santafenewmexican.com By MICHAEL ASTOR | Associated Press 03/14/2003

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil - Brush fires raging out of control in Brazil's northern Amazon have entered the Yanomami Indian reservation, home to the world's largest Stone Age tribe, officials said Friday. Agricultural fires that got out of control due to extreme dryness caused by the El Nino weather phenomenon was blamed for the 335 fires burning across Roraima state, which borders Venezuela and Guyana. The fires had crossed into the Yanomami reservation, but authorities were trying to determine how far they had gone, said a press officer at Brazil's environmental ministry in Brasilia, the capital. Some 26,000 Yanomami live on a 25 million-acre (10 million hectare) reservation that straddles the border of Brazil and Venezuela. Sidnei Lima dos Santos of the Pro-Yanomami Commission, a group that works closely with the Indians, said they were flying over the reservation to assess the damage. "We learned the fire had entered the reservation yesterday (Thursday). It hadn't gotten very far, but with all the dryness things can change very fast," dos Santos said by telephone from Boa Vista, 2,100 miles (3,400 kms) northwest of Rio de Janeiro. Santos said the commission had radio contact with villages in the reservation but not with the area that was burning, near the reservation's southeastern edge. Environment Minister Marina Silva at a press conference in Brasilia said the fires in Roraima state burned along a combined extension of 160 kilometers (100 miles), of those 3 kilometers (2 miles) within the Yanomami reservation. The government could not say what the total area affected by the fires was. Silva said the fires were started by farmers to clear land and renew pasture, but then got out of control. "We will develop a permanent prevention and technical assistance effort so that farmers avoid these (burning) practices that threaten even their own families," Silva said, adding that 20,000 people live in areas threatened by fires. In 1998, when El Nino also caused severe dryness in Roraima, wild fires burned more than 1,150 square miles (3,000 square kms) of forest and scrub, part of it on Yanomami land. The 1998 fires were extinguished only when it rained. This time, meteorologists don't expect showers before March 25. Civil defense officials said the current fires are much less severe than in 1998. "It's a completely different situation," said Lt. Col. Paulo Sergio Santos Ribeiro. "In 1998 the fire was spread all across the state. Today it's concentrated in five small locations in four different municipalities." Ribeiro and the Environment Ministry said an accurate estimate of the damage would be possible only after the fires were out. About 500 firefighters, including federal troops, and five helicopters equipped with water carrying "Bambi buckets" were sent to fight the blaze. As the forest has become degraded, the fires are spreading deeper in the jungle, a trend that worries scientists. More than 95 percent of this year's fires in Roraima are in farming areas.

www.menafn.com AP Online - Friday, March 14, 2003

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - Venezuela plans to produce above its OPEC crude oil output quota to make up for lost revenue during a two-month strike, the oil minister said Friday.

Rafael Ramirez wouldn't say how much Venezuela would pump above its 2.8 million barrels a day quota. Output is 2.9 million barrels a day now, the government says.

"We have to do it gradually so as not to affect the oil market too much," Ramirez told state television station Venezolana de Television. "It will reach a level that will compensate what we stopped selling in the market."

Ramirez said Venezuela had an agreement with the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries allowing it to overproduce.

Venezuela is recovering from a political strike that petered out last month. Oil production reached a low of 200,000 barrels a day at the height of the walkout, which cost Venezuela $6 billion. It also forced Venezuela to spend $540 million on gasoline imports to make up for severe shortages.

Executives fired from the state oil monopoly for participating in the strike say production is only 2.1 billion barrels a day. The government fired almost half the 35,000-strong work force at Petroleos de Venezuela SA for walking out.

On Thursday, Venezuela brought its largest catalytic cracker back online, bringing the country a step closer to resuming gasoline exports to the United States. Venezuela was the world's fifth-largest exporter before the strike. Venezuela crude and refined products accounted for 14 percent of U.S. oil imports last year.

Venezuela also announced Thursday that it had stopped importing gasoline.

Ramirez also said there was an $8 to $10 premium on international oil prices because of U.S. threats to lead an attack on Iraq. He said there was enough world production to meet demand. OPEC agreed Tuesday to stick w

OPEC agreed Tuesday to stick with its production target of 24.5 million barrels a day.

www.cbc.ca 10:34 AM EST Mar 15

CARACAS (AP) - A leader of a failed two-month strike to oust President Hugo Chavez was granted political asylum by Costa Rica on Friday, the Costa Rican foreign ministry said.

Labour union leader Carlos Ortega, who faces treason charges, entered the embassy earlier Friday, Costa Rican Ambassador Ricardo Lisano said.

"For humanitarian reasons ... (Costa Rica) decided to grant asylum and it has communicated as much to the Venezuelan government," the Costa Rican foreign ministry said in a statement.

The statement said Ortega cited fear for his personal security when he requested asylum. He had been in hiding since Feb. 20, after a judge issued a warrant for his arrest for treason, rebellion and incitement.

Hundreds of flag-waving supporters gathered around the Costa Rican embassy in eastern Caracas chanting, "Ortega, friend, the people are with you!"

Ortega, head of the country's largest labour union, helped orchestrate a general strike to demand early elections or Chavez's resignation. The strike, which petered out last month, paralysed Venezuela's lifeblood oil industry and cost the country about $9 billion Cdn, according to government estimates.

Last month, authorities arrested strike leader Carlos Fernandez, president of Venezuela's largest business association. He is under house arrest pending trial on charges of rebellion and instigation. A judge struck down a treason charge.

Arrests warrants also are out for seven executives of the state-oil monopoly, Petroleos de Venezuela S.A. The seven are in hiding.

