<a href=smartmoney.com>Dow jones April 4, 2003

CARACAS -(Dow Jones)- Venezuela will have to ration electricity from about the end of May because a severe drought has reduced hydroelectric reservoir levels to a 53-year low, the government's Venpres news agency reported Friday.

"If this one-year-old drought continues, we'll be forced to ration electricity by the end of May," Miguel Lara, the National Grid's managing director was quoted as saying.

The government hopes to make up for some of the likely hydroelectric power shortfall with extra thermoelectric power, according to Lara.

State-run hydroelectric electricity provider Edelca usually serves about 70% of Venezuela's power needs. Thermoelectric power accounts for most of the remainder, with about 18% coming from government-owned facilities and around 12% from AES Corp.(AES) subsidiary CA La Electricidad de Caracas, which supplies Caracas and its suburbs.

Power cuts in Venezuela's industrial belt could affect the oil, iron, steel, and aluminum industries - which make up around 50% of gross domestic product - even as the country fights an enduring recession highlighted by an 8.9% economic contraction last year.

Electricity demand last year was 89,562 GWh, 2.8% higher than in 2001.

• By Jehan Senaratna, Dow Jones Newswires;58212 564 1339 jehan.senaratna@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

CNN.com Friday, April 4, 2003 Posted: 1905 GMT ( 3:05 AM HKT)

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) -- A gunfight between inmates in a central Venezuelan prison left four dead and 10 injured Friday, police said.

The rioting broke out after prisoners in the medium security section tried to enter the maximum security area of Uribana prison in Lara state, 175 miles (280 kilometers) south of Caracas, said state police officer Victor Alvarado.

National Guard troops were dispatched to restore order. The injured prisoners were taken to a nearby hospital.

Riots are common in Venezuela's 32 overcrowded and understaffed prisons, where almost half of inmates are in pre-trial detention.

There were 244 deaths and more than 1,200 injuries in prisons between October 2001 and September 2002, according to the U.S. State Department 2002 Human Rights Report. Most of the deaths resulted from fighting between prisoners, the report said.

<A HREF=www.business-standard.com>BUSINESS-STANDARD.COM Pradeep Puri in New Delhi Published : April 5, 2003

In order to reduce its dependence on the Persian Gulf for the supply of crude, the government is planning to import and float at least 15 days' inventories for public sector refineries by hiring very large crude carriers.

Fifteen days of crude requirement of public sector refineries works out to around 2 million tonnes.

The government is planning to import crude from regions outside the Persian Gulf for floating the inventories.

It may enter into contracts with oil exporting countries like Norway, Nigeria, Angola, Egypt, Venezuela, Yemen, Oman, Russia and Malaysia.

As per the estimates made by Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), inventory carrying costs will come to Rs 25 crore a month, floatation costs will be Rs 40 crore a month, and costs due to inferior yields and higher freight will be Rs 225 crore.

IOC has said the costs of holding such inventories, including the interest on capital blocked for this purpose, demurrage and other incremental costs incurred, should be reimbursed by the government "as these companies are carrying inventories and taking other measures to ensure the supply of crude to the country".

The crude refining capacity in the country is around 115 million tonnes per annum (mmtpa). However, domestic crude production is in only 30 mmtpa. The shortfall of about 85 mmtpa has to be, therefore, met through imports.

Public sector oil companies account for about 47 mmtpa of the crude imported, while private sector companies account for 38 mmtpa.

Crude is mostly imported from West Asia, which accounts for about 60 per cent of India's crude imports. The balance comes from countries like Malaysia, Nigeria, Venezuela, Mexico and Egypt.

<a href=www.vheadline.com>Venezuela's Electronic News Posted: Friday, April 04, 2003 By: Patrick J. O'Donoghue

During a visit to Apure State President Hugo Chavez Frias says Venezuela needs a Judiciary that really administers justice and that does not side with the rich. In an obvious reference to powerful agricultural sectors of Apure, the President commented that there are cases of rich people who rape, rob and murder and never go to prison and if they do, they are let free within two weeks. 

Chavez Frias signed an agreement with local economic sectors at Apure State Ezequiel Zamora College to promote integral development, especially in grazing and forage quality, cattle, buffalo rearing, pig farming, fisheries and tourism. 

"We must free this State of feudal landownership." 

Guasdualito town will receive 5 billion bolivares for housing reconstruction projects and another 10 billion for 750 new housing solutions. 

• $2 million will be channeled into recovering the 64-kilometer Elorza-Mantecal highway and $4 million has been allotted to improving the Bruzual-Elorza highway. 

Storekeepers whose businesses were hit by last year's severe floods will also receive credits.

<a href=www.vheadline.com>Venezuela's Electronic News Posted: Friday, April 04, 2003 By: Patrick J. O'Donoghue

Leonardo Jose Leal (15) Ballesteros, who disappeared during the 1999 Vargas State natural disaster,  has been found in Charallave (Miranda) where a family had given him lodging. The teenager still has mental lapses and is being treated by a psychiatrist to help him recover his memory. 

Leal Ballesteros lived with his parents and three brothers in Playa Verde Catia La Mar before a mudslide buried the house ... it is presumed that they died in the disaster.  He says he does not remember how he got to Charallave (Miranda)  except that a family took him in and he has been with them ever since.

Neighbor Ricardo Alfonso Barreto has been helping Leonardo Jose piece together parts of his life and took him to Vargas State last week to see if it would help. They have been able to get Leonardo Jose's identity ratified at the Passport & Identification Office (Oni-Dex). Vargas Prefect Glady Pacheco has sent photographs to local schools to see if anyone can remember the young man or his family.