<a href=www.vheadline.com>Venezuela's Electronic Journal Posted: Monday, April 28, 2003 By: Patrick J. O'Donoghue

French Surfing enthusiast Yann Perras (28) got the fright of his life during a dream holiday on Venezuela's Isla de Margarita beaches. The civil engineer arrived at his holiday destination on April 10 with his wife and six-month daughter and started surfing on El Yaque beach now famous for its surfing qualities.

On April 11, the experienced surfer went 2 kilometers off shore waiting for the right tide and was fixing his board when he felt his right foot being bitten by a fish. 

Two German yachtsmen spotted the Frenchman's predicament and pulled him to safety on the beach where he was attended by a passing doctor bathing on the beach and later by local firefighters who took him to hospital where he was operated on. 

Margarita Marine Research Museum coordinator, Alfredo Gomez says it was a freak accident and the first time in 50 years that a shark has attacked anyone .... "in the zone where the accident happened, it could have been a Barracuda Grande or a small shark." Perras remained in in a clinic and last Friday returned home to France.

<a href=www.vheadline.com>Venezuela's Electronic News Posted: Monday, April 28, 2003 By: Patrick J. O'Donoghue

Colombian paramilitaries have murdered Patria Para Todos (PPT) Apure State regional leader, Jorge Nieves. According to PPT national leader, Rafael Uzcategui, the death follows documented threats against 15 PPT activists in the border states of Apure and Tachira. 

Nieves worked in the oil industry for the Energy & Mines (MEM)  Ministry and received four bullets, as he parked his car in Guasdualito to join a march for landless peasants. 

In a public  statement, PPT says it will not heed the threats from people attempting to destabilize border areas. Uzcategui insists that the paramilitaries are Colombian and not Venezuela as reported in some newspapers. 

Meanwhile in Zulia State, the Police Detective Branch (PTJ) reports that Self-Defense Units of Colombia (AUC) paramilitaries have killed two Colombian citizens the AUC claims to have been collaborators of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). 

The summary execution took place in the jungle region of Venezuela's Maria Semprun municipality (Zulia).  

Jose Antonio Acevedo Urbina (33)  and Edith Panataleon (42) were shot in the back allegedly escaping an AUC cross-border raid. 

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Office (UNHRC) has confirmed the presence of displaced persons in several border States fleeing the violence in Colombia. 

Reuters, 04.28.03, 1:59 PM ET

SANTIAGO, Chile, April 28 (Reuters) - A U.N. body predicted on Monday that Latin America and the Caribbean would leave behind its economic woes to grow near 2 percent in 2003 but warned that global uncertainty could jeopardize that recovery. The end of Argentina's grueling recession, stronger foreign trade and better access to financing should all support moderate growth, following a 0.6 percent contraction last year, the Santiago-based U.N. Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean said in a report. ECLAC conservatively said growth might fall within a range of 1.5 percent to 2.0 percent, listing the threats as oil price volatility, poor demand in the region's top trade partners, the conflict in Iraq and political turmoil in Venezuela. Earlier this month, ECLAC's chief economist Jose Antonio Ocampo informally ventured the same growth predictions, which have now been made official. Argentina, where presidential candidates are wooing investors ahead of a second round vote on May 18, is expected to surge ahead of the rest of the region, along with Peru, to show economic expansion of 4 percent, ECLAC said. Brazil, the region's largest economy, should grow by 1.8 percent this year, Mexico by 2.4 percent and Chile by 3.5 percent. But Venezuela, mired in a political crisis after a two-month opposition strike, should drag down the regional average, with its economy shrinking 10 percent this year, ECLAC estimated. The expected LatAm growth is still too weak to cut overall poverty rates, according to the organization, which said per capita GDP has declined in half the region over the past five years. "The expected regional GDP growth of close to 2 percent for 2003 will allow a slightly positive per capita growth, though it's too modest to expect an improvement in the region's social situation," ECLAC said.

<a href=www.vheadline.com>Venezuela's Electronic News Posted: Monday, April 28, 2003 By: Kira Marquez Perez

VHeadline.com commentarist Kira Marquez Perez writes: “Money” seems to be the key word for many opponents to the government of President Hugo Chavez Frias and the reason for their frustration and hatred against him.

We have been able to witness a “show of protagonists” (and opportunists) in the Venezuelan opposition during the last months: Carmona, Pena, Ortega, Fernandez (x 2), Salas Romer, Petkoff, Miquelena, Cisneros, etc.

These personalities are prepared to do anything to protect their comfortable positions, from which they have been able to profit (often illegally) at the costs of the nation.

Within PDVSA we have had quite a few good examples too (with Ciavaldini, Mandini and Lameda in front of the list).

Their greed for power and money has been so great that they have even betrayed each other ... that's why most of the things they've done up to now, including coups, strikes, etc, have not worked!

We saw this already in the 1998 elections when AD and Copei betrayed their own candidates and decided to join forces and support Salas Romer to make sure that Chavez didn't win. In spite of these efforts, Mr. Chavez still won the elections with a vast majority.

Since 1998, the “opposition” has united to get rid of Chavez ... however, this union has only been a theoretical one, since their avarice has not allowed them to really work together ... and I really wonder if they will ever be able to do it at all.

These people have tried everything: coups, strikes, bombings, shootings, sabotage, montages, falsifications, etc.

Their favorite tactic, however, has been to destabilize the Venezuelan economy ... they have tried by all means to create a bad image of the country abroad, to stop potential investors from coming to Venezuela.

Their hatred against Chavez is greater than their love for Venezuela, and they are willing to destroy the country if they have to … just to get rid of him.

In this particular, I must say that I was really shocked to read Mr. Gustavo Coronel's latest editorial: I had certainly expected a lot more from a person with his degree of instruction.

I hope Mr. Coronel is aware of the damage he is causing our Venezuela with his fanatical rhetoric.

Kira Marquez Perez was born in Merida where she studied chemistry at the Universidad de los Andes (ULA) with a scholarship from PDVSA as a reward for outstanding participation in the Chemistry Olympics.  She obtained her Diploma (Licenciatura) in 1997 and entered the oil industry the same year,  working in process engineering and quality improvement. Kira has participated in many seminars and congresses all over the world and has won several national and international prizes.  She currently lives in Germany, where she is doing a PhD in Electrochemistry at the Heinrich-Heine-Universitat Dusseldorf ... before that, she lived and studied in England and the USA and speaks several languages fluently.

By Peter Wilson

Caracas, April 28 (<a href=quote.bloomberg.com>Bloomberg) -- Super Octanos SA, one of Venezuela's largest petrochemical companies, will stop production for about two weeks after an explosion and fire Friday killed one worker and injured three others.

A Petroleos de Venezuela SA spokesman said the plant suffered minor damage, mostly to instrument panels. He didn't say how much the losses totaled. An investigation is continuing.

Super Octanos produces methyl tertiary butyl ether, a gasoline additive used to boost octane and add oxygen to make fuel burn cleaner. The company is a joint venture among Venezuela's state petrochemical company Pequiven SA, Italy's Ecofuel and Venezuela's Mercantil Servicios Financieros.

The plant, in the eastern state of Anzoategui, has the capacity to produce 600,000 metric tons a year. Last Updated: April 28, 2003 12:33 EDT