Secret police stormed an opposition march Saturday in an attempt to arrest oil executive Juan Fernandez, who made a surprise brief appearance. The police clashed with protesters, and Fernandez escaped.

Opposition leaders have denounced the arrest warrants as political persecution. Chavez says strike leaders must be imprisoned for at least 20 years for inflicting suffering on the population.

Ortega is third Chavez opponent to seek asylum abroad.

Last year, Colombia granted asylum to business leader Pedro Carmona, the figurehead in an April coup that ousted Chavez for two days. El Salvador granted asylum to another alleged coup leader, Vice Admiral Carlos Molina Tamayo.

Chavez opponents accuse him of steering Venezuela's economy into recession with leftist policies. They also say he has accumulated too much power under the guise of a "social revolution" to help the poor.

Chavez says his foes resent his efforts to end social inequality and his success in wresting power from two corrupt traditional parties that ruled Venezuela for 40 years until his 1998 election.

Chavez fired 15,000 workers from the oil monopoly - almost half the work force - for participating in the stoppage. He has threatened to close down four private television stations that gave supportive coverage to the strike.

Venezuela's oil industry, the source of half of government income and 80 per cent of export revenue, is recovering from the strike. Oil production has reached 2.9 million barrels a day, according to the government. Fired PDVSA executives say it's only 2.1 million barrels a day, about two-thirds of what it was before the strike.

Venezuela was the world's fifth-largest oil exporter before the strike.

news.ft.com By Richard Lapper and Raymond Colitt in Brasília Published: March 14 2003 23:01 | Last Updated: March 14 2003 23:01

War in the Middle East could increase economic isolationism and set back free trade negotiations, Brazil's foreign minister has warned.

Celso Amorim told the Financial Times: "Once you have entered into a period of instability it becomes more difficult. People tend to become more defensive and more nationalistic. It doesn't augur well."

He suggested that the rift over Iraq between the US and some European countries would "inevitably affect trade negotiations", in reference to the current Doha round of World Trade Organisation talks.

Such a setback would be particularly damaging because President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has begun to abandon his longstanding opposition to the US-led Free Trade Area of the Americas.

The success of Brazil's trade negotiations with the US and Europe depends largely on progress at the WTO.

"In a politically unstable world it is more difficult to make political and economic concessions," said Mr Amorim. "There is no feeling of rejoicing about this. We need US leadership for many things we need to do in this world."

Brazil has offered to help Colombia's US-supported government to combat growing drug-fuelled violence. Mr Amorim said Brazil had proposed an arms embargo to be monitored by the United Nations Security Council, denying weapons to leftwing guerrillas and rightwing paramilitaries.

But Brazil would not accept Colombian requests to classify clandestine leftwing groups as "terrorists", suggesting this would end all possibilities for negotiation. Mr Amorim said it was important to keep communicating.

He welcomed US acceptance of a multilateral approach to the political crisis in Venezuela, where Brazil is leading a group of six "friends", along with the US, Spain, Chile, Mexico and Portugal. He said prospects for a negotiated settlement to the political crisis in Venezuela had improved since the end of the general strike.

www.voanews.com Greg Flakus Caracas 14 Mar 2003, 20:42 UTC

Opponents of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez are struggling to maintain their unity and momentum, more than a month after ending a general strike that halted much of the nation's commercial activity.

A coup attempt that briefly removed President Chavez from power last April failed. The two-month strike that opposition leaders started in early December also failed to oust the populist leader. Since that time, authorities have placed one prominent opposition leader under arrest, and forced others into hiding. Chavez supporters say they now have the momentum, and that the opposition has been weakened.

Political analyst Anibal Romero, who has long opposed Mr. Chavez, says the opposition has made errors, and that there is now a need to regroup.

"The leadership of the Venezuelan Democratic Opposition is not as good as we would want it to be," he said. "We do not have one leader who can fight Chavez on his own terms and on the same fields of political struggle. We have deficiencies in that sense."

But Mr. Romero says it is vital that the diverse elements that have come together against Mr. Chavez keep working together. He says divisions in the movement would only favor the president. He says the focus now is on holding a binding referendum on Chavez rule, in August.

"I hope they all come to the same conclusion, and work together to make sure that the referendum does take place, as mandated by the constitution," added Mr. Romero.

Two months ago, the opposition was demanding an earlier referendum, but President Chavez insisted that no vote could be held before August, under terms set by the constitution. Whether a referendum will be held then or not remains unclear, as the two sides wrangle in court and in meetings held under the auspices of the Organization of American States.

Anibal Romero says the political solution is only one part of the challenge facing his country. International banks are predicting a more than 40 percent decline in economic growth in the first quarter of this year. Mr. Romero says it is important to end the political crisis and get the country moving again.

"There is no investment. People are losing their jobs," he said. "Lots of firms are closing their doors every day. Poverty is on the increase. We have the worst numbers in Latin America with regard to inflation, to unemployment, to rate of increase in poverty, and so on and so forth."

Deep economic and social divisions have been at the heart of this crisis, and may continue to vex the country, even if Mr. Chavez were to leave power. Mr. Chavez finds his core of support in poor communities, where the opposition leaders are viewed as wealthy oligarchs who crave power for themselves.

Mr. Chavez has shown little inclination to compromise with the opposition leaders, whom he continues to refer to as "golpistas," which, loosely translated from Spanish, means "coup-mongers." Government representatives failed to show up for a meeting with opposition counterparts this week. Another meeting is scheduled for next week, but there is little hope that advances will result from it.