<a href=www.sun-sentinel.com>South Florida Sun Sentinel By Sandra Hernandez STAFF WRITER Posted April 12 2003

MIAMI · Exactly one year after President Hugo Chávez was briefly ousted from power in a bizarre and violent coup attempt, Venezuelans recalled the day in an array of ways from protests to quiet moments -- a reflection of the deep divisions that split the South American nation.

In Miami, dozens of protestors carried flags and blew whistles at a candlelight vigil to remember the dead and call for the removal of Chávez.

"I'm here tonight to remember those who lost their lives," said Miriam Salas, who was in the capital city of Caracas on April 11 when the violence broke out. "I never imagined that so many people would die that day. I just remember walking, and then running for cover. I don't think anyone who marched that day could have imagined what was to come."

Just a few miles away in Coral Gables, however, a supporter of Chávez chose to remember the day quietly.

"I called some friends just to see how things are back there," said Carlos Matamoros, a local radio host who supports the charismatic but controversial leader. "I don't plan on making a celebration of this day. I think you remember this tragic day quietly and hope it never repeats itself."

Last April 11, Caracas was turned into a battleground after a protest march calling for the removal of Chávez turned deadly. Shots rang out as the throng of marchers approached the presidential office, leaving 19 people dead and scores injured. Military leaders who blamed the president for the violence briefly forced Chávez out. A temporary government was installed, but it collapsed after leaders announced they were dissolving the constitution and most of the government institutions.

Less than 48 hours later, troops and supporters loyal to the president restored him to office.

Chávez appeared on television the following day and promised to bring unity and restore order in the country.

But a year later, Venezuela remains one of the most polarized places in the region with an ongoing battle between Chávez's opponents who vow to remove him from office and his supporters who say they will back him.

"The country is worse off today than a year ago," says Alfredo Keller, a Venezuelan analyst and pollster. "There is very high unemployment, crime is a real problem and the economy is on the verge of collapsing."

Unemployment is near 20 percent, murders are at an all-time high and hundreds of small businesses have shut down while larger companies fled months ago.

Venezuela has the largest oil reserves outside the Middle East and is a key provider of fuel to the United States.

Moreover, the country's opposition movement that spurred the coup now appears to be confused. The leaders of a two-month-long strike that paralyzed the country and shut down its oil production are scattered.

Labor leader Carlos Ortega has sought political asylum in Costa Rica. And the two remaining leaders -- Carlos Fernandez, who heads the country's largest business chamber, along with Juan Fernandez -- were both in South Florida this weekend.

"The danger right now in Venezuela is the more time that goes on, the more radicalized the both sides become," Fernandez said during an interview in the Weston home of a friend.

But the 53-year-old businessman insists the opposition will remain intact to push for an August referendum that would open the door for removing Chávez.

"I'm not sure that there will be a referendum, but we will push for that," he said.

Until now, Chávez had not committed to calling for a referendum, but on Friday, the government and members of the opposition agreed to hold a vote after Aug. 19.

The agreement could lead to a peaceful solution of an otherwise untenable crisis, according to analysts.

"We are headed toward a crisis when August comes, unless there is some vote," said Keller, the analyst. "I imagine the opposition will do everything possible to get it done and the government will try and stall it and blame the opposition. If that happened, you will have a very serious crisis."

<a href=www.independent.com.mt>Independent On line Web posted on April 12, 2003 at 9:00:00 AM CET Sandra Aquilina

Malta will go to the voting booths for the second time in two months today.

The Electoral Commission said the number of voters for today’s election totalled 294,106. A total of 2,376 voting documents were not collected compared to around 1,800 in 1998.

In addition, just under 1,500 people have died of the 297,930 listed on the March electoral register, which was up from the 297,860 listed in the October 2002 register.

A total of 177 candidates are contesting today’s election. The Nationalist Party is fielding the largest number of candidates – 84 – while the Malta Labour Party has 77 candidates. A total of 15 candidates will contest on an Alternattiva Demokratika ticket and one independent candidate is contesting for the third district.

Economist Victor Zammit, who has cast his nomination on behalf of the Ghal Gid ta’ Ghawdex group, will not be contesting after a court ruled he was ineligible as he was not a registered voter and that there was a definite obstacle to his candidature.

