www.vheadline.com Posted: Wednesday, March 12, 2003 By: Hector Dauphin-Gloire

Date: Tue, 11 Mar 2003 23:31:53 -0500 From: Hector Dauphin-Gloire montonero22@hotmail.com To: editor@vheadline.com Subject: Before the lion can lie down with the lamb...

Dear Editor: I write to express support for the rural defense force that President Chavez is now creating. What has been happening in the countryside, for some reason, is never mentioned by the Venezuelan opposition. In fact, it's very clear why ... because the rural arena has been the scene of the same kind of landlord thuggery as countries like Brazil.

When Chavez first came to power, one of his fundamental promises was Land Reform ... and he soon proved he was serious about this by not calling out the army, as was the customary response from Presidents, when impoverished people occupied public lands; instead he settled the matter through dialogue.

I recall a commentator of the time being incredulous that a President would actually respect the squatters enough to talk to them, instead of brutally forcing them out as the previous regimes would have done.

In 2000, he followed this up by passing a Land Reform Law. This law was by the standards of Latin American history quite moderate. The cut-off for the size of estate you were allowed to keep was quite large ... there was compensation for expropriated land, and only land that was not being productively used was liable to seizure.

But the Venezuelan oligarchy opposed it ... just as the oligarchy in any country will oppose whatever they have the strength to oppose ... measures that would have been considered moderate twenty years ago are today called "Communist" and "foolish."

Within a few months, several rural activists supportive of the Chavez program had been assassinated ... no different than what happens in Brazil all the time. My source for this evidence is not any radical publication, but rather the Associated Press. Whenever the opposition says that they have not been violent towards the government side, I feel like saying "what about the landlord violence in the countryside?"

It's time, at last, to ensure that the poor in the countryside are armed to defend the land that is rightfully theirs ... and no oligarchy should be able to take away from them.

Only with an armed peasantry will this kind of violence stop.

And only when the lion gives up its rapacious habits can we imagine a future where "the lion will lie down with the lamb" as it has been said.

Sincerely, Hector Dauphin-Gloire montonero22@hotmail.com Environmental Technician

www.vheadline.com Posted: Wednesday, March 12, 2003 By: Gustavo Coronel

VHeadline.com commentarist Gustavo Coronel writes: The rebellion of the PDVSA managers and technicians ... regardless of how it is perceived by different people ... has good reasons. I consider this rebellion as one of the most wonderful examples of institutional loyalty I have ever seen in Venezuela, and the only example of a collective decision.

The reasons behind this decision can be understood by analyzing the nature of true professional managers. Already in 1918, Weber predicted that the big showdown of the 20th century would be between professional managers and professional politicians.

Later, Putnam and others (Harvard) detailed the characteristics of both groups, some of which are:

Professional Managers.

1. Take a long time to be educated, have formal schooling
2. They have long and ascending careers (marathonists)
3. They go up thru a ladder based on performance
4. They work within pre-existing values, norms and procedures 5.Their process of decision-making is collective
5. They show loyalty to the Institution

Professional Politicians.

1. They are graduates of the University of "Life"
2. They tend to have brief and descending careers
3. They can go up on the strength of a 30 seconds speech
4. They abide by no rules, create their own
5. They are loyal to men or tribes

Being so different, it is hardly surprising that an organization, led by managers or by politicians, should also show drastic differences.

In the case of PDVSA, this company was managed professionally for 24 years. During this period it had a President every 3.7 years ... their executives were selected on the basis of merit. The orientation of the company was strongly commercial, designed to make a profit. Its operation was largely respected by the political sector.

But during the last 3.8 years, it has been politicized by Chavez, and it has had a President every 8 months. Its executives have been selected on political and ideological grounds ... one has been mentally unstable, one has a criminal record and one had an obsessive hatred of the managers he was supposed to work with.

The orientation of the company became political and designed to serve as a source of ready cash for the government.

Under professional management PDVSA was a company of the First World.

