www.abs-cbnnews.com By ESTRELLA TORRES and MIA GONZALEZ TODAY Reporters

In an effort to fully destroy the regime of Saddam Hussein, Washington is pressing foreign governments to expel all Iraqi diplomats stationed in their countries and freeze their bank accounts.

In Manila, Foreign Affairs Secretary Blas Ople said his department will study Washington’s request, noting that the Philippine government exercises sovereignty on the matter of expelling diplomats.

“We are not going to be stampeded into acquiescing to any request of a friendly foreign state. We have to study this in the light of our own interests,” Ople said in an interview with Malacañang reporters before the oath taking of newly appointed ambassadors at the Palace Ceremonial Hall.

In a separate interview with diplomatic reporters, Ople recalled that, “I expelled an Iraqi diplomat. Nobody requested it but in the interest of national security, it had to be done.”

He added, “It is the prerogative of a sovereign country to do so.”

President Arroyo said in an ambush interview that she was “leaving that [US request] for Secretary Ople to handle.”

Karen Kelley, first secretary and press attaché of the US Embassy in Manila, said the US State Department has requested foreign countries hosting Iraqi missions to expel the Iraqi diplomats.

“There is a worldwide request [from the US] where there are Iraqi missions. We have a formal request to have Iraqi diplomats suspended on a temporary basis and to take steps to assure their prompt departure [from those countries],” said Kelley in a telephone interview Friday.

Washington also plans to seize all the documents and records of the Iraqi officials located in the foreign governments.

“But the US State Department asks foreign governments to respect and protect property of the Iraqi diplomats and prevent destruction of records and documents of the Iraqi mission,” Kelley said.

The US government has also asked the foreign governments to freeze the bank accounts and assets of Iraqi diplomats being kept in the name of the Iraqi government.

Kelley said the request was made to foreign governments, including the Philippines, because of Saddam’s refusal to disarm and withdraw its weapons of mass destruction.

According to an earlier report from Washington, the US wants to expel some 600 Iraqi diplomats deployed in 30 countries, including the Philippines.

Relatedly, Ople said the DFA has not been directed to make a position on the possible US military use of Philippine airspace during war in Iraq, as there has been no request.

He indicated that the request, if it is ever made and granted, is not likely to draw opposition from Congress, as it had been done during the attack on Afghanistan.

He said the likelihood of such a request “is not great because all of their assets appeared to be already massed in the Persian Gulf in the vicinity of Iraq.”

Fearing retaliatory attacks, around 22 US embassies and consulates all over the world have shut down while 12 other posts have authorized their staff and their families to return home.

Kelley said the closure of the embassies and consulates were not based on the directive of the US State Department but decided upon by the respective ambassadors in every post.

“As a result of military action in Iraq, there is a potential for retaliatory actions to be taken against US citizens and interests throughout the world,” stated the US Worldwide Caution dated March 20, 2003.

According to a report on CNN website, the US embassies and consulates that closed down their operations are located in the cities of Almaly, Khazakstan; Amman, Jordan; all posts in Australia; Bucharest, Romania; Buenos Aires, Argentina; Cairo, Egypt; Caracas, Venezuela; Damascus, Syria; Istanbul, Turkey; Kabul, Afghanistan; Lagos, Nigeria; Paris, France; Nairobi, Kenya; Oslo, Norway; all posts in Pakistan; Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; Savanna Yemen; Skopje, Macedonia; all posts in South Africa; Surabaya, Indonesia; Tel Aviv, Israel and Jerusalem.

In Manila, the embassies of Canada and United Kingdom renewed travel advisories for their traveling citizens.

“The travel advisory is necessary because of the history of many incidents that travelers should be aware of,” said Paul Dimond, British ambassador to Manila.

“Heightened tensions as a result of the Iraq situation, together with increased threats globally from terrorism, put Canadians at greater risk. Canadians should maintain a high level of personal security awareness at all time as the security situation could deteriorate rapidly without notice,” stated Canada’s travel advisory dated March 21.

As for the Filipino workers in Kuwait, an area nearest to Iraq, Ople said they are already out of harm’s way.