A total of 70 candidates will be contesting the election in two districts, bringing the total number of nominations to 247. The sixth district has the lowest number of candidates contesting, with 14 candidates, while the ninth district has the highest at 23.

The eighth district will see a battle between the three leaders – Eddie Fenech Adami (PN), Alfred Sant (MLP) and Harry Vassallo (AD).

Just five weeks ago, the electorate was called out to the polls to vote in the referendum on European Union membership Voting hours will remain the same, with Maltese and Gozitans being able to vote between 7am and 10pm. The electoral commission has announced that people over 70 will be given precedence in the voting booths. People over 60 will be allowed to go the head of the jump the queues on presentation of their kartanzjan between 1pm and 5pm. The same will apply to people suffering from an illness on presentation of a medical certificate.

More than 3,000 electoral commissioners and assistant commissioners voted at Ta’ Qali yesterday as they will be manning the polling booths today.

After 10pm the boxes will be sealed and taken to Ta’ Qali where they will be sorted and the counting – after the reconciliation – will begin. This procedure is expected to take a number of hours.

The Electoral Commission did not give any indication of when the initial results will be issued. In past elections, results started trickling out early in the afternoon of Sunday.

The Department of Information will be publishing the official results of the general election on its website www.doi.gov.mt. First to be published this evening will be the percentage turnouts in all the electoral districts. The official results of all the counts of each district will continue to be updated until the end of the counting process.

State television station PBS, Nationalist station Net TV and Labour Party channel Super One are expected to give live coverage of the events as they unfold at Ta’ Qali.

Results in Malta in previous elections have been perilously close, with the MLP winning with 50.7 per cent of the votes in 1996, and the PN garnering 47.8 per cent of the votes.

Tables were turned in 1998 when the PN won the election with 51.8 per cent of the votes, while the MLP took 47 per cent.

AD managed 1.46 per cent of the votes in 1996 and 1.21 per cent in 1998.

And while the Maltese and Gozitan people will be flocking to the voting booths, other events of international importance will be happening elsewhere in the world.

Hungarians will also be heading to the polls to vote in a referendum on EU membership.

There will be a national anti-war demonstration in Rome and a Stop the War Coalition will try to organise another mammoth march against the Iraq conflict. Protests are also planned in Italy, Denmark, Sweden and other countries.

In Caracas, Venezuela, President Hugo Chavez will hold a democracy forum to mark the first anniversary of the military coup that ousted him, albeit briefly. There will also be legislative elections in Abuja, Nigeria.

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Bush Subconsciously Sizes Up Spain For Invasion by onion Saturday April 12, 2003 at 12:26 AM

WASHINGTON, DC--During a White House meeting with visiting Spanish prime minister and fellow allied-forces leader Jose Maria Aznar, President Bush subconsciously sized up Spain for invasion Monday.

WASHINGTON, DC—During a White House meeting with visiting Spanish prime minister and fellow allied-forces leader Jose Maria Aznar, President Bush subconsciously sized up Spain for invasion Monday.

"Aznar was pledging his ongoing support for the Iraqi war effort when, out of nowhere, this odd look came across George's face," National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice said. "He sat quiet for a moment, like he was going to say something, but then he just shook his head as if to chase the thought away."

At the meeting, Aznar ruled out sending Spanish combat troops to Iraq but pledged to provide a hospital vessel, a mine-clearing unit, a team of chemical-detection experts, and several oil tankers.

"And you have no nuclear weapons, right?" Bush asked Aznar. "And no chemical or biological weapons or anything like that? Just curious."

Aznar also promised that if Iraq attacks neighboring Turkey, he would contribute six F-18 warplanes, a Hercules C-130 refueling plane, and a search-and-rescue helicopter.

"The Hercules C-130," said Bush, staring off into the distance. "Those are pretty old. Hmm."

As the conversation turned toward the siege of Baghdad, Bush interrupted and returned to the subject of Spain's military strength—or lack thereof.

"So, all in all, your country has 105,000 standing troops total?" Bush said. "That's it?"

Aznar later told Bush that Spain's King Juan Carlos sent his greetings, once again piquing the president's interest.

"It seems a bit outdated to have a king," Bush said. "Are your people happy with him? Do you think your people would rather rule themselves, like in a democracy?"

Aznar explained that Spain is a constitutional monarchy.

"The prime minister must be approved by our legislature," Aznar told Bush. "You see, each of our autonomous regions has its own regional government and exercises legislative and executive authority in the manner outlined by the national constitution."

