Sunday, April 13, 2003 By KATHLEEN CARROLL <a href=www.northjersey.com>HERALD NEWS

During last Wednesday's editorial meeting of The Clarion, the blackboard in Room 219 at Hawthorne High School was filled with students' ideas for upcoming articles:

Prom Costs; SARS Virus; Budget/Voting; Boycott on France & Germany; Latin Program - cut?; Why Fashion Show Was Canceled; End of the World.

"Wait, I want to do something about Venezuela," said Cherish Persaud, 16. "Right now, everyone is only focusing on Saddam Hussein, who we call a dictator. But all the other dictators are getting a free chance to do whatever they want."

A teacher knocked into an ancient desk and sent the tabletop crashing to the floor.

"Vote for the budget!" someone joked, referencing the school budget referendum on this week's election ballot.

"Can we do a story about broken desks?" another student asked.

Some student editors of high-school newspapers are redrawing their papers' boundaries, publishing their classmates' articles about the war in Iraq alongside articles about under-stocked soda machines.

"We want to write powerful, real-world things that keep people informed," said Beth Alimena, 17, the editor in chief of The Clarion. Since September, Clarion writers have covered antiwar protests in New York City, high school drug tests, prayer in school, illegal immigrants, state-mandated affordable housing and the failure of the Environmental Protection Agency to meet air-quality standards.

"This is getting us ready," she said. "It's important to get out of the bubble and see what's going on. We're the future - I know that sounds so corny, but you look around and think, one of these days ... "

The Clarion ceased publication during the late 1990s and was revived as a 12-page, bi-monthly paper by two journalism teachers at Hawthorne High last year.

"We're trying to get away from the usual fluff that fills high school newspapers," said Sean Van Winkle, a faculty adviser to The Clarion and reporter for the Hawthorne Press, a community weekly. "We have school issues, but we also have our students look at the larger picture."

In a recent issue, one student's political cartoon showed President Bush in the center of a clock, counting off hours named after U.N. weapons inspections and war resolutions, waiting for the clock to strike 12, or war, o'clock.

"We try to make the paper interesting for students to read, but not so interesting that it gets the principal in trouble," said David Browne, principal of Hawthorne High School. As with most high-school newspapers, the principal reviews each issue before it goes to print.

At The Torch, at John F. Kennedy High School in Paterson, "students have some really deep issues on their minds," said Lories Nye-Flockbower, the paper's adviser and a former newspaper reporter.

"There's always a controversial issue, but no one says, 'Don't print it.'"

Articles about being gay in high school, the beating death of a homeless man by Kennedy students and gang warfare in Paterson have had prominent placement in recent issues of The Torch. The paper, whose history stretches back to Paterson's old Central High, has built a reputation for responsibility that frees its editors from the principal's oversight.

Last month, the editor in chief of The Torch, Ejona Shehu, 17, asked students and teachers for their opinions about the war. She quoted pacifist teachers, students with parents in the military, enlisted students and peace protesters.

"We wanted to relate things to students going into the military, and to the many students here who are Muslim," said Ejona, a Muslim who immigrated from Albania when she was 9. "Our students need to read about this. Since the Iraqi conflict started, everyone automatically assumed that if you are Arabic or Muslim, you would be against the war. Some people tend to think differently, even though they are Muslim."

Across town, at Eastside High School, student editorials about the war are featured in the next issue of The Criterion, that school's longtime student newspaper. At Clifton High School, writers for The Hub are concentrating on local affairs, said adviser Rita Whetton. Students at Wallington High School are also sticking with stories close to home, said Maria Tomassi, student editor of The Courier.

"We deal with positive reactions to reinforce what we're doing in school," she said. "We only have a few issues every year, so we try to get in a lot of school stuff. We don't have a lot of room to put other articles in."

For the papers that cast wide nets, keeping the focus on students is a major challenge.

"We wrote about Iraq, and then about a girl in school who is disabled," Ejona said. "We go from a big issue to what somebody on the outside would call a minor issue. We have things that our students can only read about in The Torch. No outside newspaper is going to come and write about our prom."

"This gives students a voice that can't otherwise be heard," said Beth, The Clarion editor. After a recent article about a broken Gatorade machine, the board of education responded and the problem is being fixed.

