<a href=www.vheadline.com>Venezuela's Electronic News Posted: Monday, May 26, 2003 By: Gustavo Coronel

VHeadline.com commentarist Gustavo Coronel writes: In a recent story the Wall Street Journal comes down hard on Venezuelan Ambassador to the US, Bernardo Alvarez, for being "a hypocrite." The charge is explained by saying that, while Mr. Alvarez speaks admiringly of US democracy ... Jefferson and all ... he is a member of PPT, a Venezuelan small political party which is actually the ideological motor behind the growing totalitarianism of the Chavez government.

I believe the assessment of Alvarez by the WSJ is essentially correct but they were more lenient with Kemp, who explained his apparent endorsement of the Chavez regime by saying that he has had " an old relationship with Bernardo"...

No matter how long this relationship might have lasted it can not justify Kemp's association with one of the most undemocratic governments of the hemisphere. Hugo Chavez was elected President in a legitimate manner, after leading a failed coup against a democratically elected President in 1992 and causing over 100 deaths in the process. After his election, however, his systematic violation of the Constitution and his destruction of the independence of political institutions in the country have rendered his government clearly illegitimate.

Legitimacy is not merely of origin but also of performance. Who knows what his friend Bernardo has told him, but Kemp does not appear to be well informed about what is going on in Venezuela. In addition to what Alexandra Beech has already said to him in a very good letter, let me add the following:

This year the Venezuelan GDP will "grow" -17%, according estimates of J.P. Morgan. Last year the "growth" was -9%. This collapse, Mr. Kemp, is only comparable to those suffered by Cuba and Haiti in the 1990s ... but these countries are very poor while Venezuela has had extremely high petroleum income during the last three years. This is the Midas touch in reverse ... Chavez turns wealth into misery ... you might want to ask Bernardo about that.

The Venezuelan Central Bank ... not the opposition ... reports a drop of 23% in food consumption for the first quarter of this year and a catastrophic drop of 29% in the GDP, as compared to the first quarter of last year ... which was already pretty poor. A seasoned politician like Mr. Kemp should wonder about the quality of a government which produces these dismal figures.

The government has imposed, not exchange controls, but a currency blockade for the last 4 months which has produced an increase in international reserves at the expense of total national economic paralysis. About $1.5 billion have had to be bought by the private sector in the only market available ... the black market.

The social impact of these measures has been tragic: unemployment is almost 25%, crime rate is the highest ever and almost 500 Venezuelans are murdered every month in an atmosphere of total impunity.

Venezuela shows more violent deaths, I am sure, than the ones derived from the Israeli- Arab conflict. About 200,000 children live abandoned, many under drug addiction. Beggars and "buhoneros" overflow the streets of the cities. The services of garbage collection, the hospitals, the schools, the public infrastructure, all show sad signs of extreme deterioration. The poor are now destitute, the middle class is now largely poor, the rich are now largely gone.

If Mr. Kemp lived here, he would realize that this involution can not be merely the product of stupidity. Of course there is much of that. He would see it as soon as he met the ministers of the cabinet. But what is going on, in parallel, is a very shrewd (you can be a stupid administrator and a shrewd politician) plan to turn Venezuela into a fundamentalist, totalitarian society, just like those in Cuba, Libya or Iran.

The Cuba of Fidel Castro was made possible ... to a large extent ... by the support it received during its early stages by idealistic US politicians and intellectuals, at a time in which Castro still professed to be leading a "democratic" revolution.

How you can fall for it a second time around is beyond my understanding ... fortunately, not everyone has been mesmerized and can see that the King is naked.

The US has developed almost zero tolerance for rogue governments and I think this time there will be no honeymoon with the apprentice of dictator.

I read an article by Mr. Kemp in which he speak of the saga of Martin Luther King against racial discrimination with great admiration ... and yet he seems to endorse a racist government. Racism is not only practised against colored people but also against whites ... as shown in Zimbabwe, and in Venezuela. Chavez speaks with hate of the "oligarchs", the white, blue-eyed (says Chaderton, the Foreign Minister) businessmen and managers who are blamed for most of the ills of the nation. Venezuela is a 'mestizo' country, Mr. Kemp, for years free from racism ... until Chavez started his preaching full of social resentment, just like a new "mahdi"....

At this time, laws are being passed ... bulldozer style ... to give Chavez control of the institutions not yet in his grasp: the media and the Supreme Tribunal of Justice. Public bidding has been eliminated. Land invasions are now common place, under the protection of the military siding with Chavez. Governance and guarantees for the citizen do not exist in Venezuela, Mr. Kemp...

The government which Mr. Kemp's friend Bernardo represents in the US has done so much damage to the country ... in only 4 years ... that it might take 20 years or more to reverse it. The petroleum company PDVSA, which used to be the third of the first world, is now the first of the third world. It is now at the hands of Bernardo's boss, a former Cuban-supported guerrilla who used to try to blow up the pipelines he now tries to operate.

