<a href=www.vheadline.com>Venezuela's Electronic News Posted: Thursday, May 29, 2003 By: Jorge Marin

Date: Thu, 29 May 2003 17:14:49 -0400 From: Jorge Marin Jorge.Marin@pollak.com To: Editor@VHeadline.com Subject: Objective Comment

Dear Editor: I enjoy most of the letters and editorials on your website, but when I read <a href=www.vheadline.com>Luis Zuleta's rumblings, well my stomach turned. If he is trying to present himself as an objective commentator he failed badly ... using the same excuses the opposition keeps using to justify the events of April 11, 2002 only highlights his bias.

Let's get one thing clear, two wrongs don't make a right.

The fact that Chavez was involved in a coup, back in 1992 is irrelevant to what happened last year. If the argument is that because he was involved in the fail coup he, somehow, is open to the same medicine or he is an illegitimate President ... well the majority of people elected him, so he has been legitimized. He also paid for his involvement in the 1992 attempted coup with prison time.

• The 1992 coup attempt was wrong, and the people involved were punished for it, the same should occur with the people that were involved in the 2002 coup.

There are no missing funds in the Chavez administration. If there were, the opposition would have dragged that out to the negotiating table, or to the Supreme Court ... just like they do whenever Chavez sneezes. The funds Luis Zuleta refers to were located ... were they used for other means than the intended use? Yes ... but, as I recall, these funds were used to cover a shortage in payroll funds ... they were not used for any personal gain, as Luis Zuleta insinuates.

Luis Zuleta also ascertains that just because Chavez allowed himself to be put in jail, it means that he didn't really meant to fight to the death. I guess he should have gotten himself killed, along with a lot of other people, just so that other people could say, "well I guess he meant it."

Luis Zuleta fails to mention that it was Chavez who called for the coupsters to surrender in order to avoid bloodshed in 1992. Chavez agreed to be escorted out of Miraflores in 2002, but he had a better than 50% chance of getting himself killed ... yet he realized that resisting would have cause not just his blood but his guards' and a lot of other people in the streets. He did the right thing, and the fact that he is back in power, proves he did the right thing.

Luis Zuleta also mentions that Chavez violated the law by wearing his uniform ... give me a break! What about the, so call, officers that were calling for rebellion in Altamira for months, I guess those officers are heroes to Luis Zuleta.

If Mr. Zuleta is so concerned with obeying the law, he should be very careful when he promotes that the best thing that could happen to Chavez is to be "taken out." Fomenting the overthrow of a foreign government or the assassination of a foreign leader is a violation of USA law.

Jorge Marin Jorge.Marin@pollak.com

Venezuelan, living abroad on 4/11/02 and respecting the laws of my home country.

BBC News An agreement has been signed by the government and opposition in Venezuela to end the political crisis that has gripped the country for more than a year.

The deal - which was brokered by the Organisation of American States (OAS) - sets out the framework for a referendum on the presidency of Hugo Chavez.

But no date for such a poll has been set, and the document is widely seen as a victory for the president.

At least 50 people have been killed in political violence over the past 14 months as critics accused President Chavez of amassing power and mismanaging the economy.

Under the new agreement, both the government and opposition have agreed to abide by the constitutional rules and try to avoid violence.

It says a referendum on President Chavez's rule can take place later in the year, although several procedural steps will need to be taken first.

Ease tensions

OAS Secretary-General Cesar Gaviria said it had taken months of hard work by his negotiators to get the two sides to agree.

"This is a good agreement for all Venezuelans," he said.

Analysts say that while the accord may ease tensions in Latin America's most politically polarised society, it does not automatically guarantee a referendum.

The two month general strike hit the economy hard

BBC correspondent Steven Cviic says the opposition - which brings together most political parties, business, the unions and the middle class - probably feels this is the best it is going to get in the short term.

At the end of last year, with a general strike hitting the oil industry hard, his opponents thought they had President Chavez on the run.

