allafrica.com Daily Trust (Abuja) January 29, 2003 Posted to the web January 29, 2003

Ikenna Emeka Okpani

The Presidential Adviser on Petroleum Resources, Dr. Rilwanu Lukman, has said that the Federal Government will increase the daily production of oil in Nigeria from the current 2.2 million barrels per day to three million barrels per day before next year.

The special adviser, who was speaking at the 3rd Global Guest on Voice of Nigeria (VON) Forum, yesterday said the Federal Government is giving priority attention to the oil sector.

He said the government has set out a plan to increase daily production from the present 2.2 million barrels to 3 million barrels per day by the end of the year.

Additionally, the country, he said, was working towards increasing its oil reserve from 30 billion barrels to 40 billion barrels by 2010 even as policies to generate as much funds from gas as is presently from oil are underway, especially with planned stoppage of gas flaring.

"These are aside activities in restructuring and revitalisation of oil and gas industry which are parallel exercises that we are doing which are intended to go pari pasu with development out there in the field, because with the right fiscal regime, right structure of the constituent organisations that are working in the oil sector, the private companies, the joint ventures and all these are necessary to go along with the plan to expand and to rehabilitate the oil and gas industry," he said.

Dr. Lukman stated that Nigeria has continued the importation of oil to supplement the production of our refineries adding that this will continue except all the country's refineries are producing at full capacity.

Presently, he noted, the Port Harcourt Refinery, the largest in the country is producing at 90 per cent installed capacity while those of Kaduna and Warri are slightly above 50 per cent and cannot in all meet Nigeria's daily fuel consumption put at 450,000 barrels per day.

It is to meet this target and end importation that the government was considering applications received so far for private refineries, he said.

When the private refineries begin operation, Alhaji Lukman observed, Nigeria will begin to export refined oil which will translate to more income for the country and stop importation of refined products which has continued to strangle plans to end government subsidy in the sector.

The special adviser stated that Nigeria will submit its request for increase of OPEC quota in March this year at the conference of the organisation but cautioned that the process of quota increase was not simple since many other countries including Saudi Arabia which has a quota of eight million barrel per day as at now are also seeking such increases.

On the increase of world oil prices which has hit $32 per barrel in recent times as a result of US threat to attack Iraq and strikes in Venezuela, Alhaji Lukman advised Nigerians to view such increases as not real as prices could fall so low after the settlement of the issues.

The Global Guest on Voice of Nigeria, according to Alhaji Abubakar Jigawa, who represented the Director-General of the organisation at the programme, is aimed at featuring issues affecting Nigeria, Africa and the world in general.

Alhaji Lukman is the first Nigerian quest to appear on the quarterly programme which started last year.

www.miami.com Posted on Wed, Jan. 29, 2003 BY DAVID OVALLE dovalle@herald.com

The family of a victim of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, claiming the embattled politician gave at least $1 million -- disguised as humanitarian aid -- to Osama bin Laden, the Taliban and the al Qaeda terrorist network.

Judicial Watch, a Washington-based organization that investigates government corruption, announced Wednesday it had filed the suit in Miami federal court. It does not name the 47-year-old female victim and asks for at least $100 million in punitive damages.

Larry Klayman, chairman of Judicial Watch, said a former Venezuelan military pilot would testify that Chavez ordered him to disguise the money as humanitarian aid to the Taliban shortly after Sept. 11. As proof, Klayman offered an article from WorldNetDaily.com and a Spanish-language wire service detailing the defector's accusations.

The money, he said, was delivered by Walter Marquez, the Venezuelan ambassador to India, who also was named in the suit.

Klayman cited Chavez's ties to Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, who he called ''a known terrorist,'' and said the two are planning terrorist attacks in Miami.

''Venezuela has been taken over by Communist forces,'' Klayman said. ``We have agents of Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez probably planting things at this moment.''

