www.bayarea.com Posted on Wed, Feb. 26, 2003 By GORDON WITTENMYER Saint Paul Pioneer Press

FORT MYERS, Fla. - Gasoline was so scarce that Johan Santana once traded shifts with relatives for eight days waiting in line at a gas station that had no gas but told customers the tanker truck was due any day.

The fuel was so valuable that once he decided to buy some on the black market and paid 30 times the government rate, he sped home as quickly as possible with his 195 liters out of fear he would be robbed, or worse.

"Just carrying gas in your car is dangerous," the Minnesota Twins pitcher said. "I knew I was in danger the whole time. But you have no choice."

That kind of danger became a way of life this winter for the major leaguers and minor leaguers who make their year-round homes in their native Venezuela - the South American political hot spot, where anti-government protesters have been killed and a nearly 3-month-old general strike by business owners threatens to destroy the economy.

"It's scary," said Twins second baseman Luis Rivas, whose hometown of LaGuaira is just outside the Venezuelan capital, and epicenter of unrest, Caracas. He now lives several hours away but has friends and family near the capital.

"We couldn't do nothing," Rivas said. "You never know what's going to happen_something bad. You have to be in your home."

Santana, Rivas and pitcher Juan Rincon, who lives in the oil-rich region around Lake Maracaibo, spent much of their offseasons as virtual shut-ins, avoiding the streets except as necessary to make discreet purchases of gasoline or to drive to Caracas for visa applications or to get to the airport to fly to Florida for spring training.

"It's a nightmare," Rivas said.

The cause of the upheaval is strong-arm President Hugo Chavez, an ally of Cuba's Fidel Castro who is trying to take greater control of what has been a representative government. As anger among the private business powers grew in the tropical nation made prosperous by oil, nationwide business shutdowns began - a one-day strike in November and then another on Dec. 2 that has yet to be lifted.

JOBLESS AND DESPERATE

The strike has put people across the country out of work, resulted in countless protests, most visibly_and deadly_in Caracas, and filled the streets of Venezuela with growing numbers of people, many with growing desperation.

"Every time you step out of your home, you're in danger," Rincon said. "People aren't working. A lot of people were fired from the petroleum plants. The malls have been closed for almost a month.

"People in the streets might think you have money. I'm lucky in my hometown (of 4 million people); not too many people know me."

Many banks are open for only a few hours daily and no longer operate a currency exchange program because of the wildly fluctuating value of the Bolivar, Venezuela's currency. The players protect their U.S. wages and bonuses with base accounts in this country, transferring funds to Venezuelan accounts as needed.

Other businesses also operate within strictly limited hours and are starting to suffer supply shortages, Rincon said. Makers of soft drinks, beer and other products have shut down.

And with the gas shortage, police cars are becoming an increasingly rare sight, along with other emergency vehicles such as ambulances.

"We've never been through this before," Rincon said.

And the Twins thought contraction was tough to survive.

"There was a lot of concern," Minnesota manager Ron Gardenhire said. "You throw the baseball stuff out the window. It comes down to their lives. You have guys getting robbed for gas, people getting taken out of their cars and beaten."

As recently as 1991, economic reforms in Venezuela after oil prices dropped resulted in widespread protests, with hundreds killed. And the government endured two attempted coups in 1992.

But no political or economic crisis in the lifetimes of these early-20-something Twins has lasted this long or affected their lives so personally_and never has it canceled their winter baseball season.

BASEBALL SEASON CANCELED

With the start of the Dec. 2 strike came the end of the Venezuelan winter league. Santana was due to start pitching for his team Dec. 4. Rivas managed to play one game before the strike. And Rincon started early because he anticipated a possible strike but still got in only 11 innings before the shutdown.

Rincon, who had access to workout facilities and players to throw to near his home, has appeared strong in the early part of camp. Santana, who didn't throw all winter, brought a lingering hamstring pull from a late-December attempt at conditioning. Rivas didn't practice much and put on five to 10 pounds during the forced break.

"I'm glad I took some rest," Santana said. "But now I've got to start all over again."

Said Rivas: "You can tell the difference. It's going to be hard. But I got here early (by about a week) to start, and I don't think it's going to be a problem."

If anything, the biggest problem for the Venezuelan players, once Major League Baseball intervened to make special arrangements for teams to obtain their players' visas, also was the source of their biggest relief: Leaving behind their country_and their loved ones.

"I still worry," Santana said. "I'm glad I'm here, because I need to play. But I'm still worried because my family and friends are there. It's not easy to be here and think about friends there and the whole situation going on right now."

Rivas has a sister and grandmother living near Caracas.

"I wanted to leave, but sometimes I wanted to stay with my family," he said.

For whatever might have been lost in conditioning and practice time, the Twins were fortunate. None of their players from Venezuela, nor the handful of U.S. coaches and players sent there for winter league ball, was directly involved in any of the violence. No one was robbed or hurt.

And, so far, the harrowing offseason hasn't made them start house hunting in the United States.

"Still, I love my country," Santana said. "That's where I'm from. My family's all there. As long as I can, I'll stay there, and we'll see how it goes.

"Hopefully, everything will change, and it will get back to normal."

www.bayarea.com Posted on Wed, Feb. 26, 2003 By Gary Richards Mercury News

For the second time in two weeks, gas prices jumped a dime a gallon on a Tuesday, eclipsing $2 at a growing number of Bay Area stations. The average cost for a gallon of self-serve unleaded is now at its highest level in nearly two years, going for $2.11 in San Francisco, $2.01 in Oakland and Santa Cruz and $1.99 in San Jose, according to a daily survey by the California State Automobile Association.

