<a href=www.falkland-malvinas.com>Mercosur Press Sunday, 08 June

The OAS general assembly in Santiago de Chile will be the scenario for another round of United States-Brazil talks, in anticipation of Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s official visit to Washington.

According to the Brazilian Foreign Affairs Ministry, Brazilian Minister Celso Amorim will be holding talks with his United States counterpart Colin Powell, particularly regarding the Free Trade Association of the Americas, FTAA, currently presided by United States and Brazil, and scheduled to become effective in 2005.

At the end of May US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick visited Brazil expecting to speed FTAA talks and meeting President Lula da Silva.

He was unable to meet the President and Mr. Amorim said that “even when Brazil will not abandon the FTAA project, it’s not in a hurry to implement the association since the country has other priority urgencies”.

One of those urgencies is strengthening Mercosur (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay), and another ensuring that the disparity in development of the economies involved in a future FTAA are considered previously.

Nevertheless Mr. Zoellick in Brasilia expressed his optimism about the FTAA 2005 timetable.

While in Santiago Mr. Amorim is expected to hold talks with his counterparts from Mercosur, associate members Chile and Bolivia, Canada and the Andean Community of Nations, CAN, that includes Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela and which Brazil is anxious to integrate to Mercosur creating a only South American block.

Sun June 8, 2003 04:01 PM ET CARACAS, Venezuela (<a href=reuters.com>Reuters) - Venezuela's leftist President Hugo Chavez described himself on Sunday as "ugly" and "sometimes uncouth" but said he was not a communist and did not believe communism could work in his oil-rich country.

Defending his turbulent rule in the world's No. 5 oil exporter, the populist leader dismissed criticism of his appearance, behavior and politics.

"I'm ugly ... black mixed with Indian, that's me," he said, referring jokingly but proudly to his mixed-race ancestry which he shares with most of Venezuela's population.

"I'm a little uncouth sometimes. What can I do? I'm not going to change," Chavez added, speaking during his weekly "Hello President" television and radio show.

Chavez rose from obscurity to become a national figure in 1992 when he tried to seize power in a botched coup. Launching a political career after two years in jail, he won a landslide election in late 1998, promising a self-styled "revolution" to help his country's poor majority.

But his opponents, who have waged a determined campaign of protests and strikes against him, accuse Chavez of ruling like a dictator and of trying to install Cuba-style communism.

"I am not a communist ... if I was, I would say so," Chavez said. He added this distinguished him from Cuban President Fidel Castro, with whom he has forged a close alliance that has irked the United States, the main buyer of Venezuela's oil.

"Fidel Castro, my friend and brother, is a communist, but Venezuela's project is not communist," Chavez said. "At this moment in Venezuela, the program cannot be a communist one."

<a href=www.vheadline.com>Venezuela's Electronic News Posted: Sunday, June 08, 2003 By: Patrick J. O'Donoghue

Controversy surrounding representation at the International Labor Organization (ILO) continues ... this time inside Geneva itself where former Federation of Chambers of Industry & Commerce (Fedecamaras) presidents, Eddo Poesel and Vicente Brito accuse President Hugo Chavez Frias of violating employer-worker relations. 

It would appear that the former Fedecamaras presidents, whose rights to be present at the ILO can be questioned, are waiting for the arrival of exiled Fedecamaras president Carlos Fernandez and exiled Venezuelan Confederation of Trade Unions (CTV) president, Carlos Ortega to put the latest opposition strategy into play, namely to put President Chavez Frias on trial internationally.  

The Venezuelan Labor Ministry supports Federation of Industries (Fedeindustria) president, Miguel Angel Perez Abad, Confederation of Farmers and Ranchers president, Jose Agustin Campos and Businessmen for Venezuela president, Alejandro Uzcategui as business representatives.

The problem is that Fedecamaras has traditionally been chosen as the representative body of Venezuela's business sectors and the CTV as trade union representative.

This time new business sectors endorsed by the government seek 5 of 10 technical assistance slots at the ILO general assembly, which Fedecamaras rejects. The new groups claim that no group should be allowed to monopolize the representation of the business sector.

On the trade union level, the newly created National Workers Union (UNT), which consists of powerful unions that split from CTV,  are demanding an end to CTV domination at ILO general assemblies.

<a href=www.timesofoman.com>Times of Oman

RIYADH — Iraq’s return to the oil market is not expected to alter Opec’s short-term policies on output and price, but the producers’ cartel, which meets in the Gulf this week, should be ready for “painful” decisions in coming years, economists warned yesterday.

