Sunday www.barbadosadvocate.com Mar 16 2003 Web Posted - Sun Mar 16 2003

No, I don’t think that America actually tried to conquer her empire. She (empires are female) was only given, or over-ran, or poxed or measled, huge and fertile and ore-laden acres inhabited only by those (so-called red) Indians, who were luckily so susceptible to ordinary European diseases that they could be conquered by an unwashed blanket. Maybe muskets played a part too.

Then the British colonials in America heard about that great event at Oistins when our own Bajan ancestors proclaimed the immortal words “No taxation without representation” and the Americans later used that powerful idea (without attribution) inthe irritable American colonies, eventually clobbering those short, feeble, poor marksmen in the British troops. There was also some story about throwing tea very naughtily into the sea.

Anyway, the Americans finally won the match, achieving independence from the British Empire, and, very gradually, turning into the richest nation in the world, and perhaps one with the greatest religiosity.

Naturally, they became pious Christian democrats or even republicans, suspicious of their ancestral origins, hostile to the sensible European practice of balancing power against power, and addicted to grandiloquent, semi-religious ideas about turning the whole world into a law-abiding community of democratic nations, closely resembling their saintly selves.

It certainly was a pity that their own God (who made the world) deposited most of the valuable oil under distant places they didn’t know much about, instead of much more sensibly under their own churches and chapels and synagogues. The Americans generously forgave him.

Unlike the British, which the historian, J.R. Seeley, said, acquired their empire “in a fit of absence of mind”, the Americans got theirs by pompous notions proclaimed from the top of a mountain of gold. Not quite a proper empire either, just a nursery of naughty nations, in which America is the rich nanny of the world.

I think that living under an empire is the normal situation of our species. Look back at the Persian empire, the Roman, Spanish, British, Aztec, French, Mughal, Chinese and Russian empires. Empires turned up everywhere. Empires are normal, but never everlasting.

My preference, naturally, is for the British one, and after that for the American, followed by the Roman. You are allowed to have different preferences, even without apology. Very few wise people will vote for the Russian.

One of the present problems is whether every country should be allowed its own armoury of weapons, nuclear, biological, chemical etc. or whether (and why) there should be some system of licences so that Barbados can have one tiny warhead I suppose those towel-headed beards in Islamic Iran will have to be allowed a slightly bigger one. Will Venezuela’s Chavez have to get two?

What about Iraq, and the Palestinian Republic? Will Haiti get a blackish warhead named Field Marshal Henri Christophe? Or should the nuclear non-proliferation agreement be continued and enforced? Enforced by whom? And why? And how? I suppose the consent of the UN will be required, so no enforcement will actually ever occur. Anybody who’s got the pennies can join the game!

(Sir Aubrey “Jack” Leacock is a long- standing surgeon at the Barbados general Hospital and the Queen Elizabeth hospital.)

www.sunherald.com Posted on Sun, Mar. 16, 2003 CHRISTOPHER TOOTHAKER Associated Press

CARACAS, Venezuela - After coping with food and fuel shortages during a recent two-month strike, Venezuelans are now dealing with scarcity of another essential: water.

This South American country is facing a drought that is severe even for its dry season, which runs from November to May. The government imposed water rationing in Caracas, whose 5 million residents are without water two to four days a week.

Things are especially tough for residents of the red-brick shantytowns that cling to the mountains ringing the city. The shortage is forcing slum dwellers to rely on water delivered by truck.

"Before we received water almost everyday," said Freddy Fuentes, an unemployed father of four. "It comes about once every two weeks now."

The shantytown where Fuentes lives lacks sewers and plumbing, so he and his neighbors buy water from a truck at $1.30 a barrel.

They haul it up a dusty mile-long hill in plastic containers to their tin and wood shack. One purchase "lasts a couple of days for washing, cooking, bathing and cleaning," Fuentes said.

Rationing could continue until the end of the dry season, said Jacqueline Faria, president of Hidrocapital, the government water company that serves Caracas.

Everyday, Faria appears in television advertisements pleading with Caracas residents not to waste water. To enforce that message, her agency swore in 100,000 kids as "water guardians," assigned with warning family and friends not to waste water.

The basin that feeds the Camatagua reservoir, the source of more than half the capital's supply, hasn't gotten rain for months.

"I've never seen it this low," said Juan Quintero, a fishing guide at Camatagua, 40 miles from Caracas.

