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The OPEC oil cartel could be forgiven for feeling a touch of paranoia. Iraq, where it was born in 1960, has been invaded and occupied by the United States, and now Washington hawks call for "regime change" in Iran , another founder member.

Venezuela blames America for backing a failed coup attempt last year, and some in the Pentagon question the US alliance with Saudi Arabia, linchpin of the cartel.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries has remained silent in the face of the threat to a growing number of its members, confining debate to the price of its oil.

Until now, that is. Venezuela, under the fiercely nationalist leadership of Hugo Chavez, has put the issue of sovereignty back to the top of the agenda at a recently revived long-term strategy meeting.

"We need to emphasize the idea that the world has left behind the colonial era, when one power could take by force the resources of another country," Venezuelan Energy and Mines Minister Rafael Ramirez told reporters after Wednesday's ministerial meeting in the Qatari capital.

"There are several countries which could feel threatened. "The proposal is some way from becoming policy of the group that controls half of world oil exports, and is unlikely to lead to any immediate threat to supplies. But the idea of tightening OPEC's grip over two-thirds of the world's oil reserves, and seeking to avoid military attack, has awakened interest from other members. "Of course, it is a serious concern that OPEC members with big oil reserves will become occupied by foreign powers," said a delegate from another of the 11-member group.

CREEPING BACK: OPEC made its name in the 1970s by nationalizing the Western-controlled oil companies in their countries, and forcing the industrialized world to pay higher prices for oil imports. But western capital has been creeping back into OPEC since the 1980s, while the United States, anxious to secure cheap supplies, has increased its military and political influence in key members such as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and recently Iraq.

Under the leadership of Saudi Arabia, OPEC has traded the revolutionary rhetoric of the 1970s for talk of partnership with consuming countries in the West. Some in the cartel think the scale has tipped too far in favour of Washington and see the Iraq war as a bad omen.

"The United States can't continue to invent wars. We want to have a deal with the world powers - we will supply oil and gas, but you can't invade my country - after Iraq, who is next?" said an OPEC delegate, asking not to be named.

The Venezuelan proposal is to link the long-held OPEC principle of security of oil supply to the national security of OPEC nations themselves. If approved by OPEC ministers, it would be tabled at the next summit of OPEC heads of state, due to be held in 2005.

Some delegates believe that unless OPEC rediscovers its ideological roots - asserting sovereignty over its natural resources - the cartel could be destroyed by a resurgent US foreign policy, combined with the financial power of four "supermajor" oil companies.

The discussion could be welcomed by some members such as Iran and Libya, which are already under US sanctions, but face opposition from Saudi Arabia, which excludes politics from OPEC debates, partly to make the group a more focused market manager.

ECONOMIC WARFARE: Given the current climate in Washington, any attempt to give OPEC a more political agenda could also give fuel to critics who see the cartel is an instrument of economic warfare against the world's only superpower.

"We are trying not to let this get too political," said a delegate from a pro-US member. Venezuelan OPEC officials believe that country's experience with foreign investment in the 1990s, and what it sees as Washington's hand behind last year's coup attempt, could be repeated all over OPEC.

"We said that the case of Venezuela could be repeated in other OPEC members with very negative results, destabilizing countries," said Luis Vierma, Venezuela's deputy oil minister, who presented the ideas earlier in June.

Venezuela has also proposed that OPEC reinforce its sovereign powers by establishing a minimum royalty rate across the group, which has two-thirds of the world's oil reserves.

Royalty, a tax on gross production, has been a largely academic issue in OPEC since nationalization, because the producing companies have became fully owned by the OPEC states.

But they have become a hot topic again as foreign investment grows, especially because royalties have been eroded or even abolished in non-OPEC producers like Britain.

Income tax, which taxes profit rather than production, are more popular outside OPEC. Venezuela under Chavez has hiked its royalty rate to 30 per cent, but many other OPEC states have agreed to discounts to attract Western capital.

By Juan Forero <a href=www.sun-sentinel.com>The Sun-Sentinel-The New York Times Posted June 14 2003

LA COOPERATIVA, Venezuela · More than ever, Colombia's 39-year-old civil war is spreading beyond its porous borders, bringing to its five neighbors a troubling brew of armed leftist rebels, right-wing death squads, drugs and refugees.

Increasingly, the guerrillas have set up camps and the drug traffickers used by both sides to support their forces have opened transport corridors through isolated jungles in other countries as a Washington-backed drug eradication program in Colombia has intensified. The refugee problem is also spilling over, with more than 300,000 Colombians having crossed into Ecuador, Panama and Venezuela in the last four years, according to United Nationsestimates that have not been publicly released.