Oil ministers of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries will discuss at their June 11 meeting in Doha, Qatar, the main issue of reallocating output quotas once Iraq increases exports to effective levels.

“Opec will not cut its output levels now, because the price is high. They will mostly focus on discussing quota levels when Iraq returns,” Abdulwahab Abu-Dahesh, senior economist at Riyad Bank, said.

“Iraq is not expected to return to its pre-1990 export levels before a couple of years ... A number of technical problems must be overcome. That too requires huge investments,” Abu-Dahesh said.

Oil prices inched upwards on Friday as the energy ministers of Saudi Arabia, Venezuela and Mexico met in Madrid and pledged to cooperate with other producers in ensuring a fair price for the crude to stabilise the world market.

The price of benchmark Brent North Sea crude oil for July delivery rose 34 cents to $27.78 per barrel.

New York’s light sweet crude July contract was up 31 cents to $31.05 in early trading.

The three countries stressed the need to “continue monitoring developments in the market during the coming few months in a bid to avoid factors that may destabilise it.”

The Opec meeting on June 11 will assess the state of the oil market, especially in light of the expected resumption of Iraqi production and the return of Venezuela and Nigeria to their normal production levels.

Regular Iraqi oil exports are not expected to restart until early July at the earliest, and the volume of such exports is unknown due to widespread looting and telecommunications problems.

The acting head of Iraq’s Oil Ministry, Thamir Ghadhban, said last month that he expected output to reach 1.5 million barrels per day (bpd) by the end of June and three million bpd by the end of the year.

But oil expert Abdullah bin Ali Ibrahim, of the Dammam-based Arab Petroleum Investments Corp., believes no major change will happen before one to two years.

“In the short-term of one to two years, nothing significant will happen. But in the mid-term, changes are bound to take place. Everything depends on Iraq’s volumes of production and export ... and size of investments,” Ibrahim said.

The future of production quotas and protection of Opec’s $22-28 price band appears to increasingly depend on Iraq’s decision to continue membership with the 11-member cartel or to opt out.

Baghdad has not been subject to a quota since July 1990 when output was set at 3.14 million bpd, the same as Iran and about 14 per cent of Opec’s production ceiling.

“The possibility of Iraq’s not returning to Opec is very remote. It is in Iraq’s interest to remain in the cartel because that would give it a privileged status to produce more and it can help maintain fair prices,” Abu-Dahesh said.

“Iraq needs long term finance for reconstruction and thus wants to see fair oil prices continue. I believe Baghdad has no option but to remain within Opec. This also applies to US oil firms expected to invest in Iraq,” he said. Iraq has not been invited to attend the Doha meeting because the occupation authorities have not yet installed a national government in Baghdad.

But Ibrahim believes that if Iraq is to remain with Opec, cartel members, especially Saudi Arabia, are required to take painful decisions by cutting their output quotas. — AFP

<a href=www.vheadline.com>Venezuela's Electronic News Posted: Sunday, June 08, 2003 By: Roy S. Carson (OPVPR: Official Paid Version, Please Reply)

The anti-Chavez Venezuelan Community Abroad (VCA) grouping has issued a press release ahead of an Organization of American States (OAS) assembly in Santiago de Chile, Monday,  claiming concern that the Venezuelan government will not comply with the Recall Referendum enshrined in the Bolivarian Constitution ... "the Venezuelan Community Abroad requests that the Group of Friends of Venezuela and international observers closely monitor the Venezuelan political process during until the country’s crisis is resolved."

Houston-based VCA contact person Cristal Montanez writes that "after seven months of negotiations between representatives of the opposition and the government, a 19-point Agreement was signed. The historical accord embodies the hopes of the majority of the Venezuelan people who want to participate in referendum vote to revoke the mandate of the autocratic government of Hugo Chavez, after August 19 of this current year."

Claiming that the Venezuelan opposition today comprises a majority of the country's population, Montanez continues that it "feels the need to communicate to the international community their deep mistrust of the agreement, since it sets no date for the recall referendum and is not binding. Since President Chavez was elected in 1998, he has shown a tendency to disregard agreements, laws, and even our constitution. We are concerned that he will also disregard the terms of this new accord."

VCA then admits that the agreement it mistrusts "mimics Article 72 of the Venezuelan Bolivarian Constitution, which states that the mandate of an elected official can be revoked after the midterm of his period."  The proceeds to state that "during the past few weeks, the government has taken an aggressively repressive stance against the opposition, refusing dollars to the private sector, and creating new laws that threaten our fundamental freedom of expression and our right to protest. In addition, it is arming urban militias called Bolivarian Circles, who (whose?) role is to intimidate and suppress the protest actions of the opposition, violating all the rules and regulations contemplated in the International Human Rights code."  In a complimentary addition to the slugfest Montanez adds that "The Bolivarian Circles are trained by Cuban military officers who are active in the country."

