Oddly Enough - <a href=story.news.yahoo.com>Yahoo News-UK Reuters Tue Jun 24, 8:16 AM ET

By Fabian Cambero

SAN FRANCISCO DE YARE, Venezuela (Reuters) - Resplendent in blood-red robes and grimacing, exotic masks, Venezuela's "Dancing Devils" keep evil at bay by cavorting to the throbbing beat of drums in an annual ritual that combines religion with spectacle.

Each year on the Catholic feast day of Corpus Christi, the small Venezuelan town of San Francisco de Yare welcomes thousands of worshippers and tourists who come to watch the prancing, twirling celebrants dressed as red demons.

"People come because they're attracted by this business of the devils, but we're really very religious. What we're doing is cheating the devil so he doesn't get inside us," said Pablo Azuaje, who as dance master leads the celebrants known as "promeseros" in Spanish.

Their title derives from the Spanish word "promise." The "dancing devils" perform in their red robes and extravagant masks to repay "promises" or favours from God -- such as cures or advancements -- in a ceremony that dates back to the 18th century and recreates the triumph of Good over Evil.

Historians in this predominantly Catholic South American country believe the ceremony originally derives from a Spanish medieval religious ritual. But, with its hypnotic drums, gaudy costumes and frenetic dancing, it also incorporates the traditions of African slaves brought from their homeland decades ago to work on sugar and cocoa plantations.

Azuaje, who has been leading the dancers for 20 years, is the most senior member of the Brotherhood of the Holy Sacrament which maintains the annual tradition.

His oversized papier mache mask, made in 1967, is painted in a rainbow of colours and displays grimacing teeth and a crown of horns. Other masks depict snarling jaguars and wild boars.

Every year, the dancers follow an elaborate ritual. They leave from their headquarters, the "Devils House," dancing to the sound of shaking "maracas," a musical instrument made from a hollowed gourd filled with seeds.

After visiting the cemetery to pay tribute to deceased "devils," the dancers head for the Church, built in the mid-18th century, to receive a blessing.

When the drums fall silent, the "devils" crouch down before the priest in a sign of the submission of Evil before Good.

NATIONAL HERITAGE

At the end of mass, the priest swears in new "devils," who dance before him and explain the reasons and duration of the pledge or promise they are making.

"I've been dancing all my life. ... I had a problem with one of my eyes and the Holy Lord cured it for me," said 21-year-old Freddy Sanchez as he put the finishing touches to his costume during the most recent celebration.

The ceremony ends with the dancers jigging backwards through the streets of the town. They visit the homes of some of their colleagues, whose doors are festooned with flowers and religious images.

"The procession is spectacular, the red of the clothes and the craftsmanship of the masks," said Hannu Bruchmann, a German student who said he had travelled to Yare to confirm that the ceremony was as impressive as it had appeared on television.

"Although I'm not religious, I'm fascinated by people's involvement with the dance and the organisation of everything," he added.

The rank of each "devil" in the hierarchy of the dancing brotherhood is represented by the number of horns on his mask. The dance leader has four horns while his deputies have three and ordinary "devils" have only two.

The elaborate, multi-coloured glazed masks are made by local artisans, who also craft necklaces, miniature statues and other items sought after by tourists.

Although women are barred by tradition from dressing up as "devils," many do take part in the ritual wearing red skirts and white blouses with crosses made from palm fronds sown into the backs.

The "Dancing Devils" ceremony is also held in other towns in northern Venezuela, but the one held in Yare, about 45 miles (70 km) south of Caracas, is the most popular.

The United Nations (news - web sites) cultural agency UNESCO (news - web sites) is expected to decide in July whether the colourful tradition should be included in the organisation's World Heritage list.

"Even if we don't get onto the list, we're going to keep on dancing anyway," one red-clad celebrant said.

