<a href=www.vheadline.com>Venezuela's Electronic News Posted: Sunday, March 30, 2003 By: Gustavo Coronel

VHeadline.com commentarist Gustavo Coronel writes: In 1981 I was put in charge of MENEVEN, a State owned petroleum company with a production of some 400,000 barrels per day and with about 5,000 employees. Our manager of Human Resources was Nelson Olmedillo, a very talented individual who would eventually become a member of PDVSA's Board.

Today, Nelson is an independent Human Resources consultant and is of the opinion that we should choose our next President in a more rational, less emotional manner. He says we have made the same mistakes over and over again because we do the choosing as if we were dealing with a beauty contest, almost on pure emotion.  He says we should establish a desired profile and match each potential candidate against that profile. The main problem, adds Olmedillo, is to agree on the desired profile, on the components of that profile. Sometimes, when looking for a manager, dozens of components of the profile are proposed.

Obviously this makes the search very difficult. In the case of the Presidential candidates Olmedillo suggests seven components for the profile. I have added my comments to each one of these desired qualities:

1. Leadership.

Understood as the ability to inspire people to do their best to attain the public good, to improve the society where they live. In this sense leadership is not to be confused with power or with rhetoric. Many pages have been written about this quality but I specially like the ideas of Robert Tucker, contained in his book "Politics as Leadership" (Univ. Missouri Press,1981). Tucker adopts the Platonic concept of Politics as an exercise in leadership, in contrast to politics as an exercise in power. This fundamental distinction illustrates the basic difference between democracy and authoritarianism.

2. Role Model.

The importance of preaching by example. Coherence between what is said and what is done. Ray Bradbury said, in an interview for PLAYBOY, that what he did not like about Carl Sagan is that "For some time now, he thinks he is Carl Sagan," meaning that we are what we do and not who we say we are. Personal credibility and identity have all to do with doing what we say.

3. Honesty.

The quality of being materially and intellectually honest, of behaving as "if God was looking constantly over our shoulder". Abiding by our inner voice, to do the right thing on behalf of the public good, not on our behalf.

4. Spirit of Service.

The desire to be of help to others. Altruism or, exceptionally, heroism. In Venezuela many feel that to serve is to be servile. This confusion is typical of people with low self esteem.

5. Management Skills.

The capacity to plan, organize, choose the proper collaborators, utilize resources sensibly, motivating people.  In error, rapidly rectifying. Always taking full responsibility for his, her actions.

6. Helicopter Vision.

The ability to see the whole and not only parts of the whole, as if the person was looking down from a helicopter in flight. To consider all angles of an issue before decisions are taken.

7. Life Record.

A pristine life. This quality is not easy to find as few people are "chemically" pure. But we would looking for some one who has led an exemplary life in the eyes of society.

I have listed below 20 potential candidates for President, chosen in a partially subjective manner, although they are all leaders of the community. The list is restricted to opposition leaders, as we all know that the government already has a candidate: Hugo Chavez. You are, of course, invited to rank him together with the persons in my list. The idea would be to give a grade in each component of the profile, from 1 to 10, to each candidate and add to a total. The minimum ranking would be 7 and the maximum would be 70. The list is as follows, in alphabetical order:

NAME. ROLE PLAYED. ARIAS CARDENAS, F. Former Chavez Comrade ALFONZO, R. Business Leader BORGES, J. Leader Primero Justicia CISNEROS, I. Businesswoman, altruist COVA, M. Labor Leader FERMIN, C. Former Presidential cand. FERNANDEZ, C. president Fedecamaras FERNANDEZ, E. president COPEI party FERNANDEZ, J. Petroleum Manager, rebel LEDEZMA, A. Political party leader KRIVOY, R.  Ex- pres. Central Bank MARTIN, A. Political leader MENDOZA, E. Governor of Miranda State MUNOZ, A. vice president Fedecamaras. ORTEGA, C. president CTV PENA, A. Mayor, Greater Caracas. QUIROS, A. Petroleum and civic leader SALAS ROMER, H. Political leader SALAS FEO, H. Governor of Carabobo State SOSA, C. ex-pres. Supreme Court

I already did this exercise but I will not include my results here, in order not to influence your own opinions. You are invited to add some other candidates and rank them as well. I can tell you that, in my own exercise, only 5 members of the list got more than 50 points. Eleven candidates got between 45 and 50 points and four candidates obtained less than 45 points.

