<a href=www.vheadline.com>Venezuela's Electronic News Posted: Thursday, May 01, 2003 By: Patrick J. O'Donoghue

Interior & Justice (MIJ) Minister General (ret.) Lucas Rincon Romero says he thinks somebody or some organization is behind the recent spate of prison riots throughout Venezuela ... "somebody is paying out a lot of money to do this to generate violence in the prisons." 

The General brushes aside criticism saying he is trying to humanize the prison system and will introduce a rotation guard system to avoid abuses and corruption. 

Calling the simultaneous stop-in of relatives in three distinct prisons (Coro, Tocuyito and Rodeo 1) on Sunday, Rincon Romero accused the media of hype and other interested sectors of organizing the riots. "We will get the bandits who are behind this ... they are not concerned about the human beings in the prisons." 

Family members of prisoners, who have been inside since Sunday, have now abandoned the prison precinct after the government agreed to set up flying tribunals to deal with the backlog of cases awaiting a sentence. 

Thu May 1, 2003 02:09 PM ET By Patrick Markey

CARACAS, Venezuela (<a href=asia.reuters.com>Reuters) - Tens of thousands of opponents and supporters of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez packed the streets of Caracas on Thursday, crisscrossing the capital in rival Labor Day marches over his populist rule.

The rallies were the largest since February, when the opposition ended a two-month strike and protest campaign that failed to oust Chavez, a champion of the dispossessed they say has edged Venezuela toward dictatorship and economic ruin.

In a huge fluttering sea of banners, placards and national flags, thousands of Chavez opponents snaked along a Caracas highway in what they billed as a renewed campaign for a referendum to unseat the leftist president.

"Everyone on the streets again to democratically resolve this crisis. We will defeat him. ... From today the people will take the streets," barked Manuel Cova, an anti-Chavez union chief and opposition leader.

Across the western part of the unruly Caribbean capital, a stronghold of Chavez backing, the pro-government rally jammed another highway chanting "Hey ho, Chavez will not go."

National guard troops and police in riot gear kept rival protesters apart when the opposition rally passed through pro-Chavez neighborhoods. Troops sealed off the Miraflores Presidential Palace.

More than a year after Chavez survived a brief military coup in April 2002, this South American nation remains mired in economic crisis and bitter political strife. Dozens have been killed or wounded during street protests in the last year.

A loose alliance of parties, unions and private sector leaders, the opposition remains without clear leadership while Chavez appears determined to press ahead with the self-styled revolution he says aims to ease the plight of the poor.

But Venezuela, the world's No. 5 oil exporter, is battling one of the worst recessions in its history and as much as 80 percent of the population still lives in poverty despite its huge oil wealth.

Opposition leaders hope to trigger a referendum to force Chavez from office after Aug. 19, when the constitution allows for a poll on the president's mandate half way through his current term of office, which ends in early 2007.

"We will have a referendum this year; we will have a new president this year," opposition negotiator Timoteo Zambrano said at the rally.

But internationally backed negotiations over the referendum remain deadlocked after the government backed away from signing an accord that would have paved the way for a vote.

The Organization of American States, which brokered the deal, is scrambling to bring the two sides back to the talks. Representatives from a six-nation group, led by the United States and Brazil, are scheduled to arrive next week in Caracas to back OAS efforts to revive negotiations.

San Francisco Bay Area Independent Media Center by Noam Chomsky Wednesday April 30, 2003 at 10:10 PM

"It had been recognized for some time that with new technology, the industrial powers would probably lose their virtual monopoly of violence, retaining only an enormous preponderance." New Political Science,Volume 25,Number 1

It is widely argued that the September 11 terrorist attacks have changed the world dramatically, that nothing will be the same as the world enters into a new and frightening “age of terror”—the title of a collection of academic essays by Yale University scholars and others, which regards the anthrax attack as even more ominous.1