<a href=www.vheadline.com>Venezuela's Electronic News Posted: Tuesday, June 24, 2003 By: Oscar Heck

VHeadline.com commentarist Oscar Heck writes: Opposition supporters (opposition to Chavez) find it easy to blame Chavez for the present and recent condition in Venezuela. However, most do recognize that there is also some blame to be attributed to the pre-Chavez Venezuelan leadership.

However, although I am not an economist or “expert,” it appears to me that the opposition (and most of the Venezuelan media and USA-backed opposition propaganda) has neglected a probable major “cause” for Venezuela’s condition today. The “cause” is called greed.

1981-1982 saw Canada go through perhaps the worst economic upheaval in decades. Bank interest rates went up to almost 30% and credit card rates were exorbitant. Banks went bankrupt, manufacturing companies shut their doors (many did not re-open), personal bankruptcies reached “epidemic” levels, black market business accelerated dramatically, and bartering became a common monetary unit. Company pay-checks were only cashable after the bank received the money (10-15 days later) and many people did not get paid for months. Thousands of Canadians lost their jobs and their homes. It took Canada and Canadians years to “overcome and adapt” to a “new way of life.”

Several things struck me about those years. Before the economic crisis, the maintenance people (sweeping floors, etc.) at Marine Industries (Sorel) were unionized an earned somewhere in the vicinity of Canadian $25 per hour. A pair of good dress pants cost over $50 and a good shirt over $40. A t-shirt cost at least $12-15. Today, 20 years later, after thousands of business and personal bankruptcies, one can buy a t-shirt for $4, a good pair of pants for $28 and a good shirt for $15. However, the maintenance people today will generally make between $10-12 per hour, even in a unionized environment.

While I traveled throughout Venezuela for three months during El Paro (the stoppage), I often had the impression that I was re-living the early 80s of Canada. Could it be? I suspect, yes. Any country or society will eventually pay (and pay dearly) for allowing greed to go unchecked. Canada did in the early 80s, the USA and most of the “western world” in the late 90s with the fall of Nortel and the Nasdac, then Argentina … and now Venezuela, in the early 2000s, after decades of greed, corruption and monies/wealth exiting the country. It is/was inevitable. It appears to me that opposition supporters have been too quick in blaming Chavez for Venezuela’s woes … especially since (in addition to decades of accumulation of economic stress) the opposition itself sponsored and headed up the “stoppage” which finally brought Venezuela’s economy to almost a standstill; an intentional move that brought great distress to Venezuelans, principally to the 80% … the average Venezuelan.

Opposition supporters write to me with vile language, accusing me of speaking against Venezuelans. I speak against those Venezuelans that have (either voluntarily or through ignorance) blindly participated in “typical” Venezuelan business practices that include: paying of a disproportionately low minimum wage, hoarding and speculation. The three practices named above have been effective vehicles for decades-worth of accumulation of disproportionate wealth due to untamed greed.

Traditionally, these three practices have allowed for profits in the hundreds of percentage points. Doing business in this fashion for a lengthy period of time can only ultimately lead to socio-economic division and unrest, as has been witnessed in Venezuela over the last year or so. Sooner or later, things are found out. Sooner or later inequitable practices are found out. Abuse is found out, whether intentional or through blind ignorance.

Of course, poverty (80-85% poverty) will become more noticeable and will increase, especially if the opposition continues to support the sabotage of reform laws created to try to curb speculation, hoarding and monopolizing.

In turn more poverty will create more beggars and street children.

Unemployment and inflation will rise dramatically (from some reports: 22-25% and 35-45% respectively) and the GDP will fall (apparently 10-15%), especially if encouraged by illegal lockouts and walkouts and by sabotage of the major production unit in Venezuela (PDVSA).

Crime rate will increase proportionally to poverty and unemployment. This is only normal. If a person is very poor and has little to eat and struggles to find a job but cannot find one, the person will often naturally turn to theft, for example. Other options can be prostitution, fraud and kidnapping. Excessive unchecked greed eventually creates dramatic economic landslides that in turn create rapid increases in unemployment, creating more poverty … thus increasing crime.

