<a href=www.vheadline.com>Venezuela Electronic News Posted: Wednesday, March 26, 2003 By: Robert Rudnicki

Movimiento Quinta Republica deputy Tarek William Saab has accused the United States of trying to overthrow the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and the current war on Iraq is party of that overall strategy, he said.

"We denounce the fact that under different pretexts war is being waged against the Iraqi people while the real objective is oil. We think that a desire to overthrow OPEC is what is behind events in Iraq."

According to the National Assembly foreign affairs commission vice president, Venezuela is not alone in holding this view and he claims in is a stance shared by the many OPEC member nations.

MVR is expected to organize a series of anti-war demonstrations and its deputies have announced that they will not be attending a reception at the US embassy today.

<a href=www.vheadline.com>Venezuela Electronic News Posted: Wednesday, March 26, 2003 By: Robert Rudnicki

Executive Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel insists that the only way out of the current political crisis engulfing Venezuela is for the opposition to settle for a revocatory referendum in August this year, the earliest date permitted under the current Constitution. 

Rangel says that attention should now be focused on updating the electoral register through the new National Electoral College (CNE)  as well as furthering the disarmament of the population and the government would be more than happy to accept international observers in both cases, the Vice President assures. 

Following his return from a tour of Latin American countries to discuss the Venezuelan political stalemate Rangel says that he held fruitful discussions with both Brazil and Chile, members of the Friends of Venezuela group, and that they agreed to play more pro-active roles in the resolution of the Venezuelan crisis.

The Times of Zambia (Ndola) March 26, 2003 Posted to the web March 26, 2003 Stephen Kapambwe

THE Energy Regulation Board (ERB) says it has enough fuel stocks to last for four months and has called for calm in Zambia as the war rages in Iraq.

ERB executive director Moses Zama was confident in Lusaka yesterday current stocks in Zambia as well as supplies at the Dar-es-Salaam sea port would last through out the Iraq war.

He was speaking when Energy Deputy Minister Alex Musanya visited ERB offices on a familiarisation tour.

"We expect the stocks to run for three to for months and we think we have enough oil in the country to last through out the war in Iraq," Mr Zama said.

He said because of the measures put in place, Zambia had not experienced the escalation of oil prices that had affected most countries in the world.

"In some countries, prices have risen up to 60 per cent and as much as 80 per cent in other countries. But because we are here to protect the consumer, Zambia has not experienced the hikes (in oil prices) the world has been experiencing," he said.

He blamed the riots that rocked Venezuela, the world's fifth largest oil producer last December as well as the war in Iraq for the pressure on world oil prices.

"The riots that took place in Venezuela last December in 2002 and the war in Iraq are the two things that are putting pressure on oil prices in the world. We are hoping that the Iraq war ends soon to end this pressure," he said.

He warned that Government would no longer tolerate failure by oil marketing companies to reduce fuel pump prices when the fuel price dropped on the international market.

He appealed to the ERB to give the public ample warning whenever fuel price hikes were to be effected, saying consumers get agitated when price increases took them by surprise.

He said the ERB had a duty to ensure that consumers were protected from oil marketing firms.

Mr Zama also said ERB was in the final stages of making a decision on the application by Zesco to increase electricity tariffs by 16 per cent.

herald.com Posted on Wed, Mar. 26, 2003 BY ANDRES OPPENHEIMER aoppenheimer@herald.com

President Bush announced Tuesday that he will nominate White House Latin American advisor John F. Maisto as U.S. ambassador to the Organization of American States as part of a reshuffling of his Western Hemisphere policy team.

The announcement came after the nomination Monday of current OAS Ambassador Roger Noriega to be assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs, the top job overseeing U.S. ambassadors in Latin America, the Caribbean and Canada. Both jobs require congressional approval.

Noriega, a grandson of Mexican immigrants who made his name in Latin American affairs as a staffer for conservative former Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C, has played a key role in defining U.S. policy at the OAS toward Haiti and is considered a hard-liner on Cuban affairs.

According to well-placed administration officials, Maisto, who reports to National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, will be replaced by Tom Shannon, a career diplomat who currently serves as deputy assistant secretary of state for Andean Affairs, a job that also oversees all Caribbean countries except Cuba.

In the new setup, Noriega and Shannon would be the Bush administration's top policy-makers for the region, alongside special envoy for Western Hemisphere initiatives Otto Reich.

''They are excellent choices,'' says Luis Lauredo, a former U.S. ambassador to the OAS. ``Shannon is one of the most brilliant young foreign service officers I've met.''

Maisto is a veteran career officer who has served as U.S. ambassador to Venezuela and Nicaragua and as deputy assistant secretary of state for Central American affairs. He was best known in Venezuela for adopting a wait-and-see attitude toward the government of leftist president Hugo Chávez when much of the opposition was demanding a harder U.S. line.

Shannon, who has served with the State Department for the past two decades, was posted in Venezuela, South Africa, Guatemala and Brazil, and served as deputy ambassador to the OAS during the Clinton Administration. He was heavily involved in drafting the Inter-American Democracy Charter, his colleagues say.

Q&AsPosted on Wed, Mar. 26, 2003

Q If people don't like paying high prices for gas, why is it that they don't buy smaller cars? Even with today's high prices, people continue to buy monster SUVs. Could the reason be that most Americans are just too big and overweight to fit into smaller cars? Next time you are driving around, look at the people driving large SUVs. Andros James . San Jose

A Ouch, this gas debate is getting nasty.

Q It's amazing how far a tank of gasoline can be stretched by simply driving the speed limit (in the slow lane, of course). Very few drivers on Interstate 280 seem to realize that. Judy Clark .San Jose

A If you drive 65 mph instead of 75, your gas mileage will increase by 10 percent.

Q I haven't worried about gas prices since I bought my Prius, which regularly gets about 50 mpg. When I'm relaxed, I get about 54 mpg. When I'm intense and drive 75 mph, I get more like 45 mpg. The biggest misconception about the Prius is that people think we have to plug them in. Jill Boone . San Jose

A But . . .

Q The price of crude oil has dropped to under $30 a barrel. So when will we see prices drop at the gas station? Scott Irby. San Jose

A In about a month or so -- if the war in Iraq is over; if OPEC's third-biggest producer (Venezuela) is again cranking out 3 million barrels a day; and if civil unrest eases in Nigeria, the fourth-largest source of U.S. oil imports in January.

Q I wish you would stop beating around the bush about high oil prices -- dwindling supplies, crude oil prices are higher, special blend, because the market will bear it, etc. The main underlying reason for this mess is because the environmental extremist politicians in California insist we use a special form of gas that is limited. You touched on this but did a tap dance around this main cause. Until politicians in California change their extremist attitudes, which don't really help much (look at MTBE), we will always get screwed. It's up to voters to change it by not adopting such anal-retentive environmentalist attitudes. John Formale

A But the reformulated gasoline we use -- first MTBE and now ethanol -- is part of a federal mandate. California didn't want to use ethanol, but Midwest politicians (both liberals and conservatives) were successful in pushing the corn-based additive.

Q I am glad I am not living in Europe, where gas is almost $5 a gallon. Ouch! I feel grateful we're paying $2.17 a gallon. Yes, gas is expensive and so is living here. Next topic. Michael McWalters Alviso

A Right on.

Contact Gary Richards at mrroadshow@mercurynews.com or (408) 920-5335.