www.vheadline.com Posted: Thursday, February 20, 2003 By: Robert Rudnicki

Talks being facilitated by Organization of American States (OAS) secretary general Cesar Gaviria have been suspended for a few days and are expected to resume on February 26. 

The talks which have been continuing for over 100 days and which finally this week produced their first agreement, a rejection of violence, were reportedly suspended following a request from government negotiators. 

The reasons for the suspension are unclear, but the OAS secretary general is understood to have several other commitments early next week as he heads to Washington for OAS meetings and to Spain for a meeting of the Montevideo Group. 

Despite the signing of the agreement, tensions in Venezuela remain high following the discovery of three soldiers who had apparently been bound, gagged and tortured before being shot and killed.

www.vheadline.com Posted: Thursday, February 20, 2003 By: Robert Rudnicki

According to figures provided by Sumate, the company hired to process the opposition petition held on February 2, over 3.7 million signatures were collected on the day across the country in support of a constitutional amendment that would shorten President Hugo Chavez Frias' term in office to four years, allowing an early revocatory referendum on his mandate.

Sumate claims a 1.3 million Venezuelans called for revocatory referendums on several National Assembly deputies, with Tachira State's Julio Garcia, Cilia Flores, Tarek William Saab, Iris Valera and Luis Tascon.

• 3.6 million signatures called for further help from the international community and 2.8 million backed striking Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) workers.

In total 27 million signatures were collected, with many Venezuelans signing many different options. However, the figures have not been audited completely and none of the signatures have been validated or checked for repeats.

www.vheadline.com Posted: Thursday, February 20, 2003 By: Robert Rudnicki

The Venezuelan government is set to propose the delaying of the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas (FTAA) by around ten years, despite it being scheduled to commence in 2005, according to deputy Production & Commerce  (MPC) Minister Victor Alvarez. 

• The reason for the delay is said to be due to the differences in the asymmetries of countries in the American continent. 

Although the Andean Community, of which Venezuela is part, agreed to 85% of the topics in the initial agreement, the Venezuelan government has decided to call for a presidential committee to advise the government on the integration process being championed by the United States ... Venezuela is also expected to suggest a compensation fund, with the US being the main contributor as it has the highest GDP.

COMPILED FROM NEWS DISPATCHES

February 20, 2003 Vatican Files on Nazis The first documents from newly opened Vatican archives dealing with the Roman Catholic Church's relations with Germany on the eve of World War II are beginning to emerge, including a letter seeking papal intervention against the Nazis written by a famed Jewish convert to Catholicism, Edith Stein. The letter's existence has been known for decades - Stein wrote about it before she was killed at Auschwitz in 1942 - but its text was published for the first time yesterday in the Italian paper Corriere della Sera. Other documents from the era are also coming to light, including one some historians say proves the Vatican did intervene on behalf of the Jews: a document from 1933 that shows the Vatican ordered its diplomats in Germany to warn Hitler's government not to persecute Jews. The documents have become available following the Vatican's decision to open its prewar archives to scholars years ahead of schedule to deflect criticism that it was silent in the face of the Holocaust.

Muslim Leader Expelled Norway said yesterday that it planned to expel the founder of a radical Kurdish Islamic group who is suspected by Washington of having links to the Iraqi government and the al-Qaida terrorist network. Mullah Krekar, leader of Ansar al-Islam, was given two weeks to leave Norway and three weeks to appeal the ruling. Krekar has denied he or his group has any links to terrorism. Officials said they wanted Krekar, who has had refugee status in Norway since 1991, sent to Kurdish-held northern Iraq. Amnesty International called the plan irresponsible, saying Oslo should test its suspicions that Krekar has links to terrorism in court rather than send him home.

S. Korea Tightens Security A subway fire that killed more than 125 people Tuesday in South Korea is forcing officials to strengthen safety measures on trains. Officials with the subway system in Taegu, the country's third-largest city, promised to install emergency lighting, increase the number of exit signs, make car interiors flame-resistant and heighten security. The city government also said it would increase the number of guards, set up security cameras and quickly run a series of fire drills in subway stations. Police, meanwhile, said the blaze was ignited by a suicidal man who did not want to die alone. Kim Dae-han, 56, who was hospitalized with light burns, told authorities "he decided to die with others in a crowded place," said police Lt. Cho Doo-won.