The problems are most pronounced in Venezuela, where a 1,400-mile border has become a flash point between the left-leaning government of President Hugo Chávez and its ideological opposite in Colombia under President Alvaro Uribe.

The complications were obvious on a recent day in this hamlet just inside Venezuela. Only miles from a Venezuelan military base, a ragtag band of about 10 Colombian rebels took a break, supremely at ease as they lolled on makeshift beds, their Kalashnikov assault rifles hung from wooden posts. They swatted mosquitoes as they chatted with foreign visitors.

"We are here because the people wanted us here, so we have come," said the commander, who identified himself as José. He was referring to the rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, who became a regular presence four years ago and have been increasingly welcomed by poor Venezuelans and Colombian refugees.

In late March, with the world focused on the war in Iraq, Venezuelan military aircraft bombed and strafed this outpost. The target was not the leftist rebels, who regard Chávez as something of a hero, but the Colombian paramilitary group that had pursued the guerrillas across the border.

Colombian officials and Venezuelan opposition leaders condemned the bombing as an intervention by Chávez in Colombia's war. Venezuela angrily rejected the criticism, saying Colombia had failed to control its borders and allowed both sides to bring their conflict across the scarcely patrolled frontier.

The spread of the conflict led to a hasty meeting in April between Chávez and Uribe, who promised to work together.

In recent months, vast fields of Colombian coca, the tropical plant that yields cocaine, have been sprayed from the air and destroyed. In response, growers and traffickers have relied increasingly on border areas -- in some cases, in other countries -- to plant and transport illegal crops and drugs, Colombian and U.N. officials say.

In turn, the guerrillas and paramilitary groups -- both classified as terrorist organizations by the U.S. State Department -- intrude, fighting over control of the crops, the drug trafficking corridors and the field hands for harvesting.

According to Colombian intelligence reports and Venezuelan landowners, Colombian guerrillas kidnap ranchers, extort money from businessmen and traffic in drugs. Colombian intelligence reports also say that the rebels have set up temporary camps in at least three Venezuelan states, eluding Colombian forces and their de facto paramilitary allies.

"It is an area that allows them to rest, to reorganize and regain momentum to again come back into this country," a Colombian general said in a telephone interview.

Venezuelan landowners and merchants who live along the border have accused the Venezuelan military of ignoring or colluding with rebels. It is unclear whether that is government policy, but U.N. officials, Venezuelan farmers and aid groups report that Venezuelan military units have tolerated the rebels for years.

The Venezuelan government denies partisanship. It has 20,000 troops along the frontier, and will send 4,000 more, officials say. "It is not true what they say," said the commander of a marine patrol on the Gold River. "We repel both of them, the guerrillas and the paramilitaries."

