www.vheadline.com Posted: Thursday, February 20, 2003 By: Roy S. Carson

Accion Democratica (AD) deputy Henry Ramos Allup says that the Chavez Frias government plans further detentions over the next several days after last night's successful capture by DISIP security agents of rebel Fedecamaras president Carlos Fernandez.  Confederation of Trade Unions (CTV) president Carlos Ortega is next on the list along with leading opposition dissidents including rebel PDVSA executive Juan Fernandez, CTV secretary general Manuel Cova, Globovision's Alberto Federico Ravell and Guillermo Zuloaga, El National editor Miguel Henrique Otero, shadowy Coca Cola billionaire Gustavo Cisneros, Venevision's Víctor Ferreres, Televen's Omar and RCTV's Marcel Granier and Eladio Lares.

The list does not contain the names of any National Assembly (AN) deputy since all parliamentary representatives enjoy immunity from arrest while holding office.  Ramos Allup says that opposition deputies are on a general alert because "the government's action is a ferocious reaction and they will not be caught up in legalities ... the g overnment prefers to shoot first and investigate afterwards."

Rebel PDVSA leader Juan Fernandez is making a renewed call for Venezuelans to take to the streets in protest for "however long it takes to overthrow the Chavez Frias regime" insisting that the current government is leading Venezuela back to the Dark Ages.

Opposition rhetoric set aside, security and law enforcement agencies have been piling up damning evidence against Venezuela's anti-constitutional opposition which has been less than guarded in their open defiance of law & order and the 1999 Constitution.  Government lawyers have begun a series of legal actions against the perpetrators which evidences the overwhelming fact of the current government's adherence to democratic procedures despite wild propagandist accusations of dictatorship and a drift in to a totalitarian communist state.

Opposition propagandists have kept up a constant barrage of blatant lies against the democratically-elected government of Venezuela, insisting a return to the status quo enjoyed by a minority corrupt elite during the last 40+ years under the guise of Venezuelan democracy.

In the latest thrust, Militares Democraticos -- a propaganda organization in support of rebel ex-military officers congregated in Plaza Altamira -- have claimed that Venezuela is being used as an Al Qaeda terrorist base and that the 37-year-old man arrested in London a week ago with a hand grenade in his luggage had obtained Venezuelan nationality as a terrorist cover ID.  What Militares Democraticos had forgotten (or neglected) to mention in their internationally disseminated propaganda was the fact that the ID and passport had been issued under special instructions from then President Carlos Andres Perez (CAP) just months before he was impeached and imprisoned on multi-$ million corruption charges.

www.mpa.gr FRIDAY, 21 FEBRUARY 2003 Thessaloniki, 20 February 2003 (15:10 UTC+2)

Europe is not self sufficient in oil and natural gas and all EU countries have the same dependence on third countries – exporters for energy, such as OPEC and Russia, said the Secretary General of the Ministry of Development Giorgos Agrafiotis, in statements to mpa.gr, pointing out the EU's common interest is obvious and that any problem must be dealt with jointly. At the same time he estimated that oil prices will not surpass a barrel. Regarding the informal Energy Meeting to be held on Saturday in Thessaloniki, Mr. Agrafiotis stated that the first issue on the agenda is the crisis in the Gulf, while an attempt to approach a unified European position will be made. “Europe must show its unity during a crisis, it must look and find the elements of its power”, said Mr. Agrafiotis, adding that “there is the spirit of a united confrontation, which, at least, the Greek Presidency will explore”. He appreciated that during the works no specific decision will be made, but there will be a first exploration of the member-states' intentions will be made by the presidency, so that if necessary, the Greek Presidency can prepare a draft for a joint decision, similar to that of the European Council in Brussels last Monday. The Secretary General of the Ministry of Development supported that the creation of a strategic supply in Europe will give it the ability to intervene in the rise of prices. “All member-states have corresponding legislature. The issue is how do we have a unified legislature – direction in Europe on the common management of the security supply”, he stressed. According to the Ministry's appreciations, oil prices will not surpass those of the present at a barrel. “We are missing 2.4 million barrels on the daily market from Venezuela. A crisis in Iraq would mean a further shortage of 1.8 million barrels. However, the strike in Venezuela is over, and the country is reentering production – it is already at half its daily output. We believe that any loss of oil from Iraq will be covered by Venezuelan oil. I do not think that we can escape from the a barrel price”, said Mr. Agrafiotis.

abc.net.au Friday, February  21, 2003. Posted: 00:22:54 (AEDT)

Reports from Venezuela say one of the leading organisers of the protests against President Hugo Chavez has been arrested. A director of the main business association says Carlos Fernandez had been detained by armed police in the capital Caracas. Mr Fernandez was one of the leaders of a 63-day general strike that ended on February 2 by business and union groups against the President. The news came after the New York-based group Human Rights Watch called on the Venezuelan authorities to investigate the killing of three soldiers who had called for civil disobedience against Mr Chavez.

www.austin360.com By JAMES ANDERSON Associated Press Writer

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP)--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.