But he simply refused to budge, pointing out that he was the elected president.

The opposition seems to have recognised that if it is going to remove him from office, it has to be ready to settle down for a long haul, says our correspondent.

<a href=www.vheadline.com>Venezuela's Electronic News Posted: Thursday, May 29, 2003 By: Patrick J. O'Donoghue

According to newspapers reports, the Supreme Tribunal of Justice (TSJ) Constitutional Chamber has been discussing the composition of the new National Electoral College (CNE) in view of the fact that debate in the National Assembly (AN) has peaked to stalemate. 

• The magistrate charged with drawing up a presentation paper, Jesus Eduardo Cabrera says he hopes to have everything prepared within a week. 

Sources indicate that 2 magistrates initially disagreed with the proposal that the TSJ should appoint the CNE board ... one contending the AN should do it and the other suggesting giving the deputies a 10-day deadline but in the end they voted to open a debate in the Chamber. 

National Electoral College (CNE)

It seems that Movimiento Quinta Republica (MVR)  deputy, Omar Mezza is behind the proposal to leave the matter to the TSJ since the House has reached deadlock on how to select the fifth and decisive member. The opposition does not support the initiative because it maintains that the government bench has more TSJ magistrates in its favor than the opposition and therefore, the fifth CNE board member will be a government favorite. 

Political observers are divided on the issue with a majority favoring a parliamentary compromise. Neither side is budging on the issue and MVR has taken advantage of its parliamentary majority as the opposition would do, if it was in power.

<a href=www.vheadline.com>Venezuela's Electronic News Posted: Thursday, May 29, 2003 By: Patrick J. O'Donoghue

According El Mundo afternoon tabloid, the Police Detective Branch (CICPC) has confirmed that it has identified some of the masked men that last Saturday repelled National Guard (GN) soldiers attempting to remove a barricade of buses blocking access to Accion Democratica's (AD) "Assault on Catia." 

A group of 8 persons allegedly fired on crowds assembled in Peru Street and also on the GN soldiers on Avenida Sucre. A source has told El Mundo that some of the gunmen came from La Silsa barrio and police now claim that 28 persons were involved in the use of firearms and allegedly used a camouflaged Hidrocapital jeep. 

23 de Enero neighbors say that one group started mugging people on their way to work from 6.00 a.m. in the morning, giving rise to a theory that criminal gangs took advantage of the situation. One El Universal piece reports that neighbors in 23 de Enero blocks fought off masked groups, which would give credence to the above thesis. 

Opposition news media have been quick to point the finger at pro-government Tupamaros and Carapaica urban groups after locating an independent website operating out of 23 de Enero, showing hooded persons with automatic pistols and a FAL assault rifle walking the barrio.

Digging up other stories, one tabloid reports that 4 Bolivarian Circle members were wounded with gunshot and were treated at the Military Hospital thanks to the good offices of a government deputy. 

The CICPC has also revealed that the person shot and killed during Saturday's skirmishes was Modesto Matias Graterol Sucre and not, as some newspapers reported, Modesto Graterol Bastidas. According to police sources, the dead man had a rap sheet for car theft in October 1984, April 1985 and September 1992 ... and August 1985 for bodily assault and battery.   The police have announced that they are working on the hypothesis that the dead man was actively involved in Saturday's stand-off between opposition and government supporters.

Reuters, 05.29.03, 3:47 PM ET

CARACAS, Venezuela, May 29 (Reuters) - Venezuela's Central Bank Thursday lowered its discount rate for local banks seeking to borrow money to meet reserve requirements to 32 percent from 36 percent, the bank's Web page said.

The discount rate cut was effective Thursday. The Central Bank on April 10 had lowered the rate to 36 percent from 39 percent.

The latest reduction came as leftist President Hugo Chavez's government continued to apply tight currency controls and price curbs to shore up international reserves and the bolivar currency. (Reporting by Ana Isabel Martinez; editing by Gunna Dickson; Reuters messaging: