<a href=www.vheadline.com>Vheadline Posted: Tuesday, April 22, 2003 By: Patrick J. O'Donoghue

Movimiento Quinta Republica (MVR) National Tactical Command (CNT) has objected to 5/22 clauses of the negotiated settlement between government and opposition. 

Party spokesman, William Lara says MVR would like to see the adjective "participative" included in clause 6 because it describes the model of democracy currently relevant in Venezuela and rejects the participation of international observers as "verifiers" in the disarming of civilians plan, as stipulated in clause 10. 

Lara argues that such a role would be against national sovereignty ... "we would be willing to accept them as technical advisers."

MVR would also like to see the recall referendum extended to other elected positions besides the presidency and rejects clause 20, which establishes the referendum as priority for the new National Electoral College (CNE). "It is not prudent to force the pace and it would violate the CNE's autonomy." 

Lara did not say whether the MVR would recommend the President not to sign the agreement ... "we don't have the authority to condition the government's response."

<a href=www.vheadline.com>Vheadline Posted: Tuesday, April 22, 2003 By: Patrick J. O'Donoghue

The Supreme Tribunal of Justice (TSJ) Constitutional Chamber has admitted an injunction against a Metropolitan Caracas Appeal Court decision to lift an arrest warrant for 7 former Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) executives and managers. 

On February 26, the 50th control Court issued arrest warrants and a prohibition to leave Venezuela against Juan Fernandez, Gonzalo Feijoo Martinez, Juan Luis Santana, Horacio Medina, Juan Lino Carrillo and Mireya Ripanti Amaya. 

The 2nd Appeal Court lifted the measure on March 17 . 

State prosecutors claim that the sentence has violated the right to equality, defense of due process and the legal tutelage of the Attorney General's Office.  

The former executives' lawyer, Carlos Bastidas says the fact that the TSJ has admitted the injunction does not mean that a trial is pending ... "it will be an assessment prior to the constitutional audience and a decision after the debate." 

Bastidas says the TSJ should be just as diligent in the case of the Llaguno Bridge shooters. Speaking from Miami, where he has been staying Juan Fernandez says his lawyers are studying the implications of the measure and he will issue no public statement on the matter.

<a href=www.vheadline.com>Vheadline Posted: Tuesday, April 22, 2003 By: Patrick J. O'Donoghue

Speaking in the Canary Islands city of Tenerife, Venezuelan Episcopal Conference (CEV) president, Monsignor Baltazar Porras has complained about the Venezuelan government's attacks on the Catholic Church, especially its attempt to present the Church in Venezuela as a divided church. "There is no internal confrontation but just a few priests and pseudo leaders that are playing the division game." 

Porras calls the Venezuelan government "authoritarian" and says the Church can play a role as mediator in helping to solve the conflict. 

Speaking at a congress on faith and culture dialog, Porras insists that the Church is a witness to the increase in poverty, corruption and politicking in Chavez Frias administration. "The Church favors neither the government nor the opposition and militancy in either camp is outside our horizon of aspirations." 

Porras comments that he does not agree with the government when it states that there is freedom of expression in Venezuela and no political prisoners ... "what is at play in Venezuela are much deeper values that must be present in any society that wants to call itself democratic."

Reuters-Alertnet 22 Apr 2003 16:57:33 GMT By Patrick Markey

CARACAS, Venezuela, April 22 (Reuters) - International negotiators on Tuesday scrambled to salvage an accord for a referendum on Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's rule after his government appeared to shy away from signing the initiative.

Officials from the Organization of American States and the Carter Center, which brokered the agreement between the government and opposition, furiously worked the phones after Chavez's ruling party demanded revisions to the accord hours before a signing expected on Tuesday.

"This has really set things back. We are going to need more negotiations and more sitting down around tables now," said one source close to the talks.

The OAS announced the deal April 11, exactly a year after Chavez survived a brief military coup that triggered months of political turmoil and street protests by opposition groups demanding early elections.

The accord was the first concrete result of talks between Chavez, a populist first elected in 1998, and his opponents, who accuse him of ruling the world's No. 5 oil exporter like a corrupt dictator.

The initiative would pave the way for a referendum later this year on whether Chavez should complete his current term of office, scheduled to end in early 2007.

Under Venezuela's constitution, such a poll can be held after Aug. 19, half way through the president's mandate. The opposition must collect signatures from 20 percent of the electorate to trigger such a recall vote. No date had been set for the referendum.

Opposition leaders, who accuse Chavez of deliberately stalling over elections, said they were waiting for the government to clarify their position on the accord.

"The deal is not going to be signed today. They have to tell us now what the government's position is in these negotiations," said Manuel Cova, a union leader and member of the opposition negotiating team.