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.sacbee.com Sacramento Bee/Bryan Patrick

The specter of war and other factors send gas prices soaring

By Dale Kasler and Cathleen Ferraro -- Bee Staff Writers Published 2:15 a.m. PST Thursday, February 20, 2003 Pamela Davis was filling her Mercedes with premium gasoline at a Shell station in Gold River on Wednesday when she glanced at the price -- $2.11 a gallon -- and stopped pumping.

"I looked at the sign and was taken aback," she said. "I stopped at halfway."

Gas prices are approaching extraordinary levels in Sacramento, fueled by the peculiarities of California's gasoline market and either pre-war profiteering or pre-war jitters, depending on whose assessment you buy.

The average price of regular in Sacramento hit $1.90 a gallon Wednesday, according to AAA of Northern California, a 19-cent jump in a month's time. And a spot check around town found prices as high as $1.99 for regular -- and well over $2 for the higher grades of fuel.

Californians are feeling more pain at the pump than are other Americans, who are paying $1.66 for a gallon of regular, up 19 cents in the last month.

Analysts said the buildup to a possible invasion of Iraq was the main culprit, but lingering effects of Venezuela's oil strike and conversion by California refiners to ethanol-additive fuels also have a role.

Another issue: Inventories of U.S. crude are at their lowest levels since 1975, the U.S. Department of Energy reported last week.

As a result, analysts believe prices will continue rising unless war is averted.

"It'll probably go higher before it'll go lower," said Chris Mennis, an independent oil and gas trader based in Santa Cruz.

Mennis and others said the largest factor in the run-up of pump prices is the rising worldwide price of crude. It topped $37 a barrel Wednesday, the highest in 29 months and near levels reached in fall 1990, on the eve of the Persian Gulf War.

Every $1 increase in oil barrel prices translates into 2.5 cents more per gallon at the pump. The price of oil has risen about $12 a barrel in the past few months, meaning 30 cents a gallon retail. A consumer advocate doesn't buy the analysts' explanations, saying oil companies are using the potential of war to generate a windfall for themselves.

The current price "is not based on the actual supply available today," said Jamie Court, executive director of the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights in Santa Monica. "This is basically wartime profiteering by oil companies."

But oil industry sources and independent analysts said the jump in prices appears to be legitimate. The likelihood of war -- and the prospect of tightened supplies, especially if the conflict spreads to other Middle East nations -- has prompted traders to snap up supplies, and higher prices are the result.

War "is being priced into the current price of oil," said Severin Borenstein, director of the University of California Energy Institute.

"Expectations have always played a role in where prices are," added an industry source who asked not to be named.

California prices have risen even more, in part because of its strict clean-air regulations. The state is an island unto itself when it comes to gasoline because the gasoline it consumes must conform to pollution controls not found elsewhere.

Those requirements lead to higher prices than in other states and a more delicate supply-demand balance, making California prices more volatile.

This year things are a little worse. The rise in crude oil prices comes as several California refineries have temporarily shut down, either for regular late-winter maintenance or to convert their systems from the additive MTBE to ethanol, said analyst Gordon Schremp of the California Energy Commission.

Gasoline production at California's refineries is about 6 percent below a year ago, according to commission statistics.

Although the conversion to ethanol hasn't produced the huge price spikes some analysts predicted, it is keeping upward pressure on prices. So will the beginning of spring, when demand grows and prices normally go up, Schremp said.

The average price in California Wednesday was $1.89 for regular, up 21 cents from last month. California's prices are 23 cents higher than the U.S. average, according to AAA.

The highest prices in California were in San Francisco, where they averaged $2.04 a gallon. The average price in Los Angeles, meanwhile, was $1.86.

California produces nearly half of its own oil -- there's more in the Bakersfield area alone than in all of Oklahoma -- but the state still is subject to the world price.

"It doesn't matter that it's California oil," Borenstein said. "There's a world market."

Borenstein and others said a quick and relatively painless military victory over Iraq could deflate prices, just as it did after the 1991 war. Also working to keep prices from shooting out of sight: Saudi Arabia and other oil producers have promised to increase production to compensate for any wartime shortages.

About the Writer

The Bee's Dale Kasler can be reached at (916) 321-1066 or dkasler@sacbee.com.