www.sun-sentinel.com By JAMES ANDERSON Associated Press Posted February 20 2003, 11:28 AM EST

CARACAS, Venezuela - A leader of Venezuela's general strike was snatched out of a restaurant by secret police and faces charges of treason and instigating violence for his role in mass, anti-government protests that crippled the nation's economy.

On Thursday, the morning after the midnight arrest of Carlos Fernandez, opposition leaders threatened to call a new strike in response.

Strike co-leader Carlos Ortega, of the Venezuelan Workers Confederation, was ordered to surrender, also on treason and instigating violence charges, said magistrate Maikel Jose Moreno.

Ortega and Fernandez, president of Venezuela's largest business federation, Fedecamaras, led the two-month strike that started Dec. 2, seeking to oust leftist President Hugo Chavez. The strike ended this month except in Venezuela's oil sector. Chavez accuses the two strike leaders of trying to topple his government.

Eight armed men seized Fernandez at about midnight Wednesday as he was leaving a restaurant in Caracas' trendy Las Mercedes district, his bodyguard, Juan Carlos Fernandez, told Globovision TV.

He said the men, who identified themselves as police agents, fired into the air when patrons tried to stop them from taking Fernandez away.

Ortega condemned the arrest as ``a terrorist act'' against Venezuela's opposition, already shaken by the slayings and possible torture of three dissident Venezuelan soldiers and an opposition activist.

International human rights groups have demanded an investigation into the slayings of the four, whose bodies were found in the suburbs of Caracas with hands tied and faces wrapped with tape.

Darwin Arguello, Angel Salas and Felix Pinto and opposition activist Zaida Peraza, 25, had multiple bullet wounds and showed signs of torture, Raul Yepez, deputy director of Venezuela's forensics police, said Wednesday.

He said the four were abducted Saturday night.

According to the New York-based Human Rights Watch, a witness saw the victims being forced into two vehicles by men wearing ski masks, not far from a plaza that has become the opposition's central rallying point.

``The circumstances strongly suggest that these were political killings,'' said Jose Miguel Vivanco, executive director of the Americas Division of Human Rights Watch.

Yepez said police had ``practically ruled out'' political motives. There have been no arrests.

Dissident soldiers supported the nationwide strike, which demanded Chavez's resignation or call for early elections. The strike was lifted Feb. 4 in all areas except the oil industry to protect businesses from bankruptcy.

The vice president of the Fedecamaras business association, Albis Munoz, warned of another nationwide strike. She said Fernandez was seized without a court order and was being held at secret police headquarters.

Definitely there will be actions, and very strong actions,'' Munoz said, adding that Fernandez was practically kidnapped.'' ``There has been no way of communicating with him,'' she said.

Opposition leaders called for street protests and appealed to the Organization of American States, the United Nations and the Carter Center, run by former President Jimmy Carter, which have brokered talks here.

One opposition delegate to those talks, Rafael Alfonzo, said Fernandez's abduction made a mockery of a ``peace pact'' renouncing violence that government and opposition negotiators signed on Wednesday.

``This government doesn't want to negotiate. It only wants conflict. We won't back down,'' Alfonzo said.

OAS Secretary General Cesar Gaviria issued a statement urging Venezuela's judiciary to treat Fernandez's case in ``strict compliance with the laws and rights guaranteed by the (Venezuelan) constitution.''

Chavez was elected in 1998 and re-elected in 2000, vowing to wipe out the corruption of previous governments and redistribute Venezuela'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.

Having abandoned their strike, opponents are now petitioning for a constitutional amendment to cut Chavez's term in power from six to four years.

They said Wednesday that more than 4.4 million Venezuelans had signed, well over the 15 percent of registered voters, or about 1.8 million, needed to force a referendum on early elections.

www.news24.com 20/02/2003 18:05  - (SA)  

Caracas - Police have arrested business leader Carlos Fernandez, a top organiser of a 63-day strike to force President Hugo Chavez out of office, Venezuelan television reported early on Thursday.

Fernandez, from the Fedecamaras free trade body, was arrested as he was leaving a restaurant in the trendy commercial district of Las Mercedes, restaurant employees told Globovision television.