Governance of a society living in severe economic stress such as Venezuela at the present time is a major issue. Argentina in recent years went through something similar and changed leadership several times over a short period of time, with little short-term change or improvement. In addition, it is very difficult to govern a society if the elite of the society do everything in their power to sabotage a democratically elected government.

Oh, and the World Bank should keep their nose out of Venezuela and other Latin American countries. Competitiveness, foreign investments, etc., will be reduced dramatically as well … until the economic situation improves.

Too bad the opposition didn’t anticipate the severe and added damage that they injected into the Venezuela economy because of the attempted coup in April 2002 and the “stoppage” in December 2002-January 2003!

How about the Index of Corruption?

What is that?

How does one gauge corruption?

Is Bush corrupt?

Carmona, Shapiro, Ortega, Fernandez and Fernandez?

Oh, how about Globovision, Venevision, RCTV, Televen?

How about the acaparadores (hoarders)?

How about the US government which was apparently involved in the illegal coup against Chavez?

I'm sure they must have had to pay-off several people. Oh, but of course, if it was done “legally” through payment of a “consulting fee,” then it is not called corruption!

Oh, not only that … this weekend I spent 24 hours with a good friend of mine who has been involved in the stock-market for over 20 years. (For those who are interested, my friend is what people call an expert.)  For the last 10 years or so he has been doing criminal fraud investigation worldwide, particularly in cases involving stock market manipulation. In our discussions, I brought up the following.

Supposing that professional (upper-class Venezuelan) speculators start a food distribution company called Tehodo S.A. They can list it on the NYSE and sell futures at say 20-25% profit over a 6 month period (or much more if unchecked by the securities commission). The sale is done through the USA and into the USA under administrative firms (owned by the same Venezuelans).

Next, speculation on “Harina Pan” (the Venezuelan staple-cornmeal) is orchestrated with government connections and justices with ins into the corrupt Venezuelan government.

The profit from hoarding and speculation can be as high as 300% and the futures sold increase the proportion of profits exiting Venezuela (profits that are not being accounted for in the Venezuelan books ú which justifies the screams and yells -ú the lies -- coming from Venezuelan industry that price controls are hurting industry because they are being “forced” to sell under cost)!

Unfortunately for the opposition, it appears that it is no longer as easy to orchestrate grand speculation and hoarding scams with this present government in place!

Hummm, profits going down?

Better get rid of Chavez?

Industry will also suffer, sometime creating chaos. Most opposition supporters are all too quick to blame “industrial chaos” and “restrictions” on Chavez again.

Who “stopped” production?  Not Chavez, nor the Chavez government.

Furthermore, the “restrictions” (intended at stabilizing the economy) came into effect only after the opposition-backed “stoppage” occurred!

Agricultural production will suffer to some degree, however, in the case of Venezuela, I believe that the supposed “agricultural production decrease” is false. The large landowners and production owners are almost entirely all part of the opposition movement. Of course they will “say” that production (and distribution) is down. However, it is much more profitable to “say” such a thing, while maintaining the same production (no reason not to), then hoarding and speculating. (e.g., Earlier this year the National Guard, with appropriate court orders, invaded several hoarding operations).

Food consumption will be down as well (35% lower than in 2002?). Especially when so many opposition-supporters hoard and speculate creating 200-300% increase in prices!

The biggest crime in this is that the minimum-wage earners (which probably account for the majority of the Venezuelan labor-force) are the ones who take the brunt of it all. The mid-to-upper classes can easily still afford to “buy food.”

Car sales (new cars I assume) will definitely be lower (70% lower than in 2002, apparently). Especially if 80% of the population works only to barely survive! The decrease in car sales is mostly due to the mid-to-upper classes (those who can usually afford a car, or several) no longer “risking” to spend money on new cars (in case they have to use the money to leave Venezuela or to buy food and other more necessary items).