The advantage of the exercise is to force us to think about these candidates, against the background of the desired profile.

Gustavo Coronel is the founder and president of Agrupacion Pro Calidad de Vida (The Pro-Quality of Life Alliance), a Caracas-based organization devoted to fighting corruption and the promotion of civic education in Latin America, primarily Venezuela. A member of the first board of directors (1975-1979) of Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), following nationalization of Venezuela's oil industry, Coronel has worked in the oil industry for 28 years in the United States, Holland, Indonesia, Algiers and in Venezuela. He is a Distinguished alumnus of the University of Tulsa (USA) where he was a Trustee from 1987 to 1999. Coronel led the Hydrocarbons Division of the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) in Washington DC for 5 years. The author of three books and many articles on Venezuela ("Curbing Corruption in Venezuela." Journal of Democracy, Vol. 7, No. 3, July, 1996, pp. 157-163), he is a fellow of Harvard University and a member of the Harvard faculty from 1981 to 1983.  In 1998, he was presidential election campaign manager for Henrique Salas Romer and now lives in retirement on the Caribbean island of Margarita where he runs a leading Hotel-Resort.  You may contact Gustavo Coronel at email ppcvicep@telcel.net.ve

Ananova

Anti-war demonstrators have turned out in the tens of thousands from South Korea to Chile, spattering streets with paint, jeering outside US embassies and, in one case, forming a 31-mile human chain.

More than 100,000 people have protested in Germany, half of them at a rally in Berlin, where banners read "Stop America's Terror."

About 30,000 people held hands between Muenster and Osnabrueck - a route used by negotiators who brought the Thirty Years War to an end in 1648.

Hundreds of women, some carrying placards declaring "the United States and Britain are the axis of evil," protested in San'a, Yemen. Elsewhere in the Arab world, 10,000 turned out at a rally organized by Egypt's ruling party in Port Said. In Amman, Jordan, more than 3,000 people demanded that the kingdom expel US troops.

Protesters in Rome hung black mourning banners from the city's bridges. At Vicenza, in northeastern Italy, demonstrators threw red paint and flares at the walls of a US military base where hundreds of paratroopers now in northern Iraq had been based.

In Athens, Greece, 15,000 people chanting "We'll stop the war" marched to the US Embassy. Protesters splashed red paint on the road outside the building and on the windows of a McDonald's restaurant.

Thousands in Canada and the United States rallied both for and against the war. About 4,000 Canadians angered by Prime Minister Jean Chretien's decision not to support a war without United Nations approval marched in front of the Parliament building in Ottawa, waving flags of the United States and allies Britain and Australia.

In the United States, a police-estimated crowd of 25,000 protested about the war at Boston Common, Massachusetts.

Barbed-wire roadblocks and riot police kept thousands of Bangladeshi protesters away from the US Embassy in Dhaka. Police in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, used tear gas to break up a protest outside the Australian Embassy. Australia has about 2,000 soldiers in the coalition.

Students in South Korea's capital, Seoul, scuffled with riot police as thousands marched down half of an eight-lane boulevard chanting "Stop the bombing! Stop the killing!" In Santiago, Chile, more than 3,000 people staged a peaceful march, and in Caracas, Venezuela, about 100 people called for an end to the war.

