<a href=www.vheadline.com>Venezuela's Electronic News Posted: Tuesday, April 15, 2003 By: Juan Francisco Salas Romero

VHeadline.com reader Juan Francisco Salas Romero writes: In response to Captain Thomas Allsop: Thank you for your comments and the final conclusion is as follow: M/T "MORUY": belonging to Shell International Marine Ltd., the digest of charter requirements for crude and product carriers, the heating cargo system of the vessel shall be capable of the carriage of cargo at a temperature up to 85º C (for crude and black oilers). With storm weather (seawater temperature of 5ºC and a air temperature of 2ºC) the cargo must be raised from 44º C to 66º C in a time of 4 days at sea and normal speed.

You know this norm ... and, also, you know that under the conditions of cargo tanks no. 1 (starboard, center and port) present serious problems because the steam arrives condensed.

I have personal experience in this matter.  So, it is necessary to have working two boilers.

Another position is equivalent to put the vessel under restricted conditions.

M/T "AMBROSIO, MORICHAL, MORUY, PARIA", your horizon is only to 2010.

Sorry, this point of view is not the very best. It is an evident reason of over costs for PDVSA.

It is necessary to add the convenience flags of the vessels, the intermediate manager of Hanseatic Shipping and the precarious situation of PDVSA and PDVSA-Marine oil tankers.

Dear Captain: I know this matter and I keep my position. Please, PDVSA is now under a very low level of production.  So, is inevitable the deficit and the over costs. The way that leads to privatization is free.

If you have a Planning & Preventive Maintenance Program, it is impossible to have the fleet under the current situation. In general, the vessels are under restricted conditions. Is your criteria but not the best way for PDVSA,

Juan Francisco Salas Romero jsalasr@telefonica.net

Oil & Gas-Petroleos de Venezuela and the Revolution let us review some of the contrasts between what PDVSA has given and what the revolution is doing with the money

Our editorial statement reads: VHeadline.com Venezuela is a wholly independent e-publication promoting democracy in its fullest expression and the inalienable  right of all Venezuelans to self-determination and the pursuit of sovereign independence without interference. We seek to shed light on nefarious practices and the corruption which for decades has strangled this South American nation's development and progress. Our declared editorial bias is pro-democracy and pro-Venezuela ... which some may wrongly interpret as anti-American. --  Roy S. Carson, Editor/Publisher  Editor@VHeadline.com

<a href=www.vheadline.com>Venezuela's Electronic News Posted: Tuesday, April 15, 2003 By: VenAmCham

VenAmCham's Jose Gregorio Pineda (chief economist) and Jose Gabriel Angarita (economist) write: Venezuela's economic policy seems to be turning in circles as far as foreign exchange management is concerned. That conclusion springs from statements by Planning Minister Felipe Perez, who announced that the government will return to a band system in the third quarter of the year and will combine that measure with as tax on foreign exchange transactions.

The band system would be very similar to the one applied by the Central Bank (BCV) up to February 2002. A central parity rate would be set, around which the bolivar could fluctuate freely according to supply and demand, subject to daily review and adjustment based on the average market rate in the 45 previous days; the fluctuation limit would be 7.5% above and below the central parity rate. There would be no quantitative restriction on foreign exchange purchases, but there would be a 5% (Tobin) tax on such purchases.

Unfortunately, this return to the band system occurs only after the failure of the floating exchange rate and exchange control arrangements, following a year of high macroeconomic volatility that has yielded Venezuela the worst macroeconomic performance in its contemporary history, in economic growth terms.

The question is whether the authorities can lift the exchange and price controls (and the interest rate controls to be imposed in the near future), since the economy's fragile state would only stimulate the economic agents to seek refuge for their assets in a hard currency like the US dollar.

There is already so much pressure on the economy that this announcement seems extremely difficult to bring to fruition. Though foreign reserves have grown quite substantially during the period of exchange controls, the country's fiscal problems and economic deterioration have been very serious, suggesting that the demand for dollars will surge once the controls are lifted.

It should also be noted that this goal is in open conflict with that of keeping interest rates relatively low; to induce the exchange rate to fluctuate within the band limits it will be necessary to spend reserves and raise interest rates enough to encourage the economic agents to hold bolivares.

Maintenance of relatively low interest rates is of key importance, especially in today's fiscal scenario, since the authorities have been making strenuous efforts to swap bonds nearing maturity and avoid an "unsustainable" spiral of internal indebtedness. To accomplish that, both interest rates and the volume of new borrowing must be lower.

In pursuit of that goal, the Finance Ministry held the seventh internal debt swap auction last Thursday, placing 58% of the offered bonds; it offered 803 billion bolivares and was able to swap 465 billion bolivares of those securities. The most striking thing about the auction is that nearly half the debt was taken up by State agencies; in addition, the average yield on the new securities came to 44%.

There is no question that the intention of lifting the controls and returning to a band system would run up against the obstacle of the country's grave fiscal problems, management of which requires low interest rates. But low interest rates would undermine the band' credibility and might drag the country to a new stage of this economic policy circle in which we would again be offered a floating exchange rate or an exchange control system as a solution to the problem.

