<a href=www.vheadline.com>Venezuela's Electronic News Posted: Friday, June 20, 2003 By: Jose Gabriel Angarita

VenAmCham economist Jose Gabriel Angarita writes: Venezuelan families are being more and more adversely affected by the kind of economic management to which we are being subjected. According to information published in the El Nacional and El Universal newspapers, the National Association of Supermarkets and Similar Businesses (ANSA) reported that supermarket sales were up 15% in nominal terms between May 2002 and May 2003. In real terms, however, consumption at supermarkets contracted by 16.1%, because the cumulative inflation rate between May 2002 and 2003 was higher, amounting to 35.1%.

Furthermore, comparing real growth in the first quarter of 2003 with that of the same period of 2002, we find that consumption was 26% lower this year, a plunge provoked by the period's intense political, economic, and social instability. Nevertheless, the industry organization indicated that most member establishments abided by the controlled prices, despite that policy's impact on their profit margins.

ANSA also pointed out that, though there were no serious cases of supply shortages, the variety of consumer goods on supermarket shelves has diminished, especially for the products subject to regulation. The outcome is the appearance of a black market where the goods in question are being sold at double their controlled price, which only intensifies the distortions in the price formation system.

Among the most dramatic consequences of the economic situation into which we have been dragged by an accumulation of inefficient economic policies is the decline of real salary levels. The Venezuelan public's loss of purchasing power as a result of rising inflation, unemployment, and the economic crisis as a whole has forced families to reduce their consumption of essential goods. And the prospects for a 50% inflation rate and an unemployment rate over 25% by the end of the year will only make things worse.

June 20 (<a href=quote.bloomberg.com>Bloomberg) -- Venezuela's Social Christian Party said the country's opposition should hold a presidential primary to select one candidate if President Hugo Chavez loses a binding referendum on his presidency later this year.

Social Christian Party President Eduardo Fernandez said a primary would be open to all Venezuelans opposed to Chavez, and would be the best and most open way to select a candidate.

A primary would allow Venezuela's opposition, which is united only by its members' dislike of Chavez, to avoid splintering and fielding more than one candidate, analysts have said. Polls have repeatedly showed that Chavez would easily be defeated if he faces only one opponent.

Chavez would lose a referendum on his presidency by 38 percentage points if a vote were held today, El Nacional reported, citing a poll by Consultores 21.

The May 17-27 poll of 1,500 Venezuelans found that 66 percent would vote for Chavez to leave office, while 28 percent would cast ballots for him to stay. Eight percent were undecided.

E. EDUARDO CASTILLO, <a href=www.sfgate.com>Associated Press Writer
Friday, June 20, 2003
(06-20) 13:02 PDT MEXICO CITY (AP) --

The number of international observers registered to monitor the July midterm congressional elections is substantially lower than in past years -- a drop election officials attributed to decreased concerns about fraud following President Vicente Fox's election.

For decades, voters at home and observers abroad had little confidence in the electoral process. The Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, which governed the country for 71 consecutive years, was widely known for buying votes, coercing voters and stuffing ballot boxes.

During the PRI's reign, hundreds of observers from all over the globe, mostly from non-governmental human rights organizations, flocked to Mexico to oversee the elections.

In July 2000, the most recent presidential balloting, 860 observers from 58 countries witnessed the balloting. Despite the ever-present fears of fraud, however, that election was won by Vicente Fox, the first opposition presidential candidate to defeat the PRI since the party was founded in 1929.

One of Fox's biggest priorities has been to complete Mexico's transition from a country that critics once called a "perfect dictatorship" to a full democracy, revamping public institutions, opening government information to public scrutiny, and promising to maintain free and fair elections.

Two and a half years later, both the number and the nature of the international election observers has changed.

The monitors who plan to watch the July 6 elections are "more interested in the details of the electoral operation than ... guaranteeing their honesty," said Manuel Carrillo, director of international affairs for Mexico's Federal Electoral Institute.

This year, 65 percent of the accredited international observers are election officials, whereas in 2000, that percentage was made up by representatives of non-governmental organizations who monitor potential human rights abuses, Carrillo said. This year, non-governmental agencies represent only 4 percent of the total monitors, he said.