Bush then asked about Spain's longstanding troubles with separatist groups.

"That situation with the Catalans and the Basques," Bush said. "How serious is that?"

When Aznar inquired as to why Bush was asking, the president said he "was just wondering, for no reason."

"There was something strange about his questions, although I cannot put my finger on it," Aznar said. "And he seemed very excited about the anti-government protests in Madrid a few days ago, until I told him they were protesting our involvement in the Iraq war."

Secretary of State Colin Powell, who was in attendance, also noticed some unusual behavior on the part of Bush.

"During the meeting, the president was absentmindedly doodling on some documents, one of which had a map of Europe on it," Powell said. "I noticed he drew a series of arrows originating on the Canary Islands and moving in toward Madrid."

Powell recalled that during last month's summit in the Azores, Bush seemed oddly fixated on Spain.

"[Bush] said Spain didn't seem to be all that prosperous for a nation whose main export is oil," Powell said. "I told him Spain doesn't produce a lot of oil. Finally, we figured he must've been thinking of olive oil, and we both had a big laugh about it."

Powell said that upon returning home from the Azores summit, Bush continued to insist that "there is some big oil-producing nation that speaks Spanish."

"I told him he must be thinking of Venezuela," Powell said. "They are very rich in oil. So now he wants a full report on Venezuela by Monday. Ever since this war with Iraq, he's been a real geography buff."

www.theonion.com

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Canoe Saturday, April 12, 2003 By CP

TORONTO -- Convicted mobster Alfonso Caruana is facing the possibility of more jail time after Italy filed a request for his extradition.

Already serving an 18-year sentence for running what authorities called one of the largest drug-smuggling rings in the world, Caruana was slapped yesterday with an extradition request from Italy, where he's been convicted in absentia of mob association and conspiracy and sentenced to 21 years.

Caruana was arrested yesterday morning at Fenbrook Institution near Gravenhurst, Ont., and brought to a Toronto courthouse. The case was put over until April 24.

Patrick Charette, a spokesman for the federal Justice Department, said the Italian government now has 45 days to forward its case for extradition, after which the department will have another 30 days to consider it. If the minister of justice approves the request, the case will then go before a judge, Charette said.

Caruana and three relatives pleaded guilty in 2000 to operating the sprawling Cuntrera-Caruana crime family, described at the time as the most powerful Mafia drug clan in the world.

BILLION-DOLLAR DRUG OPERATION

The family left Sicily in the 1960s and set up shop in Venezuela, where they rapidly assembled a billion-dollar drug operation capable of shipping heroin, cocaine and hashish by the tonne.

They later moved to Montreal, where members would make bank deposits with hockey bags of cash, before shifting headquarters to a quiet home in Woodbridge, Ont., near Toronto.

sf.indymedia.org

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U.S. And Turkish Forces Out Of Iraqi Kurdistan! by STEVE ARGUE Saturday April 12, 2003 at 05:39 PM steveargue2@yahoo.com

END THE OCCUPATION! BRING THE TROOPS HOME NOW! FULL RIGHTS FOR THE LONG SUFFERING KURDISH PEOPLE!

Stop The Ethnic Killing! U.S. And Turkish Forces Out Of Iraqi Kurdistan! lists.riseup.net

By STEVE ARGUE

The celebrations of Iraqi Kurds in Kirkuk are now marred by bloodshed. According to KurdishMedia.Com, “Pro-Turkish Turkmens in Kirkuk City are said to be killing Kurds celebrating the downfall of the Iraqi regime. According to a reliable source in the city, pro-Turkish Turkmen militias have killed at least 15 Kurds who have joined the Thursday celebrations of Kirkuk’s liberation. The source added that the Turkmen militias also engaged in wide spread looting of Kurdish houses and properties after the forced retreat of Kurdish Peshmarga forces from Kirkuk earlier today.” (April 11)

This follows an April 10 statement by U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell saying he had reached an agreement with Turkey to have Kurdish forces pull back from Kirkuk. Kirkuk is an oil rich city that would be an essential economic pillar in the establishment of a free and independent Kurdistan in Iraqi territory. Turkey, a country that carries out discrimination and genocide against its own Kurdish population, has made very clear its opposition to an independent Kurdistan in Iraqi territory, especially if it includes Kirkuk. Turkey fears that such a liberated Kurdistan would inspire Kurdish aspirations for national self-determination within Turkey.