"We're not going to get 20 more teachers tomorrow, or 50 new desks, I know. But a thought-out, well-written article is listened to more than a complaint made in anger. It gives us a chance to go after things in a mature way."

"That's a big thing when you're dealing with adults," she explained.

Reach Kathleen Carroll at (973) 569-7135 or carroll@northjersey.com.

Sunday, April 13, 2003 · Last updated 4:55 p.m. PT By STEPHEN IXER ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

CARACAS, Venezuela -- President Hugo Chavez looked beyond Venezuela's simmering political crisis Sunday to celebrate the first anniversary of his return to power following a brief military coup.

The festivities came one day after a bomb ripped through the building where Venezuela's government and opposition have been negotiating a proposed referendum on Chavez's presidency.

No one was injured in the pre-dawn blast but it renewed tensions in Venezuela just as rival groups appeared to be close to resolving some political differences.

Chavez presided over the closing ceremony of an international forum in support of his so-called "Bolivarian Revolution," while thousands of his supporters gathered on a central Caracas avenue.

"God bless April 13," Chavez said at the forum. "A miraculous day, the miracle of the start of the century. The first great victory of the people this century in the whole world."

Ricardo Perez, a 62-year old carpenter waiting to hear Chavez at the rally, said he was glad Chavez's left-wing movement was not toppled for good.

"Those days (of the coup) were terrible for the country. Thank God the loyal armed forces managed to restore democracy," Perez said, as Venezuelan folk music blared out from huge loudspeakers and barbecue smoke drifted over the crowd.

Chavez was ousted by dissident military generals after 19 people were killed during an opposition demonstration on April 11, 2002. Pedro Carmona, a businessman who swore himself in as president the next day, immediately dissolved the National Assembly, the Supreme Court and the constitution.

A popular backlash against the coup began and thousands converged on the presidential palace to demand Chavez's return to office. Carmona resigned on April 13 and loyalist troops restored Chavez to power in the early hours of the 14th.

Chavez promised to reconcile the deeply divided population but never succeeded. The opposition began a two-month strike in December demanding early elections or Chavez's resignation. The strike briefly crippled Venezuela's crucial oil industry and cost the country $6 billion.

The Organization of American States announced Friday that the two sides agreed to pave the way for a midterm referendum on Chavez's presidency. The OAS has been sponsoring the peace talks since November.

OAS Secretary General Cesar Gaviria said Friday the agreement would be signed after Easter, but Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel said the deal still awaits Chavez's approval.

In the document, both sides agree to play by the rules as the opposition works toward a midterm referendum on Chavez's presidency while the chief of state has pledged to leave office if he loses.

But tensions have heated up again since Saturday's bombing, with each side blaming the other of being behind the attack that destroyed three floors of the Caracas building.

An opposition negotiator said the blast was intended to intimidate his delegation at the talks, while the government blamed "coup-plotting" sectors of the opposition.

Chavez, elected to a six-year term in 2000, accuses Venezuela's traditional elite of seeking his ouster and foiling his efforts to distribute Venezuela's oil riches to the poor.

His opposition accuses the former army paratrooper of imposing an authoritarian regime and ruining the economy.

La Libertad Digital Carlos Sabino

Banderas de Irak han aparecido en Caracas en manifestaciones y actos públicos. No las enarbolan pacifistas convencidos –de esos que en cualquier lugar del mundo repudian por principio todas las guerras– ni miembros de alguna colonia árabe que viva en nuestro suelo. Los que agitan esos símbolos son venezolanos que defienden a Saddam Hussein y a su régimen, que se sienten identificados con su modo de gobernar y sus objetivos políticos. Ellos son los mismos partidarios de Chávez que suelen disolver actos de la oposición, a veces a balazos, con el apoyo de la policía política y de ciertas alcaldías, los llamados “círculos bolivarianos” que ha organizado directamente Diosdado Cabello, actual ministro de infraestructura y ex ministro del interior.

