<a href=www.vheadline.com>Venezuela's Electronic News Posted: Thursday, April 03, 2003 By: Patrick J. O'Donoghue

Mohamed Mehri says he will appeal the sentence freeing the Llaguno Bridge Four at the Supreme Tribunal of Justice (TSJ). Mehri, whose son was one of the April 11 victims, has already been to the Inter American Human Rights Commission (IAHR) to lodge a complaint against President Hugo Chavez Frias. 

"The latest appeal will reach the TSJ where it seems that each TSJ decision is in line with the government's interests ... we are preparing international actions and approaching the International Tribunal of Justice  where there is no such thing as impunity." 

• Mehri says he expects the Llaguno Bridge case will end with a presidential pardon ... "the National Executive wants to turn the shooters into heroes."  

Lawyer Gonzalo Himiob, who unsuccessfully tried to bring a lawsuit in Spain  against Chavez Frias for crimes against humanity,  argues that the sentence is politically and legally incorrect and sends a clear message to government supporters that they have State support to use violence. 

Colleague Alfredo Romero complains that families of opposition lawyers have received threats.

<a href=www.vheadline.com>Venezuela's Electronic News Posted: Thursday, April 03, 2003 By: Patrick J. O'Donoghue

Venezuelan Foreign Minister Roy Chaderton Matos has reacted negatively to the US State Department annual human rights report. Stating emphatically that there is no violation of human rights in Venezuela, Chaderton Matos admits mistakes have been made but there is a public debate. 

"Reports by certain international judges must be taken with caution, especially when they touch on such delicate matters as violence." 

Replying as Venezuelan Ministers are wont to do, the Foreign Minister hits out at" levels of influence" in many countries that promote themselves as the judges of other countries' conduct ... "we have to live with that and express our disagreement when there are motives to do so." 

Venezuela, Chaderton Matos comments, could draw up a human rights report on other countries but it would not be the right moment since the world is in the middle of a war. 

The US State Department report highlights documented summary killings  (by Venezuelan police forces) that have gone unpunished, cases of torture in prison and generalized police abuses.

<a href=www.vheadline.com>Venezuela's Electronic News Posted: Thursday, April 03, 2003 By: Patrick J. O'Donoghue

PDVSA president Ali Rodriguez Araque has issued an order dismissing 828 Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) employees, bringing the alleged total number of dismissals since December to 17,871 workers. 

According to former PDVSA human resources managers, the number represents 47% of employees that worked for the company up till December 31, 2002. 

The decision to lay off the employees and published in the Gaceta Oficial is based on Labor Law Article 102, stipulating unjustified abandonment of work place and dishonesty. 

The shadow PDVSA human resources team highlights the fact that those dismissed average 15 years in the company and complains that PDVSA is advertising for foreigners to fill the posts.

Recruitment International Ltd is seeking engineers with experience in flexi-coke and distillary processes (refinery) with a minimum of 10 years experience. 

The Venezuelan Geophysics Society of Engineers has announced that it will not accept foreigners taking up employment in Venezuela, alleging that foreign personnel know less than Venezuelans about the  country's hydrocarbon basins.

<a href=www.vheadline.com>Venezuela's Electronic News Posted: Thursday, April 03, 2003 By: Patrick J. O'Donoghue

VHeadline.com News Editor Patrick J. Donoghue writes: What is sad about the Llaguno Bridge Shooters court sentence is that it reveals how bad the legal system is in Venezuela. 

For all  opposition ravings about "bent" or corrupt judges, the government can point to several other high-profile cases to cry opposition control over what the media in 1996-1998 dubbed "complacent" judges. Just to mention a few:

• Lifting of arrest warrants against six top Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) executives & managers responsible for nearly scuttling the oil industry
• Carlos Fernandez released from house arrest
• Carlos Ortega, Pedro Carmona and Rear Admiral Molina Tamayo allowed to flee the country
• Rebel and insubordinate military officers reinstated and/or not put on trial
• Managers at the San Tome PDVSA plant reinstated after abandoning their posts

Why should there be any surprise about the 4 Llaguno Bridge Shooters?

Their lawyer used the same legal loopholes an opposition lawyer would use, in this case that there is no strong evidence to indicate that the bullets seen leaving the shooters' pistols actually killed somebody.

Why can't state prosecutors prepare their case properly and collect the evidence?

People were shocked to see civilians shooting from the bridge on April 11 ... it was a brilliant piece of filming that changed the course of Venezuela's history.  It was only days later that doubts began to appear about the role of the Metropolitan Police (PM) during the March on Miraflores and the following days. 

It has not been cleared up yet.

Can we conclude that Venezuela's legal system is as corrupt as ever and its judges are as vulnerable as ever to political control.

No wonder desperate opposition deputy, Liliana Hernandez takes a dig at people for not protesting on the streets ... who can blame people for showing skepticism after being led up the garden path so many times in the last two years by trade union leaders and business bosses playing politicians and politicians running around like headless chickens?

In the shooters' case the state prosecutor has to draw up a case against the suspects before April 20 for illegal use of firearms and public intimidation which carries an 8-year jail sentence.

State prosecutors must work harder and use their skills to draw up tighter cases against the PDVSA Six and Carlos Fernandez ... and the Shooters.

Will they? Probably not.

As one foreign legal expert comments: the majority of the judges are provisional anyway.  But justice must be seen to work whether the case is government or opposition.

What has happened to the Police Detective Branch (CICPC) special April 11 investigation?

What has happened to special Attorney General's Office watchdog, Father Vivas Suria?

That is why an independent truth commission is still the answer.

• There is nothing clear cut about April 11-14.

No side should get away with kidnapping April 11 for partisan use.

<a href=www.vheadline.com<Venezuela's Electronic News Posted: Thursday, April 03, 2003 By: Patrick J. O'Donoghue

Oil imports to the USA have reached the same levels as last year, US Ambassador Charles Shapiro has told reporters.  Speaking at a forum on Venezuela's Electoral Power and democracy, US Ambassador Charles Shapiro has confirmed that his government does not see eye to eye with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez Frias on the Anglo-American war on Iraq.

Shapiro says Movimiento Quinta Republica (MVR) deputies have the right to criticize the war because in Venezuela people are free to express any opinion. 

As for a statement by the Iraqi Ambassador that all Venezuelans reject the war, Shapiro begs to differ ... " it doesn't reflect every Venezuelan's opinion." 

Referring to home events, the Ambassador is of the opinion that a new National Electoral College (CNE) board would help solve the problem of governance in Venezuela