Albuquerque Tribune Online Thursday

"Frontline/World" (9 p.m., KNME-Channel 5) New York Times reporter Juan Forero investigates the political crisis in Venezuela and 19 unsolved murders that have bitterly divided the country. The report includes Forero's interview with Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez and a trip to India, where reporter Arun Rath encounters an actor portraying Osama Bin Laden in a startling street theater production about 9/11 and its aftermath. Fascinating and well-worth your time.

By CATHERINE WILSON <a href=www.sun-sentinel.com>Associated Press Posted June 7 2003

MIAMI -- A Colombian rebel accused of killing three American aid workers refused to sign a form advising him of his U.S. legal rights before his extradition, an FBI agent testified Friday.

Agent Ron LeBlanc said he traveled to Colombia and spoke to Nelson Vargas Rueda more than three weeks before the member of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia was sent north under tight security.

LeBlanc said he formally identified Vargas, a key legal requirement for U.S. prosecution, but Vargas refused to sign a Miranda rights warning sheet.

Vargas was flown to Fort Lauderdale on an FBI jet May 28. He faces trial in Washington on an indictment charging him with murder conspiracy in the kidnap-murder of Americans who were helping set up a rural school system in 1999.

A hearing to determine whether he should stay in jail until trial was delayed until Tuesday on a defense request for more information about the investigation.

Vargas has been held in solitary confinement, and jailers have removed his prosthetic right leg. Marshals push him in and out of court in a wheelchair.

Terence Freitas, 24, of Los Angeles, Ingrid Washinawatok, 41, of New York City, and Lahe'ena'e Gay, 39, of Pahoa, Hawaii, were shot to death a week after they were kidnapped. Vargas, 33, is accused of shooting one of the women.

The FARC considered the three to be either U.S. military advisers or CIA agents, the indictment said.

They were helping set up a school system for the U'wa Indian tribe in the vast eastern plains bordering Venezuela. FARC leaders admit executing the three, whose bodies were found across the border in Venezuela.

Vargas was arrested more than three years ago and has been in jail since. He is one of six FARC members to be charged in the killings and is the first Colombian rebel ever to be extradited to the United States.

The murders prompted the United States to suspend all contact with the leftist rebel group which has been fighting the Colombian government for nearly 40 years. The United States lists the FARC as an international terrorist organization.

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Reuters, 06.06.03, 4:32 PM ET WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Rising world oil prices will boost OPEC's crude revenues for this year by 19 percent from last year, the U.S. government said on Friday.

The new forecast from the Energy Information Administration estimates OPEC will ring up $223 billion this year from oil exports, compared to $187 billion last year.

The Energy Department's analytical arm said the rise in OPEC's revenues is due in large part to an 11 percent rise in oil prices from last year.

Several factors have pushed prices higher: strong U.S. oil demand during a colder-than-normal winter, the disruption in Venezuela's oil exports from a workers strike, low U.S. oil inventories and the cutoff in Iraq's oil exports from the U.S.-led attack on that country.

Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil producer, will account for the largest share of OPEC revenues at $70 billion, followed by Iran and the United Arab Emirates each bringing in $23.1 billion from oil exports.

The downside to higher oil revenues is that OPEC members will have a harder time implementing needed economic reforms, according to EIA.

"There is little doubt that pressures to make difficult political choices (like cutting popular state subsidies for food and fuel) tend to be lower during relatively prosperous times than in more difficult ones," the agency said.

The following table shows the EIA's projections for OPEC oil export revenues:

        OPEC OIL EXPORT REVENUE

         (billions of dollars)

COUNTRY 2002 2003 PCT CHANGE Algeria 12.6 17.3 38 Indonesia 2.9 2.4 -17 Iran 18.7 23.1 23 Iraq 12.4 10.6 -15 Kuwait 11.6 15.4 32 Libya 10.8 12.9 20 Nigeria 17.1 20.4 19 Qatar 7.1 8.4 19 Saudi Arabia 55.0 70.0 27 UAE 18.7 23.1 24 Venezuela 19.7 19.3 -2 Total OPEC $186.6 $222.9 19

June 6 (<a href=quote.bloomberg.com>Bloomberg) -- Venezuela's ruling majority moved congress outside to a sunny Caracas park, convening the legislature on folding chairs under a hastily erected canopy, after accusing opposition lawmakers of provoking fights in the assembly hall.

Representatives supporting President Hugo Chavez approved a change to congressional rules that will allow them to bypass an opposition-controlled committee that decides which laws reach the floor for a vote. Legislators from both parties began throwing paper and wrestled each other on live television two days ago after pro- government congressmen, who hold a slim majority, sought the change.

The coup-mongering opposition tried to sabotage congress so we couldn't pass laws,'' Chavez said during a televised speech. We're not going to let a technicality stop us from implementing the constitution.''

The congressional donnybrook may delay approval of a new elections board needed to hold a binding referendum on Chavez's rule later this year. Government and opposition leaders signed an agreement last week to let the board set the date of the referendum and allow international observers to monitor voting.

``It's quite clear that Chavez is intent on gaining power at all costs in all aspects of Venezuelan life,'' said Vitali Meschoulam, an analyst with political risk research company Eurasia Group in New York.

He has control of international reserves. He has control of PDVSA,'' the state-controlled oil company, Petroleos de Venezuela SA, said Meschoulam. He's basically shut the opposition down by signing an agreement that says let's do what's in the constitution.''

Trading Accusations

Chavez's supporters said the opposition is obstructing legislation, such as a law that would regulate the media, from being passed. Opposition leaders said the majority illegally change procedural rules.

``If we have to, we'll have congress wherever, whenever,'' said National Assembly President Francisco Ameliach in a televised speech at the beginning of the session in El Calvario park.

Opposition congressmen met, without a quorum, at the capitol building, a few blocks from El Calvario.

This reform was made in the most vulgar way possible,'' said opposition congressman Rafael Rivero. This was legislative fraud.''

Chavez opponents agreed to a binding referendum after the August midpoint of his six-year term, following a two-month national strike that failed to force a vote on the president's rule in February.

Polls have indicated that Chavez, who was ousted by the military for two days last year during a failed coup attempt, would lose a referendum. After the strike crippled oil production and consumer spending, the economy fell 29 percent in the first quarter and unemployment rose to 20 percent.

Two Venezuelans died and at least 16 were injured last month after gunmen fired on two marches of Chavez opponents.

<a href=www.vheadline.com>Venezuela's Electronic news Posted: Friday, June 06, 2003 By: Patrick J. O'Donoghue

Ballestas Colombian judge has sentenced Colombian National Liberation Army (ELN) militant, Jose Maria Ballestas to 30 years prison for hijacking an Avianca  Fokker with 42 passengers aboard in April 1999. 

Although Ballestas did not commit the crime in Venezuela, he was captured in Caracas in February 2001, causing momentary embarrassment to the Chavez Frias Administration whom the opposition accused of turning a blind eye to Ballestas( and Colombian guerrillas)  presence  in  Venezuela. 

Ballestas was tried and sentenced in Venezuela to 1 year and 9 months in prison for carrying false documentation.  New legislation allowed him to leave jail earlier but the Colombian authorities stepped in requesting his extradition for the hijacking offense. 

The Supreme Tribunal of Justice (TSJ) accepted the extradition plea and rejected Ballestas' petition for political asylum, ruling that Colombia guarantee Balletas' life and a fair trial.