Dow Jones Tuesday April 1, 5:27 AM

CARACAS (Dow Jones)--A shipment of 360,000 barrels of unleaded gasoline destined for the U.S. is expected to leave Venezuela's Paraguana peninsula Wednesday, a refinery manager of state-owned oil monopoly Petroleos de Venezuela SA (E.PVZ) said Monday.

"The Nicos tanker has just docked, we can now start loading the cargo," plant manager Humberto Reyes said. The shipment should leave Wednesday, Reyes added. It would be the first gasoline shipment destined for export from the 940,000 barrels per day (b/d) Paraguana refinery complex since a strike hit PdVSA from December 2002 until February 2003.

The stoppage curtailed exports of crude and refined products. Only in the last several weeks have production and refining operations increased. President Hugo Chavez said Sunday refining runs stand at more than one million b/d. Total domestic refining capacity stands around 1.3 million b/d.

Reyes further added that the plant is currently restarting its coking unit. "We expect the entire complex to run at normal capacity between April 20 and April 22," Reyes said.

About 35,000 employees walked off their jobs in early December, crippling oil production and exports. Production is estimated at somewhere between 2.4 million and 2.8 million barrels per day by secondary sources, while oil exports are seen slightly above 2 million b/d. Venezuela's pre-strike production level was 3 million b/d.

By Fred Pals, Dow Jones Newswires; 58212-5641339; fred.pals@dowjones.com;

<a href=www.upi.com>By Bradley Brooks, UPI Business Correspondent From the Business & Economics Desk Published 3/31/2003 4:41 PM

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil, March 31 (UPI) -- Brazil's central bank on Monday cut its forecast for economic growth and raised its prediction of inflation for 2003, a sign that hikes in the key interest rate might be in store.

Brazilian officials and analysts blamed the impact that the war in Iraq is having on the global economy, specifically oil prices and emerging-market investors' appetite for pumping cash into Latin America during a time of turbulence.

The developments come at a pivotal moment for Brazil, the region's largest economy, just as a new president is gaining the trust of investors with economic austerity.

Its neighbors are looking to Brazil to be the engine that pulls South America out of an economic slump, as Argentina languishes and Venezuela remains mired in internal disputes.

In its quarterly report, the central bank said Monday inflation could hit 10.8 percent this year, up from earlier forecasts of 9.5 percent. The official inflation target, however, remains 8.5 percent.

As for economic growth, the bank has now revised that down to 2.2 percent for 2003. Earlier, bank officials forecast growth at 2.8 percent.

The likely outcome, analysts say, is that the benchmark interest rate -- now 26.5 percent -- might be hiked to battle inflation.

Since last October, the central bank has raised interest rates five times. The campaign and ultimately the election of leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva sent the local currency into a 35-percent plunge, sparking inflation.

Lula and his economics team have repeatedly said their top goal is to keep inflation at bay, though it is clear they are eager to cut rates, which they see as stifling economic growth.

This, in turn, ratchets up the political pressure on Lula, who was swept into office on sweeping promises to change the social situation in Brazil, where divisions between rich and poor are among the world's widest.

Lula desperately needs growth to pay for his social programs. If he can't make good on those promised programs, analysts say his political base will slip out from under him.

"Government popularity will take another hit," said Marcelo Ribeiro, an analyst with the Pentagono brokerage firm in Rio de Janeiro.

"This is worrisome because government popularity is already deteriorating, according to the polls. And they have enormous challenges ahead -- like fiscal and social security reforms, when all the support will be needed."

This conflict between campaign promises and economic realities reared its head Monday, as Lula announced an increase in the monthly minimum wage from $60 to $72 a month. While still low by Western standards, the minimum wage is used as a base for many other upper-tier private- and public-sector salaries.

Economists fear that the pay hike might have the short-term effect of fanning inflation as consumer demand increases. That would increase investors' wariness of Brazil, compounding a delicate economic situation and potentially leading to a self-fulfilling debt default.

This is much less of a concern now than last October, but analysts are watching the situation closely.

The central bank said its revisions were largely a reflection of continued global uncertainty stemming from the war.

Most immediately, higher world oil prices hit Brazil, and other Latin American nations, hard. Such hikes quickly spark inflation in countries that are highly vulnerable to oil price fluctuations.

For Latin America -- still trying to regain foreign investors' trust after Argentina's disastrous default in 2001 -- anything that worries these investors bodes ill for economies that are just now recovering.

Ribeiro, who closely tracks Brazil's essential oil and aviation sectors, said he is more concerned about the central bank's lower growth forecast than about higher inflation.

