www.indystar.com By Gregory Weaver gregory.weaver@indystar.com March 21, 2003   In response to the war with Iraq, companies with business interests overseas are restricting international travel and moving employees out of harm's way. RCI, a provider of time-share condominiums throughout the world, imposed travel restrictions for its employees early Thursday, shortly after American missiles began pounding Baghdad. Company spokesman John R. Barrows said only "critical business travel" will be allowed to Israel, Bahrain, Qatar, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Oman and Venezuela. Last week, it relocated an employee based in Kuwait City. The company, with 1,100 workers in Carmel, also has other employees in the Middle East who currently are not considered at risk. However, it is making preparations to move them should that become necessary, Barrows said. "There's a surprising amount of business as usual in the areas surrounding Iraq," he said. "The airport in Kuwait City has continued to be open for commercial traffic, but we are following the lead of the (U.S.) government in terms of what areas are at risk." Joel Reuter, director of communications at Roche Diagnostics, was called back early from an overseas trip Wednesday as his employer also decided to restrict international travel. He and an Indianapolis co-worker were among 24 Roche employees from throughout the United States who were quickly called home. Reuter and his colleague were in Switzerland near Roche's worldwide headquarters to discuss business plans for the coming year. The medical device maker, with 2,500 workers in Indianapolis, is restricting all noncritical international business travel as a precaution. Reuter said improvements made in Roche's travel tracking system in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks facilitated the quick recall. "We have new software in place that makes it easy to determine in real time where everyone is -- which is critical in these times," he said. He said the company will encourage the increased use of video and telephone conferencing to accomplish some international business. Other businesses -- including Indianapolis-based Eli Lilly and Co. -- have remained under similar international travel restrictions since the terrorist attacks in 2001. "There are circumstances where you would prefer to meet face to face, but it can be done another way," said Lilly spokeswoman Joan Todd. "We would look to see if there were other ways to accomplish the same end."

Call Star reporter Gregory Weaver at 1-317-444-6415.

www.thisdayonline.com By Mike Oduniyi with Agency report

The Organisation of Petro-leum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has announced the suspension of its production quota to make up for any shortfall arising from the bombardment of Iraq by US forces. The decision, announced by OPEC President Abdullah al-Attiyah within an hour of the US air strikes on Iraq, meant member-nations, including Nigeria, would now produce oil as much as their capacity could carry. OPEC, which controls more than 40 percent of the world's crude supply, operates the quota system as a control mechanism to ensure market stability. Al-Attiyah said in a statement that the decision to suspend production quotas was aimed at maintaining world oil supplies and prices in the event of the disruption to Iraqi crude exports (put at some two million barrels a day) during the US.-led invasion. "Members have pledged to use...their available excess capacities to ensure continued supply," the statement said. Consequently, while the war on Iraq lasts, Nigeria, OPEC's sixth largest producer, could be pushing out at least 2.6 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude, compared to its official output quota of 2.018 million bpd for this year. This represents additional oil output of 582,000 bpd available for Nigeria, and a substantial boost for the 2003 Federal Government budget. The international market was quick to react to the OPEC decision, as oil prices fell nine percent yesterday to their lowest levels in three months. The market's benchmark crude, the British Brent, which was traded as high as $34.55 per barrel last week, fell to as low as $25.50 per barrel yesterday. OPEC's own crude basket also lost about $6 a barrel, from $33 per barrel to $27.12 per barrel. Petroleum product prices also dropped in the international market, as a metric tonne of premium motor spirit (or petrol) fell to $247.75 from $360 per metric tonne last week. This would come as a respite to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), whose fuel import programme had suffered a jolt following the sharp increase in the prices of refined oil, and the consequent scarcity of products in the country. Analysts said oil prices had not risen as earlier feared on grounds that there would be plenty of oil in supply, as OPEC member-countries would readily put their suppressed spare capacity to full use. "OPEC producers other than Iraq and strife-torn Venezuela have been increasing production for weeks. Much of that oil is now in storage or in tankers on the high seas," said one oil analyst. Saudi Arabia on the other hand, is believed to have as much as 50 million barrels in storage in the country and more en-route to other storage facilities. "That's enough to replace Iraq's 1.5 million to 2 million barrels a day for about a month." Others said the markets remained calmed because the Bush administration had made clear that it was ready to use some of the 600 million barrels in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to counter shortages. Energy experts said a glut could result if war in Iraq did not drag on and Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein did not torch his oil fields. The biggest fear in the market however, was that oil facilities in other Middle Eastern countries, such as Kuwait or Saudi Arabia, could be attacked. a scenario that would cause oil prices to shoot higher very quickly. Another concern was the on going communal clashes in Nigeria's oil-producing town of Warri, Delta State, which it was feared, might make Nigeria unable to produce at full capacity. The violent clashes between the Itsekiri and the Ijaw communities, which had left dozens dead, resulted in the loss of a total 156,000 bpd of oil output, six percent of Nigeria's production capacity. This followed the closure of 10 oil flowstations belonging to Shell (resulting in production shut in of 126,000 bpd) while ChevronTexaco shut three of its swamp flowstations, losing 30,000 bpd of oil.

