Terminando la década de los sesenta me aparecí en Venezuela con una novia austriaca-norteamericana con quien tuve serias intenciones de contraer matrimonio.  Los proyectos no cuajaron, pero Janelle se llevó una muy buena impresión de nuestro país.  La llevé al Hotel Maracay a ver un concierto de “Las Cuatro Monedas” y por las noches asistíamos al “Pub” del Centro Comercial Cacaito (el único centro comercial que tenía Caracas para entonces), donde solía alternar en el piano con Pat O’Brian, el padre – precisamente – de los integrantes de aquel conjunto musical que se perdió en la historia de los tiempos más felices de mi vida.

Janelle regresó a su país tremendamente impresionada con Venezuela.  Tal vez lo que más le impactó – además del Parque Henry Pittier y la Bahía de Cata -- fue pasear por la Cota Mil, una avenida desde la cual divisábamos toda Caracas pero que tenía la particularidad de no llegar a ningún lado, pues – para entonces – la bella arteria vial se truncaba abruptamente en el Marqués para regresar en “U” a San Bernardino.   Solíamos hacer “loops” continuados en la Cota Mil, mientras oíamos la música que salía de mi “8-Tracks” o simplemente charlábamos disfrutando de nuestra mutua compañía y del frío viento que nos entraba por las ventanillas de mi carro, mientras paseábamos – madrugada adentro – en una ciudad que todavía no conocía el crimen.

Se fue mi novia -- blanca como la espuma del mar Caribe -- dejando en mí su lindo recuerdo y una terca costumbre de pasear por la Cota Mil cada vez que deseo tener un encuentro con mis pensamientos más profundos.  Ahora, ya completamente terminada y luego de varias décadas, la recorro con los vidrios hasta el “collín”, los seguros colocados y mi Browning 9mm rozándome el muslo derecho.

Eran las 9 de la mañana de ayer domingo 29 de julio cuando decidí abandonar mi “Guarimba” para ordenar mi mente y cargarme de cordura; había tenido una muy mala semana matizada de soledad, tristeza y depresión.  Como suelo hacer cuando el espíritu me lo exige, me dirigí a la Cota Mil para entrar en el sin-fin de mis pensamientos… pero me olvidé que los domingos trancan la vía para permitirles a los ciclistas y patinadores caraqueños un merecido día de esparcimiento en una ciudad dibujada por el concreto y las pesadillas.  Entonces consideré lo mejor: visitar a mis amigos del petróleo en la Plaza La Meritocracia, donde se llevaba a cabo una de las magníficas verbenas cuya finalidad es recoger fondos para seguir la lucha por la recuperación de la patria.

Guiado por mi instinto llegué de inmediato al quisco de la “Red Energía Positiva”, donde eché mi primera larga charla de la mañana en compañía de los amigos que allí se encontraban repartiendo folletos y haciendo proselitismo político.  No era la primera vez que me invitaban a unirme a ellos...  una vez más decliné respetuosamente la invitación.

“La Red”, conformada por la crema y nata intelectual y pensante de nuestra sociedad productiva, cayó en el mismo discurso indefinido y abstracto de la promoción de un referendo revocatorio aún más indefinido y abstracto que el discurso mismo de la inmensa mayoría de “nuestros” líderes.

Si yo fuese el régimen, le recortaría el presupuesto de financiamiento a los “Círculos Bolivarianos” y le asignaría una buena partida a todos aquellos movimientos, organizaciones políticas y ONG que promuevan el “REFERENDO REVOCATORIO INDEFINIDO”; eso – mediante un impresionante “guaraleo” -- me otorgaría el tiempo que requiero para terminar de colocar en posiciones claves los cuadros medios y bajos del “Ejercito Cubano de Ocupación” que me llegan – diariamente y a paso forzado -- desde la casa matriz en Cuba, tal como hizo Castro en Angola durante 1975-1976, antes de entrar de lleno en la tremendamente-sangrienta guerra civil que montó desde entonces en el poder al MPLA y que le ha costado decenas de miles de muertos a aquella otrora rica nación africana, bendecida por petróleo, minerales, madera preciosa y cualquier abundancia más enviada por Dios.

Si yo fuese “La Red”, me destacaría de gran parte de los políticos (viejos o nuevos) comenzándole a hablar golpeado al régimen, retándolo a que cumpla con pautas que esperan en la ruta hacia ese revocatorio hoy tan absurdamente indefinido; abogando ante las partes por la final designación de los miembros del CNE; exigiendo que el organismo electoral ratifique la validez legal de las firmas recogidas en el famoso “Firmazo”; pidiéndole a los miembros del consejo que presenten un cronograma preliminar razonable a fin de materializar el acto mismo de votación del referendo; forzando al régimen para que secomprometa a aportar los fondos requeridos a fin de hacer viable el constitucional acto electoral que tanto nos preocupa; exigiéndole al CNE la pronta presentación de un modelo de boletas de votación y muchas cosas más que se requieren para que el soberano ejerza su sagrado derecho al voto.