Humberto Márquez

CARACAS, Jun 14 (<a href=ipsnews.net>InterPressa Service news Agency-Tierramérica) - A forest of metal towers rise throughout nearly half of the 12,000 square km of Maracaibo Lake, in northwest Venezuela, testimony to 90 years of continued extraction of crude in South America's largest oil field and the choice taken between sustainable development and environmental degradation. The lake, connected to the Caribbean Sea via a natural canal with the Gulf of Venezuela, suffers the multiple onslaught of salinity, oil spills and sewage -- phenomena that local authorities are confronting with optimism that they can change the situation. ”The lake is very contaminated, but stable. Its waters are renewed every five years and it is recoverable as a source of sustainable development for the millions of inhabitants living in the Maracaibo basin,” biologist Gonzalo Godoy, president of the regional management commission, said in a conversation with Tierramérica. The canal was dredged 50 years ago, when the oil industry deemed it necessary to create a route for tanker ships. As a result, the salinity of the lake rose from 1.0-1.5 grams per litre in the first half of the 20th century to nearly five grams/litre in surface water samples, and up to 15 grams/litre during the dry season. ”The fish we used to catch, particularly the 'lisa' (Mugil labrosus, a type of mullet), have disappeared, and now the fish we sell to the restaurants around the lake we get in the gulf, especially corvina (Sciaempus ocellatus) and shrimp,” says fisherman Getulio Nava. ”Nobody swims in the lake anymore, and that water can't be used for irrigation. When I was a boy, my grandfather told me about 'augadores', who carrying it on the backs of donkeys would sell lake water in Maracaibo. Now it's only good for looking at,” he told Tierramérica. The extent of the salinity problem became evident in April, when Caribbean sharks were caught in the southern part of the lake, more than 100 km from the islet-studded bay that communicates it to the gulf. ”We would like to help with environmental protection, here next to the gulf, but I don't have any option,” the mayor of the Maracaibo municipality, Hely Espina, told a recent press conference. ”To fish legally, the nets should measure seven inches between threads, according to environmental rules. But the fishing communities use 2.5-inch nets in order to catch what they can. There is hunger. And I am not going to stop them,” he said. The oil industry also contaminates Maracaibo Lake. Thousands of wells have been dug into the lake bottom and the shores. For decades, petroleum output surpassed two million barrels a day. Today it is somewhat less: 1.4 million 159-liter barrels a day. Furthermore, ”there are 42,700 km of pipes connecting the wells to the storage tanks, the distribution and transport pipelines, the ports and the refineries,” Jorge Hinestroza, an expert from the University of Zulia, told Tierramérica. In recent years, 30 to 50 oil spills have been reported each month, ”Although the volumes are never known for certain because the phenomena have always been a shadowy part of operations,” said Hinestroza. During the recent December-January strike against the Hugo Chávez government, a protest led in part by managers of the state- run giant Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) the strikers accused the personnel who continued to operate the oil wells and refineries of causing accidents. But Hinestroza and the Federation of Zulia State Fishing Communities believe that a large portion of the accidents during that two-month period were due to ”the sabotage by the striking managers and direct attacks on certain installations.” Also of political origin are the dozens of oil spills in the past decade caused by insurgents in neighbouring Colombia who dynamite the Colombian Caño Limón-Coveñas pipeline. The resulting leaks of crude filter into the Catatumbo, Escalante and Tarra rivers, which flow into the southern Maracaibo. The most recent attack, Apr. 19, spilled 2,500 barrels of petroleum. PDVSA has designated specialised teams to clean up the affected areas. The lakeshore communities themselves are responsible for another problem, as the sewage they produce is dumped into the lake at the rate of 9,000 litres per second. Only a portion of Maracaibo's sewage is treated, coming from more than a million residents, and from cities like Cabimas and Lagunillas, with hundreds of thousands of inhabitants, meaning that untreated wastewater is dumped in the lake, absorbing oxygen and asphyxiating the ecosystem's flora and fauna. Nevertheless, ”the lake can be restored for future generations,” argues lake management commission president Godoy. To clean up the lake in the first half of the 21st century, so that local residents can enjoy its shoreline and its water can be used for irrigation, requires a three-pronged effort, Godoy says. First, the closure of the current navigation canal would reduce salinity within just a few years and would move the heavier, oxygen-rich water to the lake's depths. This would mean moving the petroleum shipment operations to the sea coast, building sewage treatment plants in at least six lakeshore cities, and reducing oil spills and the flow of wastewater from industry, farming and livestock into the lake. Furthermore, states Godoy, it is essential to control deforestation and agricultural expansion because they produce runoff into the rivers that feed the lake. ”There is room for optimism,” says the official, ”It is a big lake and its potential for recovery is big too.” (Humberto Márquez is an IPS correspondent.)

• Originally published June 7 by Latin American newspapers that are part of the Tierramérica network. Tierramérica is a specialised news service produced by IPS with the backing of the United Nations Development Programme and the United Nations Environment Programme: www.tierramerica.net (END/2003)

<a href=www.hipakistan.com>Hi Pakistan At least 16 people have reportedly been injured during street battles between police and supporters of Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez.

Police used tear gas to disperse more than 100 supporters of the president, who were trying to disrupt an anti-government rally being held in their neighbourhood, a poor area of the capital Caracas.

The Chavez supporters responded by throwing bottles, stones and firebombs at the police, and destroying a police post.

The opposition had called for a demonstration in the eastern Petare neighbourhood - a Chavez stronghold - to prove that the president's support among the poor was fading.

Gunfire from unknown sources injured one police officer and three civilians, said Caracas fire chief Rodolfo Briceno.

At least 10 people were slightly hurt by flying objects, he said.

Two police officers were injured when they were accidentally hit by police vehicles, said Caracas Health Secretary Pedro Aristimuno.

The opposition protest took place despite an earlier appeal from the Interior and Justice Minister, General Lucas Rincon, to call the rally off.

A similar protest last month led to violent clashes in which one person was killed.

Venezuelans divided

At least 50 people have been killed in street clashes and violence since April last year when Mr Chavez survived a short-lived coup.

In Friday's clashes, Chavez supporters burned tyres and blocked streets to prevent the opposition march.