Colin Powel’s intervention in Kirkuk is just one in a long line of anti-Kurd actions by the United States government. While the U.S. government cried crocodile tears for Iraqi Kurds the U.S. government supplied the military hardware to kill Turkish Kurds as well as the poison gas to kill Iraqi Kurds before Persian Gulf War #1.

In addition to these proxy genocides on the Kurdish people the U.S. government has participated directly in the war on Kurds. This occurred on February 15, 1999 when U.S. forces kidnapped Kurdish Worker’s Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan and turned him over to the genocidal Turkish government. Subsequently Abdullah Ocalan was sentenced to death for his role in defending Kurdish territory in Turkey from the murderous Turkish military. This U.S. kidnapping was admitted on CNN TV by former Turkish President and ethnic cleanser Suleyman Demiral.

Powel’s assurances to Turkey on Kirkuk are a violation of the national rights of the Kurdish nation and should be resisted by all Kurdish armies. Anything less will be a vile capitulation to the interests of the Turkish capitalists and U.S. imperialism and a betrayal of the Kurdish people.

As Dr Kamal Mirawdeli has stated, “Kirkuk is the test of patriotism or treason, of being peshmarga of people or Jash of Turkey. Those who are ready to surrender are not leaders. They are ready to sell their honor and reputation as well as the dignity of our people. The masses of Kurdistan and Kurds in Diaspora will not accept and forgive this unforgivable capital treason. No one has right to trample upon our martyrs and sell our honor and dignity for a job in Baghdad.”

The good doctor continues, “These people do not represent any one but their own selfish interests and small ideas. The Kurdish people everywhere will oppose them and dishonor them if they surrender to a simple threat by Turkish fascists. We must be ready to fight the Turks or anyone else for our natural justice to return to our homes and organize our affairs by ourselves. We shall not accept any role for Turkey in any circumstances. Stay in Kirkuk. Occupy and fortify all strategic positions. Ask tens of thousands of Kurds to join Kurdish people in Kirkuk.”

Such a stand by the Kurds would run up against the Turkish interests of seeing Kurds silent by oppression or death, and the U.S. corporate interest in stealing the profits made off of Kurdistan’s oil. By taking such a necessary stand the Kurdish people will be forced to resist an all out invasion of Turkey into Kurdistan (Turkey already has thousands of troops operating in Kurdistan) and Kurds will be forced to resist the U.S. occupation of Iraq.

Under these conditions it is essential that a united socialist resistance to the Anglo-American occupation be formed that:

1. Fights for the right of the Kurdish national minority to control their land and resources, and to speak their own language.
2. Fights for the rights of all religious minorities and majorities to practice their religion without discrimination.
3. Opposes U.S. control of the economy and fights against the privatization of shipping and oil so that the profits made can continue to be used for social programs as they were under the regime of Saddam Hussein. Those programs should be greatly expanded under a planned socialist economy that does not exclude national and religious groups.
4. For a continuation of the liberated role Iraqi women have played in Iraqi society under Saddam Hussein in opposition to the puppet government the U.S. is setting up as well as in opposition to any anti-occupation forces who may not have an enlightened view on the rights of women.
5. Fights against the occupation of all Iraqi territories by American, British, and Turkish militaries as a primary first step in the liberation of Iraq, and in doing so recognizes those imperialist forces, as well as any participating puppet leaders they install, as military targets.

In adopting such a program the opposition would be following in the best traditions of Tito who united the diverse ethnic and religious groups of Yugoslavia in the partisan resistance that drove the Nazi occupiers out of their country during World War 2.

Such a socialist opposition would see a commonality with Dr. Kamal Mirawdeli in his appeal to Kurds, which states: “Let Kurdish Parliament convene immediately and if the two leaderships have any sense of patriotism and dignity, they should ask parliament:

1. To declare the unification of the two [Kurdish] administrations (even if nominally at this point)
2. To declare Kirkuk as the capital of the joint unified government.
3. To agree a timetable to move the government to Kirkuk as soon as possible.
4. To ask Kurdish people everywhere to be vigilant and be prepared to fight for freedom.
5. To declare a three day festival on the occasion of one government in Kirkuk and ask the Kurds for massive marches and demonstrations to support this patriotic resolution.”

