<a href=www.vheadline.com>Venezuela's Electronic News Posted: Monday, May 05, 2003 By: Patrick J. O'Donoghue

Hot on the heels of opposition groups, Primero Justicia (PJ) and Proyecto Venezuela (PV), Alianza Civica (consisting of Elias Santana's Queremos Elegir, Movimiento 1.011 and Ciudadania Activa) have launched an appeal to Coordinadora Democratica (CD) to undertake a citizen consultation process to clear the air once and for all to see if a single candidacy to stand against President Hugo Chavez Frias is convenient or not. 

Santana is at pains to explain that the proposal is not a rapid answer to PV leader, Henrique Salas Romer's launching of his candidacy ... "it's exercising citizen power and the right to elections ... it still has to be discussed whether the outcome of the consultation is binding or not ... it will be a instrument to guide the CD decisions regarding single candidacy, re-election limitations and guidelines for a transition period." 

The self-proclaimed civil sector leader warns that President Chavez Frias is already on the campaign trail and the opposition must act quickly and efficiently. "Complaints that Chavez Frias doesn't want a recall referendum must stop now ... the government reads polls and is getting ready."

Launching a PR campaign called "Democratic Rule," Santana says it consists of 7 stages:

• Appointment of National Electoral College (CNE)
• Delivery of signatures requesting recall referendum on August 20
• Obtaining international tutelage
• Popular consultation
• Defining the problem of a single candidacy
• Convocation of presidential elections
• Installation of a transition government of national unity.

By Peter Wilson

Caracas, May 5 (<a href=quote.bloomberg.com>Bloomberg) -- Mercantil Servicios Financieros CA, holding company for Venezuela's largest bank, said first-quarter profit soared 53 percent as it boosted lending.

Net income rose to 51.8 billion bolivars ($32 million), or 131 bolivars a share, from 33.7 billion bolivars, or 92 bolivars, for the same period a year earlier, the company said in a release.

Mercantil said its loan portfolio expanded 60 percent to 4.09 trillion bolivars from 2.56 trillion bolivars in March 2002. Provisions for loan losses more than doubled to 48.7 billion bolivars from 19.6 billion bolivars.

The company bought back 8.4 percent of its stock as of March 31 as part of a share repurchase program, Mercantil Servicios said in a statement.

Mercantil Servicios includes Banco Mercantil, an insurance company and brokerage. Last Updated: May 5, 2003 09:05 EDT

Oliver Burkeman in Washington and Jo Tuckman in Mexico City Monday May 5, 2003 The Guardian

A data-gathering company that was embroiled in the Florida 2000 election fiasco is being paid millions of dollars by the Bush administration to collect detailed personal information on the populations of foreign countries, enraging several governments who say the records may have been illegally obtained.

US government purchasing documents show that the company, ChoicePoint, received at least $11m (£6.86m) from the department of justice last year to supply data - mainly on Latin Americans - that included names and addresses, occupations, dates of birth, passport numbers and "physical description". Even tax records and blood groups are reportedly included.

Nicaraguan police have raided two offices suspected of providing the information. The revelations threaten to shatter public trust in electoral institutions, especially in Mexico, where the government has begun an investigation.

The controversy is not the first to engulf ChoicePoint. The company's subsidiary, Database Technologies, was responsible for bungling an overhaul of Florida's voter registration records, with the result that thousands of people, disproportionately black, were disenfranchised in the 2000 election. Had they been able to vote, they might have swung the state, and thus the presidency, for Al Gore, who lost in Florida by a few hundred votes.

Legal experts in the US and Mexico said ChoicePoint could be liable for prosecution if those who supplied it with the personal information could be proven to have broken local laws. That raises the possibility that any person whose data was accessible to American officials could take legal action against the US government.

"Anybody who felt they were affected by this could take the US government to court," said Julio Tellez, an expert in Mexican information legislation at the Tec de Monterrey University. "We could all do it ... We are not prepared to sell our intimacies for a fistful of dollars."

How the US is using the information remains mysterious, although its focus on Latin America suggests obvious applications in targeting illegal immigrants. Whatever the reasons, its commitment to ChoicePoint is long-term: last year's $11m payment was part of a contract worth $67m that runs until 2005.

ChoicePoint denied breaking any laws. "All information collected by ChoicePoint on foreign citizens is obtained legally from public agencies or private vendors," it said. It also denied purchasing "election registry information" from Mexico.

By CAROL SLIWA MAY 05, 2003 Content Type: Story Source: Computerworld

 Some IT managers aren't happy. Others are more understanding. But all of those planning to upgrade to Windows Server 2003 will find that many older versions of Microsoft Corp.'s most popular server applications won't run on the new operating system.