news.ft.com By James Wilson Published: March 21 2003 4:00 | Last Updated: March 21 2003 4:00

Seven months in to Alvaro Uribe's four-year term as Colombian president, his long honeymoon appears to be over.

Having capitalised on his popularity to win approval for economic reforms during his first months in office, Mr Uribe's government is gearing up for a new session of Congress, when the focus will be on tougher anti-terrorism legislation. But the president's plans are threatened by discord within his government.

"He is losing cohesion," says Pedro Medellín, executive director of the Ortega y Gasset Foundation in Colombia, which researches governability and public policy. "If the president does not react, this could happen more and more, with various groups all trying to impose their own agenda."

A significant jolt to Mr Uribe (pictured) arrived out of the blue on February 6, when his welfare minister, Juan Luis Londoño, was killed in an air crash. The following day, a huge bomb at a Bogotá social club killed 35 people. A week later another massive bomb in the southern city of Neiva killed 16. Authorities think the blast may have been meant for Mr Uribe, who was due to visit.

But violence, and even attempts on his life, are what Mr Uribe could have expected when he took office. More frustrating will have been the public fights inside his government, sparking domestic criticism, souring international relations and putting the president on the defensive.

Fernando Londoño, the outspoken interior minister, railed against Brazil and Venezuela for their supposed failure to denounce Colombian rebels as terrorists which Mr Uribe views as diplomatically important. The president chided Mr Londoño for interfering in foreign affairs, calling for "less talk and more action". But relations with Venezuela worsened as a result.

More serious has been the friction between the defence minister, Marta Lucía Ramírez, and senior soldiers. Having put security at the heart of his government's strategy, Mr Uribe can ill afford differences between his ministers and his troops. Yet Ms Ramírez and Héctor Fabio Velasco, the air force chief, had a bitter public spat when Spain donated eight second-hand Mirage military jets to Colombia last month. Gen Velasco said they would be too expensive to maintain. Ms Ramírez retorted that Colombia should not thumb its nose at offers of help.

Once again Mr Uribe had to intervene. But the argument put the spotlight on wider tensions in military ranks over attempts by Ms Ramírez, Colombia's first female defence minister, to impose a more results-oriented culture.

There have been calls for some ministers to be sacked. But before taking office Mr Uribe insisted the same cabinet team would serve throughout his term.

At the same time, Mr Uribe's attempts to tackle long-standing security problems have emphasised the scale of his task. After another bomb this month killed 12 in the north-eastern city of Cúcuta, he named a new police chief and accused local judicial authorities of being riddled with terrorists.

Colombians' expectations of their president are great, and if he is perceived to be failing, Mr Uribe's programme could be threatened. In particular, his plan to introduce political reforms and spending cuts via a referendum this year would be less likely to gain acceptance. Economists in Colombia and abroad say that without the referendum's approval, the government would struggle to control public finances.

Mr Uribe's personal approval ratings are still high. But Mr Medellín says his passion for micro-managing is aggravating problems. The president's telephone calls to mid-ranking officials and soldiers to demand results go down well with the public, but Mr Medellín says Mr Uribe is distorting relationships between ministers and their departments, and should focus on political leadership and strategic direction: "He should stop worrying about little things and worry about bigger things."

www.goshen.edu Contributed by Tim_Nafziger on Thursday March 20, @ 10:55PM

Since Luz Marina Gomez is on the paramilitary death list in Colombia for her work with the most impoverished people in the province of Arauca, she and her family have taken refuge in Venezuela.

Gomez is on the paramilitary death list because of her work with the poor, including her work with Human Rights Commission of the Colombian Council of Evangelical Churches (CEDECOL). Since she is on this list, if she passes through any of the many paramilitary checkpoints scattered across the province, she will be taken away and murdered.