He said some have crossed the border to Saudi Arabia, where they were received by a special team created by the Philippine foreign affairs department in Riyadh.

“The Filipino workers are more concerned about the panic reactions of their relatives in the Philippines,” Ople said.

Ople said the President has decided to retain Ambassador Bayani Mangibin in Kuwait “by popular demand.”

The President earlier disclosed a plan to send Mangibin to Iraq after the conflict because of his expertise in after-war construction.

“We have an excellent foreign service and we have a very deep bench in the Department of Foreign Affairs. So, if we send an ambassador to Baghdad, you can be sure that he will be very first class. He doesn’t need to be Ambassador Mangibin,” he said.

Please send your comments or feedback to newsfeedback@abs-cbn.com

sg.biz.yahoo.com Friday March 21, 7:59 PM

PARIS (Dow Jones)--The International Energy Agency, the energy watchdog of the world's richest nations, said Friday it sees no reason to release emergency crude oil stocks, despite the situation in Iraq and civil unrest in Nigeria.

"There is no event in Iraq that makes us fear about a disruption in oil supply," IEA spokesman Pierre Lefevre said, noting that the outage in Nigeria wasn't significant in terms of volume.

Thursday, soon after the U.S.-allied troops launched an invasion of Iraq, the IEA said increased production from OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia and key member Venezuela, combined with lower demand for heating oil in the U.S., helped to reinforce confidence demand would be met.

The IEA has said they will allow the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, which has pledged to keep markets well supplied if there is any shortfall, to have first crack at supplying customers before the IEA takes a decision to release stocks.

Iraq's oil exports through the U.N. oil-for-food program, normally around 1.7 million b/d, are now virtually at a standstill following the withdrawal of U.N. staff from Iraq Tuesday.

To date ethnic clashes in the oil-rich Niger delta in Nigeria have disrupted over 250,000 b/d of the OPEC member's 2 million b/d output.

-By David Gauthier-Villars, Dow Jones Newswires; 33 (0)1 40 1717 40, david.gauthier-villars@dowjones.com

Brave new world of oil rising

Visit www.smh.com.au for the most up-to-date news March 22 2003

The war will have a profound impact on global oil levels. Barry FitzGerald and Richard Salmons report.

The slogan "No blood for oil" was scrawled in chalk on the pavement outside the Stock Exchange building well ahead of the first missile attacks on Iraq.

While it reflected the views of ardent anti-war campaigners, many of John Howard's "ordinary" Australians also have a suspicion that the war is really about oil and not an attack to take out a despot in control of weapons of mass destruction.

The conspiracy theorists take things further.

Control of Iraq is the first step in a plan by the oil-hungry US to break open the Middle East's stranglehold on the world's biggest oil reserves.

Saudi Arabia will be next, not with bombs but by a US-inspired toppling of the ruling elite.

The end result will be the dawn of a golden economic era, one underpinned by abundant and therefore cheap Middle East oil produced by the US oil majors which also happen to be big supporters of their Texan president.

So they would have you believe.

It does not matter that cheap oil would destroy the US oil majors or that the cost of the war, variously estimated at $US22 billion to $US140 billion ($37 billion to $236 billion), buys a lot of oil, any day of the week.

Whether or not there is any truth in the claims and suspicions about the real reasons for the war will be debated for years to come.

Right or wrong, they will not go away, even if Britain's idea of handing control of the Iraqi oilfields to the United Nations once victory by the "coalition of the willing" is secured sees the light of day.

What is known with certainty is that war in Iraq, or anywhere else in the Middle East for that matter, necessarily has oil at, or near, centre stage.

Iraq is after all a major, albeit frayed, oil producer and, more importantly in the long run, the owner of the world's second biggest reserves.

It had been producing oil at a daily rate of 2.4 million barrels under the supervision of United Nations under the oil-for-food sanctions that came into effect in 1999.

Because of its huge undeveloped reserves Iraq could produce a lot more. But it has not had the capacity to invest in additional production and technically at least, it remains part of OPEC.

OPEC's quota system on production by its member countries has the aim of keeping the oil price as high possible without hurting demand, with a price of $US25 to $US28 a barrel the target.