José Manuel, a "must" for www.adam.antville Saludos cordiales,

Clara

-------- Mensaje Original -------- Asunto: RV: Informe - El Sr. hochman es conocido por su trabajo en el marco del Instituto Latinoamericano del Ombudsmen De: "helene zaragoza" hyjp@telcel.net.ve Fecha: Mar, 28 de Enero de 2003, 7:09 pm Para: "clara gonzalez" clgonzalez@unimet.edu.ve

-----Mensaje original----- De: Yves.ZARAGOZA@cec.eu.int [mailto:Yves.ZARAGOZA@cec.eu.int] Enviado el: Martes, 28 de Enero de 2003 05:54 p.m. Para: hyjp@telcel.net.ve Asunto: RV: Informe - El Sr. hochman es conocido por su trabajo en el marco del Instituto Latinoamericano del Ombudsmen

-----Mensaje original----- De: AIZPURUA Jacqueline (RELEX) Enviado el: Martes 28 de Enero de 2003 08:15 AM Para: FOSTER Nicholas (RELEX); GORANSSON Emilie (RELEX); FIEHRER Jean-Charles (RELEX); LOPEZ Anne Marie (RELEX); ZARAGOZA Yves (RELEX) Asunto: RV: Informe - El Sr. hochman es conocido por su trabajo en el marco del Instituto Latinoamericano del Ombudsmen

-----Mensaje original----- De: Isaac Hochman [mailto:isaachochman1@cantv.net] Enviado el: Lunes 27 de Enero de 2003 06:30 PM Para: Isaac Bimblich; Bnai Brith - Venezuela; Angel Calderon; Silvia Valle; Daniel Belozercovsky CC: Emilio Srougo Allami; Ricardo Holzer; Pablo Grinstein; Lic. Moises Fachler G.; Kelo Zviklich; AIZPURUA Jacqueline (RELEX) Asunto: Informe

Q.Hs.

Adjunto para su información el informe presentado en el Dapartamento de Estado en Washington.

Con ligeras modificaciones, es el mismo presentado en el Board Of Governors de BBI. En este útimo se hace mención que Chavez no ha tocado a la comunidad judía ni con un pétalo de rosas, ni en sus numerosas charlas jamás mencionó a la comuniadd, ni a Israel ni la palabra judío.

Esto nos intriga. Por otro lado, Castro jamás toco a la Comunidad Judía de Cuba, solo la dejó extinguir.Nosotros nos contamos aproximadamente 14000 almas casi un 30 % menos que hace un año.

En pocos días , les informaré de mis contactos , conversaciones en Washington, y las acciones que estamos contribuyendo activamente a nivel local.

Un comentario final, el movimiento Indigenista de Bolivia está muy activo, y su lider Evo Morales , casi llega a la presidencia.Todo contemplado en el Foro de Sao Paulo.

Saludos Isaac Hochman

Venezuela Trapped by Democracy.

By: Isaac M. Hochman

Venezuela, the democratic oil country by excellence in Latin America is trapped by democracy.

Silence is tending to give right to your opponent, so let me express a word of concern, after seeing the dark side of democracy in Latin America.

There is an underlying fact. Democratic governments that appeared in Latin America in the 70´s, after the fall of the obscure years of military dictatorships, have not solved the problems and needs of the people. More so, the present structure of constitutional controls, which are the basis of a stable democracy, do not offer solutions to satisfy these needs; marginality and poverty, drug traffic, human rights of indigenous native people, and frontier problems that affect economic integration are the common denominators. Corruption and impunity, the main destabilizing factors

Where do we begin to explain the Venezuelan tragedy to North Americans, or the rest of the world, who do not have Latin America as a priority? How do you explain to the US government, apparently ready to launch a war against Iraq, and perhaps cannot afford at this time to have the fifth oil supplier of the world on strike, now for more than 50 days, or to lose this reliable supplier in the hands of a revolutionary idealist anchored in the 60´s?