Car sales decrease, at least as I see it in Venezuela, is not a real measure of anything worth noting. Most of the 20% have cars and have “always” had cars … new cars; Mercedes, Jeep, BMW, 4X4, etc. Most of the 80% do not have cars. If they do, they are usually bashed old cars. Big difference.

Currency controls in Venezuela were put into effect, again, only after the opposition-led “stoppage” aimed at ridding Venezuela of Chavez. Chavez remained, faced with the daunting task of trying to implement quick “controls” over different sectors of the economy/society in order to try to stabilize it as much as possible.

Currency controls may or may not work, but, they have a better chance of being lifted if the opposition collaborated with the government in the implementation of controls aimed at bringing some much needed equilibrium into Venezuelan business sectors.

Excessive greed, as practiced by the Venezuelan “elite” and by much of the Venezuelan mid-to-upper classes would eventually lead to socio-economic distress, as we are witnessing at present. It is not because Chavez is in power.

What is happening in Venezuela at this time could have possibly been postponed for a few more years if the elected President would have been a “typical” Venezuelan politician as in the past. However, everything would have exploded much the same or even worse if the long-term effects of excessive greed were allowed to accumulate further.

Venezuela was a bomb ready to explode, as Argentina, as Canada in 1981-82, as many other countries. Excessive uncontrolled greed and parallel unchecked “business practices” such as monopoly, price-fixing, hoarding and speculation are good ingredients for socio-economic collapse and divisions in any country … even in Venezuela … and especially since the Venezuelans using such practices are mostly from the mid-to-upper classes, increasing the capacity for public (and international) recognition of an already segregated and divided society (unspoken of in the past).

Note: With respect numbers and percentages expressed through survey “results:” Surveys in Venezuela, done by supposed “professional firms” are, in my view, usually flawed in nature and therefore unreliable, especially if commissioned by the opposition. Their main flaw is based on the following: 65%+ of the Venezuelan population lives in barrios (slums) or barrio-like conditions. In Caracas it is about 75-80%. Telephone surveys in the barrios cannot be done effectively since the people who do have phones usually restrict its use to the minimum -ú payment for the phone line is based on its usage.

Effective telephone surveys on cell phones is even more difficult since it is more costly to the surveyee. However, telephone surveys to urbanization areas, where the mid-to-upper classes live in segregation, is certainly easier because the people living in those areas can afford to stay on the phone for longer periods of time.

Therefore, most “professionally done” telephone surveys will be very biased towards the opposition (mid-to-upper classes). To do effective and reliable surveys, the survey companies would have to hire reliable people to physically do the surveys not only in urbanization areas (20% of the population), but also in barrio-like geographical areas (65-80% of the population). To do this would be very costly, not to mention dangerous.

For example, if the survey firm manages to find a person who is willing to do surveys in the barrios, s/he (the hired person) will almost for sure only enter into the main “safe” area of the barrio, and no further, interviewing a minimal mix of persons, usually the small store owners around the main bus stop. The hired person could also fake the survey, thus avoiding personal danger entirely (especially for the pay he/she will get).

Now, the survey company could possibly hire a person who is from the barrio, thus reducing the risk of personal danger substantially. However, the person hired would probably be hired only if he/she had a bias in favor of the desired outcome of the survey … and in consequence, the person will probably only interview people (whom s/he knows) who have the same bias as s/he.

In all the times I have spent living in the barrios of Caracas, I never once came across a person doing personal surveys. I asked my friends from the barrio, who have been there since 1964, if they have ever been interviewed by people doing surveys. Their answer was, “never.”

So, when one hears figures such as 75% of the Venezuelan population rejecting the current Venezuelan government, one should ask oneself, “How do they get such a figure.” (The real figure is probably somewhere between 43% and 57%, based on calculations from results obtained from the “Firmazo” -ú “the signing” -ú of February 2003).

