<a href=usinfo.state.gov<Read complete article 31 March 2003

(Commission cites its pro-competitive policies as a reason) (4660)

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has issued an order eliminating its policies that ban U.S. carriers from providing certain international telephone services to countries considering those services illegal and allow a foreign entity to use FCC enforcement mechanisms against U.S carriers providing such services.

In the order released March 28, the commission said it is removing the policies on the most popular form of call-back services -- uncompleted call-signaling -- because these rules restrict global competition.

The commission said, however, that it will continue to remind U.S. carriers that "it is in their best interest to act in a manner consistent with foreign laws, and to refer [those carriers] to the public file and note which foreign governments have notified the Commission that call-back is illegal in their countries."

Call-back services allow a foreign caller in a country with relatively costly international connections to use a U.S. dial-tone at less expensive U.S. rates.

In 1995 FCC banned U.S. carriers form offering certain international call-back services to countries where those services had been expressly prohibited. It also established a mechanism for notifying the U.S. government about the illegality of the services in a foreign country and procedures for seeking U.S. assistance in enforcing a foreign government's prohibition on this type of services.

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<a href=www.vheadline.com>Venezuela's Electronic News Posted: Monday, March 31, 2003 By: Patrick J. O'Donoghue

In his weekly column Lt. Colonel Francisco Arias Cardenas, who has been a firm believer in the recall referendum from the start, calls on active service military officers to exercise the right to vote granted them by the Bolivarian Constitution. "Officers, NCOs and troops could dismiss their Commander-in-Chief, President Hugo Chavez Frias through the ballot box."

"The Armed Force (FAN), Arias Cardenas ponders, has plenty of reasons to vote NO.  The President has:

• made a laughing stock of the uniform
• done everything possible to prostitute discipline and order submitting the military to public scorn
• has promoted unworthy people to top positions demoralizing the organization and turning it into a praetorian guard
• has neglected maintenance and training of military apparatus, using public resources for personal and partisan use
• has weakened the FAN's operational readiness, placing it at a disadvantage when it comes to defending Venezuela against possible enemies
• has increased corruption inside and outside the FAN to blacken, divide and demoralize the institution.

The President and C-I-C has had a golden opportunity to push the country and the FAN towards modernity."

Concluding, Arias Cardenas states that the military must use their vote to discharge a commander that has neither moral stature nor capacity to lead the FAN.

<a href=www.vheadline.com>Venezuela's Electronic News Posted: Monday, March 31, 2003 By: Patrick J. O'Donoghue

What started as a trickle of 190 persons feeing fighting between the Colombian paramilitaries and guerrilla groups and has now blossomed into 500 displaced persons reported crossing the Oro River for safety in Zulia State. 

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Office (UNHCR) and the International Red Cross have announced that they are offering humanitarian aid to the refugees and will inspect Bari indian settlements in La Vaquera, La Cooperative and La Escuelita on the Venezuelan banks of the Oro River. 

• The Venezuelan Ombudsman Office is also undertaking on-site visits with National Guard (GN) soldiers to draw up a complete list of displaced persons. 

Zulia State Ombudsman, Antonio Urribarri says the number of displaced persons could be as high as 1,000, given increased fighting over the last four days.  Army Operations Theater No. 2 (TO-2) has denied news reports that two Venezuelan soldiers were injured during a skirmish with Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) 33rd column.

<a href=www.vheadline.com>Venezuela's Electronic News Posted: Monday, March 31, 2003 By: Patrick J. O'Donoghue

37 of 80 Venezuelan baseball players that reported to spring-training have secured a place in US major leagues. 

• 14 are pitchers, 10 fielders, 7 catchers and six outfielders ... including the injured: Astros pitcher Carlos Hernandez, and catchers Wiklenman Gonzalez (Padres)  and Steve Torrealba (Cardinals). 

• 5 of 14 pitchers are openers: Antonio Armas Jr. (Expos), Freddy Garcia (Mariners), Victor Zambrano (Tampa Rays), Omar Daal (Oriels) and Carlos Zambrano (Cubs).

• There are 8 Venezuelan relief pitchers: Ugueth Urbina (Texas Rangers), Kelvim Escobar (Bluejays) and Jorge Julio Tapia (Oriels) de Baltimore, while Francisco Rodriguez (Angels), Johan Santana (Twins), Giovanni Carrara (Mariners), Carlos Silva (Phillies) and Wilfredo Ledezma (Tigers) will play intermediate roles.