So while its member countries, whose economies all depend heavily on oil, control two-thirds of the world's reserves, they produce only one- third of the 78 million barrels of oil that the world gobbles up daily. In effect the non-OPEC world produces everything it can and buys the rest from OPEC.

But OPEC is the swing producer in the system. It is the producer that can make a difference to the global oil price by adjusting its quotas. That also makes it the producer that can deliver the non-OPEC world a nasty shock every now and then.

Before even a shot was fired in the war, Australians got a lesson on the interplay between war in Iraq and what it meant for oil prices. The lesson was given at the petrol pump in the form of record prices of more than $1 a litre.

Yet even as petrol stations marked up their boards, analysts were predicting a flood of oil onto the market, as well as a significant drop in demand that would help ease any pressure on prices. It's early days in the war but the predictions are looking good. Oil prices have crashed from just under $US40 a barrel to $US28 a barrel.

While the global markets ran up the price on the fear of war and supply disruptions, they are also took it down on expectations of the war being short and precise.

That wild swing in attitude and pricing served to highlight the precarious nature of the oil market. Despite being a fuel vital to the lifestyle of western countries, oil is still vulnerable to huge volatility.

At present, the volatility is to the downside on price. Analysts believe that the commencement of war could unlock vast supplies of the resource.

"The general consensus view is that there will be a correction back downward, but it depends on what kind of inventory comes back on line," said Salomon Smith Barney analyst Gordon Ramsay. "There will be stockpiles and reserves that will come on to the market, and that will limit the uncertainty," he said.

"The question is, what do countries have in commercial reserves that have been hidden from official statistics?"

Indeed, the oil markets have so far shrugged off concerns that any disruptions could be substantial or last long. In electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange yesterday afternoon (eastern Australian local time), oil was trading at $US28.30 a barrel, close to a three-month low.

The price was some 21 per cent down for the week leading up to the start of the war, again reflecting the belief that a war in Iraq will be quick and that there will be little damage to its oilfields and facilities.

The question in the minds of analysts, though, is how much other factors - including additional production, the release of reserves, and falling seasonal demand in the West - will offset the combination of a cut in supply from Iraq and squeezes elsewhere in other OPEC countries, such as Venezuela and Nigeria.

Up until the commencement of hostilities, Iraq has been exporting but at a reduced rate of about 1.5 million barrels a day. This is balanced by a Saudi Arabian stockpile that could make up for about a month's disruption of those exports, although Saudi officials have said the country does not plan to draw down all 50 million barrels.

But Saudi Arabia is now producing about 9 million barrels a day, or about 1.5 million more than its OPEC quota. The country has about 1.5 million barrels of additional production capacity that it can bring on in less than several weeks, if the need arises.

The US also controls a Strategic Petroleum Reserve of 600 million barrels, but it has said it wants to rely on OPEC production to fill any gap.

In addition, Ramsay noted that Venezuela, which has been the scene of a bitter oil industry strike, is increasing production again. He said output that was 1.6 million barrels a day in January had reached 2 million by the end of February.

Adding further comfort, the arrival of spring and summer in the Northern Hemisphere could reduce demand for oil by as much as 2.7 million barrels a day. In total, private and public oil stocks counted under the auspices of the International Energy Agency officially amount to more than 90 days of imports by Western countries.

While such figures appear to provide a sizeable cushion for any loss of Iraqi supplies, analysts point out that it will take time for new supplies to arrive, and that the conflict comes at a time when overall Western reserves are at a record low.

Analysts are focused on industry crude oil stocks, which includes oil held in refineries, petrol stations and throughout the supply chain. Such stocks total just 270 million barrels in the US, close to the minimum required for smooth refinery operation.

Visit www.smh.com.au for the most up-to-date news

Alertas de Robert Alonso Robert Alonso

Angola tiene cierta similitud con Venezuela. Su clima es tropical, rica en minerales, con recursos como el petróleo, uranio, diamante, hierro, manganeso, cobre, fosfato, sal y - entre muchas otras cosas - madera preciosa. Angola tiene un área de 1.246.700 Km2, el área de Venezuela es de 912.050 Km2, más o menos igual, ¿no?; pero mientras Venezuela tiene unos 24 millones de habitantes, Angola no pasa - hoy en día -- de los 11 millones.

