<a href=www.sun-sentinel.com>By Sandra Hernandez Staff Writer Posted March 30 2003

Sitting in the small, windowless lobby of Clinic Venamher, Joe Cardozo considers himself a lucky man.

His face is bloated and puffy -- a side effect of the 13 pills he takes daily after a kidney transplant. He earns half of what he did a year ago, forcing him to comb through the family's weekly grocery bill in hopes of finding extras he can eliminate. And he is still paying off the $500 loan he took out in January to cover some of cost of his wife's trip to the emergency room.

Still, Cardozo, 45, feels fortunate to have found this small storefront clinic in Hialeah.

"Thank God. ... Otherwise I couldn't afford to see a doctor," says the father of two.

Cardozo, a graphic designer, moved to Miami two years ago with a comfortable income and the hope of building a life. Then the Venezuelan crisis hit and the struggles began.

Cardozo's story is common among the thousands of Venezuelans in South Florida, many of whom live in such affluent communities as Weston and Key Biscayne. They now face tough health care choices pushing them to small clinics that normally catered to working-poor Hispanics.

"I've never been to this clinic or any type of low-cost clinic because I never had to before," Cardozo says.

His situation stems from the political and economic crisis in Venezuela. The South American nation's economy has been teetering over the past year. The flight of capital, money taken out by investors, was estimated to be near $7 billion last year, and almost $635 million was sent out as remittances to points overseas, according to Robert Bottome, the publisher of several economic business publications in Venezuela.

A crippling two-month strike earlier this year plunged the country into economic chaos. As a result, President Hugo Chávez's government suspended the sale of U.S. dollars, leaving many Venezuelans in South Florida who relied on remittances from their homeland without income. The government recently allowed the limited sale of dollars for students living abroad.

Those who had businesses in South Florida also were affected after trade between Venezuela and the United States began faltering. Trade between the Port of Miami and Venezuela dropped by 30 percent last year, according to Trenae Floyd, a port spokeswoman. As a result, dozens of local businesses shut down and scores of workers were laid off.

Xiomara Castillo was among those affected. In December she closed the export company she founded 10 years earlier. She had five Venezuelan employees.

"I'm one of the lucky ones that kept their medical insurance," says Castillo, who now works at the Venezuelan American Chamber of Commerce. "But I get calls here all the time now because they need a doctor. ... This is a situation that is completely new for many people, and not just middle-class but people who had money are now facing this problem."

One answer is Clinic Venamher. The modest four-room clinic bills itself as a low-income center that caters to Venezuelans. It is run by the Venezuelan-American Brotherhood, a nonprofit group formed in 1999 to help survivors of the floods that left thousands dead in Venezuela and expanded to offer health care here. Until recently, most of the clinic's patients were poorer Latinos, but that began to change last year.

"In the last three months the number of Venezuelans coming to the clinic has grown by 80 percent," says Ernesto Ackerman, the clinic's director and a member of the brotherhood. "We have always taken care of anyone who walks in and we see a lot of working-class patients, but these days we also attend to many upper middle-class patients who just don't have medical insurance but still need to see a doctor."

Among those who saw their fortunes change are Heli Saul Colina and his wife, Maritza, who moved from Venezuela two years ago with a comfortable income and health insurance from that country. These days, however, they find themselves in a pinch.

"We only have health insurance for emergencies; otherwise, we don't have anything," says Maritza Colina, adding that it covers only hospital emergency room visits.

The Colinas' resources are dwindling. The family relied on Heli Saul Colina's monthly pension. A former university professor, he received nearly $3,500 a month from Venezuela when they first arrived in Kendall. But as the crisis worsened and the Venezuelan bolivar's value dropped, their income shrunk to about half that. It has been more than a month since the Colinas received their last payment from the pension, leaving them strapped for cash.

"My husband is working on the weekends as a pizza delivery driver," she says.

Maritza Colina says her story is common among friends and family: Many of them don't know where to turn or are afraid if they are here on tourist visas that will soon expire.

"I know about the clinic because I recently heard some information at an event, but I think most people don't know it exists," she said.

Officials from the clinic acknowledge as much, saying they have tried to use such events as the January march on Calle Ocho to get out fliers to local Venezuelans.

Tough economic times also have hit the clinic, according to Pedro Gonzalez, president of the brotherhood. The group is short about $2,000 of the estimated $6,000 it needs monthly just to operate the clinic. The group funds the center using donations from patients and the money it raises from members.