Sunday 30th March 2003 <a href=www.newsday.co.tt>By Linda Hutchinson-Jafar

CARIBBEAN countries, many of them very small vulnerable island-states, are edgy as their latest economic nightmare became stark reality when the United States-led coalition military force declared war on Iraq. For many countries in the region, a war, particularly a lengthy war can only do further harm to their economies, already pummelled by the fall-out effects of the 9/11 terrorist events in 2001 and which were recently showing incipient signs of recovery. Jamaica’s Prime Minister PJ Patterson has warned that the war, which his administration opposes, will only lead to food shortages, rising prices and a flattened tourism industry. “The heightened sense of alert, tension and uncertainty that accompanies war would erode confidence in the economy and wipe out anticipated gains from investment,” said Patterson whose administration is facing bulging deficits that will close this fiscal year at about eight percent of gross domestic product (GDP). Jamaica’s Minister of Finance and Planning, Dr Omar Davies, said the reality of war now meant that the Government could no longer commit itself to meeting set financial and economic projections. The Jamaican Government is already facing a sliding currency, precipitating a rise in interest rates, a J$30 billion hole in the budget, an increase in public sector spending (J$6.4 billion), a rise in its energy bill projected to increase by US$200 million and reduced Net International Reserves (NIR) that now stands at just under US$1.3 billion. Chairman of SuperClubs, hotel magnate John Issa, said the effect of the war on the Jamaican economy rests on its duration and its consequential actions. “One may conclude that it will have a negative impact on tourism but it must be said that once people confirm reservations, they rarely change them and this looks like being the case here in Jamaica. I think people will delay travelling, particularly to the United States and Europe. “Already many Jamaicans have cancelled or delayed their travel arrangements and are monitoring the situation with this in mind. It’s a shame because momentum had picked up for this winter season and already we can see a discernible slowing down in bookings,” said Issa. In St Lucia, Prime Minister Dr Kenny Anthony last weekend made a nationwide address to the population bracing them for the negative fall out of the war. Dr Anthony said just when the tourism based island economy seemed to be climbing out of the stranglehold of another global recession, it is now witnessing  the resurgence of global events over which it has little control and which  threaten to reverse its economic gains. “Every sector of our economy is likely to experience severe strain. This is a period therefore which will take the strongest resolve and commitment of Government, the fullest support of the private sector and the understanding of every St Lucian,” said Dr Anthony. Last month the National Economic Council (NEC) met with a wide cross section of St Lucia to explore the possible impact of a war in Iraq on the island. The NEC has indicated the possibility of a period of immense economic difficulty for St Lucia. “ The NEC has observed that following on the heels of nearly two years of economic stagnation as a result of the world recession and the September 2001 attacks on the USA, a peaceful resolution to the crisis in Iraq could be a matter of economic life or death for several Caribbean nations,” said the St Lucian leader. Stating that the war has very serious implications for St Lucians and for the economy, Dr Anthony said the fear and reality of retaliatory attacks against US and British citizens and further deterioration in the global economy as a result of the war, are expected to have a sharp and negative impact on the tourism industry. “Understandably, there will be a greater reluctance to travel,  particularly by US and British citizens, who are Saint Lucia’s main source of tourism revenue. On the other hand, if the war is short, we may well see a dramatic increase in travel, particularly from the United States.” The impact of the war on the price of fuel is another issue of major concern for St Lucia as any increases in energy costs will have consequences for the cost of goods and services in nearly every sector. “The cost of manufacturing activity, electricity, transportation and other services are all expected to come under increased pressure if the war eventually leads to another cycle of rising fuel costs.” Dr Anthony has called on citizens to be more frugal in their use of fuel and energy as the availability of fuel can no longer be taken for granted. The Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO) is also monitoring the impact of the war on the Caribbean. Secretary General Jean Holder said that the CTO has been discussing with its  member countries how best it might guarantee the peace of mind, the security and the investment of customers. “Almost all of our suppliers have now agreed to a very flexible policy of dealing with cancellations and with postponements. The idea is that if a customer should have difficulties for reasons beyond his control, then we want to ensure that he does not lose his investment in coming on a holiday to the Caribbean,” said Holder. On the implications of the war for Caribbean tourism, Holder states: “We are not prophets. We are looking at our prospects realistically.” He said in the first Gulf War in 1991 which was very localised in the Middle East, the Caribbean benefited in large measure because Americans were not travelling across the Atlantic. The Caribbean also benefited from the strength of the economies of Europe at the time. Holder, however, sees the current war as a continuum of the 9/11 events of 2001. “ ...Therefore, this is a theatre of war, although in large measure it may be seen as being localised in the Middle East, (but) it is in fact global, in so far that there are many terrorist elements that are attendant on our situation. “And therefore the whole perception of safety and uncertainty is quite different from (what) it was in the first Gulf War. And, therefore, I think our situation is somewhat more uncertain than it was then,” said Holder. “It is also buttressed by the fact that the world’s economies are in a very shaky situation on both sides of the Atlantic and this has affected things like the price of fuel. “All of these things have weakened the position of our air transportation industry on a global basis. And all of these factors are inimical to the situation of travel and tourism. “So while I remain always optimistic at the extent to which tourism bounces back, I think we have to view the developments of a war, which is a continuum of the terrorist activities as very bad for our tourism industry and if the war is over quickly we hope that these negative factors will quickly disappear,” said Holder. Last week visiting Venezuela’s Energy Minister Rafael Ramirez said the return of normal oil production by his country following several months of a major political impasse will have a positive impact on the global market. “Venezuela has maintained its production of 3-4 million barrels of oil per day and there is certain capacity of other OPEC countries which will permit flexibility in any interruption of supply ... but we cannot guarantee how a war will end,” said Ramirez. Ramirez said while the impact of war on Iraq is unpredictable, a major danger is that it can be translated into instability in the global energy market. “Our commitment as a member of OPEC is to contribute to a permanent stability of the energy market because we understand that to countries of the Caribbean and Latin America — this constitutes a very important factor in the development of their economies,” he said. The Venezuelan minister said it was out of concern for the development of economies in the hemisphere, that his country established the San Jose Agreement and the Caracas Agreement for energy cooperation to guarantee the supply of energy to neighbouring countries.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