Luis Olivares, a meteorologist at the Cajigal Observatory, which measures rainfall and weather conditions in Venezuela, said 2.3 inches of water fell in Venezuela's central region during November and December. None has fallen since.

"These figures generally reflect the quantity of rainfall across the country during that period," Olivares told The Associated Press.

The drought also has caused an increase in forest fires. Firefighters have put out 2,334 forest fires since October, most of them in the Avila mountain range that looms over Caracas, said Greater Caracas Mayor Alfredo Pena. That compares with 1,320 forest fires reported in the area for the full year beforehand.

The government has banned residents from using all but three of the trails in the Avila National Park because of the fire risk. On a highway bordering the park, motorists stop to fill up containers from trickling drain pipes.

The rationing is another headache in what has already been a difficult year for the impoverished country of 24 million.

The strike to try to force the ouster of President Hugo Chavez paralyzed Venezuela's vital oil industry, forcing motorists to wait for hours to fill their tanks. Fresh milk, soft drinks, beer, cornflour and some medicines disappeared from stores.

The failed strike ended last month, and fuel supplies have returned to normal. Shortages of some medicine and imported goods were starting to reappear, however, because of a new exchange control system that tightly regulates how Venezuelan can buy dollars.

www.vheadline.com Posted: Tuesday, December 31, 1996 By: Suzanne Hart

Date: 30 Dec 1996 22:45:28 -0600 To: News.Desk@vheadline.com From: suzhart@dave-world.net (Suzanne Hart) Subject: An Open Letter to Venezuelan Physicians

Hippocrates Revisited: It is fair and just that the united doctors of Venezuela rebel against the Venezuelan government regarding financial incentives, proper economic remuneration and fair wages as should be assured under the law. There is no cause so just as this, and it is clear to any foreign observer that reform is not so much demanded as required for the continued commonwealth of both the physicians and the general populace of Venezuela. No government has the authority to require any segment of the population to perform specialized tasks of obvious skill and educational bias without due consideration of a fair and material nature.

However, it strikes the American heart as unconscionable to deliberately and premeditatedly ignore the suffering and potential morbidity of one's fellow citizens in any act of self-righteous protest. Hippocrates did not allow for financial considerations to qualify the value of life. And not one of your suffering brothers and sisters places a political agenda on his or her life. Thus, I beg of you, Doctors of Venezuela, do not forsake your oath, your belief in God's purpose for you, or your original call to your profession in an attempt to force your government to hear you. The people still need you, and they are your route to justice. Do not betray your brothers for the sake of your cause. Surely you can see that this will ultimately weaken your position and cause untold pain among your supporters.

Demand your rights, but do so with compassion and within the bounds of your Hippocratic oath. You will win by justice; not with the sacrifice of your fellow man. For that is the road to destruction, death and untold guilt.

Suzanne Hart American Watching suzhart@dave-world.net

www.vheadline.com Posted: Sunday, March 16, 2003 By: Patrick J. O'Donoghue

The Attorney General’s Office has opened an investigation into opposition charges raised December 26 that Movimiento Quinta Republica (MVR) deputies have US dollar accounts in North American banks and did not declare the fact in mandatory sworn declarations of assets to the Comptroller General’s Office.

During a national stoppage “war bulletin” last December, opposition leaders accused William Lara, Nicolas Maduro, Iris Valera, Dario Vivas, Adan Chavez and Tarek William Saab of having accounts at the First Union Bank of Florida. The case is currently in the hands of 28th state prosecutor, Rosa Memoli Bruno ... who must proceed to check the veracity of the deputies' declared assets declarations.

The Attorney General has also approached the Foreign Ministry (MRE) to draw up a request to the US government for access to the deputies' bank account details ... even though traditional front agents may have opened and administered the accounts.

National Assembly (AN) deputy Tarek William Saab has denied having bank accounts in any foreign country ... “much less the USA where I have been refused an entry visa.“

Saab recalls that the complaint had its origin in an anonymous Internet slur that was taken up and published in Roberto Smith’s column in the weekly tabloid “Reporte" and subsequently read out at one of the opposition’s daily “war bulletins” in December.

Deputy Saab says he's been trying to get the US bank to issue a denial certificate and had asked Venezuelan consul Antonio Hernandez Burgos in Miami for assistance.

www.vheadline.com Posted: Sunday, March 16, 2003 By: Gustavo Coronel

VHeadline.com commentarist Gustavo Coronel writes: According to Article 285 of the Constitution, the Attorney General of Venezuela has to guarantee that public officers who have committed criminal acts against the State (as defined by the Law) are rapidly and diligently brought to trial.