The group was hoping a fund-raiser sponsored by the Spanish Broadcasting System, which owns three local Spanish-language radio stations, would rescue it. The concert, however, was canceled in mid-March because of the war with Iraq and other problems.

"I guess we'll just keep trying, but it is hard, especially because we can only operate until the money runs out," Gonzalez says.

Sandra Hernandez can be reached at shernandez@sun-sentinel.com or 954-395-7923.

Web Saturday, March 29, 2003 By Christopher Toothaker / Associated Press Gregorio Marrero / Associated Press

Jesus Barrios poses with the CD-ROM game he invented called "Politikal Kombat" in Caracas, Venezuela. Some Venezuelans are trading street politics for the computer version. Gregorio Marrero / Associated Press A military soldier and an opposition politician are seen fighting in the CD-ROM game "Politikal Kombat." Comment on this story Send this story to a friend Get Home Delivery CARACAS, Venezuela -- Wham! President Hugo Chavez delivers a jarring left to opposition leader Carlos Ortega. Pow! Ortega recovers with a blow to the groin. Crowds cheer as a police helicopter hovers overhead. After a tough year including a coup, street protests and a damaging general strike, some Venezuelans are releasing stress by playing a CD-ROM game called "Politikal Kombat." More than 2,000 people have snapped up copies since February. That's good numbers by Venezuelan standards, much to the delight of the game's 35-year-old creator, Jesus Barrios. Even the presidential palace bought a copy, Barrios said. "I think it was so they could check if the images in the game offended the figure of the president or ruling party members in any way," he said. "We haven't received any feedback, so I imagine there was no problem." Barrios said pro- and anti-Chavez lawmakers are playing the game, which retails for $18. Twelve protagonists -- including images of Chavez, whose character wears military fatigues -- fight "for the country's virtual destiny," the game says. All have an equal chance of winning because "we didn't want to be accused of favoring one side or the other," Barrios said. In real life, Ortega, a labor leader, went into exile Thursday in Costa Rica after directing a two-month general strike demanding early elections or Chavez's resignation. The strike fizzled out in February. Venezuela's opposition accuses Chavez of trying to impose an authoritarian regime. Chavez, who led a botched coup attempt in 1992, was first elected president in 1998. His second term ends in 2007. Barrios released the game just as the tension-ridden strike ended. "The concept is to provide a channel to relieve stress, which is the result of so much political conflict," he said. At least one opposition lawmaker -- and "Politikal Kombat" figure -- agrees. "I think it's funny. I'm a lawyer and a legislator shown in a street brawl," Deputy Geraldo Blyde said. Despite frantic kickboxing, Barrios says he wanted to avoid overt allusions to the political violence that claimed dozens of lives over the past year. "We made sure there was no blood, disfigured faces, fatalities or heads being ripped off -- just knockouts," said Barrios. A new version is in the works, featuring more protagonists in Venezuela's political scene. They include Lina Ron, a pro-Chavez street activist whose followers have attacked opposition marches, and Marta Colomina, a prominent journalist known for her stinging criticism of Chavez. Though crude by the virtual reality standards of high-tech video games, "Politikal Kombat" has touched the funny bone of Venezuelans in need of a good laugh. "It's perfect to play after watching 'Hello President' (Chavez's weekly radio show)," one player wrote on a "Politikal Kombat" Web site. "I'm going to give it to the tyrant in the mouth!" On the Net (in Spanish): www.infoofersitio.com

Chuck Haga, Star Tribune Published March 28, 2003

...........war."

Four years ago, John Weida was wing commander at a base in Utah with dozens of F-16s under his command. Forty were sent to the no-fly zones in Iraq -- with Weida leading the way -- and 20 were in Venezuela flying drug interdiction missions, his father said.

"He.............

Press Release Source: Commonwealth Energy Advisors Thursday March 27, 2:23 pm ET

MARLBOROUGH, Mass., March 27 /PRNewswire/ -- On the heels of establishing of a New York office, Commonwealth Energy Advisors, Inc. ("CEA") today announced the further addition of five highly experienced professionals to their Marlborough office. These two expansions in staff have resulted in a near doubling of CEA's consulting team over the past four months. John P. Kelly, William R. Hopkins, James A. Doering, John E. Higgins, and Danielle S. Powers will work with CEA in providing advisory services to energy and utility companies as well as financial institutions in the energy sector throughout North America.