BERLIN - Anti-war demonstrators turned out in the tens of thousands Saturday from South Korea to Chile, spattering streets with paint, jeering outside U.S. embassies and in one case forming a 31-mile human chain.

More than 100,000 people protested in strongly anti-war Germany, half of them at a rally in Berlin, where banners read "Stop America's Terror." About 30,000 people held hands along the 31 miles between the northwestern cities of Muenster and Osnabrueck - a route used by negotiators who brought the Thirty Years War to an end in 1648.

Hundreds of women, some carrying placards declaring "the United States and Britain are the axis of evil," protested in San'a, Yemen. Elsewhere in the Arab world, 10,000 turned out at a rally organized by Egypt's ruling party in Port Said, and in Amman, Jordan, more than 3,000 people demanded that the kingdom expel U.S. troops.

In other demonstrations around the world Saturday:

• In the United States, 8,000 to 12,000 war supporters gathered on the steps of the Pennsylvania Capitol. Thousands also marched to support the military in Miami and on Cape Cod in Massachusetts, and a few hundred people rallied for U.S. troops in San Francisco.

• About 15,000 anti-war protesters lay down in Boston streets to protest the war. Hundreds also rallied in Los Angeles, New York City, Paterson, N.J., and Boulder, Colo.

• About 3,000 protested in Santiago, Chile, and 100 demonstrated in Caracas, Venezuela. One Caracas protester said of the U.S.-led coalition: "Those wretched gringos decided to leapfrog the U.N.'s authority."

• Marchers in Rome hung black mourning banners from the city's bridges. At Vicenza in northeastern Italy, demonstrators threw red paint and flares at the walls of a U.S. military base where hundreds of paratroopers now in northern Iraq had been based.

<a href=www.sun-sentinel.com>By Sandra Hernandez Staff Writer Posted March 30 2003

Sitting in the small, windowless lobby of Clinic Venamher, Joe Cardozo considers himself a lucky man.

His face is bloated and puffy -- a side effect of the 13 pills he takes daily after a kidney transplant. He earns half of what he did a year ago, forcing him to comb through the family's weekly grocery bill in hopes of finding extras he can eliminate. And he is still paying off the $500 loan he took out in January to cover some of cost of his wife's trip to the emergency room.

Still, Cardozo, 45, feels fortunate to have found this small storefront clinic in Hialeah.

"Thank God. ... Otherwise I couldn't afford to see a doctor," says the father of two.

