed price controls. To slow rising prices, the government last week slapped price controls on more than 220 goods ranging from powdered milk to beef and rice. Some producers say their businesses will not be profitable if they sell at the new prices. Opposition leaders predict shortages of many goods. "If they close the plants I'll take them away from them again," Chavez roared. "Here and now I order the armed forces and the defense minister ... to start drawing up plans to seize the plants." Last month, troops raided two bottling plants that had closed in support of a national strike against Chavez, seizing drinks to distribute among the population. Chavez accused the companies - a local bottler of Coca-Cola and Venezuela's largest food and drink producer, Empresas Polar - of hoarding basic necessities. The two-month strike was called by a coalition of labor unions, business chambers and opposition political parties to force Chavez into resigning or accepting a vote on his rule. On Feb. 3, the strike was lifted in all areas, except the oil industry, to protect businesses from bankruptcy. Inflation topped 30 percent last year, fueled by a rapid devaluation of the bolivar currency. The bolivar lost another 25 percent in January, prompting the government to introduce exchange controls which peg the currency at 1598 per dollar. Chavez has fired over 10,000 workers from the state oil monopoly, Petroleos de Venezuela S.A., since the strike began, and used only government sympathizers to bring oil production up to around half of pre-strike levels. Chavez said Sunday production had exceeded 2 million barrels a day; fired oil executives say the figure is around 1.3 million barrels. Venezuela's Central Bank is, by law, an autonomous institution but has worked closely with Chavez's government in drawing up the recent price and exchange controls. Chavez, a former paratrooper, was first elected in 1998 and re-elected in 2000. He promised to wipe out the corruption of previous governments and redistribute the country's vast oil wealth to the poor majority. His critics charge he has mismanaged the economy, tried to grab authoritarian powers and split the country along class lines with his fiery rhetoric.

Created: 2/17/2003 10:41:19 AM Updated: 2/17/2003 10:45:15 AM © 2003 Associated Press All rights reserved. This material may not be published, rewritten, or redistributed.

www.wtev.com

LA ESPERANZA, Colombia (AP) - Investigators on Sunday hauled away the wreckage of a U.S. plane that crashed on an intelligence-gathering mission in the Colombian jungle, where a frantic search was underway for three Americans who were on board. The Americans apparently were kidnapped by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC. A fourth American and a Colombian army sergeant were executed at the crash scene. The U.S. government has not identified the people on the flight or disclosed their mission. A Colombian soldier on a mountain road across the river from the crash scene said the investigators were Americans. The U.S. embassy has said the plane went down in the lush jungle mountains after experiencing engine trouble. National Police Director Gen. Jorge Campo said Sunday the plane was struck by gunfire from the ground, but that did not cause the crash. A suspected rebel captured by authorities was sent to Bogota on Sunday to be interviewed about the case, said Alonso Velasquez, director of the local prosecutor's office. The plane crashed in a cattle pasture carved out of the mountain jungles in the tiny hamlet of Ano Nuevo. The aircraft, seen from across the river, appeared damaged badly, lying near a home perched on the side of the mountain. While the investigators sifted through the charred remains of the single-engine Cessna, half-a-dozen military helicopters circled overhead and some 600 Colombian soldiers protected the site and investigators. A corporal who declined to give his name said peasants in the region refused to talk about what they may have seen. "The people there don't talk," he said. "I asked them what happened and they only told me that they heard an explosion. They're scared." The crash site is near the border of a former rebel safe haven granted to the FARC during three years of failed peace talks. The Colombian government revoked the safe haven last year and sent troops back into the area. Security forces are in the major towns, but the FARC, Colombia's largest rebel group, still controls much of the countryside. A priest in the diocese of Florencia, which includes the tiny hamlet, said many peasants in the region fear the guerrillas. "The countryside is very controlled at the moment," he said. "There are areas where in order to enter or leave, you have to ask for permission from the guerrillas. (The peasants) don't say anything out of fear." The priest, who asked that his name not be used, said he had received death threats from the rebels. He worried about the captured Americans. "I think they're living through the most difficult moments of their lives," he said. "As representatives of the American government, it may be more complicated." The United States has given Colombia almost $2 billion in the past three years, mostly in military aid. The aid initially was restricted to anti-drug operations. The rebels finance their fight through drug trafficking and the priest said much of the region farms coca plants, the base for cocaine. The rebels consider Washington's support for the Colombian government an act of war and have said they would target U.S. citizens and interests. Washington recently lifted the aid restriction to allow Colombian forces to use U.S.-purchased equipment and U.S.-trained troops to battle the rebels directly. Last month, about 70 U.S. Green Berets were sent to an embattled northeastern state to train Colombian counterterrorist troops. Separately, authorities said Sunday the bodies of two missing Colombian soldiers were found buried in Venezuela, near the border with Colombia. The two soldiers disappeared Feb. 1 from the Venezuelan village of El Amparo, across the border from Arauca state, Gen. Carlos Lemus said. Colombian soldiers based in Arauca frequently cross the border in their free time. Authorities believe the two were kidnapped by the National Liberation Army, or ELN, Lemus said. The ELN is Colombia's second-largest rebel group.