The marchers refused to cancel the protest, only dispersing when the tear gas was used.

"I'm here for my grandchildren because I want a real democracy," opposition protester, Angelo Valles, 54, told the Associated Press news agency.

But a Chavez supporter, Rodolfo Garcia said: "While the opposition is looking for problems, Chavez is trying to help the poor."

Opposition leaders want to drive Mr Chavez out of office in a referendum expected after 19 August - halfway through his current term, which is due to end in early 2007.

The government has accepted to hold a referendum under a deal brokered by the Organization of American States in May.

The referendum has to be organised by a new National Electoral Council, but parliament has been deadlocked with government MPs staying away from proceedings.

A strike called in December by Chavez opponents struck a severe blow at the economy before finally petering out in January.

La Cuba de Castro ha producido cualquier cantidad de nuevos verbos, uno de ellos es “tronar”, sinónimo en Venezuela de algo así como “partirle el alma a un colaborador del régimen” o “descamburar”: “dejarlo a pié”… o como el “Gallo de Morón”: sin plumas y cacareando.

Fidel Castro y su régimen CASTRO-COMUNISTA han roto record de “tronamentazon” a lo largo y ancho de la historia de la “Revolución Verde Como Las Palmas”.  Es difícil ahora recordarse quién resultó ser el primer “tronado” del “proceso” castrista; tal vez un iluso llamado Manuel Urrutia Lleó -- el primer “presidente” a quien Castro colocó con su dedo índice en la silla -- quien a los pocos meses quedó como pajarito-en-grama, mirando pa’los lados y piando, para terminar disfrazándose de lechero a fin de colarse de incógnito en la embajada de Venezuela en La Habana, donde pidió asilo político siendo todavía “presidente” de Cuba.

Para deshacerse de Urrutia, Fidel llamó a Carlos Franqui (director entonces del periódico “Revolución”) y le dijo: “Tengo problemas con el Presidente.  No voy a recurrir al acostumbrado golpe de estado latinoamericano.  Voy a ir directamente al pueblo, porque el pueblo sabrá lo que hay que hacer.  Tú eres el único que sabe algo sobre esto.  Quiero que hagas una edición especial del periódico (“Revolución”) anunciándolo.  Cierra el lugar a piedra y canto y no dejes escapar una sola palabra.  Será mejor que imprimas un millón de ejemplares... tú sabes, ¡con esos grandes encabezados que te gustan tanto!  Daré las razones cuando me presente en la televisión...”

         “Revolución” salió a la mañana siguiente con un encabezado en grandes letras rojas que decía: “¡FIDEL RENUNCIA!” El pueblo enloquecía.  Hubo demostraciones por todas partes, la nación entera se estremeció y virtualmente se detuvo.

         “A Fidel si le gusta joder a la gente”, fueron las exactas palabras de Camilo Cienfuegos.  Pero ésta no era la acostumbrada forma de “joder”.  Castro iba a librarse de su presidente, pero lo iba a hacer a través de un nuevo tipo de acción política, a través de lo que era -- en efecto -- un “golpe de televisión”, en el cual un hombre no es simplemente sustituido en su cargo político, sino destruido y en el que “el pueblo” pensaría que realmente tomó la decisión mediante lo que ahora se llamaba “democracia directa”... o “participativa”, como le llamaría décadas después en Venezuela el Sr. Hugo Chávez, metódico estudioso de Fidel Castro y de sus macabras y malévolas tácticas.

         Fidel se desapareció de la capital y se escondió varios días.   El pueblo incrementaba su incertidumbre ante la pérdida de su líder.  La desorientación colectiva se adueñó de la nación entera.  Nadie, incluso Urrutia, sabía qué hacer ni por qué Castro había tomado aquella dramática determinación de renunciar después de tantos “sacrificios”.

         Cuando por fin volvió a La Habana, fue primero a la estación de televisión CMQ y habló tranquilamente durante unos treinta minutos.  Entonces se lanzó en forma directa al grano, declarando que “la razón de mi renuncia son las dificultades que he tenido con el presidente de la República”.  Ahí no paró la cosa.  Continuó acusando a Urrutia de “alta traición” porque había hablado en contra de los comunistas.  La actuación no sería olvidada nunca, porque era la más amenazadora que había realizado Castro hasta entonces y muchos hombres que habían estado con él hasta aquel momento, se sintieron asombrados por la ferocidad de su ataque contra un hombre que había cumplido a ciegas todos sus deseos.