How do you explain to the American people, and the people of the world, that they have to pay more for gasoline, and risk a slowdown of the world economy, because, among other issues to take in consideration, the hemisphere has to deal with a lunatic prospect of third world dictator? A leader who, after failing a military coup in 1992, was legitimated in power by a landslide election in 1998, changed the Constitution with the approval of a popular referendum in 1999, but who, through a very well planned blueprint, has since taken control, in the name of democracy, of all the constitutional powers, which, under normal circumstances, should provide the classical checks and balances basis of democratic societies.

But, in the early stages of his government, the Venezuelan people began to analyze his actions and realized his true intentions. A very strong opposition began to develop, and now, in his frank decline of popularity, he has exerted all mechanisms proper to a dictatorship, to stay in power, causing chaos, unrest, and more important, the death of many citizens who risk their life every day on the streets of the entire country. Not to mention the dramatic economical situation affecting everybody.

But, let’s review briefly how all this nightmare emerged in Venezuela also threatening most of Latin America .

Indeed, where should we start? Perhaps 1990 will be a good starting point. The date is July 1990. The place, Sao Paolo, Brazil. The event: later known as the “Foro de Sao Paulo” or “ Sao Paulo Forum”. The actors : 52 leftist groups from 22 Latin American countries officially promoted by the now president of Brazil, Inacio Lula da Silva, under the umbrella of Fidel Castro -yes, the same Fidel who has exported the Communist Revolution to every country in South America, causing reactions by the military establishment, that resulted in long painful dictatorships, or the war in Central America, that caused several thousand deaths, and years of lack of development… Yes, the same Castro, that just celebrated 44 years in power and that some Americans are still adamant to finish this sad chapter of history

What was Castro’s real intention by organizing this event? Something that is rooted in his heart: to show that with the end of the Soviet Union and the fall of the Berlin Wall, socialism, in its pure form, is still alive, and very much alive.

Since then the forum has been meeting almost every year in different countries and cities. Limited to the original 52 organizations, whose common goals are anti-globalization, neo-liberalism, support of Castro’s regime, to seek power to establish new socialist alternatives, and basically, against imperialism, as represented by the USA.

Since then they have added some very bad company, the Islamic world and professional terrorist organizations.

The 1995 meeting in Montevideo had a new member, Hugo Chavez and his Bolivarian Revolutionary Movement , and most important ,the possibility of unlimited oil supply and resources .
His movement has been conspiring against Venezuelan democratic governments since Hugo Chavez started his military career as a lieutenant. Basically Chavez more than a revolutionary statesman, is simply a power-thirsty political animal, a phenomenon that will some day be studied by historians, philosophers, sociologists and psychologists. For now, let’s try to get a glimpse at who is Chavez and whose influence started him on his revolutionary path at the end of the XXth Century. Unbelievable as it seems, while most of the world progresses to new ideals and new developments, Chavez is trying to pull us back to the 60´s.

Very briefly, among equals, Chavez was introduced by two different revolutionary theories: one was a rightist Argentine philosopher, Norberto Ceresole, Hizbollah-trained, neo-nazi whose ambition in life is to see Israel destroyed. His book, “Pueblo – Caudillo - Ejercito” (People – Leader - Army) was Chavez’s textbook that started him on his first formal revolutionary path. Ceresole was replaced by Castro’s close adviser, Hans Dietrich Steffan, a professor at the University of Mexico who proposes the Fourth Way: To take power by democratic elections, without losing the scope of their objective. Lt. Coronel Hugo Chavez was their dream.

Although he failed in his attempt to gain power by a military coup, a leader was born, thanks to a 15-second TV presentation, where he assumed responsibility of the failed coup, and requested his army buddies to give up the fight “for now”. He was jailed for two years, then pardoned.

