www.vheadline.com Posted: Tuesday, March 18, 2003 By: Patrick J. O'Donoghue

The Police Detective Branch (CICPC) investigating the murder of three soldiers that formed part of the Altamira Plaza military rebellion has confirmed reports of a third women allegedly kidnapped in the incident.

A CICPC spokesperson says the woman’s name emerged from interrogations and she has been tracked down and is a key witness in the murder enquiries.

The unnamed woman is said to be emotionally involved with one of the main suspects that now number 8 persons.

The police source has clarified that the beating received by former suspect, Edgar Machado Rojas is not directly connected to the murders but was an excuse to cover up the real motives of the murders.

Investigations now point towards vengeance killings and not crime of passion.

www.vheadline.com Posted: Tuesday, March 18, 2003 By: Patrick J. O'Donoghue

A Colombian mainstream newspaper has published a story, alleging that top Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) commander, German Briceno Suarez, known as “Grannobles,” slipped into Venezuela late last year to avoid immediate capture by the Colombian Army.

According to El Tiempo, people working in Cucuta courts where the guerrillas are said to have placed spies tipped Briceno Suarez off about his imminent arrest. Venezuelan Ambassador to Colombia, Carlos Rodolfo Santiago says the story is just another part of a current Colombian and Venezuelan media blitz to force the Venezuelan government’s hand and he asks why wasn’t the Venezuelan government advised beforehand when it was discovered that Briceno Suarez had passed from Arauca to Apure.

“It’s the third media breaking news on alleged guerrilla presence in Venezuela … top FARC commander, Raul Reyes was reported undergoing a prostate operation in Rubio, Tachira … then they said a 400-man FARC camp had been discovered in Zulia.”

Santiago claims that the media wants to see a war of words between President Chavez Frias and Alvaro Uribe … “it’s not going to happen … dialogue and relations between the two men are very transparent and direct.”

www.vheadline.com Posted: Tuesday, March 18, 2003 By: Joop Kreislan

European media commentarist Joop Kreislan writes: Under the title of Security in Venezuela: A lack of Clarity on Terror, The Economist magazine could well be building a case against Venezuela. In nine main arguments, it leads the readers to deduce how ambivalent President Hugo Chavez Frias is in his attitude toward terrorism. Although it states that none of this amounts to credible evidence of Presidential complicity in terrorism, the nine arguments and conclusion clearly suggest that President Chavez Frias is ... if not an active supporter ... at least a passive accessory to terrorism.

According to the magazine, this passivity would have something to do with not doing enough to stop the fund-raising activities of terrorist groups in Isla de Margarita; not doing anything to help Colombia fight against the guerrilla; not doing anything to close the three Colombian guerilla camps in Venezuela; and with letting Venezuela be used as a transport corridor by the Colombian guerrilla.

As The Economist is a serious magazine, we have no doubt at all that it will soon publish the material evidence of its accusations. The article is not clear as to what President Chavez Frias might effectively be doing that might be called 'active terrorism.' His trip to Baghdad in 2000, his condemnation of the Afghan war, his letters to 'Carlos The Jackal' and the qualification of "terrorist" he gave to some of his opponents, seem to be his most violent and brutal terrorist sins ... because even the bombs against the Colombian and Spanish Embassies (sic) might be attributed to his radical supporters.

But, most interesting for Venezuelan historians, is the accusation that as a young army officer, he was close to Venezuelan guerrillas with links to Saddam Hussein and North Korea.

As (again) The Economist is a serious magazine, we have no doubt that it will soon give us the names of the Venezuelan guerrilla groups in activity in Venezuela 20-25 years ago, and describe the relations of those groups with Saddam Hussein ... and most important, with North Korea. I am not sure that The Economist is really objective when it says that the United States has "applauded" the military coup last April, because as we all know, the United States is "a promoter of democracy" and I cannot imagine that, as such, it can applaud a military coup against a democratically-elected President ruling the country according to its Constitution. And the very truth it that we have not seen any US official clearly clapping in his hands.

To some suspicious readers, the last sentence of the article might sound just like a veiled threat, mentioning that the United States would not tolerate any ambivalence of Mr. Chavez on the terrorist issue. But I know it is not the case, because The Economist ... a magazine which condemns terrorism ... would never try to create terror in a foreign population or in a democratically-elected administration, by threatening with military invasion or occupation.

And those who have listened to the clear condemnation of terrorism made by President Chavez Frias in different speeches, have no doubt at all that we are facing a constructed and artificial accusation with no basis for worry. If this article had been published in another period of history, it might have been very irrelevant because it is rich in rumors and poor on hard facts. But, published the week in which Mr. Bush ... notwithstanding the opposition of the international community and public opinion ... is almost starting a war against Iraq in order "to bring democracy to the region," this article needs to be taken seriously.

In order to maintain its worldwide credibility, The Economist should publish its material evidence, if any.

And if the Venezuelan government has no active or passive terrorist sin to confess, it must clearly communicate to international public opinion, community and the media, its clear condemnation of terrorism.

Joop Kreislan, European Media Commentarist based in Amsterdam (Netherlands). independent Researcher, Lecturer, Writer and Journalist. Soon to be published: "The dictatorhsip of the media: truth o lies? An investigation into European media"

www.buffalonews.com By MATT GLYNN News Business Reporter 3/18/2003

SHARON CANTILLON/Buffalo News The price of premium gasoline went over $2 a gallon at a Mobil station on Sheridan Drive and Millersport Highway in Amherst, where Tyson Behnke was filling his tank.