Son como veinte las pautas requeridas para llegar a un final feliz con esto del referendo.  Hasta ahora lo que hay esmora, bla-bla y mucho “guaraleo” de parte y parte.  Si yo fuese “La Red en Positivo” convocaría una “GUARIMBA” cada vez que se incumpla el cronograma nacional hacia el revocatorio y me aseguraría que hubiera candela permanente en “el guateque”, porque para estar guindando, mejor es caerse… o – en el mejor de los casos -- que se caiga el otro.

Habría que estudiarlo mejor, pero hasta he llegado a pensar que con tal de ponerle fechas, presión y cumplimiento a las pautas en la ruta hacia el referendo, aceptaría que el CNE fuese conformado todo por los miembros del cogollo del M.V.R.; total, pal’respeto que el régimen le dará al referendo, me orino adentro.  Una estrategia así lograría definir la situación EN EL MENOR TIEMPO POSIBLE, obligando al régimen a montarse o a encaramarse de una buena vez y por todas… mejor ahora que de aquí a unos meses, cuando el CASTRO-COMUNISMO en Venezuela esté más sólido y apuntalado por los efectivos regulares del “Ejército Revolucionario Cubano”.

Chávez y Castro – TODAVÍA – necesitan tiempo: es evidente.  Forzando las pautas se cierra el collar que terminaría oprimiendo la garganta del gobierno a un punto insoportable, siempre – eso sí – que tengamos al pueblo atrás cohesionado en un solo bloque, atento a la lucha que nos espera si queremos hacerle entrega del país que conocemos a nuestros hijos y nietos.

¿Y los militares?  Veremos -- cuando comience el inevitable “teque-teque” -- quienes estarán dispuestos a morir por la bandera tricolor de las siete estrellas que arropa a la inmensa mayoría de los ciudadanos de este país, o por la roja y negra con el “26 de Julio” bordado en dorado la cual representa la más férrea opresión del pueblo cubano y a los esbirros que hoy pisotean campante e impunemente la dignidad de los descendientes de los más grandes libertadores americanos.

Caracas 30 de julio de 2003

ROBERT ALONSO

Envíen sus comentarios – UNICAMENTE – a robertalonso2003@cantv.net pues los otros buzones colapsan con la cantidad de correo que reciben.  --

PORTAFOLIO VIRTUAL DE ARTÍCULOS Y ENSAYOS DEL MISMO AUTOR

Published: Friday, June 20, 2003 Associated Press

WASHINGTON -- Scientists have found a previously unknown population of red siskins, a bird feared to be nearing extinction in the wild.

"It was totally a surprise to us, a great shock," said Michael Braun, a research scientist at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History.

Once widespread in the coastal mountains of Venezuela and Colombia, the bird was nearly wiped out by trapping after it became popular both in that region and in Europe in the 1800s.

The bird was particularly valued for its bright red feathers, and in Latin America it is known as el cardinalito, or little cardinal.

Breeders discovered that the red siskin could mate with the canary, Braun said Thursday, providing a bright color to the formerly drab songbird. Any canary today that has some red feathers has some siskin genes, Braun said.

Braun said the research team was conducting a survey of birds in little-studied Guyana, which neighbors Venezuela, when they came across a population of several thousand red siskins.

That, he said, is several times the known population of the birds elsewhere in the wild.

The discovery was made in April 2000, but was kept under wraps until a conservation plan could be developed providing legal protection for the birds in Guyana.

It was just a matter of time before they were discovered, he said, because the region where they were found is increasingly being developed.

Red siskins have been protected in Venezuela since the 1940s.

The goal is not to prevent people from raising the birds in cages, he said, but to avoid damage to the wild population.

The American Federation of Aviculture is engaged in a red siskin recovery project, attempting to breed a large enough captive population of the birds for the commercial market.

The discovery by Braun and Mark Robbins of the University of Kansas is being published in the June issue of The Auk, the journal of the American Ornithologists Union.

Posted on Fri, Jun. 20, 2003 CHRISTOPHER TOOTHAKER Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO DE YARE, Venezuela - As a priest finished saying Mass and parishioners received their customary blessing, churchgoers turned to leave this house of worship only to come face to face with more than 1,000 devils.

Outside on the plaza facing the 18th-century church, hundreds of masked "devils" crouched as a deafening African-influenced drum beat erupted and maracas rattled.