It had been recognized for some time that with new technology, the industrial powers would probably lose their virtual monopoly of violence, retaining only an enormous preponderance. Well before 9/11, technical studies had concluded that “a well-planned operation to smuggle WMD into the United States would have at least a 90 percent probability of success—much higher than ICBM delivery even in the absence of [National Missile Defense].” That has become “America’s Achilles Heel,” a study with that title concluded several years ago. Surely the dangers were evident after the 1993 attempt to blow up the World Trade Center, which came close to succeeding along with much more ambitious plans, and might have killed tens of thousands of people with better planning, the WTC building engineers reported.2

On September 11, the threats were realized: with “wickedness and awesome cruelty,” to recall Robert Fisk’s memorable words, capturing the world reaction of shock and horror, and sympathy for the innocent victims. For the first time in modern history, Europe and its offshoots were subjected, on home soil, to atrocities of the kind that are all too familiar elsewhere. The history should be unnecessary to review, and though the West may choose to disregard it, the victims do not. The sharp break in the traditional pattern surely qualifies 9/11 as an historic event, and the repercussions are sure to be significant. The consequences will, of course, be determined substantially by policy choices made within the United States. In this case, the target of the terrorist attack is not Cuba or Lebanon or Chechnya or a long list of others, but a state with an awesome potential for shaping the future. Any sensible attempt to assess the likely consequences will naturally begin with an investigation of US power, how it has been exercised, particularly in the very recent past, and how it is interpreted within the political culture.

At this point there are two choices: we can approach these questions with the rational standards we apply to others, or we can dismiss the historical and contemporary record on some grounds or other.

28 pages more. <a href=sf.indymedia.org>Read the complete article.

<a href=reuters.com>Reuters, Thu May 1, 2003 01:24 PM ET (The following statement was released by the rating agency) Approximately $ 250 Million of Debt Securities Affected

NEW YORK, May 1 - Moody's Investors Service changed the rating outlook for the U.S. $250 million secured bonds of FertiNitro Finance Inc. to developing from negative. The rating continues to be Caa2. FertiNitro Finance Inc. is a financing vehicle whose debt is guaranteed by Fertilizantes Nitrogenados de Venezuela, Fertinitro, C.E.C ("FertiNitro"). The change in outlook reflects amendments to Fertinitro's bank debt agreements that will give the project more flexibility after being weakened by numerous difficulties with the start-up and operation of the facilities, and by the national strike in Venezuela.

It also reflects signs of improvement in the operations of the plant as those difficulties are addressed. Under the amendments, 2003 principal repayment obligations have been deferred until 2004-2007, $10 million of sponsor equity has been contributed for capital expenditures, the Second Reliability Test deadline has been extended until at least November 30, 2005, $50 million of additional sponsor equity has been committed for the payment of debt service, and restricted payments are not allowed until parameters surrounding the new Second Reliability Test date are met.

Ammonia and urea production restarted on Train 2 with the resumption of significant gas supplies from PDVSA following the strike. The Train 2 waste heat boiler is now undergoing replacement while Train1 operates with a new waste heat boiler recently installed. Production for Train 2 in March, 2003 was running at or above capacity. Prices have recovered dramatically from the fall of 2002, backed by strong U.S. natural gas prices and a return to favorable conditions in its target U.S. markets. The project's net realization of $190/mt for ammonia and $160/mt for urea of late has supported recovery efforts. The developing outlook reflects expectations of continued operational improvements and higher product floor prices, but also considers the August presidential referendum as it may impact PDVSA and the feedstock gas supply, while cash flow and liquidity remain tight.

FertiNitro is 35%-owned indirectly by Koch Jose Cayman Limited, ultimately majority-owned by Koch Industries Inc. through other Koch subsidiaries ("Koch"), 35%-owned by Petroquimica de Venezuela, S.A. ("Pequiven"), a wholly-owned subsidiary of PDVSA, 20%-owned by Snamprogetti, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Snamprogetti S.p.A., and 10%-owned by Polar Jose Investments, Limited ("Polar"), ultimately owned directly and indirectly by the Polar Group.