During the Presidency of Carlos Andres Perez, then Attorney General Ramon Escovar, did just that, bringing the President down by means of a legal action without violence. That was democracy in action. The crime committed by Perez was to give money from a secret account, traditionally handled by Presidents (including Chavez) to the President of Nicaragua, Mrs. Violeta Chamorro, to be used for her physical safeguarding ... the amount involved was some $4 million.

During this administration the Attorney General has received 11 accusations against President Chavez and ... so far ... has not acted on any one of them. Some of the claims against Chavez are quite substantial, and have even been publicly admitted by the President.  For example, he admitted having diverted the immense amount of $4 billion away from the Macroeconomic Stabilization Fund (FIEM) to pay Christmas bonuses and salaries to public employees ... against the laws of the country ... this money did not even belong entirely to the Government.

According to the law which regulates the fund, this money was partly owned by PDVSA and by the governments of regional States.

The arbitrary, unilateral decision to use the money is technically considered as theft in Venezuelan Law (Peculado de uso).

Nevertheless, the Attorney General did not act ... he is an unconditional follower of Chavez. His performance has received widespread criticism due to his lack of independence and integrity.

Another open (and proven) violation of the Law by the President, of having received one million dollars from a Spanish bank ... a year after becoming President ... has not been acted upon by the Attorney General. This is what impunity means ... and it is one of the many reasons why this government of Hugo Chavez is no longer legitimate.

However, something is starting to happen.

A Mr. Pedro Sanoja, an Attorney General subordinate, in charge of looking at the Venezuelan-Cuban petroleum agreement, has just sent a letter to his boss telling him (this is a free translation of rather obscure legalese):

"I am respectfully writing to you to inform you that, based on my investigations related to possible irregular actions related to the supply and sale of crude oil and products to Cuba, within the framework of the Agreement of October 30, 2000, I have reached the conclusion that, according to the Article 49 of the Constitution and the Article 130 of the Penal Code, President Hugo Chavez Frias should be indicted for having committed crimes described in Law. Given the high rank of the public officer involved, I request your instructions relating to where the indictment should take place....."

The specific crime is not defined in the letter, as it will only be made known at the time of the indictment. However, we can speculate that some of the violations of the law include the decision by the President to go ahead with the agreement without consulting and obtaining the approval of the National Assembly ... as well as the clearly damaging clauses contained in the agreement, giving Cuba huge subsidies at the expense of PDVSA and of the Venezuelan nation. The agreement, in fact, constitutes a clear act of treason against Venezuelan national interests and can only be explained on the basis of the unusual and asymmetrical friendship between Chavez and Castro.

The action by his subordinate puts Attorney General Isaias Rodriguez in a very tight spot. Up until now he has killed all accusations against the President coming to his office as being from "political enemies." Now he has a formal action taken from someone within his own office ... an action already known to the public ... the whole country is watching to see what he will do now.

My guess is that he will probably try to do nothing. He'll call his subordinate to his office and have a "heart-to-heart conversation,  either convince him not to rock the boat or, if he can not, will dismiss the subordinate.

Scandals in Venezuela usually last between four days and one week ... the time required for the next scandal to be brought to the limelight.  I've been fighting corruption in my country for more than 12 years now, and I know this to be the case.

Today, however, there is a better chance that something will really happen, because the President is already highly-weakened by multiple accusations of impropriety regarding low transparency in the use of public funds, human rights violations, unduly friendly relations with the Colombian guerrilla and a tolerant stance regarding terrorism.

Many of his followers ... including the shrewd and unprincipled Attorney General ... might be starting to feel that the time to break away from the President is getting near, and it might be better to secure a place in future political scenarios.

This feeling of uncertainty among Chavez' followers is growing as August gets nearer.

The Referendum that can not be denied will come around that month, no matter how hard the government tries to delay it. And ... when it comes ... the President will be soundly rejected by an estimated 75% of the population.

The government is already claiming that, if that happens, the President should be able to be a candidate for elections that should immediately take place.

Obviously this is preposterous ... it would be equal to say that the husband who is divorced by his indignant wife would be eligible to compete for her hand in the next wedding. The bride does not want him! Why is it so difficult for some people to understand they are not wanted?

The President and the Attorney General are coming closer to their moment of truth.

Will the Attorney General indict the President and save whatever remains of his highly damaged reputation?

...or will he go down with him, faithful to the end, like the little guy in Francis Coppola's Dracula?

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