Police officers fired several shots, but the employees said no-one was injured during the arrest.

The Political Police (Disip) did not confirm Fernandez' arrest either publicly or to the Democratic Coordinator grouping political parties and civil rights groups opposed to the Chavez administration.

Fernandez and Venezuelan Workers' Confederation president Carlos Ortega were the two top leaders of a 63-day general strike by business and union groups against Chavez that ended February 2.

The strike reduced Venezuela's crude oil exports to a 150 000-barrel-per-day (bpd) trickle. Production now has increased to two million bpd - still well below its normal, pre-strike output of 2.8 million bpd.

Chavez and opposition forces on Tuesday signed a non-violence pact, under the mediation of Organization of American States Secretary-General Cesar Gaviria.

More of a confidence-building measure than a political deal, the pact calls for "a climate of peace and calm in the country," and for the legislature to form a "Peace Commission" to investigate 70 deaths during a failed April coup against Chavez.

Ortega told Globovision that Fernandez' arrest was part of the government's "terror" tactics against leading opposition members.

"We can't rule anything out," he added. "At the moment, our physical wellbeing and our families are in jeopardy."

Ortega said soon there would be "calls for street action both in the capital and the interior of the country".

Social democratic leader Timoteo Zambrano, who takes part in OAS-mediated talks with the Chavez administration to resolve the political crisis, said Fernadez' arrest "escalates the conflict further", and called on the international community to "intervene ugently".

Juan Fernandez, who leads a group of sacked employees of the state oil giant PDVSA, said the arrest showed the "desperation" of the government and called for popular action to demand Fernandez's release.

With no official word on the arrest, rumours were flying that Fernandez was on a government arrest list of 25 opposition leaders, or that he was kidnapped by either the secret police or pro-Chavez militants.

Weeks ago, Fernandez testified before the attorney-general's office in an investigation into the April 12 attempted coup that removed Chavez from office for 47 hours.

Pedro Carmona, Fernandez's boss in Fedecamaras at the time of the coup, took over the presidency during Chavez's arrest. - Sapa-AFP

www.saljournal.com Posted at 9:35 AM on Thursday, February 20, 2003 By The Associated Press

At Eagle Communications in Hays, rising gasoline prices are boosting the costs of driving the cable television and Internet company's service trucks. But Eagle isn't planning to pass that cost along to its customers.

"We can't cut service," Eagle president and chief executive Gary Shorman said. "Our customers expect a high level of service. The best you can do is be aware of that excess cost."

With a gallon of gas in Kansas now at $1.61 -- about 51 cents more than a year ago -- Eagle and other Kansas businesses are sucking up the extra costs, at least for now. It's not likely to last forever, and people already paying more to fill up their own cars are likely to also face higher prices for goods and services.

Kansas AAA spokeswoman Amanda Millard said the average gas price has climbed 16 cents since President Bush's State of the Union Address on Jan. 28, thanks mostly to rising anxiety concerning a war with Iraq.

Some of the blame also rests with supply disruptions resulting from a strike in Venezuela.

Anticipating a sharp price increase if a war begins, retailers are trying to boost prices slowly over time to avoid a sudden sticker shock to consumers, Millard said.

Shorman said the company can't avoid the cost of fuel; its trucks have to roll. Eagle has a fleet of about 15 vehicles and offers cable, digital cable and high-speed Internet service to a sprawling area in western Kansas, stretching 170 miles from Goodland to Russell.

He said there is no immediate cost to Eagle customers, but a price increase could come if gas prices stay high.

"Eventually, you have to look at all your costs of doing business being paid for by consumers, or else you're going to go out of business," Shorman said.

Mike Fraser, who oversees Salina's municipal vehicles, echoed Shorman, saying the city can't sideline its police cars, fire trucks and trash haulers.

"It does strain the budgets that we have, but there's not a lot that I think we can do," Fraser said.

He also said gas prices often average themselves out during the course of a year and can also be offset by unexpected savings in other budget areas.

But if prices stay high, he said, the city would have to find ways to use less gas.

Connie Blaszak of Hill City, Minn., didn't let the high gas prices stop her from driving to Kansas City, Kan., where she was filling her van's tank at a Shell station.