"These sectors are already plagued by overcapacity in Brazil, and all over the world," Ribeiro said. "A lower GDP growth means more unemployment and less public support."

Since taking office on Jan. 1, Lula and his team have gone a long way in easing investor concerns. The central bank quickly hiked interest rates after Lula's inauguration, and fiscal austerity has been the rule.

Under normal conditions, analysts say, this would mean brighter prospects for Brazil, as it begins emerging from a tough 2002 that saw its markets plummet and foreign credit lines snap.

For instance, after months of finding it impossible to raise funds abroad, Brazilian corporations announced in the past few weeks that they've raised upwards of $2 billion in fresh foreign capital.

But Ribeiro and other analysts fear that should the Iraq war drag on, sentiment could sour against just as quickly, sending Brazil's economy back toward the brink of collapse.

NEWSDESK 31 Mar 2003 21:01:11 GMT

BOGOTA, Colombia, March 31 (Reuters) - Sixteen Colombian journalists working in a region where U.S. special forces are providing anti-guerrilla training said they were fleeing to the capital Bogota on Monday after receiving death threats from gunmen, a media rights group and colleagues said.

Paris-based Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said leftist rebels and right-wing militias fighting in Colombia's four-decade-old war had separately declared the journalists in the eastern, oil-rich province of Arauca "military targets" and warned them they should leave or face being killed.

Rodrigo Avila, a correspondent for Caracol TV and one of the journalists threatened, said local radio stations in Arauca were only playing music and airing cultural programs.

"The rebels' idea is to silence the press in the capital of Arauca and unfortunately they are achieving it. We are forced to shut up and find a solution," Avila told reporters.

The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known as the FARC, produced a list of eight journalists, while the right wing paramilitaries, known as the AUC, threatened another eight, and also named two who had previously been killed.

One of the men named, Eduardo Alfonso, was gunned down and killed two weeks ago by suspected far-right paramilitaries as he arrived for work at an Arauca radio station. His boss, Efrain Varela, was killed last year.

War-ravaged Colombia is one of the most dangerous places in the world for reporters, according to media watch groups.

President Alvaro Uribe late last year declared Arauca, a steamy area of savannas and swamps on the border with Venezuela, a special war zone, giving security forces extra powers to control movements and check identities.

The measures, which have been strongly criticized by rights groups, have had little effect on violence in the province, which has been hit by a rebel car-bombing campaign.

About 70 U.S. special forces are in Arauca province training Colombian troops to combat guerrillas and defend a key oil pipeline.

Local police say they do not have enough bodyguards to protect the threatened journalists.

"We ask the government to guarantee the security of the journalists threatened in the province of Arauca," RSF said in a news release. "The absence of journalists is an open door for more abuses."

Journalists in Arauca routinely face harassment and threats from rebels and militias fighting for control of oil proceeds and the booming drug trade.

In January, rebels held a British reporter and an American photographer hostage for almost two weeks, in a kidnapping which drew worldwide attention. Attacks on local reporters hardly ever make international headlines.

Reuters, 03.31.03, 4:24 PM ET CARACAS, Venezuela, March 31 (Reuters) - Venezuela's Central Bank on Monday approved $1.32 billion for distribution in April by the state currency control board that private firms charge has starved the economy of U.S. dollars for more than two months. Currency control board CADIVI said it will distribute $60 million each working day next month under the tight curbs that many private firms fear will force them out of business and drive the economy further into recession. Venezuela had not distributed dollars since President Hugo Chavez suspended foreign exchange trading in late January and imposed the curbs to stem capital flight and a slide in the local bolivar currency after a two-month opposition strike. Government officials say they are still ironing out logistical difficulties that have so far slowed the distribution of foreign currency. While the government has set a fixed exchange rate of 1,600 bolivars to the dollar, the two-month delay in the allocation of dollars has left businesses clamoring for greenbacks. Venezuela's government last week approved the first allocation of U.S. currency only for essential imports, such as medicines, priority materials and basic foods. Chavez said on Sunday that CADIVI had authorized $9.5 million and officials said last week they had approved allocations for only the first five of 60 applications from companies seeking dollars to import goods. Business leaders say many firms are struggling even to clear the application process to access dollars. The South American nation imports around 60 percent of its basic needs and many businesses have warned that the lack of dollars needed to bring goods into the country threatened them with financial ruin. Before the forex market was closed, the Central Bank had been selling around $60 million a day. Since the controls were introduced, a black market has flourished with the dollar trading at between 2,200 bolivars and 2,300 bolivars. Chavez, a populist former paratrooper, introduced the currency controls after the December-January strike disrupted vital oil production in the world's No. 5 petroleum exporter. Oil exports account for half of government revenues.

