www.forbes.com Reuters, 02.26.03, 3:17 PM ET

(Recasts, adds details, background) CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - Several international oil majors have certified the safety of some Venezuelan ports, boosting government struggles to restore strike-hit crude exports, state oil firm Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) said on Wednesday. U.S. oil majors Exxon Mobil Corp., Chevron Texaco , France's TotalFinaElf, Norway's Statoil and Anglo-Dutch Royal Dutch/Shell "have certified the operational security of Venezuelan shipping terminals dedicated to hydrocarbons commerce", a PDVSA statement said. Ship owners and oil companies had been concerned about Venezuelan ports due to potentially unsafe conditions created by workers enlisted by President Hugo Chavez to break an oil strike. Companies hired independent inspectors have been brought in to certify port conditions. Most of port audits were for the eastern port of Jose, where synthetic oil produced by foreign firms and PDVSA is produced. Some majors have already completed inspections there and begun lifting syncrude. PDVSA said Chevron Texaco will load its first tanker of PDVSA-produced oil since the strike started on Dec. 2. ChevronTexaco will load the Shino Ussa vessel from the western Bajo Grande terminal with 270,000 barrels of Boscan crude, PDVSA said on its Web site. ChevronTexaco said the company does not comment on day-to-day operations. Some smaller oil firms had already resumed loadings of PDVSA crude. In addition, China Oil has scheduled a Very Large Crude Carrier from the Jose port to China on March 3. Refiner Reliance has booked a VLCC from Jose to India, due to begin loading on March 26. Venezuela, normally the world's No. 5 oil exporter, shipped nearly 2.7 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude and products before the strike. The government says it has restored exports to about 1.5 million bpd and oil production to 2 million bpd. PDVSA employees fired by Chavez during the strike say output is closer to 1.5 million bpd, compared with 3.1 million bpd in November. (With reporting by Stefano Ambrogi in London)

www.grandforks.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.vheadline.com Posted: Wednesday, February 26, 2003 By: Gustavo Coronel

VHeadline.com commentarist Gustavo Coronel writes: Ten years ago my wife and I decided to move away from too large and unpleasant Caracas into a small rural community. For some time I had believed that living in the country did not have to be equal to misery and backwardness. A citizen living in the countryside did not have to become a peasant. I was sure we could live graciously, with most of the urban amenities plus fresh air, a pool, plenty of fruits and flowers.

We started looking for a suitable place and found it, some 20 kilometers west of Valencia, the most beautiful city in Venezuela (in my opinion). We found a modest, very middle class development called Sabana del Medio, selling lots of 2-10 acres. We chose a beautiful lot of 3 acres and paid some $5,000 for it. It was fallow but had a nice gravel road all the way to the entrance. Its northern boundary was a small river carrying water all year long, a valuable asset.

To build the house we hired a local team of carpenter, plumber and bricklayer under the supervision of a "maestro", one of these men who "know" how to build a house without being an engineer. My wife knew what house she wanted and the "maestro" obeyed faithfully. Every week we would drive from Caracas to the site to pay our team, to supervise the work done and to plan the future work. For us, this was a wonderful experience, not only because of the pleasure of seeing the house become a reality but also because of the high quality and decency of the workers. Money was used judiciously and our local supplier of materials never failed to deliver in time.

After many weeks the house was finished, together with another, smaller house for the keeper and a very nice 70,000 liter pool. To celebrate, we had an open house and invited our workers and families and some other friends from the nearby village. We also installed a dish for TV which allowed us to see even some soap operas in Chinese.

Today some $80,000 later, the house has matured. We planted more than 600 fruit and ornamental trees which have been  giving us plenty of flowers and fruit: oranges, tangerines, grapefruit, lemons and limes, mangoes, avocados, loquats, soursops, passion fruit, plums of diverse types, as well as some other exotic fruits I do not how to call in english. The Araguaneyes (Tabebuia), the national tree of Venezuela offer us their yellow golden flowers. The majestic Samanes (pithecellobium) give us shadow and the bucares (erythrinas) and Acacias (delonix) give happiness to our eyes. We had found and created our small paradise and we had proven that we could live in the countryside as citizens, connected to the world. The community grew rapidly until more than 200 houses were built, trees growing, lawns manicured. We were proud of our community and lived in harmony with the adjacent village of Barrera.