It was the start of an annual ritual in which the descendants of African slaves commemorate Corpus Christi, a Roman Catholic holiday celebrating the transformation of the body and blood of Christ into bread and wine. The ritual, which took place Thursday, is followed by two days of drunken revelry.

"We dress as devils to make fun of the devil," said 50-year-old Ana Hernandez, who organizes the ritual.

Clothed in bright red robes and wearing rosaries, men and boys of all ages take part in the shuffling and shaking frenzy known as "The Devil Dance" - a celebration residents of this quaint town, 28 miles south of Caracas, have prepared for all year.

The male dancers stomped and whirled, raising papier-mache masks painted in a rainbow of bright colors toward the heavens.

A procession of "Diablos Danzantes," or "Devil Dancers," formed around priests carrying sacramental bread through San Francisco de Yare's streets. Women and girls in red dresses adorned with holy crosses made of palm leaves walked alongside the procession with burning candles.

The Carnival-like dance, in which the devils pay penance and ask for relief from physical ailments, symbolizes the ongoing struggle between good and evil. It originated in southern Spain in the fifth century, when the Catholic church used the dance to convert pagans to Christianity.

"This symbolizes the triumph of Jesus Christ over the temptations of Lucifer, sin and death," Bishop Ovidio Perez told his congregation.

In Venezuela, the tradition dates to 1742, when liberal priests used it to include African slaves who were not permitted to worship in the same church as their white masters.

Venezuela abolished slavery in 1854, but descendants of slaves in San Francisco de Yare, now joined by others of mixed race, have preserved the religious tradition in this South American nation of 24 million.

The ritual mixes indigenous, African and Spanish traditions. The circling and stamping are derived from indigenous movements, while the cross step comes from Andalusian dances in Spain.

Dancer Alexis Gonzalez, a 50-year-old carpenter who started participating in the ritual when he was just 3, said he believes because of his involvement in Yare's Corpus Christi ritual his mother's ulcer was miraculously cured.

The oldest and most experienced dancer, called "El Primer Capataz," or "The Foreman," wears a mask with four horns.

The Foreman reaches that position if he demonstrates good behavior in the community throughout his lifetime and remains the maximum authority until his death.

In a hierarchical order, the Foreman is followed in line by two overseers, who wear three-horned masks. Other dancers have two horns.

"You can't get any more Venezuelan than this," said Julie Buell, a 35-year-old American who came from the capital with her family to see the ritual. "It's great to see traditions like these continue while the world is constantly changing."

<a href=nanodot.org>NaNoDot, posted by JimLewis on Thursday June 19, @04:47PM

Anonymous Coward writes "Taking a major step forward, the Center for Responsible Nanotechnology (CRN) has established a Board of Advisors, including several well-known names. The first six members of CRN's Board of Advisors are José Cordeiro, Eric Drexler, Jerry Glenn, Lisa Hopper, Doug Mulhall, and Rosa Wang."

From the CRN Press release:

More advisors will be added in the near future, as CRN identifies and engages leaders in government, business, and civil society who share a vision of nanotechnology being widely used for productive and beneficial purposes, with malicious uses limited by effective administration of the technology.

"We are proud to welcome such accomplished and respected figures to our Board," says Mike Treder, Executive Director of CRN. "It's a great beginning. We aim to continue building a well-rounded Board, with additional experts in fields beyond nanotechnology, such as economics, philosophy, sociology, ecology, and politics. We're committed to a globally representative mix, with members from all major world regions."

José Luis Cordeiro is President of the Sociedad Mundial del Futuro Venezuela, and author of The Great Taboo. An engineer and economist with expertise in global affairs, he is Director of the Club of Rome (Venezuela), and an international advisor to several companies and organizations. As Director of the Association of Venezuelan Exporters (AVEX), he has participated in the negotiations of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA).

K. Eric Drexler, Founder and Chairman of the Foresight Institute, is a researcher concerned with emerging technologies and their consequences for the future. In the mid 1980s, he introduced the term 'nanotechnology' to describe atomically precise molecular manufacturing systems and their products. His research ranges from computational modeling of molecular machines to engineering analysis of molecular manufacturing systems and their potential products. Author of Engines of Creation and Nanosystems, and co-author of Unbounding the Future, he lectures widely on molecular nanotechnology, its development, and its implications for the human future.

Jerome C. Glenn is the Executive Director for the American Council for the United Nations University, where he co-founded and directs the Millennium Project on global futures research. He has 30 years experience in futures research with governments, corporations, and international organizations working for the Committee for the Future, Hudson Institute, Future Options Room, Millennium Project, and as an independent consultant. He has written over 90 articles and authored, edited, or co-authored eight books on the future.