A natural leader, excellent communicator whose message to the people of hope, a better life, fight against corruption, to defend liberty and democracy, care for the children and the elderly, sounded like music in the ears to about 80 % of the population, who otherwise didn’t have a chance.

Although Lula comes from a different background than Chavez and Gutierrez, and it is too early to pass judgement, the puzzle is very well planned and on its way. All the strings moved by Castro with the blueprint made in the Sao Paulo Forum are in place. They all constitute a very strange and dangerous alliance. Chavez’s first order of business was to strengthen his ties with the Colombian guerrilla, and now as president and participant in all Latin American presidential forums, he has indirectly defended the guerrilla movement in Colombia, for instance, by opposing American military aid to Colombia in the fight against drug traffic, which is very closely related to the guerrilla movement. To protect the Colombian guerrilla movement, Venezuela and Ecuador are important, as they offer refuge to the fighting revolutionary forces

Perhaps at this stage we are very sensitive, but listening to Lula’s inaugural speech, and his first actions to use the military for social work, the fact that news reports indicated his first official breakfast was with Chavez and his first official dinner with Fidel, and that his personal international adviser is Marco Aurelio Garcia Lete, president or secretary general of the Sao Paulo Forum, a hard-line communist, whose first mission was to come to Venezuela to help Chavez try to break up the oil industry strike, by sending a shipment of gasoline, honestly, I could not help feeling chills all over.

Again, we realize that, Lula is not Chavez , and for everybody’s sake, we certainly hope so.

Chavez continued to consolidate his support by traveling extensively to be introduced to the terrorist world. Much publicized visits to Saddam Hussein, Kadaffi, Manuel Marulanda, and to the Arab world and Islamic leaders members of OPEC.

Why is Venezuela important? Oil reserves. Venezuela is providing Cuba with oil, in quantities way above their needs, under an overwhelmingly favorable contract, partially financed with long-term loans at very low interest rates and the balance paid in services, supplying political advisers, sport advisers, some medical services and, of course, all the intelligence structure that protects Chavez’s life.

As indicated before, Venezuelan people suspected Chavez’s intentions from the beginning. He never hid his feelings, but must important, his actions were indicative of the path he was following.

In my personal opinion, the most important fact, why I claim that we are trapped by democracy, is the new 1999 Constitution. In theory, it is the must advanced in the world, probably no country can afford all the rights this Constitution provides, enacted in a very short time, thus incomplete, and subject to interpretation by a Supreme Court that was initially totally loyal to Chavez, but is now showing some weak signs of independence.

One small statement about another important fact: terrorist circles

Do you remember Hitler´s “Brown Shirts”, wild attacking youth groups? Are you familiar with Noriega´s “Dignity Battalions” in Panama? With Castro´s “Circles of Revolutionary Control”? Well Chavez has his own terrorist circles, the so-called “Bolivarian Circles”. Trained by the Cubans, either in Cuba or by Cuban agents in Venezuela, their job is to disrupt and attack, with stones, bottles, and sometimes with weapons, molotov cocktails, tear gas grenades, and usually protected by the National Guard, the democratic, pacific and unarmed concentrations of the Opposition and media around the country, causing death, many wounded, fear and destruction in their path.

In general, they attack everybody Chavez denounces publicly in his weekly address, TV stations, newspapers, the Catholic church, workers unions, businessmen associations, prominent leadership, and in general, Chavez’s opposition.

Present Venezuelan crisis: Constitutional roads to end this nightmare:

There are about 60 corruption cases against Chavez waiting at the Supreme Court for action, but neither the Attorney General, who by Constitution, is the one who should present formal accusations, but is an unconditional Chavez supporter, nor the Supreme Court are willing to act.

The National Assembly or Congress has a majority of 8 votes favorable to Chavez, and they too, are unwilling to act, in the many ways that the Constitution provides.

A military coup is out of the question. But the use of the army and National Guard against civilians and the protection of violent terrorist circles is totally unacceptable under any circumstance.