Under the political control of Chavez it has rapidly become a Third World company.

Why, then, rebels rebel?:

Because they can not see their company under the Presidency of the mentally unstable; of someone with a criminal record or of someone who hates the organization..

Because they can not accept that a company so important for Venezuela should change Presidents every 8 months,

Because they can not accept that company installations should be used for political events,

Because they can not tolerate seeing the headquarters taken by violent, armed groups and social lumpen,

Because they can not accept that the company should be politically controlled by the President of the country,

Because they can not accept the breaking down of the company into uncoordinated, regional entities.

In summary, they rebel because they can not passively accept the destruction of the company they have created and made into one of the most important petroleum companies of the world.

Each one of us has to have an ethical posture in life ... there are many events that fall within the zone of moral indifference, to which we need not react in any particular way. There are events that demand from us a moral obligation, based on the principle of minimum altruism.

This means that we have to commit ourselves to be of help, but without real sacrifice (donating 1-5% of our salary to the poor, perhaps?) ... but there are events that call for maximum altruism, that call for maximum commitment short of total sacrifice. No one is morally obliged to react heroically.

However, this is what the rebels of PDVSA have done.  They have put their careers, their economic well-being, their family life, their personal ambitions, on the line.

They are not talking money.

They are not talking power.

They are demanding respect for the institution which is the economic bloodline of Venezuela, and which is being destroyed by a bunch of demagogues.

They have behaved as heroes.

Knowing many of them in person ... knowing how they were trained ... being familiar with the values of the organization they came to cherish ... I am not surprised that they reacted in this way ... I am not surprised that they remain steadfast, unmovable in their convictions ... loyalty by conviction is indestructible.

Loyalty bought (such as the one a portion of the military had for Perez Jimenez and now for Chavez) usually ends abruptly ... when the money or the privileges are no longer available. He who buys loyalty invariably ends up as hostage of the people he buys.

Modern 'janizaries' will overturn their caldrons at the first indication that their leader is weakening.

In summary, rebels rebel when they can no longer live in a moral environment which violates their principles and innermost convictions.

They have read John Locke, John Stuart Mills, Martin Luther King.

They have read the categorical imperative of Kant.

Rebels rebel when their decision ... no matter if successful or failed ... becomes morally unavoidable.

As Luther said: "Here I stand. I can do no other..."

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, March 12, 2003 By: David Coleman

Rebel Confederation of Venezuelan Trade Unions (CTV) secretary general Manual Cova says the Chavez Frias government is continuing to use the Judiciary and the Official Ombudsman's Office in an effort to "cut the heads off" the Venezuelan opposition.

Cova says he has certain information that there have been attempts made against the life and physical well-being of CTV president Carlos Ortega ... "that's why we are making a formal accusation in public."

CTV Ortega remains in hiding, fugitive from a legal court order to appear to answer criminal charges over his leading role in a 2-month national stoppage aimed at crippling the Venezuelan economy and to force democratically-elected President Hugo Chavez Frias from office.  It is believed that Cova may already have fled the country.

Cova, however, says that the Chavez Frias government is attempting to create a climate of intimidation of opposition leaders to prevent them from continuing to lead the political movement.  He says the CTV is gaining the support of trade union organizations in Spain, Mexico, Portugal, the United States, Chile and Brazil to define ways out of the current political crisis in Venezuela.

www.vheadline.com Posted: Wednesday, March 12, 2003 By: David Coleman

Approximately one thousand barrels of oil have been spilled at Ciudad Ojeda on the east coast of Lake Maracaibo after a pipeline fractured ... the area was immediately cordoned-off by the National Guard (GN) as environmental workers rushed to deal with the emergency.

Health & Safety Executive coordinator Carlos Rivero says the pipeline was ruptured after a heavy-duty vehicle ran off the road.  Emergency procedures were immediately put in place to contain the spill and to prevent it spreading as trucks began the mop-up process.