El hecho muestra una coincidencia de actitudes y de valores políticos que el propio presidente se ha encargado de destacar. En el régimen iraquí Chávez encuentra tal vez la mejor expresión de lo que él quiere para Venezuela, un sistema de gobierno dictatorial, apoyado en el ejército, pero que recurre a comandos y organizaciones paramilitares para aterrorizar a su propia población; un régimen benevolente frente a los terroristas de todo el mundo, que sataniza a los Estados Unidos, que posee una economía dirigida y controlada por el estado; un sistema, en fin, donde las elecciones se ganan no ya por el 99,99% de los votos, como en los antiguos países comunistas del este, sino por un todavía más impúdico y directo 100%. Cuando Chávez visitó Irak hace un par de años y viajó en el propio automóvil del dictador árabe se convirtió en el primer mandatario en visitar a ese régimen proscrito, mostrando una identidad de propósitos que no puede ser disimulada. Como dice el periodista Orlando Urdaneta: “Saddam Hussein no sube a cualquiera en su Mercedes Benz”, recordando a Hussein al volante y Chávez a su lado, de paseo por Bagdad.

Mientras la guerra prosigue su sangriento curso en el Medio Oriente aquí, en pleno Occidente, el gobierno venezolano realiza acciones en la retaguardia que pueden llegar a tener importancia internacional. No sólo se ha negado a calificar como terroristas a las guerrillas colombianas de las FARC y el ELN –prestándoles asistencia encubierta en múltiples formas–, sino que ya ha comenzado a organizar sus propios contingentes guerrilleros. El periodista Roberto Giusti ha denunciado esta semana que el FBL (Fuerzas Bolivarianas de Liberación) agrupa ahora a más de 1.000 irregulares dotados con armas modernas que actúan en al menos tres estados venezolanos y controlan una superficie de unos 60.000 kilómetros cuadrados.

En tanto los partidarios de Chávez se organizan de este modo, el gobierno ha cesado la entrega de dólares que tiene represados en el Banco Central con el claro fin –abiertamente reconocido por el presidente– de castigar a los empresarios venezolanos que él califica como golpistas y que organizaron junto a otros muchos sectores, a fines del año pasado, un inmenso Paro Cívico que detuvo a Venezuela por casi dos meses.

Pero todo esto se hace, insidiosamente, tratando de mantener una fachada de aparente legalidad que confunde, como es natural, a muchos observadores extranjeros mal informados. El gobierno parece aceptar la oposición interna, aunque trata de destruirla de modo encubierto, y afirma que respetará la constitución al pie de la letra, a pesar de interferir en todo lo que puede para que no se desarrollen las consultas electorales que ésta permite realizar para revocar el mandato del presidente y de otros importantes cargos.

Venezuela, por obra de este singular caudillo, va aproximándose así peligrosamente al candente foco de los conflictos internacionales de hoy. Nos aguardan meses peligrosos, conflictivos, en los que se tratará de imponer una dictadura proclive al terrorismo y a la confrontación. Sólo nos resta aguardar que la derrota de Saddam Hussein nos sirva para debilitar el poder de quienes quieren ser sus émulos en este rincón del mundo.

Carlos Sabino es corresponsal de la agencia © AIPE en Caracas.

IRNA Caracas, April 4, Itar-Tass/ACSNA/IRNA -- Venezuelan Vice-President Jose Vicente Rangel confirmed resolute support of the Venezuelan leadership for Russia's firm stand on denouncing the American-British military action against Iraq.
The vice-president said at a meeting with Russian Ambassador in Caracas Alexei Yermakov on Thursday that the Venezuelan leadership resolutely opposed continuation of this military action and stood out for "a return of a settlement of the Iraqi problem under the auspices of the UN".
The operation of the anti-Iraqi coalition becomes more
procrastinated. It will entail numerous victims, above all among
civilians, and "will tell negatively on stabilization of the system of international relations as well as in the humanitarian, economic and ecological sphere," Rangel emphasized.
/FM/LS/AR
End

Pravda 12:21 2003-03-24

President of Venezuela Hugo Chavez called on the UN Secretary General to condemn the aggression against Iraq.

Chavez made a traditional TV and radio address on Sunday in Guanar, Venezuela.

According to Chavez, "it is necessary to tell those who hold the highest power that we do not want new wars." He also asked the UN to fulfil its role on the planet Earth, for the organisation exists for some purposes, he said.

Chavez stressed that Venezuela joins the majority of the world's countries, including Russia, which demand that the UN Charter, human rights, sovereignty of the peoples and their laws as well as God's laws be respected.

Pointing to the photograph of an Iraqi child with a burnt face, the president declared that "this cannot be justified."