Those figures are about 70 cents higher than a year ago, and pennies shy of records.

The numbers are sending motorists scurrying to those few stations still listing gas under $1.90 a gallon -- a price that seemed exorbitant two months ago but now passes for a bargain.

No cars were in line at a Shell station listing its cheapest blend for $2.19 a gallon at Lawrence Expressway and Saratoga Avenue in West San Jose on Tuesday morning -- 10 cents higher than Monday. But 17 cars waited in line at two discount stations on McKee Road in East San Jose near Highway 101, where the price stood at $1.82.

I used to go almost anywhere for gas,'' said David Tabuchi of Pleasanton, a survey technician at Underwood and Rosenblum, off Brokaw Road in North San Jose. But once it went over $2, I said forget it. I'm shopping around.''

Oil analysts are split on where prices will go from here.

Some say they'll leap an additional 50 cents a gallon if war erupts in Iraq. Others believe that if the the civil unrest in oil-producing Venezuela eases, and temperatures warm up in cold-climate regions, depleted inventories will rise and prices will level off.

Most experts, though, are just as puzzled as drivers watching the numbers spin faster and faster at the pump.

There is a lot of uncertainty right now and the prices we see are a direct result of that,'' said Severin Borenstein, director of the University of California-Berkeley Energy Institute. My best guess is that although prices are high, they're calming down.

``But if war starts and it goes badly, prices will go up.''

Prices rose 30 cents a gallon in 1990 after Iraq invaded Kuwait, and then dropped 30 cents in 1991 when the Persian Gulf War ended.

While some officials say oil companies are gouging motorists, industry watchers point to a litany of reasons behind the rapid rise in prices.

• Oil inventories are at their lowest levels since 1975. The United States has about 265 million barrels in storage, just below the level needed to guarantee a smooth flow of oil.

• The price of crude oil, which accounts for nearly half of the cost of a gallon of gas, rose to more than $36 a barrel Tuesday, an increase of about 25 percent since Christmas. Oil prices have not reached such levels in more than a decade, when the United States was about to oust the Iraqi troops that had invaded Kuwait.

• A 78-day strike in Venezuela has temporarily turned that oil producer into an importer, reducing worldwide supplies 4 percent.

• A cold winter in the United States and Europe has sent home heating oil prices to levels not seen in five years.

There are many valid reasons behind these high prices,'' said Peter Zipf of Platts Oilgram News in New York. But it's a nervous time, and that's also a reason.''

The national auto club raised a stir two weeks ago when an official said oil companies were fleecing the nation's motorists, saying ``nothing fully justifies'' the jump in prices.

And refinery profit margins are on the rise in California, said Borenstein, noting that gas is about 30 cents higher in the Golden State than nationally.

They should be sitting around 10 to 12 cents higher,'' he said. But the service stations are getting squeezed, which is what always happens when prices go up.''

Jerry Cummings of Robinson Oil, which owns Rotten Robbie stores, fumed at the gouging comments: ``We never get any headlines when we're losing our fannies when the price is down. The retailers aren't gouging anyone; that's for sure.''

Contact Gary Richards at mrroadshow@sjmercury.com or (408) 920-5335.

www.vheadline.com Posted: Wednesday, February 26, 2003 By: Robert Rudnicki

Spanish Premier Jose Maria Anzar says he will wait for the results of a thorough investigation into the bombing of the Spanish Embassy in Caracas before he passes any kind of judgment on what occured, and who could be held responsible.

"I am not going to make any kind of hypothesis. We are waiting for investigations and conclusions by the Venezuelan government which is responsible for guaranteeing safety in the country."

The Spanish Prime Minister then refused to link the attack to a statement by his Foreign Minister Ana Palacio, which had sparked a strong reaction from President Hugo Chavez Frias.

"The aim of the statement was to express the reasonable concern that any sensible person would naturally show in connection with Venezuela's situation ... we hope things can be solved in a context of normality, stability and democratic development."

www.vheadline.com Posted: Wednesday, February 26, 2003 By: Robert Rudnicki

The Venezuelan government has issued a statement in which it strongly condemns the "deplorable" attacks on the Spanish Embassy and the Colombian Consulate in Caracas. 

Interior & Justice (MIJ) Minister Lucas Rincon told reporters that the government strongly condemns the two attacks and that a thorough investigation has been launched into the bombings to discover who was responsible and that special security measures were being implemented in collaboration with embassies and diplomatic missions.

Rincon went on to express the government's solidarity with Colombia and Spain because "we have a close friendship on the grounds of mutual respect for each other's sovereignty."

The statement also outlined the government's rejection of any acts of violence that caused damage to either people or property.

www.vheadline.com Posted: Wednesday, February 26, 2003 By: Robert Rudnicki

Venezuelan Energy & Mines (MEM) Minister Rafael Ramirez and Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) president Ali Rodriguez Araque are to visit Washington this week to meet with senior US energy officials to reassure the US that Venezuela will be able to addressing any possible oil shortage that occurs as a result of a war in Iraq.

The two men will also inform the US of the progress that is being made regarding the recovery of normal production levels in Venezuela, with the government putting current production at around 2.2 million barrels per day, while striking Petroleos de Venezuela executives put the figure at 1.5 million barrels per day. Before the national work stoppage began on December 2 Venezuela was producing 3.2 million barrels a day.

Although the final agenda is still to be decided, it is likely that Ramirez and Rodriguez will meet US Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham either toady or tomorrow.