Oscar Heck oscar@vheadline.com

statesman.com, Rodolfo Gonzalez AMERICAN-STATESMAN

Jacqueline Saburido sits on the lap of her father, Amadeo Saburido, during a visit to Austin on Monday. Jacqui, who was burned in a drunken driving wreck in 1999, is taking part in a Texas campaign against it for July Fourth. Read Jacqueline and Amadeo: Chasing Hope

By David Hafetz AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF Tuesday, June 24, 2003

In May, doctors removed the bandages over Jacqueline Saburido's left eye.

Since 1999, when the young student from Venezuela was severely burned and disfigured in a drunken driving wreck in Austin, Jacqui has undergone dozens of operations -- skin grafts, finger amputations and countless other procedures. Many of the most desperate battles involved attempts to save her eyes and eyelids.

The cornea transplant on her left eye was an uncertain but potentially critical step to improve her vision. Jacqui and her father, Amadeo Saburido, waited tensely for the bandages to come off.

"I can see; I can see," Jacqui said she remembers shouting. The 24-year-old looked in the mirror and out the window during the drive home to their apartment in Louisville, Ky. "I can see all the cars."

"It was an incredible moment," Amadeo said. "Her life has changed completely."

The Saburidos recalled the operation in Austin on Monday during a visit to lend support to a campaign against drunken driving in Texas featuring Jacqui. Last fall, posters and other materials with images of her face from before and after the wreck began appearing.

Television spots featuring Jacqui aired in major media markets in October and March and will be shown again as part of a broader Texas Department of Transportation effort to clamp down on drunken driving for 17 days around July Fourth. The spots will alternate with radio and television announcements warning: Drink, Drive, Go to Jail. Officials say the target audience is men ages 21 to 34.

The $400,000 campaign, part of a national effort, includes extra patrols by state and local police.

"I wish this campaign had happened before my accident," Jacqui said.

Jacqui came to Austin in 1999 to take a break from college and study English. On Sept. 19, just three weeks after she arrived, she got a ride home from a party with four friends. A drunken driver struck their car.

Two of the passengers died, and two survived. The drunken driver, now in prison, was unscathed. Jacqui, pinned in the front passenger seat, was trapped in a fire that burned her beyond recognition.

She stayed in a burn unit in Galveston for five months and has been recovering since then. Jacqui's father, Amadeo, 50, left his family's air-conditioning factory in Venezuela to take care of her.

They now live near a team of doctors in Louisville. Between operations, Jacqui has been taking advanced English classes.

Jacqui said she is contemplating a face transplant but does not want to be the first one to try it. In the meantime, she is planning to have a cornea transplant on her right eye.

When she left the burn unit, Jacqui barely could see shadows. She had no idea what she looked like. Over and over, she stood before the mirror in her bathroom, peering at her face for details. To write an e-mail to her friends back home, she had to hover against the computer screen.

Now she can read better and cook more. One day, she said she may return to school. She wants to drive and travel, and perhaps write a book. She also wants to help her father run the business.

Amadeo said that if Jacqui's sight improves and stabilizes, he might begin traveling without her so he can expand his business. After the wreck, he spent month after month putting drops and lubricants in Jacqui's eyes at regular intervals. He barely rested at night.

Jacqui estimates that the vision in her left eye was once 20/400 and now is near 20/100. The improvement has brought disappointments. Recently, she studied the grafts on her right arm and concluded that they looked like chicken skin. She had thought her skin looked better.

Still, she said she feels a big improvement in her life. Before leaving Austin, Jacqui wants to take her father to watch the sunset over Lake Travis.

dhafetz@statesman.com; 445-3616

<a href=www.vheadline.com>Venezuela's Electronic News Posted: Tuesday, June 24, 2003 By: David Coleman

Venezuela's Ambassador to Washington, Bernardo Alvarez Herrera has told the Washington Post that President Hugo Chavez Frias "has no trepidation about allowing the people to decide through a recall referendum who their President should be ... he has never tried to restrict the conditions of the referendum, and he has followed the guidelines for it outlined in Venezuela's Constitution."