Cardozo, a graphic designer, moved to Miami two years ago with a comfortable income and the hope of building a life. Then the Venezuelan crisis hit and the struggles began.

Cardozo's story is common among the thousands of Venezuelans in South Florida, many of whom live in such affluent communities as Weston and Key Biscayne. They now face tough health care choices pushing them to small clinics that normally catered to working-poor Hispanics.

"I've never been to this clinic or any type of low-cost clinic because I never had to before," Cardozo says.

His situation stems from the political and economic crisis in Venezuela. The South American nation's economy has been teetering over the past year. The flight of capital, money taken out by investors, was estimated to be near $7 billion last year, and almost $635 million was sent out as remittances to points overseas, according to Robert Bottome, the publisher of several economic business publications in Venezuela.

A crippling two-month strike earlier this year plunged the country into economic chaos. As a result, President Hugo Chávez's government suspended the sale of U.S. dollars, leaving many Venezuelans in South Florida who relied on remittances from their homeland without income. The government recently allowed the limited sale of dollars for students living abroad.

Those who had businesses in South Florida also were affected after trade between Venezuela and the United States began faltering. Trade between the Port of Miami and Venezuela dropped by 30 percent last year, according to Trenae Floyd, a port spokeswoman. As a result, dozens of local businesses shut down and scores of workers were laid off.

Xiomara Castillo was among those affected. In December she closed the export company she founded 10 years earlier. She had five Venezuelan employees.

"I'm one of the lucky ones that kept their medical insurance," says Castillo, who now works at the Venezuelan American Chamber of Commerce. "But I get calls here all the time now because they need a doctor. ... This is a situation that is completely new for many people, and not just middle-class but people who had money are now facing this problem."

One answer is Clinic Venamher. The modest four-room clinic bills itself as a low-income center that caters to Venezuelans. It is run by the Venezuelan-American Brotherhood, a nonprofit group formed in 1999 to help survivors of the floods that left thousands dead in Venezuela and expanded to offer health care here. Until recently, most of the clinic's patients were poorer Latinos, but that began to change last year.

"In the last three months the number of Venezuelans coming to the clinic has grown by 80 percent," says Ernesto Ackerman, the clinic's director and a member of the brotherhood. "We have always taken care of anyone who walks in and we see a lot of working-class patients, but these days we also attend to many upper middle-class patients who just don't have medical insurance but still need to see a doctor."

Among those who saw their fortunes change are Heli Saul Colina and his wife, Maritza, who moved from Venezuela two years ago with a comfortable income and health insurance from that country. These days, however, they find themselves in a pinch.

"We only have health insurance for emergencies; otherwise, we don't have anything," says Maritza Colina, adding that it covers only hospital emergency room visits.

The Colinas' resources are dwindling. The family relied on Heli Saul Colina's monthly pension. A former university professor, he received nearly $3,500 a month from Venezuela when they first arrived in Kendall. But as the crisis worsened and the Venezuelan bolivar's value dropped, their income shrunk to about half that. It has been more than a month since the Colinas received their last payment from the pension, leaving them strapped for cash.

"My husband is working on the weekends as a pizza delivery driver," she says.

Maritza Colina says her story is common among friends and family: Many of them don't know where to turn or are afraid if they are here on tourist visas that will soon expire.

"I know about the clinic because I recently heard some information at an event, but I think most people don't know it exists," she said.

Officials from the clinic acknowledge as much, saying they have tried to use such events as the January march on Calle Ocho to get out fliers to local Venezuelans.

Tough economic times also have hit the clinic, according to Pedro Gonzalez, president of the brotherhood. The group is short about $2,000 of the estimated $6,000 it needs monthly just to operate the clinic. The group funds the center using donations from patients and the money it raises from members.

The group was hoping a fund-raiser sponsored by the Spanish Broadcasting System, which owns three local Spanish-language radio stations, would rescue it. The concert, however, was canceled in mid-March because of the war with Iraq and other problems.

"I guess we'll just keep trying, but it is hard, especially because we can only operate until the money runs out," Gonzalez says.

Sandra Hernandez can be reached at shernandez@sun-sentinel.com or 954-395-7923.