Angola, con su población de ovimbunda, mbundú, bakongo, lunda-chokwe y nganguela, era - antes de 1975 - tan alegre y desordenada como nuestros zambos, mestizos, blancos, mulatos, indígenas y negros antes de la revolución bonita del Sr. Chávez.

El 11 de noviembre de 1975, el "imperio" portugués le otorgó libertad plena a esta hermosa tierra negra y allí comenzó Cristo a padecer. aunque en honor a la verdad, ya venía padeciendo desde hacía un tiempo gracias a las intenciones maléficas de un señor muy amigo de Fidel Castro llamado Agostinho Neto, líder del Movimiento para la Liberación de Angola (MPLA).

La historia debería contarse como es debido, pero entonces ustedes me harán "clic" y me sacarán del "aire", así que trataré de resumir todo lo quepueda. Les prometo que el cuento será tremendamente interesante, histórico, ameno e impresionantemente estresante y aún más agobiante y terrorífico. ¡Pónganse cómodos! Un generoso trago de "güiski" -- del bueno -- no vendría mal.

El amigo Agostinho tomó la delantera y se hizo con el tambaleante y frágil poder en Angola tan pronto como los portugueses dijeron "Aquí le dejo a vosé el curotu". Claro que la historia es un poco más larga, pero no viene al caso. Lo que sí viene al caso es que inmediatamente que el Dr. Neto puso pié en Luanda -- la capital de Angola -- invitó a unos señores cubanos que se decían médicos, entrenadores deportivos, alfabetizadores, palomiteros, escobilleros y demás yerbas aromáticas que todo venezolano de hoy conoce "más bien" "que´l" carrizo, para que se instalaran en la recién independizada nación.

No faltaron los angoleños que pusieron el grito en el cielo: "¡Esto es comunismo!", decían los más zumbaos y radicales. Tampoco faltaron -- recuerdo muy bien -- los "comeflores" que inspiraron la primera constitución de Angola la cual se decretó ahí mismito, en noviembre de 1975. Pitos fueron y pitos vinieron y se alzó por allá un tal Jonas Savimbi con un movimiento propio llamado UNITA que más tarde haría coalición con otro de menor importancia llamado el FNLA. Pero no los quiero agobiar con mucha guarandinga porque me hacen "clic".

Lo importante de la historia es que en cuando los angoleños se vinieron a dar cuenta, entre constituciones y soluciones humanistas, lógicas, sensatas,coherentes y cuerdas, el amigo Neto se le coló al país en compañía de sus entonces socios, los cubiches de Castro y aquello terminó - como decimos en Cuba - como la fiesta del Guatao, es decir: en un zaperoco total que generó una de las más cruentas guerras civiles que haya conocido el continente africano.

Aquellos médicos, zapateros, entrenadores, chicharreros, matraqueros, profesores y rocoleros que Castro había enviado al hermoso y bochinchero país del África, se quitaron sus respectivos disfraces y se vistieron con el uniforme verde olivo de campaña y comenzaron a echar tiros a diestra y siniestra con los AK-47 que tenían por ahí escondidos, sabrá-Dios-dónde. Ya para entonces, claro, no había un solo negro comiendo flor. y si los había, se indigestaban en silencio y en total privacidad. Hubo un moreno, incluso, que se llegó a creer Gandhi - si mal no recuerdo se llamaba Martinho Ferreira --, muy parecido a un señor que todos conocemos aquí en Venezuela a quien cada día lo veo como que más silente.

Interesante. Hay quienes aseguran que Castro envió a Angola un contingente de 300 mil soldados. Otros son más conservadores y hablan de 100 mil. Si así fue el esfuerzo de Fidel por controlar por la vía bélica un país que representa la mitad de la población venezolana y de mucho menos importancia energética y estratégica que el nuestro, me pregunto cuántos efectivos militares estaría dispuesto a enviar a Venezuela el CASTRO-COMUNISMO INTERNACIONAL para darle apoyo a la revolución bonita cuando comiencen los tiros, los muertos y los mutilados por coñazo. Hablando con un colega de entonces me decía que ya la URSS no está para financiar a Castro, le respondí que con los 14.061 millones de dólares de nuestras reservas internacionales (incluyendo el FIEM) se podría financiar no una, diez guerras civiles. y después que "aquello" sangre.

