Reuters, 06.13.03, 1:35 PM ET CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - More than 18,000 Venezuelan oil workers fired for participating in an anti-government strike will not be allowed to return to their jobs despite a court ruling that they were illegally sacked, state oil firm Petroleos de Venezuela said Friday. A Venezuelan court on Thursday ruled that rebel oil workers, fired during the December to January strike against leftist President Hugo Chavez, were covered by a state-decreed firing freeze at the time of their dismissals. But Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) said the ruling did not order the reinstatement of the workers who were fired. "We are not ready to accept their return, those who abandoned their posts and failed in their duty with disastrous consequences for the country," a PDVSA statement said. "We will take the necessary measures to guarantee that our principal industry does not fall victim ever again to their anti-national interests," it added. PDVSA fired around half of its work force, including engineers, office workers and managers, for participating in the strike that plunged the oil-reliant economy deeper into recession. The government later used troops and loyal replacement workers to restart the oil sector. On Friday, more than 100 fired workers gathered outside a former PDVSA office in Caracas to celebrate the court decision, blowing whistles and chanting "We are united". "(The court decision) confirms that... the firings are, in addition to being unconstitutional, absolutely irregular," Horacio Medina, a leader of the oil workers' union Unapetrol told reporters. But Unapetrol representatives acknowledged that the government was likely to appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court and that months of legal wrangling lay ahead. "It's a first step," one fired oil executive told Reuters at the gathering. The strike slashed the oil production of the world's No. 5 crude exporter for more than two months. Chavez opponents say his leftist "revolutionary" anti-poverty programs are destroying the economy and that he is attempting to impose Cuba-style communism in the OPEC nation.

<a href=www.vheadline.com>Venezuela's Electronic News Posted: Friday, June 13, 2003 By: David Coleman

Forbes magazine reports from Doha in Qatar that "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 Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) cartel."

Meanwhile OPEC 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.

Venezuela has put the issue of sovereignty back to the top of the agenda at a  long-term strategy meeting.  Venezuelan Energy & Mines Minister Rafael Ramirez told reporters "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 ... there are several countries which could feel threatened."

The proposal is unlikely to lead to any immediate threat to world oil supplies ... but Venezuela's 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 ... it's a serious concern that OPEC members with big oil reserves will become occupied by foreign powers.

While the United States is anxious to secure cheap supplies, it 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 revolutionary rhetoric for talk of partnership with consuming countries in the west and some cartel participants believe its now leaning too far Washington favor with the invasion of Iraq war as just one more 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?"

Venezuela's route is to link security of oil supply to OPEC nations' national security ... if approved, it would be raised at the next OPEC Heads of State summit in 2005.  But a number of OPEC delegations believe that if OPEC does not rediscover its ideological roots ... born in Venezuela ... and assert national sovereignty over natural resources, OPEC could be wrecked by aggressive US foreign policies and the combined the financial clout of the world's top four oil companies.

Iran and Libya are welcoming the move ... they are already under unilateral US sanctions and have no time for Washington dictates, thumbing their nose at the Bush administration at every opportunity.  They are, though, tethered by Saudi Arabia, which resolutely cuts political arguments from OPEC discussions in an attempt to make the group a more focused market manager.

Given the current neocolonialist climate in Washington, any attempt by OPEC to fend off United States attack could possibly add fuel to USA critics who see the OPEC cartel as an instrument of economic warfare ... Venezuelan OPEC officials believe that Venezuela's experience with foreign investment in the 1990s, and Washington's "hairy hand" involvement in the April 11, 2002 coup d'etat could be cloned with OPEC affiliates as the primary target for unilateral US intervention.

Venezuela's deputy oil minister Luis Vierma offered a presentation of facts to OPEC earlier this month and said "We have already said that Venezuela's experience could be repeated in other OPEC members with very negative results, destabilizing countries."  As a result Venezuela has proposed that OPEC should reinforce its sovereign powers establishing a minimum royalty rate across the group ... a tax on gross production.  Non-OPEC producers, however, prefer to taxes profit while Venezuela has increased its royalty rate to 30%.