Gomez and another religious leader from Columbia visited GC to speak in Professor Jo-Ann Brandt’s biblical themes of peace class Thursday afternoon and to an audience of community members that evening. Father Luis Teodoro Gonzalez Bustacara, a parish priest, joined her.

The two focused their talk on the situation in Arauca, which is where U.S. Special Forces arrived in January 2003 to train the Colombian army to protect a pipeline carrying oil owned by the Occidental Corporation to the coast. Guerillas in the oil-rich region have repeatedly targeted the pipeline with bombs in attempts to sabotage oil production. “The armed conflict in Arauca is mainly because of land, power and oil,” said Bustacara. “The guerillas claim to be fighting for social justice, but we don’t see the concrete results.”

“Over the last year, the war has shifted from a focus on anti-narcotics to a focus on anti-guerillas,” said Gomez. The two main left-wing guerilla groups are the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the National Liberation Army (ELN). In the last decade, wealthy landowners, with support from the Colombian military, have created a paramilitary army. This right- wing force, claiming to be acting in self-defense, does the dirty work that the Colombian army cannot, targeting human rights workers like Gomez. Both groups have been declared terrorist organizations by the U.S. government and both are involved with the drug trade.

One of the results of the 40-year-old Colombian civil war in Arauca is a skewed age distribution among the population. Children make up 44% of the population, youth 31%, adults 24% and senior citizens 3%, according to Bustacara. Gomez works with children who are at-risk of being targets of guerillas and paramilitary recruiting. Government social services are unreliable and church-administered agencies are often the only ones available to work with the 50% of the Colombian population below the poverty line.

In the midst of their stories of pain and violence, Bustacara and Gomez spoke of a vision of peace, forgiveness and hope for the people of Colombia. They pointed to the church as a central part of this reconciliation. CEDECOL has been involved in providing conflict transformation. “We feel we can contribute by constructing a culture of peace,” said Gomez.

By Gerver Torres gerver@liderazgoyvision.org

La frase “destrucción creadora” la acuñó el economista Joseph Shumpeter para referirse a situaciones en las cuales, nuevos procesos, productos y tecnologías, destruyen los existentes, generando al final más bienestar: destrucción de un viejo orden para crear uno mejor. De allí el término se ha extendido para aplicarse también a situaciones como las que se crean cuando un desastre natural –un terremoto, por ejemplo- afecta una región: entonces se abre la oportunidad de reconstruirlo todo de nuevo.

El concepto lo podemos usar para pensar los profundos cambios que ha vivido Venezuela durante los últimos años y sacar el mejor partido de ello. Por ejemplo, la destrucción de PDVSA, puede ser una excelente oportunidad para construir un nuevo modelo de industria petrolera, en el cual la organización del Estado y la sociedad alrededor del recurso sea totalmente distinta a la actual. Un modelo que supere la visión volumétrica de la industria -en la cual la única variable importante es el volumen y el precio de los barriles producidos- para ocuparse también de la forma como podemos industrializar la materia prima. Un modelo en el cual la industria pueda contribuir al desarrollo del mercado de capitales, esto es que empresas que operen en el sector se coticen en la bolsa y los venezolanos puedan invertir sus ahorros allí; un modelo en el cual, nuestras ventajas energéticas nos sirvan para negociar la integración al mercado común americano. Un modelo en el cual desarrollemos un vigoroso sector privado petrolero venezolano que pueda expandirse por el mundo sobre la base de la experiencia ganada en el país. En síntesis, un modelo en el cual, con mayor participación y competencia, progresemos más.

De la misma manera, el colapso fiscal nos abre la oportunidad para crear nuevas reglas de gasto y endeudamiento que aseguren el equilibrio en las cuentas públicas. Reglas que impidan al Ejecutivo financiarse con subterfugios contables en el Banco Central; reglas que le impidan tomar créditos aquí y allá, sin que nadie pueda saber exactamente el monto total del presupuesto al final del año. Lo que hasta ayer lucía imposible de lograr, puede hacerse factible ahora en esta tierra arrasada del tesoro público.

Estando cerca la solución política a la grave crisis que vive el país, el gran reto que tenemos ahora los venezolanos es convertir la destrucción masiva de empresas, organizaciones e instituciones que se ha producido, en una oportunidad para replantear todo de nuevo, para liberar nuestros sueños y construir el mejor país que podamos imaginarnos; convertir la destrucción habida en una suerte de destrucción creadora. Entonces le habremos sacado el mejor provecho a la experiencia vivida.

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