Only SQL Server 2000 with Service Pack 3 can be installed on Windows Server 2003. Users running SQL Server 6.5 or 7.0 will have to upgrade or wait for the SQL release code-named Yukon, which will soon go into beta testing.

Exchange Server users have one choice. The only version that can be installed on the new operating system is Exchange 2003, and it's not due until summer.

"I think Microsoft owes it to their customers to ensure backwards compatibility and interoperability for at least five years," said Derek Gee, vice president and director of system architecture and integration at Ameriquest Mortgage Co. in Orange, Calif.

"Another reason Microsoft should support some of their older versions is to maintain customer loyalty," said Steve Sommer, CIO at Hughes, Hubbard & Reed LLP in New York. "There are some big customers that cannot afford to upgrade right now."

Many users are sympathetic to Microsoft's claims that extensive security, Web server and Active Directory improvements affect not only the operating system but also any applications that rely on it. They said they understand why some older applications won't be supported on Windows Server 2003.

"If it's really a major upgrade, then Microsoft can't be expected to make substantial improvements to the product while at the same time bringing along all its old baggage," said Rich Eber, development service director at Hawaiian Electric Co. in Honolulu.

But if users find that the core Windows server operating system hasn't changed internally as much as Microsoft has portrayed, "there should be a backlash against this lack of support," Eber said.

Neville Teagarden, CIO at Navigant International Inc. in Englewood, Colo., said security has spurred his company to invest time during the past year to get the latest versions of Microsoft software. "My CIO colleagues should be asking themselves whether they can afford the security risks of using older versions of Microsoft products," he said.

Those users who have lagged on upgrades, however, may not be pleased to see that Microsoft won't be supporting older versions of its software on the latest operating system.

"Expecting companies to upgrade everything in their infrastructure to get the features from a single product, in this case Windows 2003, is unrealistic," said Dave Curran, manager of IT at CE Franklin Ltd. in Calgary, Alberta. "This smells of a pure money grab by Microsoft."

Curran said CE Franklin will delay its upgrade to Windows Server 2003 by at least 12 months because of the application compatibility issue. The oil and gas equipment supplier is still running Exchange 5.5 on Windows NT 4.0, and a simultaneous migration would be "too much for us to undertake in a single upgrade," he said.

Alejandro Bombaci, CIO at Empresas Polar, a consumer goods maker and distributor in Caracas, Venezuela, said his company typically migrates the operating system—the "enabler layer"—and then the applications. "Upgrading both at the same time is too risky," he said, although in his case, the upgrades mostly involve non-Microsoft applications.

Most Microsoft server applications will run fine in an environment that has a mix of servers running Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2000, said Barry Goffe, group manager of Microsoft's server platform division. Exchange 2000, for instance, can coexist in a Windows Server 2003 environment, as long as it's installed on a server running Windows 2000 with Service Pack 3.

With about 350 code changes in Windows Server affecting Exchange, Microsoft said it decided that customers would be better served if it focused development on Exchange 2003 rather than on updating old versions, so it could take advantage of improvements in Internet Information Server (IIS) 6.0. Exchange 2000 and 2003 rely heavily on IIS for Internet-based protocol services.

But some users are upset by the decision. For example, Rick Weaver, director of technical architecture at Hilton Hotels Corp. in Memphis, said Hilton is running a mix of Exchange 5.5 and 2000 and does slow migrations "because they are extremely painful."

"It would encourage acceptance of the new operating system if the old apps ran on it," Weaver said.

Microsoft applications that will run on Windows Server 2003 include Application Center 2000 SP2

By Peter Wilson

Caracas, May 5 (<a href=quote.bloomberg.com>Bloomberg) -- Banesco Banco Universal, Venezuela's fourth-largest bank, is seeking to acquire Banco Exterior SA, or Corp Banca in a bid to gain new customers and cut costs, El Universal reported.

Banesco has approached both banks about a possible purchase, the newspaper said, citing unidentified banking officials. An acquisition would put Banesco within striking distance of overtaking Banco de Venezuela SA to become the country's third- biggest bank.

Exterior and Corp Banca had no immediate response to Banesco's overtures, the newspaper said. Corp Banca is the country's ninth-largest bank by assets and Exterior is 11th.

Venezuela's banking industry is going through a period of rapid consolidation, with the number of financial institutions expected to drop by half from its current number of 52, analysts have said.

(EU 5/5 1-16) To see El Universal's Web site, click on {EUDC } Last Updated: May 5, 2003 07:59 EDT