Alvarez Herrera was commenting a June 12 Washington Post editorial "A vote on Mr. Chavez" which had said that "Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez 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."

The Washington Post mentioned "various maneuvers" to illustrate Mr. Chavez' supposed reluctance to help those who oppose his government gather the signatures they need to trigger a recall referendum.

Alvarez Herrera adds: "But if the opposition fails to attract the number of signatures the Constitution requires, it won't be the fault of the Constitution ... or of Mr. Chavez ... implying that he should do more to help the opposition is like asking California Governor Gray Davis to help Republicans with their recall petition in that state."

"The Chavez Frias administration is committed to democracy in Venezuela ... many factors are involved in our country's turmoil; The Washington Post's simplistic and unreasoned argument does a disservice to its readership and to democracy itself."

Matthew Daneman and Ben Rand Democrat and Chronicle

(June 24, 2003) — Local college campuses don’t foresee changing how they do business in light of Monday’s U.S. Supreme Court rulings regarding the role race can play in admissions. And they doubt the decision would have affected them if it had gone the other way, either. “It’s not going to impact us at all,” said Adrienne Collier, affirmative action officer at the State University College at Brockport. “In fact it’s pretty clear-cut. The criteria (we) use in admissions doesn’t take race into account.” None of the area campuses has affirmative-action admissions programs similar to the University of Michigan. There, being a member of an underrepresented minority group means a number of points on a scale, with students needing a specific number of points to get in. And it was that approach that the Supreme Court struck down in its decision. A number of area schools, however, give some weight to an applicant’s race if that person is close to some type of cutoff. And the justices, in a 5-to-4 decision, upheld using affirmative action in such decisions. “The court appears to have upheld the principle of “narrowly tailored” affirmative action programs, such as those used in the admissions processes at the University of Rochester,” university spokesman Robert Kraus said in a statement. Rochester Institute of Technology puts its focus on creating a wide pool of students who apply to the university, but is race-blind when selecting from the pool of eligible students, said President Albert Simone. While RIT won’t be changing its admissions practices because of -- or to take advantage of -- the Supreme Court decision, Simone said he applauded the ruling. “When it comes to affirmative action, I see it as what’s best for America,” he said, pointing to the low numbers of nonwhites attending college, even as they make up an increasing percentage of the total population of the nation. Some local businesses also applauded the decision. “We believe it’s essential to our success to be able to hire individuals of all backgrounds who have been educated in a diverse environment, where they are exposed to diverse people, ideas, perspectives and interactions,” said Xerox Corp. spokeswoman Kara Choquette. Xerox and Eastman Kodak Co., two of Monroe County’s largest employers, joined 63 other companies in urging the high court to ratify racial and ethnic diversity as a key criterion in university admissions. The companies filed a “friend of the court” brief in February arguing that employees -- in order to be successful -- must know how to interact with diverse people, cultures and ideas. Poll after poll has shown that Americans are strongly divided on affirmative action. And local college students are no different, especially when it comes to the matter of what role race should play in deciding who gets into school. While nonwhite people often don’t have the financial and educational advantages that white people do, college admissions still should be based on educational merit, said Maryrose Mason, 23, of Batavia and a graduate student in RIT’s communications department. “People are so much more complex than numbers and statistics,” she said. But, she added, “it’s a tricky question. I understand sometimes you went to an (underperforming) high school and that wasn’t your fault.” RIT industrial design major Luz Zambrano, 21, said that while she backed the notion of having a more diverse campus, she also felt sympathy for white students who might lose out when diversity becomes an emphasis. In her native Venezuela, she said, “everything is by your grades. Nobody cares where you’re from. I hope I was accepted because of my grades.” But RIT international business and marketing student Denishea Flanigan, 20, of Cincinnati, said that since diversity is increasingly a corporate goal, it also should be a goal for colleges -- at least if those schools want their students to be marketable to employers. E-mail addresses:mdaneman@DemocratandChronicle.com brand@DemocratandChronicle.com