boston.com By Associated Press, 2/25/2003 16:37

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) In another sign that Venezuela's oil industry is recovering from a strike, the oil minister said Venezuela was lifting a suspension on some production and export contracts.

Petroleos de Venezuela SA invoked a contract provision three days after an oil workers strike began Dec. 2 that temporarily released it and its clients from contractual obligations.

The provision has been lifted on production and export of three types of Venezuelan crude as well as liquified petroleum gas, Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez said Tuesday.

Some 35,000 of 40,000 PDVSA workers joined a general strike intended to oust President Hugo Chavez. The strike failed and was called off Feb. 4, though oil workers stayed off the job. The government has fired more than 15,000 strikers at PDVSA.

PDVSA President Ali Rodriguez says production now stands at 2.02 million barrels per day, compared to a pre-strike figure of 3.2 million barrels per day. Dissident staff say output is closer to 1.5 million barrels per day.

Before the strike, Venezuela was the globe's fifth-largest oil exporter and a top supplier to the United States.

Ramirez and Rodriguez were traveling to Washington to convince U.S. officials that oil company operations are almost back to normal.

www.vheadline.com Posted: Tuesday, February 25, 2003 By: Patrick J. O'Donoghue

In the run up to February 27, 1989 “Caracazo” anniversary, Cofavic human rights group, which was created out of the event, has once again slammed the government for failing to act on an Inter American Human Rights Court (IAHRC) ruling issued on August 29, 2002, to compensate families of victims killed by the security forces.

Executive director, Liliana Ortega says it’s a shame that Venezuela has not complied with international norms and that people buried in a common grave have not yet been identified after 14 years.

Ortega also calls on the Attorney General’s Office to leave aside political interests and investigate the murders of three soldiers connected to Plaza Francia (Altamira), the violent incident between Metropolitan Police (PM) and government supporters stationed in La Campina and the death of 2 government supporters in Los Proceres on January 3.

Ortega will visit the Inter American Human Rights Commission in Costa Rica this week to follow up the group’s complaint against the mushrooming of police murder squads throughout Venezuela, which the government has not acted upon, as well as the case of 60 prisoners murdered at the infamous Catia prison in 1992.

Among other abuses, Cofavic will highlight in its report are: generalized impunity, the security “Plan Avila” implemented in April 2002, the Supreme Tribunal of Justice’s (TSJ) ruling allowing the use of soldiers to maintain public order, the government’s decree creating security zones in Caracas, raids on industrial plants (Valencia) and excessive use of force to repress public manifestations.

Even though the government has until August 2003 to comply with IAHR Court rulings, President Chavez Frias could encounter problems regarding his HR record … he can still be accused of failing to fulfill his electoral promise to make HR an integral part of his presidency … the army, National Guard (GN) and Metropolitan Police (PM) were responsible for blatant HR abuses during the Caracazo.

usinfo.state.gov 25 February 2003

Q: And next question, on Venezuela, President Chavez has criticized directly the United States government, Spain, Colombia and even the Secretary General of the OAS -- to mediate the Venezuelan crisis. What is the White House position on the criticism of Mr. Chavez?

MR. FLEISCHER: One of the key issues here in bringing a peaceful resolution to the situation in Venezuela is for the will of the international community to be listened and not be disregarded when the international community focuses on peaceful dialogue. So this is -- any such language from President Chavez, the confrontational rhetoric is unwarranted, is unnecessary and is not helpful. Inflammatory statements by President Chavez are not helpful in advancing the dialogue that is necessary to maintain peace in Venezuela.

www.theaustralian.news.com.au From correspondents in Washington February 26, 2003

THE US has condemned twin bomb blasts near the diplomatic missions of Colombia and Spain in the Venezuelan capital and chastised President Hugo Chavez over his sharp rhetoric. Washington stopped short of blaming Chavez directly for inciting the attacks in Caracas, after he had earlier attacked both nations and the United States for their stand on the Venezuelan political crisis.

But a senior US official said: "(Chavez) says these things and that is followed by this."

Authorities in Venezuela said three people were hurt at the Colombian consulate and one at the Spanish Embassy. The blasts also damaged buildings and cars nearby.

"We strongly condemn today's bombings and the use of any form of violence," said US State Department deputy spokesman Philip Reeker.