In separate news: the PDV Marina tanker Caura has begun loading 185,000 barrels of gasoil products at the CRP Paraguana Refinery in the first of thirteen cargoes destined for export to the United States for the automotive lubricant market.

CRP executive Ivan Hernandez says that with recent deliveries to San Eustaquio, PDV Marina has confirmed the reactivation of its tanker fleet ... "the industry is well on its way to full normalization after the national stoppage."

www.trivalleyherald.com106691238081,00.html By Alan Zibel, BUSINESS WRITER

Nine out of 10 large Bay Area cities are experiencing the high- and predicted that prices will rise even higher.

"Then we'll all go out of business," he said.

The 15 percent increase in average Bay Area gas prices over the past month compares unfavorably to the nation as a whole. The national average for regular unleaded increased 5.5 percent, or 9 cents, to $1.70 a gallon on Tuesday, according to AAA statistics.

Drivers filling up in San Francisco on Tuesday were paying the highest average gasoline prices in the country, with prices at $2.24 a gallon, said AAA spokeswoman Jenny Mack. San Mateo was not far behind, with prices at $2.21 a gallon.

The only place in the Bay Area that had not yet broken its all-time price record as of Tuesday was Pleasanton, where the average price of $2.03 was two cents shy of the previous record of $2.05. That record was set in June of 2001, Mack said.

Gas prices have been on the rise since early to mid-January. Analysts attribute the nationwide increase to high crude oil prices, which have risen on fears of a war with Iraq and because of low production in Venezuela due to a strike there.

Still, California's dramatic price increases have outpaced the nation. Analysts say one reason is that the state's shift away from the polluting additive MTBE (methyl tertiary butyl ether) to corn-based ethanol has caused logistical difficulties for oil refiners. Also, the state's specifications for its clean-burning gasoline are different than the rest of the nation, reducing the state's ability to import gasoline from elsewhere.

Because of its unique gasoline standards, California "doesn't have as many supply options," said Peter Zipf, editor-in-chief of Platts Oilgram News. "If supply is tight, there are far fewer places to reach out and go and get more."

Jay McKeeman, executive vice president of the California Independent Oil Marketers Association, said many oil refineries are down for maintenance right now, as they make the switch from the winter gas formula to summer blends.

A price spike normally occurs during this switchover, McKeeman said, but this year's switch has been worsened by the transition from MTBE to ethanol.

Some refiners are still using MTBE as an additive, though, and oil companies cannot legally mix the two kinds of gasoline. However, using both blends in a vehicle does not present a mechanical or performance problem. The switch, McKeeman said, has "eliminated the ability of companies to efficiently and quickly swap product to cover shortfalls that they may have."

"I think this spike isn't over yet," McKeeman said. "I could see three dollar gasoline real easy during the summer if we start having refinery problems."

The transition to ethanol has complicated the switch from winter-grade to summer-grade gasoline and caused logistical problems as refiners make "rather major changes in how they make their gasoline," said Rob Schlicting, spokesman for the California Energy Commission.

"You may see some outages, some shortages," Schlicting said.

Still, Schlicting said he was encouraged by one piece of data: California's refiners produced 8.2 percent more gasoline last week than the week before.

"That's good news," he said. "A lot of this right now is a tight market. The more supplies that we have, the better it's going to be."

Last week, Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., called for a federal investigation into California's gasoline prices, saying she was concerned about possible manipulation of gasoline supplies due to shutdown refineries.

According to energy commission data, refiners' cost and profit margin -- the difference between the cost of crude oil and the wholesale price of gas -- has increased to 55 cents for name-brand gasoline this week. That's up from a margin of 25 to 38 cents earlier this year.

Still, Ron Planting, an analyst at the American Petroleum Institute, denied allegations of price gouging, saying that there have been numerous investigations into gasoline prices.

"In all cases, they have not found evidence of anticompetitive behavior or price fixing or any of those things," he said.

Alan Zibel may be reached at (925) 416-4805 or azibel@angnewspapers.com .