Voy a copiar de mi libro - "Los Generales de Castro" (página 15), escrito y publicado en 1985 - para ilustrar someramente una de aquellas batallas que tuve la inmensa suerte de presenciar desde lejos: "El ocho de febrero de 1976 se libró en las afueras de Luanda una de las más sangrientas batallas entre las fuerzas gubernamentales y los insurgentes. Los resultados fueron desastrosos. La mitad de los soldados cubanos yacían muertos o heridos en el campo que rodeaba el campamento. Más de un centenar fue hecho prisionero, lo que significaba una muerte horrible que culminaba en un ritual de canibalismo horripilante."

En las barrigas de los angoleños terminaron miles de jóvenes cubanos que no pasaban -- para el momento de sus muertes -- de los 18 años; en su inmensa mayoría, de raza negra. Los cuerpos ya digeridos de aquellos muchachos tan sanos como los nuestros, abonaron aún más la tierra fértil de aquel país africano que comenzó a vivir una larga y tormentosa tragedia que todavía perdura en el tiempo y en su trágica y absurda historia, pues el MPLA - que Cuba ayudó a colocar y a atornillar en el poder - continúa gobernando hoy a Angola, aún después de la muerte del Dr. Neto, sucedido ya por su colega José Eduardo Dos Santos. Algo así como que se nos muriera "el-que-te-conté" y nos quedara - PARA SIEMPRE - el hombre de los ojos bellos. ¿Qué tal?

Castro tenía muchos oficiales de alto rango en Angola y desde ahí les echaban vaina a otros países pequeños de la región, como Namibia, por ejemplo. El oficial de mayor rango en un momento dado fue el famoso y legendario Arnaldo Ochoa, quien cuando era teniente (equivalente en nuestro ejército a teniente coronel), dirigió parte de las guerrillas venezolanas en los años sesenta y estuvo a un tris de ser apresado por mi hoy General Raúl Viso, cuando era un muchacho y se jugaba la vida por la democracia de Venezuela.

El subalterno inmediato del General Ochoa era un muy joven general camagüeyano llamado Enrique Ernesto Grillet, a quien sus hombres le llamaban -- "cariñosamente" - "El Loco Enrique". Este personaje era muy pintoresco. Como los negros de la UNITA (del lado contrario a los cubanos), tenían la maluca manía de comerse a los prisioneros, al "Loco Enrique" le dio por hacer lo mismo con los que sus hombres apresaban. Debido a que cocinar mucho la carne no es muy saludable y le quita todo el sabor, los nutrientes y la suavidad, Enrique empleaba la técnica culinaria de "vuelta-y-vuelta". Detrás de toda esta locura estaba la intención en aquel general de fortalecer el sentimiento aguerrido que se requería para batallar en aquella dantesca guerra entre hermanos, dirigida por las dos super potencias de entonces: la URSS y los Estados Unidos, con apoyo de los cubanos - por un lado - y los sudafricanos, por el otro. Había, pues, participación de la "comunidad internacional", como muy bien puede observar el lector.

Como siempre, las historias de guerra están salpicadas por la fábula, la exageración y el cuento de camino. Ésta que les acabo de narrar pudiera contener algunos de los elementos aquí enumerados. Lo cierto es que hace un año. o tal vez un poco más, el Sr. Chávez intentó sacar de Fuerte Tiuna - sin éxito -- a los agregados militares norteamericanos. Por aquellos días se oía el bochinchero acento cubano que saturaba el ambiente de ese epicentro del poder de nuestro ejército venezolano. A mis manos llegó la lista de los nombres de algunos de los asesores militares que ya Castro tenía instalados en Fuerte Tiuna ("conviviendo" descaradamente con los oficiales norteamericanos), entre ellos me llamó particularmente la atención de uno: Enrique Ernesto Grillet.