www.ananova.com

Viagra became the top-selling medicine in Venezuela during the country's two month general strike.

The 63-day strike devastated the local economy, but appears to have been an unexpected boost for Pfizer.

More than six million of the blue pills were sold, placing the country third in the world in per capita Viagra consumption.

The sales figures have been released by the Association of Pharmaceutics in Venezuela.

Newspaper Tal Cual said: "Venezuelan men with erectile disfunction have used their time well during the general strike."

Sex experts say that the strike and the country's tensions must have stimulated Venezuelans' libidos.

Story filed: 15:07 Monday 17th February 2003

www.ananova.com

Viagra became the top-selling medicine in Venezuela during the country's two month general strike.

The 63-day strike devastated the local economy, but appears to have been an unexpected boost for Pfizer.

More than six million of the blue pills were sold, placing the country third in the world in per capita Viagra consumption.

The sales figures have been released by the Association of Pharmaceutics in Venezuela.

Newspaper Tal Cual said: "Venezuelan men with erectile disfunction have used their time well during the general strike."

Sex experts say that the strike and the country's tensions must have stimulated Venezuelans' libidos.

Story filed: 15:07 Monday 17th February 2003

www.vheadline.com Posted: Monday, February 17, 2003 By: Oliver L Campbell

Date: Mon, 17 Feb 2003 10:20:55 -0000 From: Oliver L Campbell oliver@lbcampbell.com To: Editor@VHeadline.com Subject: Projects to increase food production

Dear Editor: I refer to your report of February 13 entitled Venezuelan government to commence food production projects which goes on to state, perhaps with an element of exaggeration, Venezuelan major cities can produce sufficient food to feed their inhabitants.

While any initiative to increase food production in Venezuela, and so save foreign currency reserves, has to be applauded, I have doubts about this solution.  Perhaps a  Venezuelan agronomist would confirm he believes this is, indeed, the best way to boost food production. I am ignorant on farming matters and can only apply some common sense and relate a few of the past difficulties when efforts were made to increase food production in Venezuela.

a) Surely it would be better to cultivate the best arable land available even though this land may not necessarily be close to the impoverished urban areas?

b) Though these projects provide work for those living in the impoverished urban areas, do people there have the necessary farming skills or, indeed, the desire to work as farmers?

c) In the past, there has been a migration from the land to the cities because farm labourers were so poorly paid for what were long hours of hard work in the sun.

d) In the past, the intermediaries, transportistas and wholesalers, have taken a large slice of the margin between the price the farmer gets paid and that charged to the retailers e.g. the supermarket chains.

e) It is a fact that, worldwide, over the last 50 years bargaining power has shifted from the manufacturers/producers to the large retailers so that they dominate the price setting (fixing?) process.  This has been to the detriment of farmers,  particularly the small farmers who have had to defend themselves by forming cooperatives.

f) Also for much of the time it has been cheaper to import many food products, e.g. black beans, than to produce them in Venezuela. This may be due to climatic factors, economies of scale or inefficiencies in the distribution system. (the so-called 'roscas').

If the government’s prime objective is provide employment, then the food production projects in urban areas make some sense.  However, if the main purpose is to provide food at competitive costs, then I have misgivings about its effectiveness since competitive costs are usually associated with large scale farming on good quality arable land.

I do not like to identify problems without proposing solutions, but the only one I can suggest to increase food production in general goes against my free market principles and that is to create some form of price control so that the farmer gets a fairer deal. It then follows the intermediaries and retailers (the supermarkets mainly) have to give up some of their present margins.

The trouble with price controls is that an invisible hand is substituted by an invisible government department which dictates who shall have what. If you do not allow each party to make a reasonable profit, then the whole production chain collapses and that product is no longer produced.

The government’s intention in this case is excellent but will the projects as envisaged really be viable?  Doubtless you have readers with more knowledge of agronomy than I who can either endorse the projects or propose better alternatives for increasing food output.

Oliver L. Campbell oliver@lbcampbell.com