The overall number of observers also has dropped substantially from past years: In 1994, 950 foreign visitors from 40 countries watched the presidential elections, while in the midterm elections of 1997, 360 observers attended from 33 nations. This year, only 51 observers from 17 countries have been accredited, Carrillo said.

This year's monitors will hail from India, the United States, Canada, Guatemala, Venezuela, Colombia and Puerto Rico, Carrillo said.

In the election, all 500 congressional seats as well as several governorships and a host of municipal seats are up for grabs.

Fri June 20, 2003 04:26 PM ET By Joseph Giannone

NEW YORK, June 20 (<a href=reuters.com>Reuters) - ChevronTexaco Corp. CVX.N will put dozens of oil and gas properties on the block as merger-related restrictions on asset sales expire this fall.

At the same time, a comprehensive business review by the company is expected to trigger a massive write-off in its overseas refining and marketing businesses.

Oct. 9 marks the two-year anniversary of the combination of Chevron Corp. and Texaco Inc. -- and the starting point for sweeping changes by the second-largest U.S. energy company. In August the company will unveil plans to divest assets and boost returns from exploration and production.

Some analysts say the company also may announce changes to its international refining and marketing business, comprised of its CalTex business in Asia and Africa and Texaco's assets in Europe. Changes may include the shutting down or sale of some assets.

Those assets have deteriorated in value since the merger, analysts said, and could result in a write-down of as much as $3 to $5 billion as early as this year.

"These assets are severely over-capitalized and of a quality and of a competitive nature that leaves something to be desired," said analyst Mark Gilman of First Albany, who has a "sell" rating on ChevronTexaco shares.

A spokesman said the company won't comment on its plans until its investor meeting in August, although ChevronTexaco executives have said sales would be on par with the $1 billion to $2 billion in assets sold annually before the merger.

Because ChevronTexaco used pooling of interests accounting for the merger, it has not been allowed to sell significant assets. At the same time, rivals have shed properties in North America and the North Sea, freeing cash for reinvestment in more promising regions, such as Southeast Asia, Africa and Russia.

Now, with those restrictions soon to expire, analysts said, the company will announce plans to shed properties in the United States, Canada, the North Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. Even in emerging hot spots like Indonesia, ChevronTexaco may divest some mature fields.

ChevronTexaco might also pull the plug on holdings in Colombia, Venezuela, Argentina and Brazil, where the company may lack sufficient scale.

This year the company has announced minor sales, including the disposal of 100 North American properties. ChevronTexaco also announced the sale of its stakes in a Papua New Guinea venture and a refinery in El Paso, Texas.

"It looks like the company may bite the bullet and take some write-downs," John Herold analyst Lou Gagliardi said. "They're being forced to take a hard look at their overweight exposure in the Far East."

That means even CalTex, formed by the two companies in 1936, is at risk. The division has 10 refineries and service stations in 60 countries across Asia, the Middle East and Africa, but many of its markets suffer from a glut of refining capacity and sluggish demand growth.

So, as painful as these steps may be, the company needs to convince investors it is taking all necessary steps to boost financial performance, analysts said.

"If the changes are seen as half-hearted, or not doing enough to reposition the company and boost profitability, the market will be disappointed," Herold's Gagliardi said.

<a href=www.vheadline.com>Venezuela's Electronic News Posted: Friday, June 20, 2003 By: Patrick J. O'Donoghue

US II WW veteran Piskalt Roberts Hestinic (77) is under arrest for shooting and killing Omar Antonio Aristiguieta (23) as the latter attempted to enter and burgle his house.  The incident took place at 4.30 in the morning in Quinta Loma de Las Tunitas (Catia la Mar) when Aristigueta allegedly scaled a window in the kitchen to enter the house.

Roberts is said to have taken his Browning 6.35 mm pistol and shot the intruder between the eyes. 

Thinking that he had missed but scared the would-be thief, Roberts found the man at 6.00 a.m. on the floor in the patio with a tube stuck in the head. Vargas State Metropolitan Police agents say Aristigueta received a bullet between the eyes and must hit the tube when he fell back. 

Roberts has told investigators that the dead man had been harassing him for a long time and had stolen his war medals, offering to return them for 20,000 bolivares, which the veteran had refused ... Roberts, who lives alone, has been here in Venezuela for 52 years.