In a press release that appears honed to misinform North American newspapers, radio and television broadcasters, the opposition VCA demands that "international observers are urgently required to monitor the creation of the new National Electoral College (CNE) ... a prerequisite for the referendum, and the verification of signatures ... so that the recall referendum doesn’t become yet another unfulfilled promise. Without the assistance of the "Group of Friends" of Venezuela, the Organization of American States, the Carter Center and the PNUD, we (VCA) are concerned that the recall referendum will never materialize."

So far so good in the preemptive propaganda attack from Houston-base; the spin-doctors are obviously concerned that the Chavez Frias government will not abide by the 1999 Constitution ... totally forgetting (or conveniently laying aside) the fact that it was they, the opposition, who enacted the April 11 coup d'etat which saw the installation of Dictator-for-a-Day Pedro Carmona Estanga, who promptly dissolved the Constitution, the Congress and the Courts...

But let's continue:  VCA says it is imperative that these international organizations acknowledge the obstacle included in the Bolivarian Constitution, which states that if the people do not succeed in recalling the President’s mandate before he enters the last two years of his term, then there are no new elections, and the Vice President becomes President, completing the remaining portion of the term. That would mean that even if President Chavez’s mandate is recalled, the Vice President might still become President until 2006 (articles 71, 72, 231 and 233 of the Venezuelan Bolivarian Constitution).

Just a question:  Is there a 1999 Constitution or isn't there?  Was it not democratically authored by a democratically-elected National Constituent Assembly?  Was it not approved by a majority of Venezuelans in a December 15, 1999 National referendum?  Were not democratic elections duly held in accordance with that Constitution which returned the current government to power, in full compliance with all its democratically-arrived-at Articles?

NOW: In obvious rejection of the judicial process as well, VCA says that an February 3, 2003, the Venezuelan Supreme Court (TSJ) decided that the mid-term of President Chavez’s period is August 19, 2003.

Here comes the switch ... "By delaying the referendum until 2004, he (President Chavez) can then pressure the Supreme Court to revisit their decision concerning the Presidential term, and declare in a new ruling that their earlier decision was not in keeping with the Constitution, which clearly states that the Presidential term begins in January."

Come in Houston ... we have a slight problem with your speculation!

PR Cristal Montanez goes off into an extraterrestrial trajectory to conclude that the Supreme Court could declare that his term began in January of 2000 ... "not only would such a decision by the TSJ cause confusion about the referendum date, but it would also mean that if Chavez is still in office on January 1st, 2004, then there is not way to revoke President Chavez’s mandate before 2006."

Hey, come on Cristal and friends ... stop searching the skies for visitors from other planets, you're already spaced out ... the Constitution clearly states that a recall referendum's process begins after August 19 ... take August 20 as a starting-gate.  The opposition needs to gather its wits about it before that date to get together a series of Constitutionally determined prerequisites ... a number of supervised and authenticated signatures from registered voters to request a revocatory referendum; approval of such a referendum petition by the National Assembly (AN) and then due process by which to call a proper YES/NO vote on Chavez or whomsoever else will be subject to revocatory procedures.

Yes, we know you want a revocatory referendum with only one end result!

OAS General Secretary Cesar Gaviria has somewhat optimistically said that an eventual revocatory referendum will get off the ground sometime in November ... but looking realistically at Venezuela as we know it, yes, the date will probably be projected into December or perhaps even further into the early months of 2004.

But to extrapolate the lethargy of Venezuela's political process into a conspiracy theory of black helicopter proportions to "demonstrate" the rabid opposition's pet theory of impending Doom & Gloom is taking things a bit too far, don't you think?

...and you have to remember who it was who attempted to impose a dictatorship on April 12, 2002 ... and who moved immediately to dissolve the Constitution to which (rightfully) the VCA lays such fond acclaim, the democratically-elected Congress and the Courts!

We've seen clear and present evidence that it is elements within the Venezuelan opposition that wants to overthrow the Constitution ... we've seen no substantiation of allegations that the same qualifications apply to the Chavez Frias government...

Instead of screeching cat gut to orchestrate your violin serenade to the foreign media, Cristal, you should take pause for introspection and, as said "Come in Houston, we have a problem..."

Venezuelan Community Abroad (VCA): Cristal Montanez may be contacted at email: CJoslin@aol.com or telephone number +1-713-823-3621