MORE TIME NEEDED

Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel indicated clearly that the government was in no rush to immediately sign the election agreement. He said the government would need more time to study the initiative and consult its supporters.

"We respect the impatience of the opposition, but obviously we don't share it," Rangel said in a statement Tuesday. "In times of negotiations, pressure must be excluded."

National Assembly deputies from Chavez's governing Fifth Republic Movement on Monday stoked confusion by demanding revisions to the agreement.

Chavez, who survived both last year's coup and a grueling opposition strike in December and January, has said the National Assembly must appoint a new National Electoral Council to set a date for the referendum, oversee the vote and reorganize the electoral register.

The Venezuelan leader appears determined to press on with his self-styled revolution as his opponents, a loose alliance of business leaders, unions and political parties, struggle to present a united front.

Six nations, including the United States and Brazil, backed months of tortuous OAS efforts to secure an electoral deal between the government and the opposition.

Mediators are still searching for an acceptable site for renewed negotiations after a bomb blasted the Caracas building where the talks were last held. No one has claimed responsibility for the bombing, one of several to hit the capital in the last three months.

(Additional reporting by Ana Isabel Martinez)

<a href=www.stcatharinesstandard.ca>The Standard By Bernie Puchalski Tuesday, April 22, 2003 - 02:00

Local Sports - Dusk is rapidly approaching as Manny Rumbos steers a Niagara Academy of Tennis van into the parking lot behind the Days Inn Prudhommes Landing. Smiling faces greet his arrival and he’s welcomed by Spanish-speaking voices shouting “Ola.” Pouring out of a strip motel, which acts as the City of Toronto’s Birkdale Residence Out of Town Program for recent refugees to Canada, eight people pile into the van in anticipation of the short trip down Regional Road 24 to the tennis academy. Several are new to Canada while others, such as 33-year-old Silvio Pinzon, have been in the country for a few months becoming acclimatized and resolving their immigration status. “Hey, compadre,” yells out Rumbos, when he hears one of the van’s occupants has arrived two days ago from Venezuela, the country of his birth. Rumbos, the Tennis Pathways manager for the Niagara Academy of Tennis, is getting used to greeting new faces in his role with the Ontario Tennis Association program. The provincial body received a $350,000-plus grant from the Trillium Foundation and the Vineland club is the first to utilize Trillium funds for the introduction to tennis program. Refugees come to the tennis academy twice a week to learn tennis and socialize. About 25 to 30 show up for every session, with most coming from Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Columbia, Costa Rica, Venezuela, Turkey and Israel. “They love it,” Rumbos says. “They can’t wait to play.” The program runs in nine-week rotations and the first session concluded its eighth week last Thursday. “I have a blast. This is the highlight of my week,” says Rumbos. “We’ve had a couple of kids who have arrived on a Monday and come here on Thursday night. They’re completely lost and the smile on the tennis court is the first one they’ve had in Canada. It’s a huge payback for everybody.” “Manny and his team are very good,” said Tania Valko, a shelter counsellor with the City of Toronto. “They find different ways of communicating.” The shelter, which can accommodate up to 54 families, houses refugees who arrive in Canada from border crossings in Windsor, Montreal, Fort Erie and Pearson International Airport in Toronto. They go through a screening process before being referred to the shelter by the City of Toronto’s Central Family Intake. Shelter residents spend their days working on their immigration applications and learning English at the St. Catharines Multicultural Centre. The children attend either St. Catharines Collegiate or Woodland School. The average stay is between six and eight weeks, and the tennis program is a welcome reprieve from boredom. “I think they’re more pro cricket players than tennis players, but they’re happy to come out, get in new surroundings and break tradition,” Valko said. “And there’s lots of intermingling.” For Pinzon, who arrived in Canada from Fort Erie with his pregnant wife and daughters aged 12 and two, the tennis lessons are eagerly anticipated. “It’s nice. It’s recreation and it’s a good distraction.” His family left Colombia because of repeated death threats from paramilitary groups. Pinzon, an agricultural engineer and his wife, a doctor, are hoping to train in Canada and resume their careers. For the OTA, the Tennis Pathways program’s goal is simple. “The main goal is to build healthier communities through tennis, and that’s why it was the biggest Trillium grant ever awarded to the sporting community,” said Flora Karsai, OTA Pathways manager. “It’s not just a learn-tennis program. It’s community building and getting people together.” And if it helps improve the calibre of tennis played in Canada, even better. “If we’re the first sport they are exposed to, then boom,” Rumbos said. “Out of 1,000 kids, 10 might become the next (Daniel) Nestor.” For the OTA, the Niagara Academy of Tennis program had obvious appeal. “In Pathways, it’s important to get different community leaders and communities involved in the program,” Karsai said.