www.sltrib.com With a strike crippling the economy and, some say, fueling a surge of violence in Venezuela, President Hugo Chavez has a lot to pray about. (Victor R. Caivano/The Associated Press)

BY TOD ROBBERSON DALLAS MORNING NEWS

    CARACAS, Venezuela -- Until recently, Jose Gabriel tended to dismiss all the talk of rising crime in Venezuela as the gossip of political alarmists and rumor mongers.     "People talked about it, but nothing ever happened to me," the 28-year-old office clerk said. But as he and his girlfriend waited in line at a gas station on Feb. 12, rumor suddenly became reality.     Three men jumped out of a car, aiming automatic weapons. One fired a shot at Gabriel's feet while the others jumped inside his car, shoving him into the back seat.     Before motorists in other cars had time to react, another of Venezuela's infamous "express kidnappings" was under way. When it was all over less than an hour later, Gabriel and his girlfriend found themselves standing dazed on a roadside with no money, no jewelry, no cellular phones and no car.     When he went to the nearest police station, he said, he had to wait behind four other victims of the same type of crime.     After two months of business and labor strikes and what many regard as a wholesale breakdown of government authority, police statistics indicate an explosion in street crime across Venezuela, with Caracas experiencing the brunt of the problem.     National income has plummeted, spurred by a petroleum workers' strike that had paralyzed exports in what was the third- or fourth-largest supplier of oil to the United States.     Car thefts at gunpoint, armed robberies, assaults and homicides have skyrocketed to unprecedented levels, making Venezuela the second-most-dangerous country in the hemisphere behind war-racked Colombia, according to the Pan-American Health Organi- zation.     The crime epidemic is so pronounced that business groups are warning U.S. executives not to travel to the capital without armed guards and at least one radio-equipped escort car to provide assistance in case gunmen seize the main car. The Caracas international airport has become a major venue for kidnappings.     "Express kidnappings, in which victims are seized in an attempt to get quick cash in exchange for their release, are increasing in Venezuela's capital," the U.S. State Department said in a travel warning updated this month. "Kidnapping of U.S. citizens and other foreign nationals, from homes, hotels, unauthorized taxis and the airport terminal is occurring on a regular basis."     Even piracy along the Venezuelan coastline has become a major problem, the State Department warned.     Gunmen kidnapped a senior American executive and his wife recently and held the two at gunpoint after they had settled into their chauffeur-driven car at the Caracas airport, according to a source close to the executive.    Crime analysts differ on whether a 2-month-old national strike by opponents of President Hugo Chavez has contributed to the rise in crime or had no effect on it.     Official statistics on crime during the strike -- which led to a nearly total shutdown of shops, businesses, restaurants and gasoline stations before it ended last month -- have been hard to come by because of a political dispute between Chavez and the Caracas metropolitan police.     Chavez has ordered the metropolitan police to disarm and has placed troops in many areas because he accuses the local police of siding with the strikers.     What is certain, however, is that the homicide rate for Venezuela is exploding. During the weekend period from 6 p.m. on Feb. 7 to 6 p.m. Feb. 9, for example, 129 people were killed -- including 61 in Caracas, according to police statistics.     In the like 48-hour period March 7 to March 9, 108 were killed, including 34 in Caracas, a city of 3 million.     According to the Pan-American Health Organization, Caracas ranks per capita as the second-deadliest city in the hemisphere, behind Cali, Colombia.     "The difference is, there are guerrillas and war in Colombia, and our people are dying only because of unchecked, violent crime," said Ivan Simonovis, a corporate security specialist and former chief of special operations for the Technical Judicial Police, Venezuela's equivalent of the FBI.

www.sun-sentinel.com By Joe Kollin Staff Writer Posted March 14 2003

PEMBROKE PINES · The owners of a 5,500-student private university in Venezuela have leased space for a campus off University Drive that will offer classes in education, computers and business graphics.

The new university, however, won't be affiliated with the Venezuelan operation, Universidad Jose Maria Vargas, and will seek all students rather than targeting those from the South American country. It will use the same name.

The owners of the new college are awaiting approval from three state agencies before opening in the 24,530 square feet of space leased from the city of Pembroke Pines. The space is in the Senator Howard C. Forman Human Services Campus -- the old South Florida State Hospital.

Alicia Parra de Ortiz, the university's vice president for administration, declined to discuss the plans for the new college until the state approves her application.

But Bill Edmonds, spokesman for the state Education Department, said his information shows the college will be independent rather than a branch of the Venezuelan operation and that it won't appeal strictly to Venezuelans.

According to the 2000 census, 8,807 Venezuelans live in Broward County, and 21,593 live in Miami-Dade.

The college, in its application to the state, said it plans to apply to the Southern Association of Colleges & Schools in Atlanta for accreditation, but it must graduate its first class first.

The state permit will have no limit on the number of students it enrolls.

The state Commission for Independent Education on March 21 will consider the owners' application for a license. The commission licenses independent schools, colleges and universities.

The Universidad Jose Maria Vargas was started in 1983 and has two campuses in Caracas. It offers graduate and undergraduate degrees in law, political science, architecture, business, education and engineering, according to its spokeswoman, Mercedes Montilla in Caracas.

