By MAGGIE GALEHOUSE <a href=miva.jacksonsun.com>The Arizona Republic Apr 2 2003

Baseball is a breeze for minor-league player Freiddy Dominguez, but buying groceries in American stores really makes him sweat.

Many of the 38 Spanish-speaking players in the Texas Rangers' farm system - including Dominguez - arrived from Venezuela, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic with just a few English words. But the team has developed several programs to speed their transition into a new culture.

One is a computer program that pumps the Spanish speakers with words and phrases they need to know.

"Can I have some toilet paper, please?'' says a voice from Dominguez' laptop.

Dominguez, 22, a catcher from Venezuela, repeats the sentence slowly, then listens to his own voice played back.

The Spanish translation, "Me pueda dar papel de bano,'' materializes at the bottom of the computer screen.

"This is not a traditional way of learning English,'' said Carlos Subero, Latin American liaison and field manager for the Class A Clinton Lumberkings, a minor-league Rangers team in Iowa.

Dubbed "personal language trainer,'' the software familiarizes players with words and sentences surrounding everyday activities, including going to the doctor, banking and shopping.

Many of the younger players, some of whom arrive when they're 16, have only a fourth-, fifth- or sixth-grade education, Subero explained.

"They're not used to being in school, and their English ranges from none to very good,'' he said.

The lessons don't stop there. The team also runs cultural programs in the players' home countries that teach them how to order food at a restaurant and open a bank account.

"By law, the guys have to make $850 a month starting out,'' said John Lombardo, director of minor-league operations for the Rangers, "but a lot of them have signing bonuses that range from $5,000 to $1 million.''

Many send part of their paychecks home, so money management is crucial, he said.

In the evenings, the players give their English lessons a workout by going out to a restaurant or watching a movie. That way, they're forced to use their skills in a public setting. Many of the seasoned players take the new recruits under their wing.

"Guys that are more advanced in the system are remembering what was done for them and are happily volunteering to take the younger guys out at night,'' Lombardo said. "It's becoming a mentoring program.''

Not surprising, the longer a player stays with the team, the better his English becomes. Luis Rodriguez, 21, a pitcher from Venezuela who plays for the Rangers' Class A Savannah (Ga.) Sand Gnats, is in his fifth year with the Rangers system. His English is solid.

"I was scared at first, going to the mall or the grocery store, but you have to break your fear,'' said Rodriguez, punching his right fist into his left hand.

Rodriguez watches sports or "The Cosby Show'' with closed captions in English, so he can see the words as he hears them.

Like most things, though, language acquisition is a step-by-step process.

"Every day, I try to learn one word,'' said Juan Carlos Senreiso, 21, from the Dominican Republic, who plays for the Rangers' Class A Stockton (Calif.) Ports.

What's the latest addition to his vocabulary?

"Dishwasher,'' the outfielder said.

April 2, 2003 GM halts activity at Venezuelan unit

General Motors Corp. has suspended production in Venezuela because of a shortage of parts from local suppliers, costing it millions of dollars in lost sales.

Production was halted last week and will resume April 21, said Peter Friedrich, head of marketing and sales for General Motors' Venezuelan unit. The company, whose Venezuelan operations have monthly capacity of about 5,000 vehicles, had been producing about 1,500 cars a month.

"Our local suppliers can't import what they need, and we can't import either," Friedrich said. The company is Venezuela's largest car manufacturer, with about a quarter of the country's automotive market.

Venezuela suspended sales of dollars Jan. 21 in a bid to brake a decline in international reserves. The restrictions have halted imports, threatening to further deepen a recession that was exacerbated by a two-month general strike that ended Feb. 1.

<a href=www.daily.umn.edu>The Minnesota Daily April 2, 2003 By Mary Stegmeir

Geoff Ziezulewicz Kristin Charles always thought studying abroad during college was an opportunity she couldn’t pass up.

But now the first-year student is rethinking her decision to enroll in a May session program in Paris.

“My dad does not want me to go,” Charles said, adding that her family is worried about her safety in France, a nation opposed to U.S. military action in Iraq.