"We note that these bombings followed the sharp verbal attacks by President Chavez on the international community as well as Venezuelans."

He called on Venezuela to launch an expeditious and thorough probe into the violence and to punish those responsible.

Chavez spoke out against Spain and the United States after they criticised the arrest of business leader Carlos Fernandez who headed a 63-day anti-government strike.

He also slammed Colombia, reacting to a statement by Colombian Interior Minister Fernando Londono who criticised the Venezuelan leader's contacts with Colombian rebels.

Asked whether there was concern that US diplomatic missions in Caracas could be the next to be attacked, the senior US official said: "Certainly, we worry about security all the time at all of our posts, but the tone and the atmosphere have taken a turn for the worst in the last few days."

Washington called on Chavez to live up to the terms of a non-violence pledge reached by the government and the opposition last week, which included a provision emphasising the need to curb inflammatory statements.

Posted: Tuesday, February 25, 2003 By: Gustavo Coronel

VHeadline.com commentarist Gustavo Coronel writes: The Presidency of Hugo Chavez has become a runaway train in the process of jumping the tracks. The derailment is taking place on national TV. Movie-goers will surely remember the collapse of Humphrey Bogart as the paranoid captain in "The Caine Mutiny" or that of Jack Nicholson as the sadistic officer in "A Few Good Men," under the implacable questioning of Tom Cruise. Whoever saw and heard Chavez last Sunday, February 23, will know exactly what I mean.

After saying that the President of Fedecamaras, Carlos Fernandez, had been well-treated, he added: "The criminal will be punished." He forgot that the Constitution stipulates that a citizen is innocent until proven guilty. The President of a country can not render a verdict on a citizen before the judicial system. Only the dictators do that. He was applying undue pressure on the judge who would have to pass a sentence on Fernandez. Justice my eye...

• But the opinions on Fernandez were only the "appetizers." The main course was made up of the scoldings Chavez gave to Cesar Gaviria, the secretary general of the OAS; to Colombian President Alvaro Uribe; to President Bush and to the  Spanish Head of Government Aznar.

Wearing a purple shirt, eyes invisible behind narrow slits, voice trembling with rage, Chavez said to Gaviria: "You were President once ... occupy your proper place... instead of meddling in our affairs," forgetting that Gaviria was in Venezuela as representative of the Western Hemisphere Community of Nations.

To Colombia President Uribe he said: "Go and work on your internal problems instead of criticizing our independent country," forgetting that he has made friends with the Colombian guerrillas, those murderers and drug traffickers. He warned both Aznar and Bush that "Venezuela is an independent country" forgetting that USA and Spain are members of the 'Group of Friends' recognized by his government to facilitate a solution to the political crisis created by his outlandish attitude.

This explosion came after violations of human rights and the Constitution had clearly taken place in the case of Carlos Fernandez. Our Constitution stipulates that any citizen who is arrested will have the right to communicate immediately with family and lawyers. Fernandez was incommunicado for ten hours, during which his family did not know where he was.

Fernandez was kidnapped because:

1. The people taking him broke into the restaurant and were not identifiable as policemen.
2. They arrived in taxis, not official vehicles.
3. They carried no arrest order.
4. They roughed Fernandez up.
5. No proper judicial representative accompanied the men.

I will tell my readers something else. The "judge" who sent the men to get Fernandez, Mikael Moreno, is a murderer ... he has killed two persons already. After he served a short prison term for his second killing he studied Law in a disreputable Caracas University. He became the defender of Killer Richard Penalver, one of the murderers of 17 people on April 11. He never did any post graduate studies ... which are mandatory to become a judge. Nevertheless he was appointed judge by the government. This man is no proper judge but a gangster.

Last Saturday, half a block from where I live, one Metropolitan Police officer was killed with a shot in the back and seven others wounded by a group of urban guerrillas stationed in PDVSA's headquarters in La Campina ... the same group I have mentioned several times before. Tuesday morning, two powerful explosive devices went off in front of the Colombian and Spanish consulate and embassy in Caracas.

The government train has jumped the tracks ... Chavez is a man in urgent need of psychiatric treatment but he does not know it, and his followers do not dare to tell him.

Ahead we see increasing turmoil, possible early elections or ... if this is blocked by Chavez ... civil war!

 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