Since April 2002, more than 200 generals and admirals, the best of the navy and the army, all democrats, institutionalists, were dismissed, most of them illegally, without a due process of law , and trapped by the Constitution on ways to appeal their dismissal.

In summary:

• Chavez is a corrupt dictator.
• He has abused the good will of the people and abused the trust of the poor people for a better life,
• He has been accused of crimes against humanity and countless human rights violations.
• He is a terrorist conspiring to retain power and extend his revolution to the rest of Latin America.
• He has divided Venezuelans, one against the other.
• He has build a propaganda machine that spreads distorted facts .
• Venezuela has been on strike for more than 50 days. The economical consequences are indescribable.
• Banks are working 3 hours per day.
• 80% of the children are not going to school.
• About 95% of the industry sector is shut down.
• 95% of the national oil industry is shut down and in the process of restructuring. Production is down from 3.4million bbls a day to 450.000 bbls per day.
• The armed forces are completely transformed into a militia army, loyal to Chavez
• More than 200 generals and admirals, all high-ranking democratic officers, have been dismissed without due process of law.
• The Merchant Marine is on strike, completely shut down including all port activities.
• Hundred of thousands citizens are marching almost every day across the country.
• The National Guard and the army are protecting the terrorist circles.
• The Metropolitan Police has been taken over by the army, and are unable to protect civilians, as a consequence crime has increased 240%. All the equipment and armament of the police has allegedly disappeared.
• Chavez has contracted oil workers and technicians from OPEC countries to replace the PDVSA work force.
• There have been countless accidents and incidents in the operation of oil facilities causing great and, in some cases, irreversible environmental damage.
• The suffering and sacrifice is great among all structures of the Venezuelan society
• The Consultive Referendum scheduled for February the 2nd has been cancelled by a questionable decision of the Supreme Court , on the basis of “legal technicalities”.
• His personal pilot is seeking political asylum in the USA, allegedly accusing Chavez of delivering to Al Qaeda close to US$ 1.000.000.00 through the Venezuelan ambassador in India.
• More than 300 Colombians just arrived in Caracas to support street actions of Chavez supporters. Many cases of illegal issue of Venezuelan identity cards have been denounced.

PROPOSAL: There are several proposals being considered, but are all subject, most of all , to the good will of both parties, mainly the Government since they have demonstrated, time again and again, that they are not trustworthy.

It is expected that the OAS Secretary General, Cesar Gaviria, with the backing of the Group of Friends of Venezuela, will propose workable solutions, among the alternatives, a Revocatory Referendum, and /or calling for a National Constitutional Assembly and/or Constitutional Reforms.

Full support for Cesar Gaviria will have to be implemented by both parties, but in any case , any solution will have to re-instate all Oil Workers, and Merchant Marine personnel without exception, the process up to the elections and the elections itself, will have to be monitored by the International Community, and held in the shortest possible time, as the socio-political-economical chaos is unbearable

mipagina.cantv.net by Eduardo Haratz

A continuación les envío un video que relatan los sucesos en Venezuela y les dará mas ánimos y fuerza para seguir luchando por una mejor Venezuela la que todos deseamos.

Hacer clic en la pagina web que se indica a continuación, mipagina.cantv.net

Un Gran Saludo y Fuerte Abrazo, Eduardo Haratz

indymedia.ie Hands Off Venezuela Eyewitness Account by Chris Loughlin - sp Wed, Jan 29 2003, 3:36pm

interesting article i found on the web

Venezuela Opposition "strike" or bosses lock out? An eyewitness account If we were to believe the information we get from the mass media internationally, we would get the impression that in Venezuela there has been a general strike for the last one and a half months and that president Chavez is an extremely unpopular and authoritarian ruler who is about to be overthrown in a mass popular revolt. Nothing could be further from the truth.