El Hatillo 22 de marzo de 2003

Robert Alonso robertalonso2003@cantv.net

Posted: Friday, March 21, 2003 By: dburnett1@nyc.rr.com

Date: Thu, 20 Mar 2003 07:02:57 -0500 From: Daniel Burnett dburnett1@nyc.rr.com To: Editor@vheadline.com Subject: The real wealth of Venezuela

Dear Editor: “Venezuela has not lost its competitive advantages …. There is no other country in Latin America with such great natural reserves … oil, tourism potential, minerals, and a youthful population as well as its geographic position … Venezuela has tremendous advantages.”

I am sure that anyone who has spent time in Venezuela, or anywhere else in Latin America, has heard similar sentiments expressed many times. I've lost track of how many times I have heard Venezuelan acquaintances express utter bewilderment at Venezuela’s poverty when it is so richly endowed with natural resources. I have spent endless evenings in Guayaquil listening to Ecuadorians assert with great certainty that Ecuador should be amongst the worlds wealthiest countries given it’s cash crops of banana, coca, mango, and shrimp.

Of course, the natural wealth of South America is tremendous, and South Americans should be grateful for that. That Venezuela posses tremendous natural wealth, is made clear by the tens of millions of dollars invested in scouring its countryside with satellite imagery and seismic testing in search of black gold and other millions invested in extracting true gold from the Guayana.

There is, however, tremendous irony in these efforts to find quick wealth in Venezuela.

I have no access to the fancy technologies of these large oil and mineral corporations, but I believe I can easily find more wealth in Venezuela than they ever will. It is in plain sight all along the highway from Maiquetia in to central Caracas. It is all over the place in Petare, Chacao, and Catia. And where my relatives live, on the outskirts of Barquisimeto, you can’t walk 10 feet without bumping into it. Of course the “wealth” that I am referring to is the people of Venezuela.

Of all the false ideologies that have taken root in Latin America the most pernicious is the idea that wealth is something that comes from the land or what is beneath it ... all countries that have truly become modern, realize that the fundamental source of wealth is the human mind.

This should be clear from looking at the world around us. How many advanced countries can you think of that don’t have excellent educational systems? Germany, France, Canada, Japan, Korea, and Australia have a lot of differences in terms of what their histories have been and how the developed economically. At least two countries on that list have no natural resources to speak of. But one thing they all have in common is a very well-educated population and a superior educational system.

And what of the United States?  You know, the country whose public education system is often criticized by its own politicians as being deficient. Well, not only does the United States have a well-educated population, but its university system has no rival. When it comes to technical education (engineering, mathematics, and the natural sciences) US universities are the gold standard -- the best students from the world over strive to gain entry to US universities.

Conversely there are numerous countries that are well-endowed with natural resources but mired in poverty ... Nigeria, Sierra Leon, Zaire, and Venezuela are just a few of many such countries.

Of course, there are many historical reasons why some countries are economically advanced and others are not. A well-educated populace alone will not guarantee prosperity. But, while a well-educated population may not be a sufficient condition for development, it clearly is a necessary one.

In my previous letter I laid out what economic policies I believe need to be followed for Venezuela to develop. But, based on what I have shown above, it should be clear that improving the educational level of the Venezuelan population is equally vital for development.

So if we accept that, the question becomes what can Venezuela do to improve its educational system?

First the good news. By Third World standards Venezuela already has a relatively well-educated population. Over 88% of the Venezuelan population is literate, and the vast majority of its youth are enrolled in educational institutions. Hence, mass literacy campaigns like those of Cuba or Nicaragua are not what is needed.

However, no one should be satisfied to be good by Third World standards ... for Venezuela to create industrial corporations that can compete in the world economy, Venezuela must posses a population that is educated to First World standards. At present it is nowhere near possessing this.

Lets take this problem one step at a time.

First we must find a way to improve primary and secondary education. As most people, even in advanced countries, never receive a university level education, it is the quality of primary and secondary education that determines the overall educational level of the country. Further, it is not possible to have quality universities if the students coming into the universities (i.e. the product of the primary and secondary schools) do not already posses a good basic education.