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Our editorial statement reads: VHeadline.com Venezuela is a wholly independent e-publication promoting democracy in its fullest expression and the inalienable  right of all Venezuelans to self-determination and the pursuit of sovereign independence without interference. We seek to shed light on nefarious practices and the corruption which for decades has strangled this South American nation's development and progress. Our declared editorial bias is pro-democracy and pro-Venezuela ... which some may wrongly interpret as anti-American. --  Roy S. Carson, Editor/Publisher  Editor@VHeadline.com

Forbes.com-Reuters, 04.15.03, 2:31 PM ET KINGSTON, Jamaica (Reuters) - Jamaica will launch another search for oil later this year with the help of Venezuela and Ecuador, a government official said Tuesday. Jamaica, which depends heavily on its tourism and bauxite industries, last explored for oil 20 years ago but came up empty. Minister of Technology Phillip Paulwell told reporters in Kingston that proposals for exploration were still being reviewed by the government. "We have received offers of assistance from Ecuador and Venezuela in the form of technical support and guidance and ... the ministry will vigorously pursue exploration efforts using private sector investments," Paulwell said. Exploration will likely be resumed off the Caribbean island's southwest coast, where it is believed there may be major deposits. In 1982-83, a search for oil 50 miles off the southwest coast of the island was unsuccessful. Oil was discovered by another exploration team in the northwestern parish of Westmoreland during the same period, but deposits were not big enough to be commercially viable. Jamaica normally imports 60 per cent of its annual supply from Venezuela and 40 per cent from Mexico. However, a strike in Venezuela this year forced that country to reduce exports and Jamaica turned to Ecuador to fill the gap. Paulwell said imports from Venezuela should be back to normal by June.

<a href=www.vheadline.com>Venezuela's Electronic News Posted: Tuesday, April 15, 2003 By: Patrick J. O'Donoghue

Venezuela's Anti-Drugs Czaress, Judge Mildred Camero has come out against a European suggestion to legalize certain kinds of drugs. Speaking at the 46th United Nations (UN) Drugs Commission, Camero says the Andean community is also against legalizing drugs. 

"We are seeing some European countries seeking an easy solution probably because of failure to reduce the demand for drugs ... at the same time, they are demanding that we (producing and transit countries) make a greater effort to eradicate poppy fields ... they have placed norms and demands on us to combat production and traffic."  

It is easy to theorize on decriminalizing drugs, Camero contends, but it is a utopia ... "as a judge I have seen what practical effects drugs have in breaking up the family." 

The Judge says Venezuela has proposed the creation of an international network to exchange information on money-laundering. "In view of the success we have had in creating a national network of money laundering information, we would like to see an international network set up."

Venezuelan Foreign Policy discuss the relative merits of Venezuela's foreign policy and its effects

Our editorial statement reads: VHeadline.com Venezuela is a wholly independent e-publication promoting democracy in its fullest expression and the inalienable  right of all Venezuelans to self-determination and the pursuit of sovereign independence without interference. We seek to shed light on nefarious practices and the corruption which for decades has strangled this South American nation's development and progress. Our declared editorial bias is pro-democracy and pro-Venezuela ... which some may wrongly interpret as anti-American. --  Roy S. Carson, Editor/Publisher  Editor@VHeadline.com  

<a href=www.vheadline.com>Venezuela's Electronic News Posted: Tuesday, April 15, 2003 By: Patrick J. O'Donoghue  

Official Ombudsman German Mundarain complains that the Attorney General's Office violated the legal rights of the Llaguno Bridge Shooters on April 12. "State Prosecutors: Hector Villalobos and Jose Graterol violated Criminal Process Law, Article 247 by illegally depriving Rafael Guedez, Henry Atencio, Rafael Cabrices, Richard Penalver, Nicolas Rivera, Miguel Mora, Jose Antonio Avila, Carlos Fernandez and Anibal Espejo, among others, of their liberty. "

As for the right to a defense, Mundarain says, the accused all admitted shooting as a response to shots allegedly fired from the Hotel Eden and afterwards under provocation from the Metropolitan Police (PM). 

"There was no arrest warrant issued for prosecutors, Romulo Anez and Alberto Barrios to raid the house of Rafael Cabrices." 

The prosecutors had accused the suspects of premeditated murder and grievous bodily harm without first indicating the results of such actions or identifying the victims. 

Referendum 2003 discuss the pros and cons of a revocatory referendum

President Hugo Chavez Frias express your opinions on the Presidency of Hugo Chavez Frias and his Bolivarian Revolution

Bolivarian Circles Are Bolivarian Circles a Venezuelan form of Neighborhood Watch Committees or violent hordes of pro-Chavez thugs?

Venezuela's Opposition What is it? Is a force to be reckoned with or in complete disarray?

Our editorial statement reads: VHeadline.com Venezuela is a wholly independent e-publication promoting democracy in its fullest expression and the inalienable  right of all Venezuelans to self-determination and the pursuit of sovereign independence without interference. We seek to shed light on nefarious practices and the corruption which for decades has strangled this South American nation's development and progress. Our declared editorial bias is pro-democracy and pro-Venezuela ... which some may wrongly interpret as anti-American. --  Roy S. Carson, Editor/Publisher  Editor@VHeadline.com