Basyl Macías

Valencia, marzo 30 (REDACTA).- La Asociación Civil Liderazgo y Visión y Red Vecinal Venezuela presentaron este domingo, en el auditorio del Centro Cultural "Eladio Alemán Sucre" la obra Manojo de Sueños, protagonizada por Dixon Da Costa, Adriana Villalba, Arnaldo Mendoza y Nieri Seijas, bajo la producción y dirección del dramaturgo Carlos Sánchez Torrealba.

Manojo de Sueños es una obra inspirada en el libro Un sueño para Venezuela, de Gerver Torres, miembro de la junta directiva de la A.C. Liderazgo y Visión, y cuenta con el patrocinio del Banco Venezolano de Crédito.

La muestra teatral intenta transmitir al público, dentro de un esquema de parodia, música, juegos, cantos, títeres y risas, lo maravilloso que es poder soñar, tener ideales, proponerse metas y el deseo de ser cada día mejor.

LIDERAZGO Y VISION

Es una asociación civil sin fines de lucro que se dedica desde 1995 a la formación de los venezolanos para el afianzamiento de valores democráticos y ciudadanos, así como la promoción de un liderazgo visionario, constructor y responsable, a través del Programa de Organización Comunitaria y Formación de Multiplicadores.

Un grupo de personas provenientes de distintos sectores de la sociedad caraqueña promovió un programa orientado a elevar la calidad del liderazgo emergente en Venezuela.

Alonso Domínguez, directivo de Liderazgo y Visión, destacó que, hoy en día, "Un sueño para Venezuela" es concebido como una estrategia de pedagogía social que aborda los problemas del país desde una perspectiva amplia que incorpora, por ejemplo, la dimensión cultural e institucional.

-Por medio del programa de pedagogía social "Un Sueño para Venezuela" estamos orientados al logro de tres objetivos fundamentales: desarrollar una visión de país a largo plazo, que pueda ser compartida por amplios sectores de la sociedad venezolana; promover un conjunto de valores y creencias que nos permitan crecer y desarrollarnos como sociedad, haciendo especial énfasis en la responsabilidad y la solidaridad, y fomentar el desarrollo de las instituciones como mecanismo para la generación de bienestar y mejoramiento de nuestra calidad de vida, indicó.

RED VECINAL VENEZUELA

El doctor Paúl Escovar explicó que hace cinco meses, en Valencia, nació la Red Vecinal Venezuela, integrada por un grupo de personas que de alguna manera entienden que la única forma de salir de la crisis es a través del fortalecimiento de los parámetros educativos.

-Por ello hemos creado dicha organización, para dar estructura a cualquier iniciativa tendente a cristalizar y fortalecer el progreso de la nación sobre bases sólidas, por medio de la educación ciudadana, la equidad, la libertad y la justicia. Todos debemos entender que juntos debemos ser piezas de una gran estructura para la reconstrucción del país sobre la base de los valores familiares, subrayó.

-Sabemos que no es una labor sencilla ni de corto plazo; no depende de un liderazgo, sino de un cambio de actitud, y nosotros lo que estamos tratando de lograr es ese reencuentro de valores nobles que se encuentran como enquistados en el grupo familiar, pero que hoy, más que nunca, queremos que se expandan en la sociedad civil en pro de una verdadera cultura democrática, denotó el doctor Paúl Escovar.

"Cuando los dirigentes de este país entiendan que ellos son los encargados de establecer esa madurez hacia el ciudadano, sólo así la habremos encontrado", significó.

Las redes vecinales se han venido extendiendo en distintas ciudades del país, donde se forman facilitadores y donde todo el que quiera formar parte de esta idea es bienvenido, lo cual puede hacer a través del contacto directo o de la página web.

Por su parte, el doctor Sergio Ramos comentó que lo más importante es que dentro de la misma no existe ningún tipo de identificación partidista, sino el deseo de un pueblo de organizarse y de luchar por ser mejores ciudadanos, apoyando las propuestas que surjan de la misma comunidad.

NOTA: Para organizar una presentación de la obra de teatro "Manojo de Sueños", por favor comuníquese con Adriana Villalba al correo electrónico choroni17@hotmail.com o con Luisa Ramírez al correo electrónico info@liderazgoyvision.org