“I am highly confused. I don’t even know if I am going to end up going or not, but I really want to.”

Charles is not the only student unsure of what to expect when studying overseas during the war. Although no University May session or summer study abroad pro

grams have been canceled because of the war, the conflict in Iraq has created new safety concerns for U.S. students studying in other countries.

“I don’t think there is anyone who is not thinking about it,” said Jenny Huang, who will be studying physics in Italy and Switzerland during the May session.

“The worry is definitely there, but I don’t know how much it is affecting people,” she said.

Huang predicted her classmates on the trip might act more cautiously and try not to reveal their nationalities.

Officials from Global Campus, the University office that organizes study abroad trips, suggest that study abroad students blend into the local cultures during the war.

Students are also told to stay away from political demonstrations and tune into current events, Global Campus director Al Balkcum said.

Balkcum said all study abroad students receive general safety precautions for times of political or social unrest during their program orientations regardless of whether the United States is at war.

“Safety is our number one priority,” Balkcum said. “It always has been and always will be.”

He added that all students are in contact with on-site staff members, and each program has a contingency plan in place if student safety is compromised.

“I’m not concerned about the physical safety of any of our students right now (because of) the war,” he said.

“We have not gotten reports from students about anything serious, and we’ve been in touch with every single student that is abroad this semester,” Balkcum said.

Balkcum said the information his office has received from students indicates that feelings of anti-Americanism abroad do not necessarily translate into a dislike of U.S. citizens.

“The reports that we have been getting is that even in countries where there is a significant amount of anti-Americanism, it’s not directed at American students, or even at American tourists,” Balkcum said. “It’s pretty much directed at the U.S. administration. It does seem, from most accounts that we’ve got, that most people are making that distinction.”

Between 650 and 700 University students are currently studying abroad in Global Campus programs. Two hundred and fifty students are signed up for May session courses overseas, and summer enrollment appears to be on track.

No one has dropped out of any of the programs because of concerns about the war, Balkcum said.

A view from the East

Three University students studying in Middle Eastern countries say they have had mixed experiences since the war began.

Cynthia Salminen, an international relations junior studying in the United Arab Emirates, said she does not have many concerns about being overseas.

She said that because thousands of Europeans and Americans live in the Dubai, the locals “don’t look at me twice because I am American.”

“In general I feel much safer here than walking around on the streets of the United States,” she said.

Salminen said she has not seen any anti-American demonstrations or protests.

Alicia Sins, a global studies junior studying in Istanbul, Turkey, said she also feels comfortable in her surroundings.

“I don’t perceive a threat to myself,” she said. “But I understand that there is a chance of something happening. This is a very unstable part of the world.”

Sins said she has been advised which sections of Istanbul are more dangerous for Americans, and she tries to be less conspicuous and dress accordingly when she goes to those areas.

She registered with the U.S. consular warden system, a network used to keep authorities in contact with American citizens in case of emergency.

The demonstrations in Istanbul have been aimed at the U.S. government, not the American people, Sins said.

“I have not been threatened in any way,” she said.

Yasmina Raya, a first-year student in Cairo, Egypt, said her experience has been strikingly different than those in Istanbul and Dubai.

“Things are really bad here,” she said.

The weekly demonstrations at her university have been growing, and protesters have been hurt in clashes between students and the police, Raya said.

“I avoid the protests because it is so dangerous for Americans,” she said. “I also don’t speak English in front of people I don’t know.”

Raya, who is originally from Egypt, said despite her familiarity with the country’s culture, she has contacted the U.S. embassy as a precaution.

Travel warnings

Global Campus does not offer any programs in countries with U.S. State Department travel warnings. If University officials determine students in a study abroad program are in danger at any time, they will cancel the program and bring the students back to Minnesota.

One month after Sins arrived in Turkey, the United States issued a travel warning, but she did not leave.

“I think the schools who removed their students acted prematurely,” she said. “The fact that I am so near the conflict will only enrich the experience that I leave with.”