While she kept the travel plans she already had made, Blaszak said she didn't plan to make any extra trips.

At ABC Taxi in Wichita, owner Jim Elmore said the gas prices don't hurt him or his riders. It's his 40 drivers who are taking the hit because they pay for their own fuel.

www.fortwayne.com Posted on Thu, Feb. 20, 2003 From staff, wire reports

WASHINGTON - The United States recorded a $435.2 billion trade deficit for 2002, the largest imbalance in history, as the weak global economy set back American exports while imports of autos and other consumer goods were hitting all-time highs.

Even in agricultural products, normally a U.S. bulwark, Americans bought more imported wine, cheese and other foods than American farmers were able to sell abroad - resulting in only the second U.S. trade deficit in agricultural products on record.

In another report released today, sharply higher energy prices and increased auto prices pushed wholesale prices up sharply in January.

The Commerce Department reported today the trade deficit for all of last year was up 21.5 percent from the $358.3 billion trade gap recorded in 2001 and surpassed the old record deficit of $378.7 billion set in 2000.

By country, the United States ran up the largest trade gap with China, a deficit of $103.1 billion, marking the third straight year that the United States has recorded its largest trade deficit with that nation. It pushed the former front-runner in this category, Japan, into second place.

In addition to the record for all of 2002, the United States set a new monthly high of $44.2 billion in December, up 10.5 percent from the previous record set in November of $40.0 billion.

The Labor Department reported inflation at the wholesale level shot up a sharp 1.6 percent in January, led by a huge 4.8 percent surge in energy prices.

Excluding the often volatile energy and food prices, wholesale inflation was up 0.9 percent.

January's increases followed declines of 0.1 percent in the overall index and 0.5 percent in the core rate in December.

Most of the increase in energy prices came from gasoline, up 13.7 percent in January after declining 1.2 percent in December. Fears over a war with Iraq and a general strike which cut production in Venezuela, a key oil supplier, drove up oil prices during the month.

Prices for passenger cars and light trucks rose 3.5 percent, as manufacturers cut back on incentive programs. Those prices had fallen 2.1 percent in December.

Wholesale food prices rose 1.6 percent in January, after a 0.4 percent gain in December, mostly because of an 18.2 percent increase for vegetable prices.

In a third report, the government said the number of newly laid off workers filing unemployment claims jumped to a seven-week high of 402,000 last week.

www.cbc.ca Last Updated Thu, 20 Feb 2003 11:11:20

TORONTO - A war against Iraq could drive already-high oil prices up even more, possibly past $50 US a barrel, a Canadian bank economist cautioned Thursday.

Oil prices are up on war jitters"We believe that the war premium on oil prices amounts to as much as $4 US a barrel and prices could spike above $50 US a barrel if there is a war against Iraq," Earl Sweet, assistant chief economist at BMO Financial Group, said in a commentary.

If a war does happen and oil prices spike upward, the increase likely won't last for long. Governments will likely free up some of their strategic reserves to take the upward pressure off prices, Sweet said.

"War issues aside, given recent significant increases in OPEC output and the usual sharp decline in demand during the spring, we expect oil prices to ease from their first quarter highs and to average $25.75 US per barrel in 2003, and $22.75 US per barrel in 2004," he said.

On Thursday, West Texas Intermediate oil, the U.S. benchmark, was trading at $37.18 US per barrel.

Rising oil costs have been hitting Canadian consumers in their wallets. Higher oil prices have pushed up the cost of gasoline and home heating oil sharply in recent weeks.

The national average for a litre of regular gasoline hit 82 cents this week, up 1.3 cents from the previous week, according to consulting firm MJ Ervin & Associates Inc. The average price of home heating oil jumped 0.4 cents to 68.7 cents a litre.

BMO Nesbitt Burns said energy prices rose 13 per cent alone in January.

"There is no question that the driving forces behind the oil price increase have been the war premium caused by ongoing uncertainty in the Middle East and the strike-induced sharp reduction in output in Venezuela," Sweet said.

The same gloomy international political forces sent world investors into traditionally safe havens such as gold, he added.