Venezuela's favorite slugger, Andres Galarraga has won a place in the San Francisco Giants line-up as supply leadoff hitter, guaranteeing him a crack at obtaining the 14 homeruns he needs to reach the difficult 400-jonron (home run)  mark. 

Edgardo Alfonso (signing on for 4 years) and supply catcher, Yorvit Torrealba will be joining Galarraga at the Giants and gaining from "The Cat's" vast experience.

Omar Vizquel continues as Cleveland Indians shortstop in his 15th season in major leagues and 10th with the Indians.

<a href=www.autonews.com>Reuters / March 31, 2003 CARACAS, Venezuela -- General Motors' Venezuelan unit, the largest vehicle assembler in the South American country, has temporarily halted production because of tight foreign exchange controls that are squeezing the local car industry, a spokesman said on Monday. General Motors Venezolana, C.A. suspended work late last week at its plant in Valencia, west of Caracas, and the stoppage would last until April 21 while the company attempted to resolve the problems caused by the currency curbs. Since President Hugo Chavez's government halted foreign currency trading in January, foreign-owned vehicle assemblers have been unable to import essential parts due to the restrictions and a two-month delay in the allocation of dollars. "We have really been hurt by this delay," General Motors Venezolana's Marketing and Sales director Peter Friedrich told Reuters. As a result, the company had lost exports for March and April and had suspended investment plans for 2003 until the situation in the Venezuelan market became clearer. Another important local assembler, Ford Motor de Venezuela, S.A., a unit of Ford Motor Co., said it was also concerned about the restrictive currency control environment. "It's tight," said Ford Venezuela's Public Relations manager Ricardo Tinoco. Ford's assembly plant, which has scaled back operations to only three days a week, could continue to run through April. But if the government does not release dollars "very, very shortly," Tinoco said Ford might also have to consider alternative measures for the necessary auto parts imports. The shortage of hard currency only worsens an already bleak sales outlook for Venezuela's vehicle producers following more than a year of political turmoil and a two-month opposition strike that pushed the struggling economy even deeper into recession. Car sales in January and February totaled 8,212 units, a drop of 77.4 percent from the same period last year. The Venezuelan Automobile Chamber (CAVENEZ) is predicting a 30 percent decline in sales this year, which plummeted about 41 percent in 2002. Some Caracas car dealers are only selling a handful of cars a month compared to sales of 100-120 units a month in 2001, a year that saw an all-time sales record for the local market of 217,000 units. NO "LUXURY" IMPORTS But after 65 days during which not a single dollar was made available for business in Venezuela, the government currency control board Cadivi announced Friday it had started releasing foreign currency for essential imports like food and medicine. Companies in this oil-dependent economy that relies on imports for 60 percent of its goods and products have been forced to survive on their fast-dwindling inventories. But vehicle makers complain that the government, in its application of the currency controls, has only posted dollar import authorizations so far for a so-called family car program, covering cheaper vehicles sold at fixed prices. Dollars for the parts imports for high-priced vehicles have not been authorized, let alone released. Chavez, a left-wing populist first elected in 1998, has made clear he will use the currency controls to curb what he calls "luxury" consumption, concentrating instead on importing basic necessities for poorer sectors of the population. But Friedrich said the dollar import restrictions meant General Motors in Venezuela had been unable to export its Chevrolet Trail Blazer and Astra models to markets in Ecuador and Colombia, and this was bad news for the local economy. "The government hasn't done its homework," Friedrich said. His company had also experienced bureaucratic problems in formally registering on the list of importers and exporters requiring dollars to conduct business. Private sector business leaders have pilloried the currency controls as restrictive and unworkable, warning the dollar drought will put many companies out of business and swell Venezuela's jobless rate, which the government estimates at 16 percent. Private economists say the real figure is far higher. Product shortages could also arise in sensitive areas like food and pharmaceutical sectors, critics of the controls say. Businessmen and economists have severely questioned the technical ability of the currency board Cadivi, which is headed by retired army officer Edgar Hernandez, a political ally of former paratrooper Chavez who took part with him in a botched coup attempt in 1992. Opponents of Chavez, still bitter over the failure of the recent strike to dislodge him from office, accuse the president of using the curbs to starve his foes of dollars in a political vendetta. But in a television broadcast Sunday, Chavez brushed aside the heavy criticism of the currency controls and said the commission administering them was doing a "tremendous job." "These measures are here to stay," he said.