The biggest problem in Venezuela is the same one faced by educators the world over. Namely, that most people’s educational attainment does not surpass that of their parents. For a country like Venezuela, where most of the parents are poorly-educated themselves, this is significant obstacle that must be overcome.

Here are several ideas that may contribute to solving this problem.

First, one must make schools a place where students will voluntarily attend and spend much of their time. One way of accomplishing this is providing three free meals per day for all students. Given that a large percentage of the Venezuelan population is always wondering where its next meal will come from, this will be a very important incentive for many families to make sure their children attend school.

It would also help if school hours were extended ... this serves an important pedagogical function in that the extra hours would be used as time for studying. Does anyone believe much studying takes place when students return home to the poorer areas of Venezuela?

Of course, once we have the students in the schools, we must have ways of making sure that real education takes place. To accomplish this, I propose adopting an idea that is near and dear to George W. Bush’s heart ... standardized testing. I would propose that there be nationwide exams for all grades and all subjects at the end of each school year. This would necessitate Venezuela having a standardized nationwide curriculum. Further, as the goal is to raise academic standards in Venezuelan schools, it is imperative that these exams be rigorous.

The purpose of these tests would be two-fold. First and foremost, it would measure the progress of the students. Students who did not pass these exams would not be allowed to proceed to the next grade. This allows educators to be sure that students are mastering the required material.

It also allows for evaluation of the teachers. If students of a given teacher perform poorly relative to similar students who have other teachers, there is clearly a problem with that teacher. If the teacher can remedy that problem fine ... if not, they can seek another line of work.

This kind of standardized testing is not without its drawbacks. It has, for example, been criticized as stifling creativity and independent thinking. However, these concerns can be largely addressed by making these tests emphasize problem-solving skills as opposed to simple rote memorization.

More importantly however, standardized testing ensures that a high level of education is taking place. I can personally attest to value of this method. I attended public schools in the State of New York which had exactly this type of standardized testing. This has led to New York State having schools that are consistently ranked higher than those of most other states in the United States.

While these tests were administered for most subjects, they were not administered for all subjects in all years. There was a significant increase in the quality of instruction and the seriousness of the students when everyone knew that there would be a state exam at the end of the year. It bears further noting that New York has population of approximately 19 million, which shows that this type of testing can be done on the scale of a country the size of Venezuela.

Given that these improvements in primary education that I am proposing would be costly, it is imperative that this sort of testing regimen be used to ensure that the precious ... and all too scant ... resources of the Venezuelan government are not wasted.

Similar initiatives can be taken with respect to university level education. A good first step would be for the government to follow up on one of Chavez’s campaign promises from 1998. That is, university level education should be restricted to subjects that will be economically beneficial to Venezuela. This would mean restricting the university studies of students to technical fields, some business subjects, and ... to a limited extent ... medicine.

Of course, there will be an outcry by some regarding this limitation on students “freedoms.” However, given that Venezuela is subsidizing the educational system it has, the prerogative of subsidizing only those activities that it feels will produce the greatest returns. While it is certainly true that, in a perfect world, everyone should be free to study what they please, circumstances in Venezuela are anything but perfect. It is therefore the moral imperative of the Venezuelan State to see that its resources are used in a way that will yield the greatest benefit for society. Restricting fields of study would allow universities to focus their resources on fewer areas of study and thereby improve their academic level without requiring additional resources.

Another step to improve the academic level of Venezuelan universities would be the imposition of rigorous entrance exams. The scarce resources available for higher education in Venezuela must be focused on those who are talented and industrious, not on those who are mediocre or indifferent. As an extension of this, to continue their university studies, students will have to show sustained academic success. Those who do not take advantage of the opportunities offered them should not be offered further opportunities.

Many will object that these measures are very harsh ... indeed they are.

However, we must keep in mind what the overriding goal is ... the goal is to create a highly-educated population and workforce that will be capable of creating the more prosperous and modern Venezuela which is desired by the overwhelming majority of the Venezuelan population.

It is toward accomplishing this goal that all educational policies must be directed.

Venezuela cannot continue to use its higher educational system as a social welfare program where large numbers of young people are to be “stored” until they are finally turned loose, poorly-educated, into a society where they will find no productive employment.