20 months ago this paradise suffered a setback. The cattle lands to the north of the community, across the river were invaded by hundreds of squatters, led and protected by the government. Within a very short time the lands became huge slums. Hundreds of shacks were erected overnight. Illegal connections were established with the public water mains and the electrical power lines. Crime in the area increased exponentially. The cattle became the target of squatters for dinner. What had been an orderly rural landscape became a chaotic scene.

At the same time we received letters from the Institute of Land, managed by Adan Chavez, the President's older brother, challenging our ownership to the land. We had to spend time and considerable money in legal fees to prove what we already knew, that we were the owners of our property.

Today, however, we are being encroached upon by misery and squatters. Our properties are now worth next to nothing. For one year I have tried to sell my  property but no one has even bothered to take a look. Ten years of solid and perseverant improvements are going down the drain.

Today we hear a lot about social justice. I am all for it. I believe that the concept should apply to all citizens. Social justice should convert slums into communities and not communities into slums. Social justice should guarantee citizens the free enjoyment of property honestly obtained. Social justice should guarantee our right to dream.

We are now almost at the end of our dream in Sabana del Medio. For my wife and I there is no time to start all over again. But we will find some other dream to fall in love with.

As Willie Nelson sings, we are: "On the road again..."

For those with the proper baggage the road is always a source of wonders ... I always love to see what is around the bend...

 Gustavo Coronel is the founder and president of Agrupacion Pro Calidad de Vida (The Pro-Quality of Life Alliance), a Caracas-based organization devoted to fighting corruption and the promotion of civic education in Latin America, primarily Venezuela. A member of the first board of directors (1975-1979) of Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), following nationalization of Venezuela's oil industry, Coronel has worked in the oil industry for 28 years in the United States, Holland, Indonesia, Algiers and in Venezuela. He is a Distinguished alumnus of the University of Tulsa (USA) where he was a Trustee from 1987 to 1999. Coronel led the Hydrocarbons Division of the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) in Washington DC for 5 years. The author of three books and many articles on Venezuela ("Curbing Corruption in Venezuela." Journal of Democracy, Vol. 7, No. 3, July, 1996, pp. 157-163), he is a fellow of Harvard University and a member of the Harvard faculty from 1981 to 1983.  In 1998, he was presidential election campaign manager for Henrique Salas Romer and now lives in retirement on the Caribbean island of Margarita where he runs a leading Hotel-Resort.  You may contact Gustavo Coronel at email ppcvicep@telcel.net.ve

www.vheadline.com Posted: Wednesday, February 26, 2003 By: Patrick J. O'Donoghue

The weekend murder rate upward curve has halted and dipped from more than 100 homicides to 71.

27 homicides were committed in Caracas  last weekend compared to 44 in the provinces.

Metropolitan Police (PM) chief, Henry Vivas thinks that the drop has to do with the fact that salaries weren’t paid out last Friday, meaning less money was circulating on the streets.

“The sharp hike in homicides after the Christmas period were no doubt connected to logistic problems encountered by the PM … now we are collaborating better with other municipal police forces but we still have communications and long-weapon problems.”

Libertador Police (Policaracas) chief ,Antonio Pujol says the PM and Policaracas are rotating zones to attack the serious problem of collusion between officers and local gangs.

www.chron.com Feb. 26, 2003, 1:20PM Reuters News Service

NEW YORK - U.S. crude oil futures today hit their highest level since the Gulf War after a government report showed heavy drawdowns in U.S. distillate and gasoline stocks last week.

New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) crude for April delivery shot up to $37.93 a barrel, gaining $1.87, surpassing a $37.80 peak hit in September 2000. Prices are at the highest level since the Gulf War during which NYMEX crude shot up to an all time high of $41.15.

Oil prices have gained 70 percent since the same time last year on fears of war in Iraq and a 12-week oil strike in Venezuela that has run down U.S. energy stocks.