In fact, the "national civic strike" called by the opposition on December 2, demanding Chavez's resignation and early elections has been a complete failure since the beginning. When I arrived in Caracas on December 11, the airport was working normally, as well as public transport (buses, coaches and the Caracas Metro), shopping centres, restaurants and bars. The basic industries (iron, steel, aluminium, etc), which are state-owned, were working at 100% capacity because of the decision of the workers and their unions to oppose the 'strike'.

In the state of Carabobo, one of the most important centres of manufacturing industry, the 'Class Struggle' and 'Democratic Trade Union Block', which brings together workers from 52 different unions in the most important factories in the state (including Ford, General Motors, Chrysler, Pirelli, Good Year, Firestone, MAVESA, and others) declared its opposition to the 'strike'. Some of these factories remained open but in others the workers went to work and found themselves locked out by the bosses. They demanded to be paid their wages, since they had gone to work, and in most cases they were paid. The same was true in some sections of the food and beverages industry, which is controlled, almost in its entirety by Grupo Polar, which is owned by the powerful businessman and opposition leader Mendoza.

This is not a strike at all, but a bosses' lock out. The fact that this protest has the support of the executive committee of the CTV, the main trade union federation in the country, should not fool anyone, since this Executive Committee has never actually been elected. The people who sit on it appointed themselves before the end of the ballot in the extremely irregular elections of November 2001. This explains why it is not recognised by most of the federations and local union branches.

The only part of the economy that was seriously hit by the opposition protest was the oil industry. Here, a small group of managers, directors, supervisors and technicians organised the sabotage of production and brought the industry almost to a halt. Oil production is highly computerised and a few managers withdrawing their keys and passwords can cause a lot of damage. They also made sure they fixed the administrative procedures so that they would still receive their (very high) salaries while they were on 'strike'. Also a number of captains and crew of some of the oil tankers mutinied and prevented normal deliveries. It is important to note that the oil workers' union leaders, who in April had supported the opposition-led attempted coup, this time did not even dare make a public statement in favour of the 'national strike'. Slowly but surely, oil workers took over the refineries and oil fields and started to get the industry back to normal. By January 10, the state-owned oil company PDVSA was working at 50% of capacity.

The opposition protest has been accompanied by a campaign of lies, half-truths and the blatant manipulation of all the private media, particularly the TV stations, which are also controlled by the opposition. All TV stations suspended their normal programming to broadcast only 'news' about the success of the 'strike' and gave all their commercial breaks over to opposition propaganda. To give just one example of the level of hysteria which the opposition and the media are trying to whip up against the government, when the government finally got a court order to take over the oil tankers that had mutinied, the opposition claimed that the new crews were Cuban, and that this was a further sign that the country was rapidly moving towards "Castro-Communism". This lie was repeated by the media, until a couple of days later, having been directly challenged by the Cuban Foreign Affairs Minister, the opposition leaders were forced to retract their allegations and admit that there were no Cubans working in the oil tankers.

At the beginning of January, the opposition, faced with the failure of their actions to bring the country to a halt, decided to up the stakes by announcing the closure of the banks and that schools and universities would not re-open after the Christmas break. Again, both actions failed. Most banks remained open and those that did close only did so for 48 hours. In most schools around the country the alliance of parents, teachers and students guaranteed the opening of the schools and colleges, in some cases against the will of the headmasters.

As for Chavez being an unpopular dictator, nothing could be further from the truth. The opposition has been regularly calling demonstrations against the government demanding his resignation, and they can manage to mobilise 100,000, 200,000 or even 300,000 people onto the streets, mainly from the rich and middle class areas of Caracas. What is not generally reported is that the Bolivarians, as the supporters of the revolutionary process call themselves, can get far bigger crowds onto the streets. On December 7, right at the beginning of the opposition protest, a massive demonstration of more than 2 million people took to the streets of Caracas against the 'strike' to defend the democratically elected government.

