<a href=www.washingtonpost.com>The Washington Post Thursday, June 12, 2003; Page A38

VENEZUELAN PRESIDENT Hugo Chavez and his opposition finally have agreed, in principle, on an electoral means to end the political turmoil that has all but wrecked one of Latin America's most stable and prosperous democracies. But it's fair to ask whether either side is sincere. The opposition coalition agreed to the deal, brokered by Cesar Gaviria, secretary general of the Organization of American States, only after a two-month strike intended to force Mr. Chavez from office proved a disastrous failure. Mr. Chavez, in turn, continues to behave as if he has no intention of giving up his attempt to push through a quasi-totalitarian, quasi-socialist "revolution," regardless of what his people may want. While it's possible that this increasingly polarized country could vote its way out of its crisis, it's not likely to happen without sustained pressure from outside.

In essence, the agreement brokered by Mr. Gaviria commits Mr. Chavez to respect his own constitution, which allows for a recall referendum after the midpoint of his current term this August. The terms favor the president: The opposition is first required to collect the signatures of 20 percent of the electorate, or more than 2.5 million voters, and if a recall vote is held opponents must win not only a majority but more total votes than Mr. Chavez obtained when he was last elected. Nevertheless, polls show that Mr. Chavez is at risk. In one recent survey, 85 percent of voters said they would participate and nearly two-thirds said they would support the president's ouster. Not surprisingly, Mr. Chavez is throwing up obstacles. He recently suggested that referendums on a number of mayors and provincial governors would have to be held first, and he has refused to agree on the composition of an electoral commission that must supervise the referendum.

More seriously, Mr. Chavez has pressed on with his attempt to centralize political and economic power in his hands. Last week his supporters in the National Assembly held a bizarre outdoor session -- to avoid the opposition -- in which they adopted new parliamentary procedures that would facilitate the approval of several far-reaching new laws. One would tightly constrict press freedom; another would add new judges to the supreme court. When a first attempt to implement the new procedures this week failed, the president's supporters vowed to try again. Mr. Chavez already has placed a stranglehold on Venezuela's supply of foreign currency, which he is using to choke off imports by the private sector. Gunmen opened fire on a recent opposition rally.

Venezuela's neighbors, including the United States, have watched the crisis in Caracas with growing alarm but have shrunk from taking significant action. A support group of countries created last year to support Mr. Gaviria's mediation, including the United States, Mexico and Brazil, has failed to play a significant role. Now they have another opportunity. Venezuela's president needs to hear from the region's leaders that his persecution of opponents and attempts to dodge a fair referendum are unacceptable. There should be no more putting off Venezuela's crisis: The chance for a democratic solution may soon be lost.

AP, Thursday, Jun 12, 2003,Page 6

Greater access to world markets and more foreign investment is crucial to sustaining democracy in Latin America, foreign ministers from around the region said Tuesday.

In a statement prepared for the closing of the 33rd General Assembly of the Organization of American States (OAS), the ministers vowed to fight poverty and corruption and promote respect for human rights.

US Secretary of State Colin Powell opened the assembly Monday calling on ministers to "hasten the inevitable democratic transition in Cuba."

However, ministers did not even mention Cuba in the assembly's final statement issued after Powell flew to neighboring Argentina early Tuesday.

Democratic rule has spread throughout the continent, the ministers noted, but several countries "have faced serious problems, worsened by poverty" in their efforts to preserve democracy.

They urged a world economic order that promotes growth, open markets for the region's exports and increased investment in the region.

"Support by international financial institutions to democratic governments is also essential and requires the creation of creative financial mechanisms to strengthen democratic governance," the document stated.

The two-day assembly opened the way for a regional treaty against terrorism to become effective next month. Under the Interamerican Convention against Terrorism, countries commit to jointly fighting terrorism by denying asylum to suspects, increasing border controls and fighting money laundering.

Colombia, Venezuela, Cuba and Haiti are the Latin American countries that have the most worrisome records on human rights, said Marta Altolaguirre, president of the Interamerican Human Rights Commission.

In Colombia, Altolaguirre said, a four-decade civil war involving Marxist guerrillas, right-wing paramilitary groups and the Colombian army has resulted in massive abuses against the civilian population.

She blamed most of the abuses on the left-wing Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia.

AP, Thursday, Jun 12, 2003, Page 6

In their first-ever defeat, pro-government legislators narrowly lost a vote that would have ratified new parliamentary procedures aimed at speeding up passage of legislation backed by President Hugo Chavez.

The vote was over the legality of an outdoor session held Friday in a poor Caracas neighborhood considered a bastion of support for Chavez. Pro-Chavez lawmakers convened there to approve the new parliamentary debate rules two days after ruling party and opposition legislators ended up in a shoving match inside the legislative palace. They argued the session was necessary to prevent the opposition from "sabotaging" the National Assembly.

The 79 opposition legislators boycotted the session, saying they feared being attacked by Chavez sympathizers.

After a five-hour debate, Tuesday's vote ended with 82 in favor of the legality of Friday's session, 79 against and three abstentions. It was one vote short of the 50 percent plus one needed for approval. One member of the 165-member unicameral National Assembly didn't attend the debate.

It was the first defeat for Chavez's multiparty ruling coalition since the 2000 general elections that gave the president an almost two-thirds congressional majority. That majority has eroded to a handful of seats over the past three years after several allies defected to the opposition.