While the regime of Saddam Hussein was no friend to the Iraqi Kurdish people, this of course has nothing to do with why the United States government hates Hussein. This hatred by the U.S. capitalist government is not based on humanitarian concerns. They hate Saddam Hussein for the good things he did, such as the nationalization of Iraqi oil that benefited the people of Iraq by keeping oil wealth in the country for social programs and benefited of the Iraqi economy.

The ill treatment of Kurds under the regime of Saddam Hussein has led to alliances of Iraqi Kurdish opposition with U.S. imperialism. Yet these alliances, as pointed out by Dilip Hiro in “Iraq: Eye Of The Storm” were not meant to help the Kurds create an independent state. Instead the U.S. “refused to help quasi-independent Kurdistan graduate to an independent state while vetoing the region’s return to Baghdad’s jurisdiction. All it wanted was to deploy the Kurds as a lever to keep Saddam down.”

Today’s imperialist intervention against the Kurdish right to Kirkuk proves, all the more, Hiro’s contention. How the Kurdish leadership responds to this challenge will define whether or not they represent a true leadership for the Kurdish people, or if they are the lap dogs of imperialism.

While defending Iraq against imperialist attack and supporting their right to defend themselves socialists also recognized that Saddam Hussein is a capitalist leader and that the Iraqi people, especially the Kurds, have their own scores to settle with him. Yet any government set up by a U.S. occupation army will not be democratic, will not support Kurdish rights, and will only lead to the privatization of the resources that American oil monopolies intend to steal.

America’s so-called concern for human rights can be seen in the past US interventions in Iraq. Saddam Hussein’s Ba’ath Party first came to power in 1963. Immediately after taking power, based on lists provided by the CIA, they rounded up 5,000 leftists and trade-union leaders and murdered them. After the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait we were shown pictures of Iraqi Kurds killed by poison gas in the U.S. media. What we were not told is why the US was silent when this was happening and the fact that the US supplied the gas to kill the Kurds and to kill Iranians in the Iran-Iraq war. While we are now told of the Iraqi repression of the Kurdish people we are not told of how the Turkish government is carrying out the same policies of genocide against the Turkish Kurds, and doing it with U.S. weaponry.

Many of the Kurds know that their national interest to self-determination will never be established by the “liberating” forces of Turkey and Iran or British and American imperialism. This will only be established by the Kurds themselves and by the alliances they build with other anti-imperialist forces. British imperialism divided Kurdistan, a country with its own unique language and culture, into a minority inside the nations of Iraq, Turkey, Syria, and Iran. Today the Kurds are the largest nation without a homeland in the world. Imperialism, with its motto of divide and conquer, never has and never will solve the Kurdish question. A free and united Kurdistan will only be born through a sweeping socialist revolution that overthrows the capitalist regimes of Turkey, Iran, Iraq, and Syria while challenging the dictates and military of the United States.

On both scores, both the defense of the Iraqi nation from imperialism, as well as the liberation of the Kurdish nation, Arab nationalism alone has proven to be incapable of effective resistance. Arab capitalist governments, while giving lip service of opposition to the U.S. invasion of Iraq to placate their own people, continued to provide gasoline to the invading Anglo-American forces. Likewise these capitalist nations are not friends of the Kurdish resistance. This points to the need to build a stronger socialist resistance in the Middle East that that exposes and overthrows fake anti-imperialist U.S. puppet governments in the region and uses their oil resources to benefit the people.

Just as the U.S. ruling class hates governments like Iraq, Libya, and Venezuela who use the profits of their oil resources partly to benefit the people with social programs. Likewise they love capitalist governments like that of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait that strip the people of all their rights and keep the oil profits in the hands of the international oil monopolies and their corrupt local servants. As such the U.S. imperialists are willing to tolerate empty anti-imperialist and radical Islamic proclamations from such countries.

Today in the United States we face unemployment, homelessness, and a lack of health care. The billions of dollars the U.S. is squandering on killing Iraqis and Kurds to steal their resources should be spent to benefit the working class and poor of the United States. Workers in the United States have nothing in common with the oilmen and military profiteers who are carrying out the occupation of Iraq and Kurdistan.

END THE OCCUPATION!

BRING THE TROOPS HOME NOW!

FULL RIGHTS FOR THE LONG SUFFERING KURDISH PEOPLE!

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