Sex Abuse Lawsuits Upheld A judge refused yesterday to dismiss more than 400 sexual abuse lawsuits against the Boston Archdiocese, rejecting arguments that the Constitution bars the courts from interfering with church operations. The lawsuits allege church officials were negligent in their supervision of priests accused of molesting children. Church lawyers had argued that the court does not have jurisdiction over cases involving the relationship between a church supervisor and a priest because that involves church policy, which is protected by the First Amendment guarantee of freedom of religion. But Superior Court Judge Constance Sweeney said: "The cases ... do not lure the court into involving itself in church doctrine, faith, internal organization or discipline." Sweeney dismissed claims that church supervisors were negligent in their ordination of a priest or their failure to remove a priest from the priesthood, saying those were "purely ecclesiastical matters." She also rejected arguments that because a priest is a priest 24 hours a day, church supervisors can be held liable for anything he does.

Killings Not Political Venezuela reeled yesterday from the killings of three dissident soldiers and a protester opposed to President Hugo Chávez, as police and grieving relatives split over whether the homicides were political. Police said about 12 unidentified armed men kidnapped the four victims Saturday as they were leaving a protest. The last two bodies were found Tuesday. Police said the motive for the killings appeared to be revenge, not politics. They cited an alleged scuffle between the slain soldiers and a fellow protester, who has become the lead suspect. Relatives of the victims slammed the probe as corrupt and said the four were clearly killed for their protests against Chávez.

www.sun-sentinel.com By Patrick Markey Reuters Posted February 20 2003

CARACAS, Venezuela · British anti-terrorism police arrived in Caracas on Tuesday to piece together the life of a Venezuelan man who flew from the South American country to London's Gatwick airport with a live hand grenade in his luggage. Three officers from the Metropolitan Police were scheduled to arrive as part of their investigation into Hasil Mohammed Rahaham-Alan, 37, who was arrested last week after stepping off a British Airways flight from Caracas, sources close to the investigation said. Venezuelan immigration authorities say Rahaham-Alan was carrying a false domestic identification card and they could not confirm his identity. "It's the same name, but we are not sure we are talking about the same person. We're not sure if he is a Venezuelan or not," said Alfredo Gil Romero, director of the immigration control agency. Reporters visited the two-story green-and-white home where Rahaham-Alan told a London courtroom he had lived. Neighbors said that a family named Rahaham had lived for more than a decade in the house, perched along a sun-scorched hillside overlooking the eastern part of Caracas. Interpol police on Friday visited the home, which had been unoccupied for almost a month, local residents said. "I was surprised to hear this," said one neighbor. "They are really decent, professional people. I used to call the mother `grandma' and she would invite me in for tea and coffee." The elderly mother and her four children were not thought to be native Venezuelans, but residents of this middle-class neighborhood said they didn't know where the family had come from. Two sons and a daughter lived outside Caracas, but the third son had not visited the home for about three years, they said. Rahaham-Alan appeared in a London court on Monday, where he was charged with possession of an article for the purpose of committing a terrorist act and possession of an explosive substance with intent to endanger life or damage property. He also is charged with carrying a dangerous article on a British-registered plane. He has been remanded in custody and will appear at London's Old Bailey court on Feb. 24. U.S. officials last year said they were concerned that extremist Islamic groups were receiving financial backing from Middle Eastern expatriate communities on Venezuela's Margarita Island, a popular Caribbean tourist haven. The mainland shares a rugged, porous border with Colombia and has long been a conduit for drugs and counterfeit goods to and from other South American countries. Venezuelan government officials admit their troubled immigration controls need an urgent overhaul. Rahaham-Alan, bearded with long dark hair, arrived at Gatwick last Thursday on a British Airways flight that officials said started in Bogotá, Colombia, and made stops in Caracas and Barbados before heading to London. He was arrested after police discovered the grenade in his bags. Police, already on high alert because of threats of an attack, were forced to evacuate the airport's north terminal, delaying or canceling scores of flights. British officials also want to determine how a hand grenade got through Caracas airport security. Sources said the grenade was in a metal box that helped mask it from X-ray equipment.