The government's loss Tuesday is another headache for a president facing calls for a referendum on his rule later this year. The opposition is trying to organize the vote under a pact brokered by the Organization of American States designed to bring stability to a country convulsed in the past year by a failed coup and a ruinous general strike.

Chavez 's opponents accuse the former army paratroop commander of trying to install an authoritarian regime modeled after Cuba's. Chavez says that a resentful "oligarchy" is sabotaging his efforts to bring social equality to Venezuela.

The vote Tuesday could mean that Chavez may have trouble passing several key laws, including one to tighten restrictions on the media. That law would require that 60 percent of programming be produced within Venezuela, half of which would have to be created by "independent producers" approved by the government. Broadcasters say the law would give too much influence to censors hand-picked by Chavez to crack down on the mostly opposition news media.

A shouting match erupted Tuesday after ruling party legislators demanded a third recount, which the opposition said would be illegal under both the new and old rules. National Assembly President Francisco Ameliach refused to accept the defeat and suspended the session until Thursday.

"We've been tolerating your majority for four years and you for the first time are incapable of accepting a defeat gracefully," opposition lawmaker Cesar Perez Vivas shouted in Ameliach's face. "Get used to it. It's the first of many."

Opposition legislators have also challenged the legality of Friday's session in the Supreme Court.

<a href=>www.orlandosentinel.com>The Associated Press Posted June 12, 2003

MIAMI -- A Spanish art-gallery owner claims she owns two paintings worth $10 million that were seized in a drug investigation considered bizarre even by Miami standards.

"It is obviously a very interesting case," said U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert Dube. "I know a lot more about art than I did before."

He said he would issue a recommendation after mid-July on a request by Barcelona gallery owner Helena De Saro to undo a court order blocking her from claiming the paintings by Goya and the Japanese artist Tsuguharu Foujita.

De Saro insists she had been holding the Goya since 1990 and the Foujita since 1989 as investments and shipped them from Geneva to New York for possible sale in 2002.

They wound up in a Miami art-storage center for inspection by possible buyers through a Spanish financier, Jose Maria Clemente, who prosecutors say owed a $10 million debt to drug traffickers.

Clemente has been jailed while under investigation in Spain since December and was indicted last year in Miami.

Clemente is charged along with a banker who married into the Saudi royal family and the banker's ex-girlfriend in a 2-ton Colombian cocaine shipment from Venezuela via Saudi Arabia to Paris on the banker's private jet under diplomatic immunity in 1999.

Prosecutors say the banker, Nayef Al-Shaalan, is a prince, but the Saudi Embassy denies that.

The ex-girlfriend, Coral Gables real-estate agent Doris Mangeri Salazar, is the only one in U.S. custody in the case.

De Saro said she didn't have a bill of sale, invoice or other sales records to prove she owns the paintings but has their certificates of authenticity.

"It made absolutely no sense," prosecutor Jacqueline Arango said of De Saro's explanation.

Arango indicated that De Saro "could be a confederate of an indicted defendant."

"It's a classic situation where you have people out there who are nominee owners of property," she said.

De Saro's attorney, Sharon Keggeirs, argued the paintings may be in a legal limbo forever.

The government wants them to be forfeited by Clemente, but decisions on forfeiture are made only after defendants are convicted, and Spain has rejected U.S. extradition requests before.

De Saro's attorney said: "The government's taken $10 million of Ms. De Saro's property. She may not get an opportunity to have her day in court, and the government says, 'So what?' "

<a href=www.falkland-malvinas.com>MercoSur Press Argentine and Brazilian presidents Nestor Kirchner and Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva announced this Wednesday in Brasilia the creation of a Mercosur Parliament and the expansion of regional integration to include the Andean countries, particularly Peru.

“We’re already working for the creation in a relatively short time, of a Mercosur Parliament, to be elected by direct vote”, stated Mr. Lula da Silva after holding a four hours meeting with his Argentine counterpart Mr. Kirchner and a small delegation of advisors.

“Lula and I have expressed the joint interest of Argentina and Brazil to expand Mercosur, particularly closer links with Peru, and agreements with other members of the Andean Community (Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela)”, indicated Mr. Kirchner who insisted that “we must open doors to ensure a quick incorporation of the Andean nations”.

Mr. Kirchner visited Mr. Lula to formally establish a “strategic alliance” between Argentina and Brazil, plus strengthening Mercosur, as had been agreed by both leaders before the Argentine president took office.

“There’s much to work on in Mercosur”, highlighted Mr. Lula after the meeting adding that the “good relations between Argentina and Brazil is the cornerstone and best reason to ensure a successful Mercosur. This strategic model will encourage our South American brothers to really integrate, leaving behind electoral promises and showing facts”.

The Brazilian president anticipated that the four members of Mercosur, Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, will coordinate international negotiations, “the governments of the four member countries will jointly face the challenges of the trade talks in the World Trade Organization, the Free Trade Association of the Americas and with the European Union”.

This was Mr. Kirchner’s first overseas trip since taking office May 25. The two leaders had met in early May when the Lula da Silva administration openly favoured Mr. Kirchner over Mr. Carlos Menem and again during the assumption ceremony.

“We could very well be announcing the beginning of a historic change and time, when the idea of a region of pompous speeches but little action, will definitively be buried”, stressed Mr. Kirchner who described Mercosur as the “central tool for the task of regional integration”.