Call it a sign of the times: a gas station in Amherst is charging more than $2 for a gallon of premium gas. Many motorists around the region might still be filling up with the lowest-price grade of gas, which is averaging $1.77 in the area, according to a survey by the American Automobile Association.

But seeing premium gas cross the $2 mark is an attention-getting reminder that fuel prices are still rising. And some of the same factors blamed for the increase over the past few weeks - such as a looming war with Iraq - haven't gone away.

The owner of the Mobil station at Sheridan Drive and Millersport Highway referred questions about his gas prices to ExxonMobil officials.

Gas prices around the region - up 43 percent for each grade from a year ago - have some motorists fuming. But a spokesman for a convenience store group contends the owners of those stores aren't making much off fuel sales.

The typical profit margin on gasoline for those retailers nowadays is about 10 percent, before they cover expenses, said Jeff Lenard, a spokesman for the National Association of Convenience Stores.

A retailer who sells gas for $1.70 a gallon might buy it for $1.53, before taking out 1 to 2 percent for distribution costs, 2 to 3 percent for operating expenses and about 3 percent for credit card transaction fees, Lenard said.

"You're talking about a nickel or so a gallon of profit," he said.

In the past, the group has published brochures to hand out to convenience store customers, to explain the price hikes.

Lenard said some store owners make less on gasoline as the price goes up, if they eat some of the higher cost to stay competitive with rival stations. Some retailers try to make up the difference as wholesale prices begin to drop, he said.

Higher gas prices can also cut into a retailer's in-store sales, he said. A customer who used to spend $15 on gas and $5 on items in the store might now spend the entire $20 toward fuel, he said.

A host of factors - production problems in the West, oil prices forced up by the prospect of war, and a drop-off in imports from Venezuela - have been blamed for spurring the increases at the pump.

The price of crude oil has nearly doubled in the past 12 months, and the retailers have adjusted their prices to match that reality, said ExxonMobil spokesman Barry Wood.

Motorists in two states, California and Hawaii, are paying an average of more than $2 per gallon for the lowest-priced grade of gas, the AAA reports. And in seven states, motorists are spending an average of at least $2 per gallon on premium gas.

Robert Klein of Delta Sonic Car Wash Systems noted how much things have changed since early 2002.

"A year ago, I would have liked to stay under $1," he said. Now Delta Sonic's cheapest price is $1.66 for regular gas, though most of its stations sell it for $1.70. He estimates about 80 percent of Delta Sonic customers buy that grade.

Diesel fuel prices are also closing in on a record. Monday, diesel in the Buffalo Niagara region sold for an average of $2.02 per gallon, just four cents away from matching a record set two years ago, according to the AAA.

Motorists hunting for slightly lower fuel prices might catch a break on the New York State Thruway.

The Thruway Authority directs those gas stations to keep their prices close to what nearby competitors are charging, said Terry O'Brien, a Thruway spokesman. But since those prices are adjusted only weekly, they sometimes lag increases at competing stations.

Gasoline prices jumped another 1.6 cents this week to a national average of $1.728 a gallon, eclipsing the record high set in May 2001, the Energy Information Administration said Monday.

The EIA has predicted that prices would continue to soar at the pump because of tight supplies and high crude oil costs and reach an average of $1.76 cents a gallon next month.

Motorists probably will pay more than $1.70 cents a gallon through the summer driving season, the agency said.

In its weekly gasoline price tally, the EIA said Monday that regular gasoline prices ranged from a low of $1.61 a gallon along the Gulf Coast to a high of $2.145 a gallon in California, a jump of about 6 cents a gallon from a week ago in that part of the country.

Before this week, the highest average gasoline price recorded by the EIA was in May 2001, when motorists paid an average of $1.71 a gallon at pumps across the country.

e-mail: mglynn@buffnews.com

www.abs-cbnnews.com By RHODINA J. VILLANUEVA TODAY Reporter

The Department of Agriculture (DA) has launched a Filipino-invented fertilizer that will reportedly help sugar farmers spend less and increase production.

D.A. Secretary Luiz Lorenzo Jr. said the “3-in-1” fertilizer resulted from a presidential directive to the Fertilizer and Pesticides Authority to develop an alternative to the traditional mixture of urea and diammonium phosphate (DAP), in coordination with local fertilizer manufacturers.

A worldwide shortage of urea and DAP had earlier been forecast beginning next month as a result of plant closures in the United States, Venezuela, Russia and the Middle East.

“The shortage will severely affect our sugar planters, predominantly in Negros and Bukidnon. Planters have traditionally used urea and DAP for decades,” Lorenzo said.

Urea contains 46 percent nitrogen, while DAP contains a mixture of 16 percent nitrogen and 46 percent phosporous.

The DA chief hailed this development not only as a pride for Filipino technological prowess but also as a significant boost to foreign-currency savings in fertilizer imports.

“There is a need to reformulate the type of fertilizer our farmers are using to make it more affordable to them,” he said, at the same time assuring farmers that the new fertilizer still bears the same nutrients possessed by the other types.

So far, only the Philippine Phosphate Fertilizer Corp. (Philphos) has successfully formulated the special fertilizer for the sugar industry, which it has branded as “Philphos 3-in-1.”

Philphos claims that the fertilizer grade will allow sugar planters to save P1,500 per hectare.

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