May 29 (<a href=quote.bloomberg.com>Bloomberg) -- Venezuela may change some of its foreign exchange restrictions to speed up dollar sales and relieve shortages of imported goods and raw materials, Finance Minister Tobias Nobrega said.

``We're re-evaluating the exchange system and all its rules,'' Nobrega told Union radio late yesterday. He didn't give details on what changes may be made.

President Hugo Chavez last week stripped the foreign exchange commission he created in January of its powers and put his Cabinet in charge of selling hard currency.

The commission distributed just $12 million of the $205 million was authorized to sell since exchange controls were imposed in January, Edgar Hernandez, president of the foreign exchange commission said last week. Last year, the central bank sold an average of about $50 million a day.

The result has been a shortage of products ranging from medicines to foodstuffs, as the country imports about 60 percent of what it consumes, and many companies rely on imported raw materials and parts to operate.

Nobrega said the government has authorized the sale of $338 million, and planned to authorize $105 million more this week. He didn't say how many dollars had been distributed.

Companies have complained that current prerequisites, such as providing proof they are up-to-date on tax payments, are too time- consuming.

Venezuela banned dollar sales at the beginning of the year to stem a decline in international reserves after a two-month general strike cut oil output, which accounted for 43 percent of government revenue last year.

Last Updated: May 29, 2003 08:46 EDT

05/29/2003 - Source: <a href=www.latintrade.com>LatinTrade-BNamericas

Venezuela's state heavy industry holding company CVG expects to launch its carrier of carriers business late this year or early next, using fiber optic infrastructure installed along the distribution network of its power generation subsidiary Edelca, an Edelca executive told BNamericas. The government first authorized the CVG to launch the telecoms division in June 2002, but Edelca communications manager Margarita Rosendo said since then the company has been busy finalizing the new division's corporate structure, awaiting legal approval for each detail. The December-January national strike in protest against the Hugo Chavez administration also held back the process, and although the political situation remains unstable the CVG has decided to go ahead with its search for a strategic partner because of demand from carriers, Rosendo said. "If it keeps raining you can still go out if you take an umbrella!" she added. CVG chairman Francisco Rangel announced this week the company would officially present the project to investors in Caracas on June 5, adding that several national and international firms have shown interest in partnering on the project. Edelca has installed 1,500km of fiber along its electricity transmission network, and will look at installing another 1,500km once the strategic partner is on board, Rosendo said. The government aims to offer a 45% stake in the venture, to match its own 45% stake, and CVG employees will hold the remaining 10%.

<a href=newsrecord.tuc.uc.edu>The News record Original posting date: 5/28/2003 Vina Parel Ayers Senior Reporter

Credit: Vina Parel Ayers / The News Record DAAP students cut board for the roundhouse project which took the team of DAAP students about three weeks to complete. ------------------------------------------------------------------------Twenty DAAP students and two professors began work on a collaborative installation May 12 for the Contemporary Art Center's opening exhibition.

Award winning Slovenian artist Marjetica Portc met with the students in April to discuss her design and the piece's concept. The volunteers, primarily architecture students, worked together to build a roundhouse 14 feet in diameter.

The roundhouse is one of the many exhibits in the CAC's opening show, which begins Saturday, May 31. Typical of Portc's work, the roundhouse is a South American shelter, reconstructed in a gallery setting using readily-available materials, including Astroturf. This allows the original object to take on new meaning in a slightly altered form.

"It's an interesting juxtaposition between a traditional hut and a modern building," said Will Yokel, a first-year architecture student involved with the project.

The students heard about this opportunity at a School of Architecture and Interior Design all-school meeting at the beginning of Spring Quarter.

"I was interested because of the CAC. I wanted to be able to be there at the opening," said Dan Lash, a fifth-year architecture student.

"[Portc] seems really passionate about what she's doing… It's not about the process or form, it's just about the idea."

Professors Terry Boling and Marc Swackhamer assisted the students and supervised the progress while keeping in close contact with Portc via e-mail.

During the construction process she was in Caracas, Venezuela working on another project.

The students began assembling elements to build the structure in the DAAP building. They began by cutting wood pieces for the walls and roof, then welding the steel cage for a vent in the roof.

The project coincides with the CAC's construction. At the beginning of the building process, Boling had concerns with the limited space.

"It's going to be so big that we're going to run out of room if we're not careful," he said at the time.

Groups of students simultaneously began work on separate tasks.

The second day of construction proved to be more difficult than the first.

"We're learning the hard way," Boling said. The original kits came with a type of oriented strand board designed to curve in one direction, whereas the wood they used did not. To compensate for this, they attached slats of wood they called "Band-Aids" to the sides of the walls.

"This is an experiment to see what it takes to actually make one without a kit," Boling said.

Thom Collins, curator of the CAC, said, "The CAC's opening exhibit is thematic, tracing international art from the past 10 years."

Collins first heard of Portc's work after she won the Guggenheim Museum's 2000 Hugo Boss Prize.

After researching Portc's work, he became interested in her ideas and contacted her to create an exhibit. Knowing that she typically works on collaborative pieces, Collins contacted Boling and Swackhamer. "They have become our de facto design gods," Collins said.

Boling and Swackhamer started their relationship with the CAC a year ago by designing and building the frame work for Ecovention, an exhibit that was on display last summer. They have recently contributed with other projects such as the design of the main sign for the opening and the creation of a sound barrier out of hanging felt strips.

The roundhouse is scheduled for completion Wednesday night and will be on display to the public starting June 7.

Web-posted 5/28/2003 9:22:37 PM

Reuters, 05.29.03, 11:33 AM ET

In Caracas story headlined "UPDATE 1-Venezuela jobless rate rose to 19.8 pct in March," please read date in dateline as May 29 instead of May 28. A corrected version follows. (Adds background on economic crisis)

CARACAS, Venezuela, May 29 (Reuters) - Venezuelan unemployment climbed to 19.8 percent in March from 15.1 percent a year earlier, the government said on Thursday, as a two-month strike drove the economy deeper into recession, The jobless rate, down slightly from 20.7 percent in February, rose from a year earlier as the economy of the world's No. 5 oil exporter contracted 29 percent in the first quarter, a spokesperson for the National Statistics Institute told Reuters by telephone.

The opposition strike against leftist President Hugo Chavez in December and January disrupted Venezuela's vital oil production and forced many companies out of business.

Some private analysts say the official unemployment rate underestimates the actual jobless figure.

The government in February introduced strict currency controls to halt capital flight and restore economic stability after the shutdown. But many analysts and private sector leaders have warned that the curbs have worsened the nation's economic crisis.

<a href=www.voanews.com>VOA News 29 May 2003, 12:52 UTC

Cesar GaviriaThe head of the Organization of American States (OAS) says there is a good chance a referendum on Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's rule could be held later this year if all parties honor a recent accord.

OAS Secretary-General Cesar Gaviria told reporters in the capital, Caracas, late Wednesday that he believed a referendum could be held as soon as November. Mr. Gaviria mediated at least six months of talks between the government and Venezuelan opposition parties.

Mr. Gaviria said he believed the resulting agreement, to be signed Thursday - will not solve all of Venezuela's problems. But he says it does offer a peaceful, democratic and constitutional solution to the political standoff that has crippled the nation's economy.

Opposition parties staged a two-month workers strike that ended earlier this year in an effort to force a vote on Mr. Chavez's term in office.

The president had been elected to a second six-year term in 2000. Venezuela's constitution does not allow for a referendum before a president has served half his term,which would be on August 19 for Mr. Chavez

Venezuela's Central Bank says the country's economy fell 29 percent in the first quarter of 2003.