Try to find out the truth about Venezuela, Mr. Kemp, do not listen only to Bernardo ... do not associate yourself with such an (un)kemp(t) regime ... talk to former President Carter and to Cesar Gaviria, who have no axe to grind. Talk only 5 minutes to Adina Bastidas, is all I ask from you ... listen to Chavez sing on national TV, is all I ask from you ... read about the Head of the Currency Exchange control referring the Venezuelan foreign currency problem to prophet Malachias, is all I would ask from you.

And ... if after you do this ... you still feel like endorsing the government of Hugo Chavez, so be it ... it will be God's will...

Gustavo Coronel is the founder and president of Agrupacion Pro Calidad de Vida (The Pro-Quality of Life Alliance), a Caracas-based organization devoted to fighting corruption and the promotion of civic education in Latin America, primarily Venezuela. A member of the first board of directors (1975-1979) of Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), following nationalization of Venezuela's oil industry, Coronel has worked in the oil industry for 28 years in the United States, Holland, Indonesia, Algiers and in Venezuela. He is a Distinguished alumnus of the University of Tulsa (USA) where he was a Trustee from 1987 to 1999. Coronel led the Hydrocarbons Division of the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) in Washington DC for 5 years. The author of three books and many articles on Venezuela ("Curbing Corruption in Venezuela." Journal of Democracy, Vol. 7, No. 3, July, 1996, pp. 157-163), he is a fellow of Harvard University and a member of the Harvard faculty from 1981 to 1983.  In 1998, he was presidential election campaign manager for Henrique Salas Romer and now lives in retirement on the Caribbean island of Margarita where he runs a leading Hotel-Resort.  You may contact Gustavo Coronel at email gustavo@vheadline.com

Christian Science Monitor from the May 27, 2003 edition By Jonathan M. Miller

BUENOS AIRES – On Sunday, Argentina inaugurated a new president, Néstor Kirchner, and virtually every head of state in Latin America was here to lend support. Fidel Castro was the biggest celebrity in town, followed by Lula da Silva from Brazil, and Hugo Chávez from Venezuela.

The best that the US could come up with was Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Mel Martinez. Perhaps this wasn't an intended snub, because the White House similarly sent only its US Trade Representative to Lula's inauguration in Brazil. But all the Argentine media have noted the absence of a higher-ranking official.

Unfortunately Mr. Kirchner needs the boost of as many visiting dignitaries as possible. Emerging from the worst depression in the nation's history, Argentines are desperate that he perform well. But he becomes president with only 22 percent of the vote. Former President Carlos Menem, the winner of the first round of voting, withdrew his candidacy rather than face certain defeat in a runoff. However, he did not withdraw in a concession of defeat, but rather to rob Kirchner of the legitimacy of an electoral mandate.

Oddly, many Argentines assume that the US supports Menem, whose scandal-plagued presidency from 1989 to 1999 set the free-spending policies that are widely believed responsible for the current economic disaster. Menem is perceived as having strong ties to the Bush family, because the elder George Bush met with him on five trips to Argentina after leaving the presidency and several times in the US.

As president, Menem's foreign policy was always one of complete deference to the US; his own foreign minister once used the term "carnal relations" to describe the Argentine-US relationship.

On the campaign trail this year, Menem came out in favor of paying back Argentina's entire foreign debt, however unrealistic that may be.

Argentina's economy remains unstable after a meltdown during 2002. Bank financing remains nonexistent, unemployment approaches 20 percent, and what was once a broad middle class has collapsed into poverty. Many Argentines assume that the US wishes to punish Argentina for its default on its foreign debt and wants to keep Argentina weak.

Kirchner will need to consolidate power, and it remains unclear whether he'll do so by buying friends through patronage and corruption or through legitimate political reform. As a provincial governor, he packed the judiciary and subordinated most checks on his power. Further, he reached the presidential runoff thanks to an alliance with interim President Eduardo Duhalde, who leads a Peronist machine in greater Buenos Aires that is often viewed as being as corrupt as Menem's.

But Kirchner also presented a strikingly moderate inaugural address, calling for fiscal discipline, a crackdown on tax evasion and corruption, and new public works, with no populist bombast.

When the US engages a country, whether with trade, aid, or just high-level visits, progressive forces find themselves with greater political space.

US backing can encourage reformers to take risks against a corrupt status quo, because the US can offer new opportunities for trade or recognition. It's hard to imagine how the Bush administration plans to negotiate the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas when it fails to send a top official to major Latin American events.

The presence of Secretary of State Colin Powell or Vice President Dick Cheney at Kirchner's inauguration would have been the sort of healthy support that prevents painful interventions later. The markets would have taken note, and Argentines would perceive that the US wants their country to be successful.

Instead, in a country whose new president needs legitimacy to confront huge problems, and where his despised opponent flaunts Bush family ties, the US leaves it to Fidel Castro to party with the winner.

Today, even the US students studying in Buenos Aires are pleading for tickets to get to hear Mr. Castro. It's too bad there's not another show in town.

• Jonathan M. Miller, a law professor at Southwestern University School of Law, established Southwestern's summer law program in Argentina and has published two books in Argentina on Argentine constitutional law.

