<a href=www.voanews.com>VOA News 14 Apr 2003, 22:37 UTC

The State Department is urging Venezuelan authorities to probe the bombing of a Caracas office building where negotiators had agreed to work toward a referendum on President Hugo Chavez's rule.

State Department spokesman Philip Reeker said Monday that Washington condemns Saturday's attack by those who seek to undermine what he termed a "significant accord." Mr. Reeker also called on Venezuelan authorities to bring those responsible for the attack to justice.

The blast happened at the Caracas Teleport building one day after Venezuelan government and opposition negotiators reached their deal during talks sponsored by the Organization of American States. The parties agreed that the vote would take place after August 19th, the midpoint of Mr. Chavez's six-year term.

Venezuela's opposition has been pushing for the president's removal. They say he is leading Venezuela toward economic ruin and trying to model the country on communist-run Cuba.

In April of last year, Mr. Chavez was briefly ousted in an unsuccessful coup.

In December, the opposition began a failed nationwide general strike to force the president to resign and call early elections. The two-month labor action was felt most severely in Venezuela's key oil industry.

Fidel Castro Ruz, luego de llegar a Cuba con su revolución “verde como las palmas”, se demoró casi dos años en oficializar su disciplina marxista-leninista, sin embargo, para cuando lo hizo hasta el gato sabía que lo era.

Ya al año se comenzó a ver la tendencia roja que intentaría teñir de comunismo a las verdes palmas solitarias y el corazón de cada cubano, lo que dio paso en la isla a lo que ahora yo me he empeñado en llamar “El Debate del Ismo”.

Salió por ahí cualquier cantidad de intelectuales e intelectualoides, periodistas y “peridiostoides”, analistas y “analistoides” y los pocos políticos vivos y libres que quedaban para entablar un debate nacional sobre el “ismo”.  Uno de ellos, Miguel Ángel Quevedo – editor de la revista Bohemia – terminó volándose la tapa de los sesos en su exilio de la ciudad de Caracas, avergonzado por su participación en la creación del monstruo y, sobre todo, por su ya final actitud pasiva cuando sabía hacia dónde se dirigía Cuba con todos los cubanos encima de ella.

En esa versión editada, aumentada y corregida de aquella discusión bizantina de la Edad Media, el tema a discutir era si Castro lo que instalaría en Cuba sería un comunISMO, un socialISMO... o un nacionalISMO.  Era evidente que estábamos a punto de salir del capitalISMO. 

Mientras este “Debate del Ismo” se llevaba a cabo en Cuba, Castro trabajaba arduamente para controlar todos los resortes del poder y anular cualquier posibilidad de revuelta interna.   Cuando se sintió seguro nos tiró el “tubazo” que ya todos esperábamos:  ¡Sería COMUNISMO!

Hoy en Venezuela se reedita la misma discusión.  ¿Habrá referendo revocatorio?  Todos sabemos que NO LO HABRÁ pero por la misma “extraña” razón que imperó en Cuba, nos estamos “auto-guaraleando” sabrá-Dios con qué fin.

Siempre me he preguntado qué hubiera sido de mi Cuba... de mi casa en Cienfuegos, de mis amigos y de los huesos de mis muertos si los cubanos nos hubiéramos dejado de debates estériles sobre lo que ya todos sabíamos y hubiéramos salido a las calles a que Dios nos acompañara en la lucha por reconquistar la patria que sabíamos perderíamos indefectiblemente.

Hoy me hago la misma pregunta.  ¿Dejaremos que nos arrebaten esta tierra noble, ancha y hermosa que tiene nombre matriarcal?  ¿Tendremos que coger el derrotero del exilio, la prisión, la muerte o la vida mirando al piso por no reaccionar a tiempo ante un mal que todos hemos diagnosticado sin lugar a duda?

Los pueblos – por desgracia – tienden a repetir la historia.

Caracas, 17 de abril de 2003

Robert Alonso robertalonso2003@cantv.net

<a href=www.vheadline.com>Venezuela's Electronic News Posted: Monday, April 14, 2003 By: VenAmCham

VenAmCham's Jose Gregorio Pineda (chief economist) and Jose Gabriel Angarita (economist) write: Venezuela's unemployment will undoubtedly rise to extremely high levels by the end of this year. That prediction is based on the severe difficulties being experienced by the country's private sector, which will be reflected in still more lost jobs.

