<a href=www.vheadline.com>Venezuela's Electronic News Posted: Friday, May 09, 2003 By: Dawn Gable

Date: Thu, 08 May 2003 16:04:08 +0000 From: Dawn Gable morning_ucsc@hotmail.com To: Editor@VHeadline.com Subject: FARC in Venezuela

Dear Editor: I don't quite understand why there is so much talk about the FARC on the Venezuelan border ... as if it were a new situation and as if it is somehow Chavez' fault.

The Colombian civil war has spilled into Venezuela for decades ... the border areas have always been risky ... and Venezuela has not been the principle blame.

In 1999, a fellow University of California classmate of mine, Terence Freitas, was kidnapped and killed by the FARC. His body was found on the Venezuelan side of the border. When I first arrived in Venezuela, I lived in Maracaibo and my ideas for going up to the mountains to look for raptors was shot down by my superiors "because there are no distinct borders up there ... the guerrillas and paramilitaries wander freely in the mountains."

At La Universidad de Zulia, my Guajira (native indian) friend wanted me to visit her family's village in these mountains some weekend, but I was strongly advised against it because it was too close to the border.

At one point, I needed to get my visa renewed ... I was going to cross into Colombia at the crossing in Tachira state. I could not get a Venezuelan to go with me. Of course, my friends would not be able to cross for lack of visa, but I asked several of them to make the trip with me and wait for me on the Venezuelan side of the border. My housemate who had traveled with me on other trips all around Venezuela refused to go ... her mother refused to fund her travel ... she was terrified of us being near the border ... she instead paid for us to fly to Aruba (a very expensive alternative) just so that I wouldn't cross into Colombia alone.

This kind of fear did not suddenly appear in the last few years.

Venezuelans have been afraid of Colombian incursions for a long long time ... and they should be, because it has happened frequently over a long, long time ... it has translated into a deep-rooted, ugly racism within Venezuela against Colombians in general.

Implying that Chavez has anything to do with this phenomenon is pure nonsense and is unfounded propaganda.

Dawn Gable morning_ucsc@hotmail.com

Fri May 9, 2003 02:55 PM ET By Pascal Fletcher

CARACAS, Venezuela (<a href=reuters.com>Reuters) - Six nations seeking to end Venezuela's political crisis told President Hugo Chavez's government and its opponents on Friday to settle their differences and agree to hold a referendum on the leftist leader's rule.

In a statement released after two days of talks in Caracas, envoys from the so-called Group of Friends urged both sides to decide on a peaceful electoral solution to their conflict, which has kept the world's No. 5 oil exporter in political and economic turmoil for more than a year.

Chavez's government and its opponents have spent weeks haggling over the terms of a proposed agreement committing them to the holding of a constitutional referendum after Aug 19, halfway through the current term of the populist president.

The Group of Friends -- the United States, Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Spain and Portugal -- has since January been supporting efforts by the Organization of American States to broker an election deal in Venezuela.

In the statement read at a news conference, the Group noted both sides had expressed their willingness to reach agreement.

"The Group exhorts them to dedicate their utmost urgent efforts to overcome ... the differences that persist," said the statement, read by Brazil's representative Gilberto Saboia.

FIERCE OPPOSITION

Former paratrooper Chavez, who was first elected in 1998, has resisted a fierce opposition campaign pressing him to resign. The president, who is accused by foes of ruling like a dictator, survived a coup last year and weathered an opposition strike in December and January.

But despite the pressure for an accord, the two sides are still clearly at odds over key issues.

The government, citing national sovereignty, rejects the idea of international organizations like the OAS acting as guarantors of any future referendum. But the opposition, which accuses Chavez of trying to wriggle out of the referendum, says international pressure for the poll to be held is essential.

"I think it's possible there will be an agreement ... we exhort everyone to give that little bit more political will to get there," Curtis Struble, acting U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, told Reuters.

Government negotiators have insisted that before a referendum can be held, the National Assembly, where Chavez supporters still hold a slim majority, must elect a new electoral authority to set a date for the poll.

<a href=www.vheadline.com>Venezuela's Electronic News Posted: Friday, May 09, 2003 By: Patrick J. O'Donoghue

Speaking after meeting Organization of American States (OAS) general secretary Cesar Gaviria and members of the six-nation Group of Friends,  Executive Vice President, Jose Vicente rangel has confirmed that the recall referendum will be held and that the government is open to signing an agreement with the opposition ... "Dialog is a constitutional right and we are fierce defenders of the Constitution." 

Interpreting a bit of recent history, Rangel says rumors that the government was against an agreement were false ... "negotiators did not approve an agreement ... what was agreed was to pass the concluding document to colleagues for discussion." 

OAS general secretary Cesar Gaviria thanked the government in the name of the deputy foreign ministers (Group of Friends) for the clarity of its message and the assurance that the recall referendum would be held, adding that the Group of Friends is convinced of the government's willingness to dialogue. 

Venezuelan Education, Culture & Sports Minister Aristobulo Isturiz told the visitors that it was time for the National Assembly to resume its functions ... "what we want is a return to normality and a return to political normality."

This is the fourth time the Group of Friends has convened since it was founded in January 15 in Quito, Ecuador at the initiative of Brazil ... this is the second time it has convened in Caracas. 

Analysts comment that the main aim of the Group of Friends to ensure elections and to get Venezuelans talking to each other again through the normal democratic channels.

One commentator says Gaviria will be only too pleased to close shop and return to his pressing duties at the OAS ... he's been in Venezuela for the best part of six months attempting to restore democratic coexistence to a highly polarized country.

<a href=www.vheadline.com>Venezuela's Electronic News Posted: Friday, May 09, 2003 By: Patrick J. O'Donoghue

Rebel Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) executives & managers grouped in Unapetrol trade union association are currently on tour in Spain preparing to lobby the International Confederation of Free Unions (ICFTU)  due to convene at the end of May and the International Labor Organization (ILO) annual assembly scheduled for the beginning of June.

• Unapetrol president, Horacio Medina says the group has met Spanish trade union and business sectors and hopes to visit other countries to wipe up support. 

Calling the mass dismissals of PDVSA workers for adhering to the national stoppage that crippled Venezuela's prime industry "labor genocide," Medina condemns the government's "persecution of former workers."  

Unapetrol has launched a new accusation against the government, saying that it has banned former executives & managers from working with transnationals. Medina did not substantiate on the latest spin and where the money was coming from to support Unapetrol's world tour which has moved from the USA to Spain.

<a href=www.vheadline.com>Venezuela's Electronic news Posted: Friday, May 09, 2003 By: Patrick J. O'Donoghue

Cofavic human rights group executive director, Liliana Ortega continues to complain about what she calls the "precarious institutional situation facing democracy in Venezuela." 

"We Venezuelans are completely defenseless because impunity is being encouraged from the heart of institutionality ... it has become quite clear that there is no vocation of justice in the Attorney General's Office, Ombudsman's Office, and the Judiciary, which is why there is total  impunity in the majority of crimes against human rights." 

Ortega has expressed concern about the case of rebel National Guard (GN) General Carlos Alfonzo Martinez, currently under discussion at the Supreme Tribunal of Justice (TSJ) ... she thinks the TSJ will issue a political and not judicial ruling. 

The TSJ is deliberating whether there are sufficient motives in the General's case meriting a preliminary hearing for rebellion and abandonment of position. 

• The General continues under house arrest until a ruling has been issued.