PDVSA rebel Fernández in the USA seeking a little help from friends

<a href=www.vheadline.com> Venezuela's Electronic News Posted: Thursday, March 27, 2003 By: Patrick J. O'Donoghue

Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) rebel leader, Juan Fernández is concluding a week's visit to the USA to give his version of events in Venezuela and of course, inside PDVSA. Fernandez hightailed out of Venezuela on hearing that a Venezuelan court had lifted an arrest warrant against him and six other PDVSA leaders.

The Venezuelan government is holding Fernández & Co. (?) responsible for crippling the oil industry to oust President Hugo Chavez Frias from power in a minimum time possible and maintain a stranglehold on the industry.

Fernández's critics argue that the USA government would not tolerate a group of employees using a strategic national industry to ransom the Nation for political and personal motives. 

• Speaking toVenezuelan TV station, Globovision, Fernández insists that the trip was to "open up communications" with key sectors in the USA.

Fernández addressed a Council of the Americas session in New York on Wednesday, has met the Undersecretary of State for Western Hemisphere and US Department of Energy officials, dropped in at the White House and has talked to some Organization of American States (OAS) Ambassadors in Washington. 

The last leg of the tour is Miami where Fernández is expected to give a press conference, meet Venezuelan opposition figures and members of the Miami Cuban community sponsoring efforts to shoot down the Chavez Frias Administration for its support of Fidel Castro. 

Fernández says the government must fix a date for the recall referendum, obtain financial resources to hold a referendum and ensure the participation of the international community.