<a href=www.vheadline.com>Venezuela's Electronic NewsPosted: Wednesday, June 25, 2003 By: Patrick J. O'Donoghue

Bolivarian Circles (CBs) throughout the world have completed a meeting in Paris, France signing a document to stimulate social investment projects in several Venezuelan municipalities. 

• Top on the list are street children, which the opposition has successfully used to goad President Chavez Frias, community radios, agricultural and cultural schemes. 

During the three-day meeting delegates from 12 European and several North American cities agreed on coordination procedures and solidarity procedures. 

It was agreed to set up an Internet network with respective portals with the British and Swedish CBs leading the process. 

A magazine will link the Venezuelan CB National Coordination Committee with the International CB and International solidarity Movements.

The Washington Post Subscribe to The Post Tuesday, June 24, 2003; Page A20

The June 12 editorial "A Vote on Mr. Chavez" said that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez "continues to behave as if he has no intention of giving up his attempt to push through a quasi-totalitarian, quasi-socialist 'revolution,' regardless of what his people may want."

Mr. Chavez has no trepidation about allowing the people to decide through a recall referendum who their president should be. He has never tried to restrict the conditions of the referendum, and he has followed the guidelines for it outlined in Venezuela's constitution.

The Post mentioned various maneuvers to illustrate Mr. Chavez's reluctance to help those who oppose his government gather the signatures they need to trigger a recall referendum. But if the opposition fails to attract the number of signatures the constitution requires, it won't be the fault of the constitution -- or of Mr. Chavez. Implying that he should do more to help the opposition is like asking California Gov. Gray Davis to help Republicans with their recall petition in that state.

The Chavez administration is committed to democracy in Venezuela. Many factors are involved in our country's turmoil; The Post's simplistic and unreasoned argument does a disservice to its readership and to democracy itself.

BERNARDO ALVAREZ HERRERA Ambassador Embassy of Venezuela

Eat the state! (Dir. Kim Bartley and Donnacha O'Briain). An Irish film crew traveled to Venezuela to take the pulse of President Hugo Chavez's experiment in popular democracy. They were in the country for only a few months when the three-day coup happened, and they were caught in the middle, filming every minute. This is a gripping, on-the-spot account of those tense few days when the world thought Hugo Chavez was done for. Highly recommended. This film won both the audience and jury awards for best documentary at this year's SIFF.

RTE 10/06/2003

An RTÉ True Lives documentary about an attempted coup in Venezuela has been judged the "best television programme in the world this year". 'Chavez - Inside the Coup', shown on RTE earlier this year, was awarded the prestigious Global Television Grand Prize at the Banff Rockie Awards in Canada. The documentary, depicted the attempted overthrow of Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, defeated competition that included US series 'The West Wing'. The programme's directors, Kim Bartley and Donncha Ó Briain of independent production company Power Productions, were with President Chavez in Caracas last year when the attempted coup took place. Kevin Dawson, Commissioning Editor of Factual Programmes for RTÉ, said the award was "a wonderful achievement for the film" and called the programme "one of the most memorable documentary films of recent times". Power Productions' latest work in the True Lives series, a behind-the-scenes looks at the work of wedding planners, is being shown on RTÉ One tonight at 10pm.

<a href=www.vheadline.com>Venezuela's Electronic News Posted: Sunday, June 08, 2003 By: Patrick J. O'Donoghue

Controversy surrounding representation at the International Labor Organization (ILO) continues ... this time inside Geneva itself where former Federation of Chambers of Industry & Commerce (Fedecamaras) presidents, Eddo Poesel and Vicente Brito accuse President Hugo Chavez Frias of violating employer-worker relations. 

It would appear that the former Fedecamaras presidents, whose rights to be present at the ILO can be questioned, are waiting for the arrival of exiled Fedecamaras president Carlos Fernandez and exiled Venezuelan Confederation of Trade Unions (CTV) president, Carlos Ortega to put the latest opposition strategy into play, namely to put President Chavez Frias on trial internationally.  

The Venezuelan Labor Ministry supports Federation of Industries (Fedeindustria) president, Miguel Angel Perez Abad, Confederation of Farmers and Ranchers president, Jose Agustin Campos and Businessmen for Venezuela president, Alejandro Uzcategui as business representatives.

The problem is that Fedecamaras has traditionally been chosen as the representative body of Venezuela's business sectors and the CTV as trade union representative.

This time new business sectors endorsed by the government seek 5 of 10 technical assistance slots at the ILO general assembly, which Fedecamaras rejects. The new groups claim that no group should be allowed to monopolize the representation of the business sector.

On the trade union level, the newly created National Workers Union (UNT), which consists of powerful unions that split from CTV,  are demanding an end to CTV domination at ILO general assemblies.