Reuters, 06.13.03, 12:47 PM ET CARACAS, Venezuela, June 13 (Reuters) - Venezuela's government said on Friday it had pushed back maturities on 49 percent of local debt bonds due Saturday -- about $188 million -- in the latest of a program of debt swaps aimed at easing a payments crunch this year. The Finance Ministry said in a statement that 301.2 billion bolivars ($188.3 million) were swapped in the operation Thursday, out of 616.4 billion bolivars ($385.2 million) worth of bonds which fell due June 14. Maturities were extended by periods of between two years and four months and three years and one month. It was the eighth internal debt swap carried out since November by leftist President Hugo Chavez's government, which is struggling to cope with the worst economic recession in Venezuela's recent history. Following a crippling opposition strike that disrupted Venezuelan oil exports in December and January, the economy of the world's No. 5 petroleum exporter contracted 29 percent in the first quarter of 2003. In Thursday's operation, the Finance Ministry offered new bonds known as VEBONOS up to a total amount of 750 billion bolivars ($468.8 million). For the first time since it began the debt swap program last November, the Finance Ministry introduced VEBONOS carrying a coupon rate based on 91-day Treasury Bills which it said more accurately reflected the country's sovereign risk. Venezuela's internal public debt stands at more than 15 trillion bolivars ($9.4 billion) and maturities are heavily concentrated over the next three years. The government is seeking to ease this payments squeeze through the swaps. In seven previous swaps carried out since November, Venezuela's government has pushed back maturities on internal debt bonds worth 4.4 trillion bolivars ($2.7 billion), according to Finance Ministry figures. The last swap was held April 10

Inside Joong Ang Daily-Bilingual News The isolated Yanomami, living in the Amazon basin near the Venezuela border, are the last tribe on earth that preserves their indigenous culture. This belligerent tribe maintains its ties with other tribes through trade.

The Yanomami's tradition of barter is unique. After providing a good, they demand reciprocity in goods, but they do not want immediate return. They accept whatever is the recompense at a later time. During the wait, they visit several other tribes to exchange goods.

For someone not familiar with the Yanomami culture, the goods received from them can be easily mistaken as gifts. But, there is no such thing as a gift among the Yanomami. Almost always they demand in return more than what they gave, according to °?Yanomamo: The Last Days of Eden,°± written by Napoleon Chagnon.

In studying the culture of the Yanomami, one concludes that giving gifts is contrary to human instinct. As civilization developed, the culture of gift-giving probably took root as those above others in a hierarchy demanded tribute.

Wise men taught us not to expect a gift in return for what we give. Aristotle said the best of us believe that giving a gift is more blessed than receiving one. The Bhagavad Gita, the Hindu scriptures, state that a pure gift comes from the heart, with no expectations of anything in return.

Today, we need gifts more than ever. The most beautiful stories are those of hard-earned wealth donated to scholarship funds. These acts of philanthropy stand out for selfless goodwill as a growing number of schools close on Teachers Day to clear up the misunderstanding that part of the observance is presenting gifts to teachers. Such a practice erodes the true meaning of gifts.

Recently, credit card companies began selling gift cards, a sort of debit card. Samsung Card Co. sold 60 billion won ($50 million) worth of gift cards last year, and more card companies are entering the business. The cards come in 50,000 won to 500,000 won denominations; only the name of the purchaser of the card is recorded.

Because the gift cards can be used at any store that accepts credit cards, they are virtually cash. Card companies advertise that the gift cards can be used as allowances for children and gifts for friends. If the companies persist in calling them gifts, the cards are probably best referred to as presents the Yanomami would relish.

The writer is a deputy business news editor of the JoongAng Ilbo.

EL UNIVERSAL

Relationships between Venezuela and the United States “can be improved,” said on Friday Roy Chaderton, Venezuelan Foreign Affairs Minister, who also criticized U.S. President George W. Bush’s special envoy for Latin America, Otto Reich, news agency EFE reported.

“The truth is that I did not want to pay to much attention (to Reich), because that is his recurrent speech. He decided to play the bad cop in our relationships. Periodically, specially when there are good news about the relationships between both countries, he makes his remarks,” Chaderton told state television network Venezolana de Televisión.

This week, Reich stated that his government “is concerned” that President Hugo Chávez’ role model “seems to be Fidel Castro,” but Caracas had made no official statements on this matter so far.

“Our relationships with the U.S. involve a significant space for growth and improvement. We foster this space with concrete moves. Relationships are fine, but can be improved. We have very important interests in the United States of which we should take care. And I am sure that the U.S. has very important interests in Venezuela they want to preserve.”

Meanwhile, former National Assembly’s president and deputy for ruling party MVR, William Lara, said that Reich’s remarks are a trap aimed at creating a conflict between Caracas and Washington.

“It is not prudential for the government to fall in this trap; the government is being framed to generate a hostile controversy between Venezuela and the United States,” Lara said. He added that the Venezuelan political process has no similarities whatsoever with any other political process in Latin America or the world.

Chaderton also referred to the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), a U.S.-sponsored integration project, saying that the idea of keeping “a fundamentalist position” instead of “finding common elements” among the countries in this continent was “silly.”

“This idea of devastating the other party never bear good fruits, even though one achieves successful results at first. What is important is to reach agreements allowing us to grow up,” he said, implying that FTAA is only beneficial for the U.S.