Monday, May 26, 2003
(05-26) 12:47 PDT CARACAS, Venezuela (<a href=www.sfgate.com>AP) --

Venezuela would reduce its oil production if the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries decided to slash quotas at its meeting next month, the president of the state oil monopoly said Monday.

"Venezuela will comply with whatever OPEC members decide in June," Ali Rodriguez told a news conference.

Venezuelan officials had previously indicated the country would continue producing more than 3 million barrels a day this year to recover losses stemming from a two-month strike, raising doubts about the South American country's commitment to OPEC quotas.

Venezuela's OPEC current quota is 2.81 million barrels a day but will rise to 2.92 million barrels a day in June. Rodriguez said Venezuela's production was 3.3 million barrels a day. But industry sources say it's much lower.

Venezuela lost an estimated $6 billion during the opposition-organized general strike, which collapsed in February without achieving its goal of ousting President Hugo Chavez. The stoppage temporarily paralyzed the world's No. 5 oil producer.

OPEC countries agreed in April to reduce oil output by 2 million barrels a day, setting a ceiling of 25.4 million barrels a day effective June 1.

The target was up 900,000 barrels a day from the previous one, but to meet it OPEC had to cut actual production by 2 million barrels a day.

OPEC could set new quotas at its June 11 in Doha, Qatar.

Mon May 26, 2003 02:52 PM ET By Stephanie Riesenman

NEW YORK (<a href=reuters.com>Reuters Health) - Workers in campus coffee shops are more likely to have high blood pressure than other people their age, possibly because they dine on the same salty and high fat foods that they serve to students, according to Venezuelan researchers.

In a small study, the researchers found that long-time workers in coffee shops located on a campus were more likely to have high blood pressure than their peers. They found that 18 percent of workers under age 30 and 41 percent of those over age 30 had high blood pressure, as did 48 percent of workers who were in the occupation for more than five years.

"It is alarming that the people in charge of alimentation in the university suffer a high prevalence of high blood pressure and elevated risk for cardiovascular disease, which means that the students are certainly at high risk for suffering the same consequences," said Dr. Napoleon Gabriel Macias.

Macias, along with colleagues at Universidad Central de Venezuela in Caracas, measured the blood pressures of 64 workers at six different coffee shops on the school campus.

"People who have worked for many years at a coffee shop having this unhealthy nutrition have more pronounced high blood pressure because they have been exposed to the risk factors for more time," said Macias.

Macias and his colleagues recommend that schools and universities incorporate nutritional education into job training. He says schools should create menus under a nutritionist's supervision to help employees and students eat a balanced diet and lower their risks for cardiovascular disease.

The findings were presented recently at a meeting of the Inter-American Society of Hypertension in San Antonio, Texas.

Posted on Mon, May. 26, 2003 By BILL CORMIER Kansas.com-Associated Press

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina - Argentina's new president, Nestor Kirchner, greeted a host of Latin American leaders on Monday, outlining his plans to reshape a nation gripped by deep economic woes.

Kirchner, a center-left politician, promises a more protectionist stance for South America's second-largest economy, vowing to defend jobs and industry in a country mired in five years of recession.

He spent his first full day in office meeting presidents Alejandro Toledo of Peru, Jorge Batlle of Uruguay, Alvaro Uribe of Colombia and Hugo Chavez of Venezuela.

Cuban leader Fidel Castro, whose visit here almost eclipsed Sunday's inauguration, met with Kirchner for about an hour.

"Fidel! Fidel! Cuba, Cuba, Cuba! The people salute you!" hundreds of people shouted as he left the meeting, smiling at the crowd before he entered his limousine.

Many of the leaders meeting with Kirchner applauded his desire for greater regional ties among Latin American nations.

"We need to create a new bloc of nations to negotiate with the North," Chavez said. "It would be a Latin American front."

Kirchner is seen as the latest leader in Latin America whose left-of-center leanings underscore a renewed effort by regional governments to find answers to rampant poverty and troubled economies.

Many of the presidents arrived in Buenos Aires after attending a regional summit in Lima, Peru, where they called for greater unity among struggling economies and fairer trade practices from wealthier nations.

Toledo told reporters that Latin American countries need to find "new mechanisms for finance and investment in social programs" in countries afflicted by poverty and despair.

He said he and Kirchner share similar views on how to help rebuild Argentina, a country that defaulted on most of its $141 billion public debt as its economy unraveled 18 months ago.

In recent months, the economy has shown signs of an uptick, and analysts expect its gross domestic product to expand by up to 4 percent this year.

But Kirchner will be hard-pressed by international creditors to refinance the burdensome debt and also make good on promises for a multi-billion dollar public works project to build homes, roads and meet other social needs.

Half of Argentina's 36.2 million population now live at or below the poverty line, and Kirchner used his inaugural speech on Sunday to promise to seek ways to defend "national capitalism." He asked that international markets be patient while he seeks to resurrect the country's languishing economy.