In fact, the result of the opposition 'strike' has been to further polarise society and to push many people who had not taken sides to openly declare themselves against the opposition, which they rightly see as being responsible for the fuel and food shortages. There have been many instances in which people, queuing for hours to get petrol, have expelled opposition supporters from the petrol station queues for having the audacity to try to blame the government for the shortages.

Chavez is most definitely not a dictator. It is in fact his supporters who are demanding that the government take stronger action against the opposition, which is hell bent on overthrowing a democratically elected government. The only people who are currently in prison as a result of the opposition coup on April 11 of last year are actually government supporters who were defending the presidential palace against the coup! Pedro Carmona, who appointed himself president for a few hours following the coup, was put under house arrest for a few days and later escaped to Colombia. The opposition newspapers (all of them apart from two or three exceptions) carry numerous articles and editorials openly calling for a military coup to remove Chavez and appealing to the armed forces to overthrow the government, and no measures are taken against them! There is a group of military officers who have declared themselves in rebellion against the government and instead of being arrested they have been allowed to set up a permanent camp in Plaza Francia, a square in the centre of Caracas (mind you, these "courageous" individuals leave their "permanent" camp at night to go to sleep in luxury hotels!).

Chavez and his government have been put to the test in seven different elections since he was elected in 1998 and they have won every single one of them. Furthermore, the country's new Bolivarian Constitution allows for all elected public officials to be subject to a recall referendum half-way through their term of office. This includes the president who is up for such a referendum in August 2003. The problem is that the opposition is convinced they would lose such a referendum and that is why they are demanding Chavez's resignation. What they did not achieve in April by means of a military coup, they want to achieve now by a combination of economic sabotage, chaos, appeals to the armed forces and international pressure.

The reason why the local oligarchy and US imperialism are opposed to Chavez is that even his limited programme of bourgeois democratic reforms (land reform, maintenance of PDVSA as a state-owned company and the extension of political democracy amongst others) and the process of mass mobilisation and organisation which they have generated, directly clash with the class interests of the capitalists. But the very actions of the reactionary forces are pushing the masses to take direct action and push forward their revolutionary cause. On January 10, for instance, 400 workers at COVENCAUCHO (a tyre company in the state of Lara) decided to take over the factory and declared themselves on "strike against the strike", when they were told that the company had decided to join the opposition protest. The oil workers in one of the oil refineries had been running the installations under workers' control throughout Christmas and New Year. When a new manager was appointed by the government to replace the old one who had joined the opposition protest, he was told by the workers that he was welcome to join them, but that the refinery was now under workers' management. Also, on January 17, the National Guard with the support of the workers and the local population took over a Panamco beverages warehouse in Carabobo belonging to the powerful businessman and oppositionist Cisneros, and the general in charge of this operation justified his actions by saying that collective rights came before private rights. All these are some indications of the deepening of the process of the Venezuelan revolution.

The main discussions that are taking place in the trade union and popular movement at the present time are about popular control of the mass media, workers' control and management of the state-owned companies, occupation of privately owned factories, popular management of schools, nationalisation of the banks, etc. Through their own experience, the workers, the poor peasants and the students are drawing the conclusion that the revolutionary process, in order to be defended, must be strengthened and deepened.

The most urgent task for revolutionaries in Venezuela is the building of a conscious Marxist leadership that can help the movement draw the necessary conclusions and that is that the revolutionary process must adopt a clear socialist and international approach as the only way to guarantee its final victory.

Jorge Martin

(secretary, Hands Off Venezuela Campaign,

add your comments

COMMENTS

The article is available on the web by Ray Wed, Jan 29 2003, 3:50pm

If you think its interesting, post a summary explaining why its interesting, and a link. Not the entire article.

related link: www.marxist.com/Latinam/venezuela_eyewitness0103.html

Ray Get A Life by CWIer Wed, Jan 29 2003, 5:36pm

Ever since you left the WSM you act like a petty dictator.