Allowing higher education to continue in such a poor state is a crime against both the youth who are poorly served by it, and the larger society which loses the benefits of having its youth’s talents fully developed.

There are other policies that could be of tremendous benefit to the Venezuelan educational system and economy. One such policy would be for the government to ensure that any Venezuelan student who is accepted for graduate study in a technical discipline in any university in an advanced country has the financial means to pursue those studies.

At first this may seem like a bad idea. After all, won’t it mean that Venezuela will be wasting precious resources funding a “brain drain” as a significant number of those people may not return after completing their studies? The answer to that question is no.

First, it is important to realize how valuable this education will be. Virtually all leading universities in science and technology are located in the advanced countries of North America, Europe, and Asia. If Venezuela is ever to rise to the level of the advanced countries, it must have people who have mastered the science and technologies of the First World. To do that they must study at the universities of the First World.

It is true that many will not return Venezuela upon completion of their studies. Instead they will obtain jobs with companies in the countries where they studied. But that is not something that should be viewed as bad. Rather, it is very good in that it will greatly increase their exposure to the best technical and managerial practices of the developed countries.

Yes, it is certainly true that some of these people will never return to Venezuela and that will be a loss. But keep in mind that education is a form of investment and there are always losses with all types of investment. Having the government provide cheap capital to companies, as I advocated in my previous letter, will also result in losses as some of those companies will never be successful. However, it is expected that the gains that come from those that are successful will more than compensate for those losses and make the investment a worthwhile activity.

In the same way, the people who return from abroad after going through this process will be an invaluable asset that will more than compensate for those who do not return.

And rest assured, large numbers of them will return.

• As I am sure most VHeadline.com readers are aware, anyone who is born and raised in Venezuela remains a Venezuelan for the rest of their life, regardless of how many years they live abroad.

If good economic policies are implemented, and there is productive use for their skills in Venezuela, many of them will return to their homeland. When they return, they will staff and lead Venezuelan companies, and in many cases serve as the entrepreneurial talent behind new companies that wouldn’t otherwise be created.

This process is already at work with other countries, notably China. Many Chinese students with advanced degrees and years of experience in US industry are now returning to China and founding high tech companies. This process, the great benefits that are accruing to China from it, was the subject of an article in the Wall Street Journal on March 6. I urge those who have access to that periodical to read it.

Just as with the economic policies that I put forth in my previous letter, these reforms to the educational system will cost a significant amount of money ... probably several billion dollars annually. Increasing teachers salaries, extending school hours, providing free meals in schools, and paying for university studies overseas will require resources above and beyond what the educational system currently receives ... but this is an investment that cannot be avoided.

It is to these tasks that the petro dollars that Venezuela generates must be dedicated. If there are less important tasks that are consuming government resources, they may need to be pared back. This is also why it is imperative, as I have mentioned before, that the foreign debt be dealt with ... either by suspending payments on it entirely, or restructuring it so that those payments are significantly reduced. The income from petroleum, combined with good economic and educational policies, is Venezuela’s ticket out of poverty.

Venezuela cannot continue to use so much of it just to pay for the failed governments and policies of the past.

These ideas are but a few of the many which could greatly benefit Venezuela. Notice that they incorporate ideas that are normally thought of as coming from the Left, and others normally thought of as coming from the Right. Venezuela doesn’t have the luxury of endless polemics regarding ideology ... the only criteria that should be used in determining what ideas to use are what works. Ideas that prove effective should be adopted and expanded ... those that prove ineffective discarded.

Demonstrated success is the key metric against which everything will have to be measured.

I cannot emphasize enough how difficult the improvement of the Venezuelan educational system will be ... importing machines and technology from abroad to build a factory is child’s play compared the task of making sure the factory is staffed with highly trained and competent Venezuelan employees.

It will cost much ... reforms may be opposed by many ... and, not least ... it will require much work.

But developing and fully exploiting Venezuela’s true wealth ... the abilities of it people ... is the only path to the prosperity and true independence that Venezuela has long sought, but never known.

Daniel Burnett dburnett1@nyc.rr.com