Sandra M. Hernandez contributed to this report. Joe Kollin can be reached at jkollin@sun-sentinel.com or 954-385-7913.

www.business-standard.com

Even as the Bush administration masses troops in the Persian Gulf in preparation for a war to topple Saddam Hussein, US refineries are the biggest buyers of Iraqi oil, according to a report on the website of Bloomberg.

Shipments of Iraqi crude to the US more than tripled from September to January, according to data released by the Commerce Department, the report said. Iraq supplied 17.1 million barrels in January - 6.4% of total US oil imports, the report added.

The jump in imports came as an illegal surcharge that benefited the Iraqi government was dropped and refiners sought alternatives for crude from Venezuela where a strike crippled oil production, the report said.

www.voanews.com Greg Flakus Caracas 14 Mar 2003, 06:15 UTC

In Venezuela, opponents of President Hugo Chavez continue their efforts to remove him from power, but the embattled leader appears stronger than ever after surviving a coup attempt nearly a year ago and a two-month general strike that ended in early February. Commercial life has returned to the city, but the underlying political conflict rages still.

Plaza Altamira in Caracas, which is almost empty now, has served as the headquarters of the anti-Chavez opposition VOA Photo - G. FlakusShops, restaurants, commercial centers and movie theaters are all open for business now and the almost daily protests that brought tens of thousands to the plazas have abated. The traffic on the streets of Caracas is almost as heavy as it was three months ago before the strike brought a halt to gasoline production.

But all is not well here. The rhetoric from both sides remains tough and the effort to resolve matters through peaceful dialogue has produced very little. Government negotiators did not show up for a round of talks promoted by the Organization of American States on Wednesday and opposition leaders say they see little government willingness to seek an end to the political crisis. Opposition representatives decry what they describe as "verbal violence" directed at them by President Chavez and his ministers.

Roy Chaderton MatosVenezuelan Foreign Minister Roy Chaderton says Chavez opponents are the ones promoting strife. He says that, instead of working to regain popular support, the opposition has tried to bring down the government through coup attempts and what he calls "terrorist methods." Mr. Chaderton also claims to have evidence that opposition figures here in Venezuela and in some other countries have plotted to kill the president.

Government spokesmen say the opposition efforts to oust Mr. Chavez through a popular uprising have failed. They note that the two-month strike ended without any concession from the government and that oil production is nearing normal levels in spite of the continuing strike by oil workers unions.

Striking oil workers in front of the oil company building in Caracas VOA Photo - G. FlakusPresident Chavez fired 16,000 of the striking workers and has replaced them with workers loyal to his government. Government officials say oil production, which fell to 150,000 barrels-a-day in December is now close to the 3.1 million barrels-a-day that was being produced before the strike. The government figures show production of 2.6 million barrels-a-day, but opponents say the level remains far below two million.

Ana Maria Ramirez, Former Venezuela oil company executive VOA Photo - G. FlakusAna Maria Ramirez, who worked with the state-owned oil company's shipping operations before the strike, says even if production is up, the deliveries will be slow.

She says no serious oil transport company will come to Venezuela these days because of the dangers present at Venezuelan ports. She says most companies will avoid the risk and go elsewhere. She also rejects government accusations that striking workers sabotaged facilities. She and other striking executives and workers blame any damage on the inexperienced and ill-trained personnel brought in by Mr. Chavez to operate the oil field equipment and port facilities.

Meanwhile gasoline shortages persist in much of the country in spite of imports of gasoline from Brazil. But government spokesmen say an oil company refinery is now back in operation and that the supply of gasoline will return to normal levels very soon.

www.japantoday.com Friday, March 14, 2003 at 09:20 JST

CARACAS — Venezuela's polarized political crisis does not need a binding mediation by the OAS secretary general, the Chavez administration said Thursday.

"We consider him (OAS chief Cesar Gaviria) a facilitator, not a mediator. Mediation introduces a binding element which we believe Venezuela's situation does not warrant," said Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel.

Rangel told journalists that an eventual change in Gaviria's functions - which the opposition proposed during the last meeting of the Friends of Venezuela group - would introduce "an element of binding international mediation," that is it would obligate the parties to accept the Organization of American States' head's decisions.

Gaviria has been sponsoring a dialogue between President Hugo Chavez's administration and the opposition since Nov 8 to seek an electoral, democratic, constitutional and peaceful solution to the ongoing political conflict between government supporters and opponents.

Rangel said that the opposition's efforts during the second Friends of Venezuela meeting that took place in Brasilia last Monday failed because its proposal to have Gaviria mediate in the conflict, instead of merely facilitating the talks, was rejected.

Administration and opposition representatives at the negotiating table are presently discussing two proposals tendered last January by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter.

Carter's first proposal calls for a constitutional amendment to reduce the presidential term from six to four years, the institution of a runoff presidential election and a number of other changes.

The second proposal calls for a referendum to be held on Aug 19 - which is the midway point in Chavez's presidential term - to determine whether the Venezuelan leader should step down. Although the opposition prefers the constitutional amendment, the administration reiterated Tuesday in a written document its desire that a referendum be called on Aug 19 as the Constitution currently establishes.

If the administration's option wins out, the opposition would need only to file a formal request to set the referendum process into motion.

Rangel noted that any electoral option would be the exclusive concern of the National Electoral Council, "which is an autonomous and independent power." But "in order for any electoral process to take place in Venezuela, the National Electoral Council must first be formed," Rangel said. (EFE News)