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

National Assembly deputy Tarek William Saab has once again become the butt of lunatic opposition supporters, as he went for a coffee in a store on Avenida Francisco de Miranda. A group of women from the Parque Canaima apartments encircled him, calling him an assassin and shouting anti-Chavez slogans. 

"Since I didn't leave, they became even angrier and mustered supporters via cell phones ... I was surrounded by employees from neighboring offices." 

The deputy's wife and children were insulted and a group of men threatened to give him a sound beating ... "it was not just an example of intolerance but bestiality." 

Saab has thanked the Chacao Police  for rescuing him but adds that he was annoyed that one police agent took a photo when he was being led away circled by police cordon. 

The Movimiento Quinta Republica (MVR) deputy was manhandled and physically threatened when arrested during the April 12 coup last year ... himself and his children have been subject to jibes and fear several times ... one such incident took place in a Caracas restaurant.

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

Rebel Army General (ret.) Enrique Medina Gomez has called on the opposition to form a single block again to bring down the government of Hugo Chavez Frias. 

The Plaza Altamira military rebels have been celebrating six months since they jumped the gun in November 2002 and took over the plaza as the military opposition HQ. 

From forcing the pace of opposition action against Chavez Frias in December, the rebels have become the pariah of the opposition ... nobody wants to touch them with a barge pole, least of all the main opposition group Coordinadora Democratica (CD).

The media reported poor attendance at the anniversary rally but indicate that emotions ran high despite a heavy downpour of rain. 

Medina Gomez insists that Venezuela is fast becoming a totalitarian state and that the only answer is a popular insurrection and stronger civil disobedience. 

"We should not fall into the trap of asking the Armed Force  ( FAN)  to intervene ... the FAN knows what it has to do in the circumstances ... if the FAN has not understood its role in preserving the security of society, it runs the risk of being overrun by society." 

The rebels also condemned the arrest of dismissed National Guard (GN) General Carlos Alfonzo Martinez and the political persecution against officers, who have been forced to seek asylum in Embassies.

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

Breaking down the situation of the Catholic Church in Venezuela, Monsignor Baltazar Porras counters arguments that most of the clergy are foreigners and that there are few native Venezuelan priests. 

The prelate admits that the Independence War saw the demise of the Church, which was also hard hit by President Guzman Blanco's expulsion of bishops and closure of seminaries at the end of the 19th century. 

During the twentieth century the situation was saved by an influx of foreign born clergy and religious giving the impression that the Church had a foreign image, which Porras claims is untrue because many of foreign-born clergy made a sucessful effort to fit in with local mentality. 'The situation has changed ... over the past forty years the Church has consolidated it position in Venezuelan society and has its own native face." 

• In 1964 there were 19 Church dioceses and departments  ... now there are 38
• In 1973, there were 100 major seminarians distributed in 3 seminaries: 2 in Caracas and 1 in San Cristobal
• Today there are 1,096 seminarians: 714 for the diocesan clergy in 17 seminaries and 382 candidates for religious orders in 20 houses of development
• In 2002, there were 83 new priests and the same number is scheduled for this year.

Porras ends his bird's eye view of the Church saying it is a "sign of grace that despite attacks on the Church and disqualifications, young people are ready to become God's servants and help their fellow men." 

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

"Convalescing" Federation of Chambers of Industry & Commerce (Fedecamaras) president, Carlos Fernandez has turned up in the Canary Islands playing the latest hardliner opposition "Cuban Communist card" for all it's worth ... "The Cuban government's interference in Venezuelan affairs is public and notorious." 

According to news reports, Fernandez is currently a legal resident in Miami.

Fernandez calls on the USA government to be more aggressive towards the Chavez Frias administration, which he claims has become a serious threat to US interests in Latin America. 

The man, who refuses to pass the Fedecamaras presidency on to someone else, not that he is ill and living outside of Venezuela, suggests that Venezuela is fast becoming totalitarian and a Cuban satellite ... "the brain is in Havana not Caracas." 

As the most important country in the Americas, Fernandez says the USA must deal with the Cuban-Venezuelan axis which is threatening Central America and democracy on the continent. 

Fernandez was in Canary Islands at the invitation of the Canary Islands Young Businessmen Association which awarded Fedecamaras a special plaque for its work in Venezuela.