In the first place, after 2002 ended with a historically unprecedented 8.9% contraction provoked by intense political conflict and poor government economic policy management, an economic climate extremely adverse to business activity has sprung up and has only worsened since the foreign exchange market was shut down on January 21, 2003.

The effects of last year's experience, and those of this year to date, have yet to be reversed; quite the contrary, they have continued and will go on making themselves felt due to the large number of companies with serious operating problems (many have had to shut down). In addition to business, the hardest hit economic sector has been labor, as workers find it increasingly difficult to hold onto their jobs and those already unemployed have less and less of a chance to rejoin the labor market.

Out of the economy's total supply of labor (the 11.7 million members of the Economically Active Population-EAP) according to the National Institute of Statistics (INE), 1.8 million people had no jobs at the end of 2002. Not only that, but the proportion of people working in the economy's informal sector reached 51.2% in the last quarter of 2002, meaning according to the INE that more than 5 million people were doing low-productivity work such as street vending or working in firms with fewer than five employees, as household employees, salespeople, craftsmen, taxi drivers, painters, or carpenters.

The distortions now burdening the economy, the high level of government intervention in economic activity, and the population's falling consumption and purchasing power only make it clearer that labor conditions will continue worsening over the rest of the year. By our estimates, unemployment will reach the 23% to 25% range in 2003, reflecting over 2.5 million unemployed workers. This spreading unemployment, on top of working people's low purchasing power, will deprive more and more Venezuelan households of access to the basic consumption basket (food and services-utilities), which now costs about 600,000 bolivares per month.

Read article in Spanish

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<a href=ogj.pennnet.com>Oil&Gas Journal By OGJ editors

HOUSTON, Apr. 14 -- Petroleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA) says that crude oil production in its eastern division, PDVSA Oriente Northern District, currently is averaging 804,000 b/d, OPEC News Agency reported Friday.

PDVSA said it is utilizing both normal recovery and secondary recovery methods, and production is being accomplished with 800 fewer workers than before the strike. PDVSA also is claiming a production savings of 50¢/bbl because the "estimate for this year was $2.30, and today it is estimated (at) $1.67/bbl."

Scoop Tuesday, 15 April 2003, 9:43 am Speech: US State Department

Remarks at the OAS celebrating Pan American Day Celebrating Pan American Day

Ambassador Peter DeShazo, U.S. Deputy Permanent Representative to the Organization of American States Remarks to Organization of American States Washington, DC April 14, 2003

As President George W. Bush has stated, "This hemisphere is on the path of reform, and our nations travel it together. We share a vision - a partnership of strong and equal and prosperous countries, living and trading in freedom. We'll maintain our vision, because it unleashes the possibilities of every society and recognizes the dignity of every person."

We can be proud that we have advanced that common vision in these Halls. We have taken steps that will help make lives better for the people we serve.

In just the last two years, we have worked as partners to approve the Inter-American Democratic Charter, a bold roadmap for promoting and defending democracy in the Hemisphere.

We negotiated and signed an Inter-American Convention Against Terrorism, a legally-binding document which calls for coordinated action against terrorism by the states of the Americas.

We have revitalized the Inter-American Committee Against Terrorism, engaging all of our neighbors in practical steps to fortify our Hemisphere against terrorism.

We have played an activist role in promoting democratic development in Venezuela and Haiti.

And we have bolstered OAS activities in key areas such as human rights, scholarships, conflict resolution, democracy-building and agricultural development.

Our work continues. We have laid the groundwork for a Hemispheric Security Conference, to be held in Mexico in early May, that will review the threats to our region and undertake new commitments to face them together.

The OAS General Assembly in June already promises to be a productive session in which we will recognize the inexorable link between good governance and economic growth.

This Assembly will help orient the work of our heads of government who have agreed to meet at an interim meeting later this year.

This is multilateralism that works for all of us. It works because of our common values and our mutual respect.

My friends, the Pan American spirit - which is the firm foundation of this grand old building - is alive and well in these halls.

It embraces countries large and small, who have an equal right to speak and to be heard. That is the essence of Pan American spirit. [End]

Released on April 14, 2003