El pueblo cubano -- actuando como una masa ingenua -- no estaba preparado para lidiar con un líder tan inmensamente poderoso, desleal, embustero, calculador y maquiavélico como Fidel Castro Ruz.  Manuel Urrutia, aquel honesto juez rural, formaba parte de ese pueblo.  En cuanto a él -- que también había sufrido para salvar a Cuba -- se encogió como un animal acorralado ante tan inesperadas y feroces calumnias de quien hasta entonces se había mostrado siempre amigable y cordial.  El hombrecillo, pequeño y modesto, con una larga nariz muy española y sus lentes oscuros, se ocultó en su oficina del palacio presidencial para mirar su aparato de televisión como si estuviera en estado de shock, mientras su leal secretario gritaba al rostro de Castro que aparecía en la pantalla de la TV: “¡Mientes, mientes...!”

Fue entonces cuando Urrutia empezó a llorar en forma incontrolable.  Aquella no era una simple maniobra política en la que un hombre sustituye a otro -- con frecuencia sin rencor -- porque todo es simplemente parte del juego del poder político; aquello era un golpe de estado emocional, psicológico, carismático, en el que el usurpador usó cuanta táctica y cuanto vehículo psicológico pudo encontrar no sólo para destruir la eficacia, la legitimidad y la reputación del hombre, sino para destruir a su grupo y a su clase con él.  Castro ya no necesitaba a Urrutia, con sus puntos de vista moderados, así que se libró de él y junto con él, de cualquiera que tuviera puntos de vistas similares.   Para Fidel había llegado la hora de romper definitivamente con la imagen del padre y se alza sistemático y destructivo contra todo aquello que se lo recuerde, como por ejemplo: la clase dirigente cubana.  Y así, de institución en institución, de pueblo en pueblo, se COLABORADOR EN COLABORADOR, fue destruyendo sistemática y “programáticamente” todo cuanto encontró a su paso como verdadero ángel exterminador.

De Urrutia en adelante, los “tronados” fueron tantos que la cifra y conteo se perdieron en lo gris de una historia aburrida que hoy tiene más de cuatro décadas.  Oswaldo Dorticós, el substituto de Urrutia, fue “tronado” y un buen día amaneció suicidado con un tiro en la azotea.  La lista es tan larga como el expediente criminal del único dictador que ha sido “Comandante-en-Jefe” de dos repúblicas a la vez: Fidel Castro Ruz.

Las técnicas de las “tronaciones” han sido variadas y algunas de ellas cargadas de mucha inventiva y creatividad.  En algunos casos la “tronada” víctima recibía, además, un pase de factura, como sucedió con el General Arnaldo Ochoa y los “morochos” (jimagüas) De La Guardia.  Estaban también los “veladamente-tronados”, como el “Guerrillero Heroico”: Ernesto “Che” Guevara.   A Camilo Cienfuegos lo “tronaron” y lo desaparecieron del mapa cubano.  Dicen que a Robertico Robaina lo “tronaron” y lo pusieron de “bombero” en una bomba de gasolina (gasolinera) habanera.  El General de División José Abrantes – el eterno ministro del Interior – lo metieron de cabeza en un calabozo cuando fue “tronado”, del cual salió moribundo tras un supuesto ataque cardíaco que lo llevó al cementerio para siempre.

En mi libro “Regresando al Mar de la Felicidad” (ver dirección donde puede ser obtenida una copia cibernética) alerto a los colaboradores más cercanos del Sr. Hugo Chávez, para que vayan poniendo sus bardas en remojo al verse reflejados en el espejo del CASTRO-COMUNISMO, versión Las Antillas… y ahí se deben incluir – PRIMORDIALMENTE – los miembros de nuestras gloriosas Fuerzas Armadas, en especial aquellos del Ejército Forjador de Libertades, quienes son los primeros candidatos a recibir sus respectivas patadas por donde el sol nunca pega… llegado el momento en el cual ya no tengan valor alguno para los intereses particulares de los señores Chávez y Castro.

Hoy parece que le tocó el turno en Venezuela a la Sra. Nora Uribe, experta – entre otros menesteres – en guindarse verticalmente hasta un punto en que debió haber producido profundo dolores testiculares al segundo abordo en esta “revolución bonita”… tal y como podíamos todos “disfrutar” cada domingo en el excelentísimo programa “Aló Presidente”.

Dirección cibernética: 

(www.geocities.com) 

Caracas, 27 de julio de 2003

ROBERT ALONSO

Envíen sus comentarios – UNICAMENTE – a robertalonso2003@cantv.net pues los otros buzones colapsan con la cantidad de correo que reciben.  --

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