Opposition hauls Olavarria over coals for suggesting new and legal signature campaign
<a href=www.vheadline.com>Venezuela's Electronic News Posted: Monday, April 28, 2003 By: Patrick J. O'Donoghue
Some opposition sectors have reacted angrily to a suggestion from historian and political analyst, Jorge Olavarria that it must start the signature campaign requesting a recall referendum again.
The opposition has been arguing that the signatures collected when the national stoppage collapsed at the end of January are perfectly valid.
"Not so," Olavarria retorts, "it is illegal because there was no mention of the National Electoral College (CNE) on the signature forms and other requirements."
According to Olavarria, the request to the CNE must be strictly in line with Bolivarian Constitution Article 72, which includes mentioning in this case the date President Hugo Chavez Frias took office and should be backed up by 20% of electors registered when the recall referendum is petitions, namely in August, 2003 and not February.
Lawyer Gustavo Linares Benzo says Olavarria's assertions are incorrect politically and legally and accuses the polemical writer of legal winkle-picking.
"The signatures are perfectly valid because the Supreme Tribunal of Justice (TSJ) has ruled the signatures can be collected before an officials half-term in office is up and the only way people can request a recall referendum at the CNE is when they have the signatures already collected."
Olavarria has been a stern critic of the Sumate organization's handling of the signature campaign, which he says appeared more like the launching of Miranda State Governor, Enrique Mendoza's presidential candidacy.
Carlos Fernandez plays fiddle to "Cuban Communist card" from Canary Islands
<a href=www.vheadline.com>Venezuela's Electronic News Posted: Monday, April 28, 2003 By: Patrick J. O'Donoghue
"Convalescing" Federation of Chambers of Industry & Commerce (Fedecamaras) president, Carlos Fernandez has turned up in the Canary Islands playing the latest hardliner opposition "Cuban Communist card" for all it's worth ... "The Cuban government's interference in Venezuelan affairs is public and notorious."
According to news reports, Fernandez is currently a legal resident in Miami.
Fernandez calls on the USA government to be more aggressive towards the Chavez Frias administration, which he claims has become a serious threat to US interests in Latin America.
The man, who refuses to pass the Fedecamaras presidency on to someone else, not that he is ill and living outside of Venezuela, suggests that Venezuela is fast becoming totalitarian and a Cuban satellite ... "the brain is in Havana not Caracas."
As the most important country in the Americas, Fernandez says the USA must deal with the Cuban-Venezuelan axis which is threatening Central America and democracy on the continent.
Fernandez was in Canary Islands at the invitation of the Canary Islands Young Businessmen Association which awarded Fedecamaras a special plaque for its work in Venezuela.
French surfer bit by freak "fish" 2 kilometers out of Yaque beach
<a href=www.vheadline.com>Venezuela's Electronic Journal Posted: Monday, April 28, 2003 By: Patrick J. O'Donoghue
French Surfing enthusiast Yann Perras (28) got the fright of his life during a dream holiday on Venezuela's Isla de Margarita beaches. The civil engineer arrived at his holiday destination on April 10 with his wife and six-month daughter and started surfing on El Yaque beach now famous for its surfing qualities.
On April 11, the experienced surfer went 2 kilometers off shore waiting for the right tide and was fixing his board when he felt his right foot being bitten by a fish.
Two German yachtsmen spotted the Frenchman's predicament and pulled him to safety on the beach where he was attended by a passing doctor bathing on the beach and later by local firefighters who took him to hospital where he was operated on.
Margarita Marine Research Museum coordinator, Alfredo Gomez says it was a freak accident and the first time in 50 years that a shark has attacked anyone .... "in the zone where the accident happened, it could have been a Barracuda Grande or a small shark." Perras remained in in a clinic and last Friday returned home to France.
Colombian paramilitaries kill PPT leader inside Venezuela ... 14 more on hit list!
<a href=www.vheadline.com>Venezuela's Electronic News Posted: Monday, April 28, 2003 By: Patrick J. O'Donoghue
Colombian paramilitaries have murdered Patria Para Todos (PPT) Apure State regional leader, Jorge Nieves. According to PPT national leader, Rafael Uzcategui, the death follows documented threats against 15 PPT activists in the border states of Apure and Tachira.
Nieves worked in the oil industry for the Energy & Mines (MEM) Ministry and received four bullets, as he parked his car in Guasdualito to join a march for landless peasants.
In a public statement, PPT says it will not heed the threats from people attempting to destabilize border areas. Uzcategui insists that the paramilitaries are Colombian and not Venezuela as reported in some newspapers.
Meanwhile in Zulia State, the Police Detective Branch (PTJ) reports that Self-Defense Units of Colombia (AUC) paramilitaries have killed two Colombian citizens the AUC claims to have been collaborators of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).
The summary execution took place in the jungle region of Venezuela's Maria Semprun municipality (Zulia).
Jose Antonio Acevedo Urbina (33) and Edith Panataleon (42) were shot in the back allegedly escaping an AUC cross-border raid.
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Office (UNHRC) has confirmed the presence of displaced persons in several border States fleeing the violence in Colombia.
UN body pegs LatAm 2003 economic growth near 2 pct
Reuters, 04.28.03, 1:59 PM ET
SANTIAGO, Chile, April 28 (Reuters) - A U.N. body predicted on Monday that Latin America and the Caribbean would leave behind its economic woes to grow near 2 percent in 2003 but warned that global uncertainty could jeopardize that recovery. The end of Argentina's grueling recession, stronger foreign trade and better access to financing should all support moderate growth, following a 0.6 percent contraction last year, the Santiago-based U.N. Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean said in a report. ECLAC conservatively said growth might fall within a range of 1.5 percent to 2.0 percent, listing the threats as oil price volatility, poor demand in the region's top trade partners, the conflict in Iraq and political turmoil in Venezuela. Earlier this month, ECLAC's chief economist Jose Antonio Ocampo informally ventured the same growth predictions, which have now been made official. Argentina, where presidential candidates are wooing investors ahead of a second round vote on May 18, is expected to surge ahead of the rest of the region, along with Peru, to show economic expansion of 4 percent, ECLAC said. Brazil, the region's largest economy, should grow by 1.8 percent this year, Mexico by 2.4 percent and Chile by 3.5 percent. But Venezuela, mired in a political crisis after a two-month opposition strike, should drag down the regional average, with its economy shrinking 10 percent this year, ECLAC estimated. The expected LatAm growth is still too weak to cut overall poverty rates, according to the organization, which said per capita GDP has declined in half the region over the past five years. "The expected regional GDP growth of close to 2 percent for 2003 will allow a slightly positive per capita growth, though it's too modest to expect an improvement in the region's social situation," ECLAC said.