www.cnn.com Sunday, March 2, 2003 Posted: 12:43 PM EST (1743 GMT)

CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) -- A suspected car bomb exploded early Sunday in the western Venezuelan oil city of Maracaibo, destroying three cars and damaging buildings including a local office of the U.S. oil company Chevron Texaco, police said.

No one was injured in the blast, which shattered windows and hurled debris over a wide area, badly scarring the fronts of several private houses in the Richmond estate of Maracaibo's San Francisco district.

"Everything points to it being a car bomb," San Francisco police inspector Francis Gonzalez told Reuters.

The explosion in Venezuela's second city was the third in less than a week following bomb attacks early Tuesday against Spanish and Colombian diplomatic buildings in Caracas, in which five people were injured.

Police are still investigating these attacks.

Gonzalez said a local administrative office in San Francisco of the U.S. oil giant Chevron suffered damage to its windows and facade in Sunday's blast but did not appear to be the main target. Chevron is one of the major foreign oil companies operating in the oil-rich country.

Worst hit by the explosion was the home of a well-known local family, the Melians, and police were investigating the possibility that the attack might have been directed against them, Gonzalez said.

The Richmond neighborhood is home to many families involved in the local oil industry.

Venezuela's western oil and shipping hub of Maracaibo was one of the areas most affected by a recent two-month opposition strike against President Hugo Chavez in December and January which slashed oil production by the world's No. 5 oil exporter.

Chavez has sacked some 15,000 strikers in the state oil industry, calling them "terrorists" trying to overthrow him.

The recent bomb attacks are unusual in Venezuela. Although the country has suffered an increase in political violence caused by feuding between supporters and foes of left-wing populist Chavez, bomb attacks of the kind experienced in neighboring Colombia are rare.

Colombia said Saturday its security forces, in a joint operation with Venezuelan armed forces, had foiled an attempt by leftist Colombian guerrillas to blow up a border crossing bridge using a tanker truck packed with explosives.

In the operation, four suspected Colombian guerrillas were captured by Venezuelan troops and handed over to Colombian authorities.

Tuesday's bomb attacks against the Spanish embassy cooperation office and the Colombian consulate in Caracas followed a speech by Chavez in which he sharply criticized the governments of Spain, Colombia and the United States, warning them not to meddle in his country's political crisis.

Chavez, who was first elected in 1998 and survived a coup last year, is resisting fierce opposition pressure to resign.

www.vheadline.com Posted: Sunday, March 02, 2003 By: David Coleman

Venezuelan CICPC detectives are probing an early morning Sunday car bomb explosion outside the home of controversial cattle livestock producer Antonio Melian at Richamond in western Zulia State causing "considerable damage" in the vicinity.  There have been no reports of  injuries so far.

Explosive experts who have inspected the wreckage since just after daybreak, say that C-4 Semtex explosives were used, similar to the detonations at the Spanish Embassy and the Colombian Consulate last week.  Zulia CICPC director Idelfonso Urdaneta says the vehicles was a red-painted Celebrity which was listed as stolen in Maracaibo from February 17.

Melian is described as a leading activist in Zulia State but his home is also in close proximity with that of the environmental protection manager of US Chevron, who has also been the center of opposition-government debate in the wake of the 2-month nationwide labor-management stoppage which failed in its aim to bring down the Chavez Frias government.

Interviewed on opposition Globovision Channel-33 television news, a neighbor said |one sees this kind of thing all the time in the Middle East where they are in a state of permanent war, but to have the same situation here on our own doorsteps must make everyone stop and think what's happening."

www.pressherald.com Sunday, March 2, 2003 By WAYNE M. O'LEARY,

ABOUT THIS SERIES This is another in a series of guest commentaries that examine the forging of public policy in the nation's capital.

Wayne O'Leary is an Orono writer specializing in politics and economics.

Since the very beginning of the Bush administration's excellent adventure in Iraq, even in the dreaming and planning stages, the old, nagging question was around, insinuating itself into the public consciousness: Is it really about oil?

Many think so. The Arab "street" is convinced, and so are millions in the allied Western countries, whose leaders nonetheless give lip service or grudging support to America's obsession with eradicating Saddam Hussein. In America itself, the question is repeated with increasing intensity as the Mideast troop buildup proceeds apace. It underlies every debate about the looming conflict; it is the great unanswered, the elephant in the room.

So, is it, in the end, about oil? Well, not entirely. The manic look in the eyes of George W. Bush, his obvious agitation when Saddam's name comes up, strongly suggest that this has become for him a personal matter, a point of honor, a grudge match that must be settled; psychologically, the president can't not go to war. More than that, the leadership position of the United States as the world's only superpower has been placed on the line; empires can't back off, or they lose their ability to awe and intimidate. Add to this the hubris arising out of America's recent military successes - Afghanistan, Bosnia, the Persian Gulf War, Panama, Grenada - and you have an almost irresistible martial impulse.

Despite all that, there remain fundamental geopolitical factors lying just beneath the surface, unspoken but basic, and access to petroleum is one. The Bush administration wants to remake the world, but for reasons beyond simply imposing American values on benighted multitudes oceans away. Spreading democracy and market economics is desirable, but guaranteeing an oil supply is essential. The fact is we're running out; they've got it, and we need it. Material abundance is every bit as integral to the American way of life as the concept of freedom, and the ability to use and waste energy as we see fit is central to our national self-image.

In 1997, according to the Department of Energy, the United States consumed 18.6 million barrels of oil per day, the most of any country in the world and nearly 26 percent of total global consumption. This is not a new phenomenon, but one decades in the making. Since 1982 alone, American consumption has risen by a third; it is expected to rise another third by the year 2020. The national oil hunger has been particularly pronounced in the transportation sector, which accounts for two-thirds of our usage, and where demand has climbed by 1.4 percent a year for the past three decades.

Drilling domestically for more oil has always been the answer in the past, but it's no longer viable for the future. Oilmen know that reserves (proven oil deposits) are the name of the game; you can't pump what's not there. Using data provided by the DOE, the World Resources Institute calculates that American oil companies have already exhausted 90 percent of the country's petroleum reserves, which are now down to 21 billion barrels - just 2 percent of the world supply.

Crude oil production in the Lower 48, WRI reports, peaked in 1970 and has fallen since by half, as has production on Alaska's North Slope, which peaked in 1988. As a result, Uncle Sam became import-dependent a generation ago and is becoming more so all the time. From around 30 percent in the early 1980s, imports as a proportion of annual U.S. oil consumption have climbed to 55 percent today; they are projected by the DOE to reach 70 percent in 2025, and it is here that Iraq enters the picture.

Iraq, the source of barely 8 percent of America's foreign oil, is presently a minor factor in the U.S. market - our leading suppliers are Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Canada, and Venezuela - and a second-tier producer on the world stage, but Iraq also sits on geological riches beyond comprehension; its estimated 100 billion barrels of untapped crude (10 percent of the world's total) place it second only to Saudi Arabia in terms of proven reserves. Moreover, as The Guardian of Great Britain reported last fall, Iraqi sources believe that when fully explored, their country's oil regions will be found to contain over 300 billion barrels - or more than a quarter of all the oil on Earth.

America's petroleum giants have long suspected as much and have operated accordingly. Iraq represented the U.S. industry's first venture into the Middle East. Exxon (then called Jersey Standard or Esso) and Mobil were involved in the hunt for Iraqi oil as early as the 1920s, when they joined a British-Dutch-French consortium formed after World War I to exploit the resources of the defeated Ottoman Empire, from which Iraq was formed by the victorious allies. The so-called Iraq Petroleum Company resisted native Iraqi participation in its enterprise and proceeded to manipulate national oil development for the benefit of the syndicate partners, often secretly holding back production (and thus the Iraq government's royalties) in order to restrict world supplies and boost world prices. Such actions by Western multinationals explain much about why "they" hate us.

The party was great for the participating companies while it lasted. An independent financial analysis revealed that the Iraq Petroleum Co. realized net profits on its assets of nearly 60 percent throughout the 1950s and 1960s. Exxon's share in IPC was estimated to have been worth $130 million on an investment of $14 million in the 1930s, during which time the company made twice in profits what it paid the Iraqi government in royalties. In 1972-73, however, Iraq spoiled things by nationalizing its oil industry and creating the current state-operated Iraq National Oil Co., which has since joined OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) and engaged in hard-nosed business negotiations with the former syndicate members.

Major petroleum companies have been chafing under the altered circumstances ever since, and there is little doubt that the present Bush-Cheney government of, by and for oilmen would look favorably upon a reprivatized, non-OPEC Iraqi oil industry following "regime change." So would any puppet rulers that government might install in Baghdad. In December, a key member of the Kurdish opposition to Saddam told PBS' "NewsHour" that the leadership of postwar Iraq would almost certainly privatize the nation's oil sector, opening it up once more to American energy firms. They must be salivating in the boardrooms of Big Oil.

In the meantime, our national appetite for cheap petroleum has precipitated a sharp-elbowed, worldwide search for accessible supplies. American companies are making oil deals (some shady) with the oligarchs of the former Soviet Union. They are pressuring Washington to negotiate expanded U.S. penetration of Canada's oil market through elimination of that country's energy regulations. There is even low-level political buzz that we may have to intervene to straighten out the oil crisis in Venezuela - another U.S. supplier with an inconveniently nationalized industry. Obviously, oil is not solely at issue with respect to Iraq. But is it a large part of the equation? You bet.

www.vheadline.com Posted: Sunday, March 02, 2003 By: Patrick J. O'Donoghue

Local authorities are reporting a slow start to traditional 'Carnaval' festivities. Vargas State beaches and restaurants had a disappointing day on Saturday. Locals are hoping that things will improve today and Monday. The transport police say traffic has been flowing smoothly on the Caracas-La Guaira highway … it is usually chocker-block during the Carnaval season.

Hoteliers have told reporters that it’s not a problem of gasoline and argue that people are just short of cash after the December-January national stoppage.

It has been noted that more people have been flocking to beaches near Barlovento but then again numbers are not up to last year‘s standards.

Caracas (Simon Bolivar) international airport at Maiquetia has reported a 30% drop in domestic and international flights to traditional Carnaval haunts, such as Porlamar, Maracaibo, Maturin, Miami, Orlando (USA) and Punta Cana (Dominican Republic).

Meanwhile, water is being rationed in Caracas as is now customary during the Carnaval period because of drought and low water levels at reservoirs. The rainy season is expected to start in May and people in Caracas have been asked not waste water in Carnaval excesses.

www.vheadline.com Posted: Sunday, March 02, 2003 By: Patrick J. O'Donoghue

Foro por la Vida human rights umbrella organization has issued an important statement defending the work of Cofavic human rights over 14 years since it was created in the wake of February 27, 1989 (27F) spontaneous riots in which more than 400 people were killed by the Armed Forces (FAN) and police.

The group welcomes Cofavic’s victory at the Inter American Human Rights (IAHR) Court after failing to get justice in Venezuela. The IAHR Court has ordered the Venezuelan State to investigate 27F, identify those intellectually and materially responsible, as well as eventual accessories, penalize them, publish the IAHRC sentence in the Gaceta Oficial and pay compensation to families.

Foro por la Vida hits out at a silly statement made by Deputy Planning & Development (Cordiplan) Minister Roland Denis on February 27 at a religious ceremony outside the Cementario del Sur. Denis says Cofavic’s “initial spirit has disappeared under the manipulating hands of its executive director,” Liliana Ortega and those connected to Cofavic are a bunch of “poor devils that allow themselves to be used.”

Worse still, Denis has the nerve to say that the families of people who were killed have the right to receive attention but not financial compensation … “a rebellion like that cannot be solved by money … it’s not a question of payments.” Allegedly defending the State Treasury, Denis also claims that the State has no responsibility in the matter!

• Such statements, Foro por la Vida insists, contribute little to the fight against impunity and respect for human rights.

Foro por la Vida expresses its solidarity with each and every member of Cofavic and with Cofavic’s rejection of any attempt by any sector to capitalize and use 27F as a political standard in detriment to the victims that have maintained an independent and non-political 14-year struggle in favor of human rights.”

It calls on the government to comply with the IAHR Court’s ruling as soon as possible to avoid falling foul of the 1999 Constitution.

I support the statement 100% and fail to understand why the government has been skirting the issue. The only reason I can find is what Domingo Alberto Rangel suggests … that President Chavez Frias defends the Armed Force (FAN) come rain and come shine as Venezuela’s savior and scandals must be shoved under the carpet to avoid damage to the corporation.

I cannot understand either why the President hasn’t seized the opportunity to blast officers responsible for blemishing his praiseworthy Bolivar 2000 Plan. One reader has offered an explication comparing President Hugo Chavez Frias’ attitude to FAN human rights abuses to the behavior of the Catholic Church when scandals arise.

As long as President Chavez Frias fails to stand firm on his electoral HR platform, human rights abuses will continue to dog his government and the opposition will continue to capitalize human rights issues, as happened to the April 11 killings … which is why I want to see a truth commission up and working.

Cofavic has still to clear itself of the image that it has become the opposition’s favorite HR group and it could start by becoming a member of Foro por la Vida.

• The 27F commemoration reminds us that neither the government nor opposition should be allowed to kidnap human rights.

If President Chavez Frias complies with the international court, it would send a message to any military commander or politician that the era of impunity is over and that anything s/he orders could come back to haunt them.

Flunkies like Denis only reinforce the feeling that government policy on FAN HR abuses is to let sleeping dogs lie.

The President cannot hide on this one or blame it on twits like Denis!