In its more than 20-year history, Global Campus has only canceled programs at two locations, Balkcum said.

A program in Morocco was cut short during the first gulf war in 1991. This year, spring semester, May session and summer programs in Venezuela have been canceled because of political unrest.

Earlier this year, another student exchange organization associated with Global Campus canceled a spring semester program in Jordan.

Balkcum, a seasoned traveler with an office wall crammed full of framed photos from exotic locations, said the war should not keep students from following through with study abroad plans.

“I would travel now,” he said. “Obviously, I’m not going to go to the Middle East right now, but I don’t have a fear of travel.

“I consider travel to be something that I need to be cautious about, but not avoid,” Balkcum said.

He said studying in another country helps students gain a more complete world perspective.

“I think the more awareness that students can have of the rest of the world — the way the rest of the world views us, the way the rest of the world thinks — the better off we all are,” he said.

“Maybe it will help us avoid getting in a situation like this in the future.”

Mary Stegmeir welcomes comments at mstegmeir@mndaily.com

Geoff Ziezulewicz welcomes comments at gziezulewicz@mndaily.com

Source

Consumer prices rose 0.8 percent in March, compared with a 5.5 percent increase in February, the central bank said. The trailing 12-month inflation rate fell to 34 percent from 39 percent.

<a href=news.ft.com>By Andy Webb-Vidal in Caracas Published: April 2 2003 5:00 | Last Updated: April 2 2003 5:00

Venezuela's finance ministry on Tuesday began revamping plans for a voluntary external debt swap in the weeks ahead, a move that bankers said would be essential to prevent a default on foreign debt payments.

Tobías Nóbrega, finance minister, was due to meet US investment bankers to define a plan to exchange a portion of the country's $22.4bn (£14.1bn) external debt, on which a raft of interest payments are due in June.

President Hugo Chávez unnerved capital markets last week when he said the country was unable to meet all of its debt payments this year as a result of the damaging, opposition-led strike at Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA). The action halted production in the world's fifth-largest exporter in December and January.

The state-owned oil company supplies about half of government revenue, and Mr Chávez said the country would need to "restructure" its debt. His remarks appear unwittingly to have derailed the finance minister's plans for a euro-denominated debt swap due to be offered later this month.

Oil output in Venezuela has recovered from the strike faster than many analysts expected, and government officials claim production levels are currently at around 3m barrels per day.

On paper, relatively high crude oil prices, due to the US-led war in Iraq, have also boosted export revenues. However, the government is struggling to cope with a cash-flow crunch because it has fired more than 16,000 employees at PDVSA, including its trading department, and it is owed at least $1.5bn in back-export income that it has been unable to collect.

Meanwhile, central bank international reserves have remained steady, at just over $12bn, because foreign currency trading has been suspended since January, and the government agency in charge of dollar sales has only begun to release a trickle of dollars this week.

The dearth of dollars is causing severe problems among many companies in Venezuela, especially manufacturers. General Motors' local car assembly plant stopped production last week because it was unable to import essential parts.

A pending ruling by the Supreme Court which could require the government to lift the ban on foreign currency trading could prompt reserves to decline rapidly, raising the risk of default, economists said.

"After Chávez's comments, bondholders are worried that the willingness to pay may not be there," said José Barrionuevo, director of strategy at Barclays Capital.

Concerns over the possibility of a default were also growing on Tuesday after a central bank source confirmed that in the past few weeks the bank had transferred some of its international reserves to the Bank for International Settlements in Basle. Funds held at the BIS cannot be seized in the event of a foreign debt default.

Also, a 150-page internal analysis report on the repercussions of a foreign debt default is understood to have been prepared for Mr Nóbrega, finance ministry sources say. Mr Nóbrega declined to comment.

Economists say oil prices will have to remain relatively high for Venezuela to avoid a default, and much will depend on the duration of a war in Iraq.

There is a also a risk that output volumes will decline in the weeks ahead because of low maintenance of oil wells.

"The financial situation is manageable but extremely critical," said Tamara Herrera, economist with the consultancy Síntesis Financiera.