Lisa Hopper is President and Founder of World Care, a non-profit organization dedicated to raising consciousness in the education, health, environmental, and community service arenas. World Care converts surplus into valuable resources for relief efforts throughout the world, creating opportunities for those who are less fortunate by providing the necessary supplies.

Douglas Mulhall, author of Our Molecular Future, is a leading figure in global environmentalism. He has participated in designing, building, and operating water recycling and flood control facilities in China and Brazil, in cooperation with the European Commission and multinational companies. A former Managing Director of the Hamburg Environmental Institute, he is cofounder and director of O Instituto Ambiental, the first South American institute to specialize in wastewater recycling.

Rosa Wang is founder and principal of GeographicEngine.com, which offers financial and strategic advisory to non-profits. In addition, she serves as consultant for Ashoka Innovators for the Public, a non-profit organization dedicated to the profession of social entrepreneurship. Rosa has extensive experience in finance and economic policy based in North America and Asia, and her past employers include Dresdner RCM Global Investors, Lehman Brothers, and the Federal Reserve Bank of NY.

Since its formation in late 2002, CRN has attracted significant notice for taking a strong stance on the risks of unregulated molecular nanotechnology, and the need for a coordinated international program of development. CRN's founders, Executive Director Mike Treder and Director of Research Chris Phoenix, believe that the humanitarian potential of nanotechnology is enormous, but so also is the potential for misuse. Their mission is to raise awareness of the issues presented by nanotechnology: the benefits and dangers, and the possibilities for responsible use.

The Center for Responsible Nanotechnology is headquartered in New York. CRN is an affiliate of World Care, an international, non-profit, 501(c)(3) organization. For more information on CRN, see www.CRNano.org.

Duncan Campbell in Los Angeles Friday June 20, 2003 The Guardian

Anti-globalisation and environmental protesters are planning to converge on the Californian state capital, Sacramento, at the weekend to demonstrate against a conference run and funded by the US government on genetically modified food.

Protesters claim that the conference is a desperate attempt to save the embattled GM food industry.

The conference theme is the broadening of "knowledge and understanding of agricultural science and technology ... to raise agricultural productivity, alleviate hunger and famine and improve nutrition".

More than 120 ministers, some senior, from 75 countries including Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, the Czech Republic, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Israel, Mexico, Pakistan, Peru, the Philippines, Uganda and Venezuela are to attend. It is backed by the US state department, the department of agriculture and the agency for international development (USAid).

Some 130 groups are mobilising, mainly to protest against what they see as the conference's hidden agenda.

"The largely US-based bio-technology industry is in crisis," said Peter Rosset, co-director of Food First, the Institute for Food and Development Policy, a thinktank based in Oakland, California. "This conference is a desperate attempt, at the taxpayers' expense, to prop up a failing industry. The whole conference is pitched at developing countries."

Mr Rosset said that, with suspicion growing about GM food around the world, the US government had decided to bail out the industry. He said every country, with the exception of those deemed to be in the "axis of evil", had been invited. Fares for two senior ministers from each country were being paid by the US, he said. Significantly, western European countries were not attending.

Accusing the US of "trying to hijack a UN-sponsored multilateral process", Mr Rosset suggested that American taxpayers were effectively sponsoring "some of the richest companies on earth in a trade fair".

Apart from the £1.8m cost of the conference, £600,000 is being allocated for security to combat wide-ranging plans for non-violent protest.

One group planning to demonstrate is The Killer Tomatoes. Member Mary Bull said yesterday: "The United States is trying to coerce poor African nations into taking [GM foods]. It is a really significant conference from that point of view and we have to show that food can be distributed in a just and equitable way and not in the form of corporate-controlled and pesticide-driven agriculture."

She added: "Knowing the Sacramento police, I'm sure there's going to be lots and lots of arrests."

The US department of agriculture did not respond to questions about the claims by Food First and other groups, but it has argued in the past that GM foods can help alleviate hunger at a time when some 600 million people worldwide are malnourished.

David Hegwood, counsel to the agriculture secretary, has criticised western European countries for their current moratorium on GM foods: "The fear of Europe is keeping food out of the mouths of hungry people in Africa."

Proposed GM innovations likely to be discussed at the conference include fruit and vegetables aimed at stimulating the immune system and rice that would contain extra iron and vitamins. Such foods are an estimated five years away from being available commercially.

Special reports GM food debate Special report: what's wrong with our food? Explained 03.06.2003: GM crops May 2003 investigation Food: the way we eat now Useful links GM public debate - the official site Monsanto Agriculture & environment biotechnology commission (government advisory body) Agricultural Biotechnology Council Official reports Royal Society report on GM plants (pdf) Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology report on GM food labelling (pdf)