<a href=www.indianexpress.com>Agence France Presse
Panama City, May 29: The 72 most beautiful women in the world have descended on Panama City for the June 3 Miss Universe pageant, but so far have had to brave downpours, paparazzi, protesting students, money problems and even a fist fight.
The contestants have been preparing here for a week to replace reigning Miss Panama — who was crowned in September after Miss Russia relinquished the title amid a swirl of reports about a secret marriage and pregnancy. The contestants’ every move have been shadowed by the tabloids, one of which reported that Miss Spain (Eva Maria Gonzalez) and her roommate Miss Colombia (Diana Lucia Mantilla) got into a fist fight over Gonzalez’s smoking habit.
The two girls were all smiles later when they publicly denied the report. Mantilla also drew attention when she gave fellow contestants copies of her rendition of the song, I Am Colombian.
Despite the constant downpours since they arrived, the contestants’ grueling daily schedule remains on track: banquets, fashion shows by local designers, charity auctions and a candelight vigil for aids victims. And all of the ‘‘Misses’’ are trailed by the paparazzi’s erupting flashes wherever they go. However, the beauty queens had to cancel some public event yesterday, when angry students took to the streets to protest tax reforms and the Miss Universe pageant itself.
Armed with rocks and sticks, the students blocked some main streets for eight hours. Several labour unions will hold street marches on Tuesday to protest the government’s tax reform and proposal to privatise the social security system.
The Miss Universe pageant world got an unexpected shock early on when it was announced that money problems could force Miss Venezuela out of the competition.
Venezuela’s pageant organisers announced they could not raise the $80,000 needed to send Mariangel Ruiz to Panama because of strict currency controls imposed in February. The money problem was later resolved, but Ruiz’s late arrival generated unwelcome media gossip, with some reports calling her delay a strategic maneouver to tip the scales in Venezuela’s favour.
Stop speaking about 1992 to justify whatever is going on today
<a href=www.vheadline.com>Venezuela's Electronic News
Posted: Thursday, May 29, 2003
By: Hahnemann Coll
Date: Thu, 29 May 2003 18:08:17 -0400
From: Hahnemann Coll hahnemann@mainknit.com
To: Editor@VHeadline.com
Subject: For Mr. Zuleta
Dear Editor: It seems to me that Mr. Zuleta just skipped the point that Chavez was in jail for whatever he did ... that's something those who say that the TSJ is Chavez territory would never say.
On April 11, 2002 we had a coup d'etat and nobody is asking for the head of those who did it.
I don't see people like Mr. Zuleta asking for respect toward the Constitution ... so please, stop speaking about 1992 to justify whatever is going on today.
If Carlos Andres Perez (CAP) was the elected President so also is Chavez, what's the point?
Different laws for different classes?
Yes, that's all I see ... double standards.
Hahnemann Coll
hahnemann@mainknit.com
Let's get one thing clear, two wrongs don't make a right
<a href=www.vheadline.com>Venezuela's Electronic News
Posted: Thursday, May 29, 2003
By: Jorge Marin
Date: Thu, 29 May 2003 17:14:49 -0400
From: Jorge Marin Jorge.Marin@pollak.com
To: Editor@VHeadline.com
Subject: Objective Comment
Dear Editor: I enjoy most of the letters and editorials on your website, but when I read <a href=www.vheadline.com>Luis Zuleta's rumblings, well my stomach turned. If he is trying to present himself as an objective commentator he failed badly ... using the same excuses the opposition keeps using to justify the events of April 11, 2002 only highlights his bias.
Let's get one thing clear, two wrongs don't make a right.
The fact that Chavez was involved in a coup, back in 1992 is irrelevant to what happened last year. If the argument is that because he was involved in the fail coup he, somehow, is open to the same medicine or he is an illegitimate President ... well the majority of people elected him, so he has been legitimized. He also paid for his involvement in the 1992 attempted coup with prison time.
- The 1992 coup attempt was wrong, and the people involved were punished for it, the same should occur with the people that were involved in the 2002 coup.
There are no missing funds in the Chavez administration. If there were, the opposition would have dragged that out to the negotiating table, or to the Supreme Court ... just like they do whenever Chavez sneezes. The funds Luis Zuleta refers to were located ... were they used for other means than the intended use? Yes ... but, as I recall, these funds were used to cover a shortage in payroll funds ... they were not used for any personal gain, as Luis Zuleta insinuates.
Luis Zuleta also ascertains that just because Chavez allowed himself to be put in jail, it means that he didn't really meant to fight to the death. I guess he should have gotten himself killed, along with a lot of other people, just so that other people could say, "well I guess he meant it."
Luis Zuleta fails to mention that it was Chavez who called for the coupsters to surrender in order to avoid bloodshed in 1992. Chavez agreed to be escorted out of Miraflores in 2002, but he had a better than 50% chance of getting himself killed ... yet he realized that resisting would have cause not just his blood but his guards' and a lot of other people in the streets. He did the right thing, and the fact that he is back in power, proves he did the right thing.
Luis Zuleta also mentions that Chavez violated the law by wearing his uniform ... give me a break! What about the, so call, officers that were calling for rebellion in Altamira for months, I guess those officers are heroes to Luis Zuleta.
If Mr. Zuleta is so concerned with obeying the law, he should be very careful when he promotes that the best thing that could happen to Chavez is to be "taken out." Fomenting the overthrow of a foreign government or the assassination of a foreign leader is a violation of USA law.
Jorge Marin
Jorge.Marin@pollak.com
Venezuelan, living abroad on 4/11/02 and respecting the laws of my home country.
Pact to end Venezuela violence-- President Chavez is accused of authoritarian behaviour
BBC News
An agreement has been signed by the government and opposition in Venezuela to end the political crisis that has gripped the country for more than a year.
The deal - which was brokered by the Organisation of American States (OAS) - sets out the framework for a referendum on the presidency of Hugo Chavez.
But no date for such a poll has been set, and the document is widely seen as a victory for the president.
At least 50 people have been killed in political violence over the past 14 months as critics accused President Chavez of amassing power and mismanaging the economy.
Under the new agreement, both the government and opposition have agreed to abide by the constitutional rules and try to avoid violence.
It says a referendum on President Chavez's rule can take place later in the year, although several procedural steps will need to be taken first.
Ease tensions
OAS Secretary-General Cesar Gaviria said it had taken months of hard work by his negotiators to get the two sides to agree.
"This is a good agreement for all Venezuelans," he said.
Analysts say that while the accord may ease tensions in Latin America's most politically polarised society, it does not automatically guarantee a referendum.
The two month general strike hit the economy hard
BBC correspondent Steven Cviic says the opposition - which brings together most political parties, business, the unions and the middle class - probably feels this is the best it is going to get in the short term.
At the end of last year, with a general strike hitting the oil industry hard, his opponents thought they had President Chavez on the run.
But he simply refused to budge, pointing out that he was the elected president.
The opposition seems to have recognised that if it is going to remove him from office, it has to be ready to settle down for a long haul, says our correspondent.