"CEA is pleased to continue its growth in key practice areas. The skills of these new team members are complimentary to those of the existing staff. Having worked together in the past, we look forward to continuing our long- standing professional relationships both as a consulting group and with our traditional clients," said John J. Reed, Chairman and CEO of the company.

As announced in January, William Patterson, Frank Russell and David Brauer joined the company and have a primary focus on advisory services to financial, institutional and operating companies in the energy sector throughout North America. The newest team members bring a breadth of experience in the areas of mergers and acquisitions, asset sales, valuations and appraisals, regulatory and litigation support, financial and corporate strategy, and energy market assessment. The addition of these senior professionals enhances and expands CEA's ability to provide leading edge financial advisory services to its growing client base.

Mr. Kelly is a valuation consultant with over 35 years of experience conducting valuations of public utility and industrial properties for ratemaking, purchase and sale considerations, ad valorem tax assessments, accounting and financial purposes. He has broad international experience, having provided valuation and appraisal services in India, Brazil, Canada, Peru, New Zealand, Barbados, and Venezuela. He has provided expert testimony before utility commissions, federal and state courts, and administrative bodies on more than 45 occasions. In addition to his valuation experience, Mr. Kelly has also been appointed and approved to prepare independent engineer's certificates relative to valuation matters by numerous utility companies, trustees, and banks. He served as a Vice President of Stone & Webster Management Consultants, Inc., Director of Stone & Webster's Appraisal Division, and most recently served as a Director at Navigant Consulting, Inc. Mr. Kelly is a Certified Appraiser in several states, a Registered Professional Engineer, and a graduate of Northeastern University.

Mr. Doering has over 22 years of experience in the federal regulation of natural gas and oil pipeline rates and tariffs and the analysis of natural gas issues. His areas of expertise include tariff and operational issues, regulatory applications, service terms and conditions, rate design, and expert testimony and/or settlement of contested issues. Mr. Doering has comprehensive knowledge of natural gas transmission regulation, experience in all aspects of ratemaking, and has testified in a number of FERC cases regarding costs and rate design. Mr. Doering has represented clients on more than 19 pipeline companies and two major pipeline projects in the United States and Canada, covering issues as diverse as market analysis, roll-in of project costs, producer refunds, and imbalance cash-outs and penalties. He has also worked with gas distribution and electric companies in the United States and Canada on various regulatory and rate issues. Mr. Doering received a B.B.A. in Accounting from the University of Texas at El Paso, has CFO level financial management experience, and is a certified public accountant. He was previously a Principal with Navigant Consulting Inc. and prior to that with REED Consulting Group.

Mr. Hopkins, is an expert in utility pricing, costing and regulation matters, with over 30 years of experience and expert testimony before regulatory bodies. Specialization in national and international gas, electric and water utility tariff designs; including rate case preparation, pricing design, incentives, cost of service studies, special contracts, tariff terms and conditions and regulatory issues. Consulting expertise also includes consulting experience with utilities in the forecasting of operating results, economic analyses, market surveys and valuation studies. Experience in the leadership of consulting teams on large client projects. Prior joining CEA Mr. Hopkins was a Director at Navigant Consulting and REED Consulting Group which he joined after working for over ten years at Stone &Webster management Consultants.

Mr. Higgins is a management consultant with 15 years of experience in the energy industry. Mr. Higgins specializes in energy industry restructuring issues and the analysis of competitive energy markets and has extensive experience in wholesale energy market design, energy market assessment, energy price forecasting, and asset valuation. Mr. Higgins has managed numerous projects involving energy market structure, rules and fundamentals, price forecast issues, and project and portfolio revenue optimization. Mr. Higgins has also advised several clients on competitive procurement processes for the purchase or sale of either commodity or other energy services. Most recently, he has served as an independent evaluator for a major northeast utility's standard offer and default service solicitation process. Prior to joining CEA, Mr. Higgins served in senior consulting positions at Navigant Consulting, Inc. and REED Consulting Group, and as a generation planning engineer at Central Vermont Public Service Corp. Mr. Higgins holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Northeastern University.

Ms. Powers is a management, financial, and economic consultant with 14 years of experience in the energy industry. She has an extensive background in generation asset sales and acquisitions, asset valuation, energy planning and procurement, market analysis, transmission interconnections, and power plant operations. Ms. Powers has been involved in and/or managed the sale of over 12,000 MW of fossil fueled generation and purchased power contracts. Specifically, her responsibilities in these transactions included strategic options review, asset valuation, energy market assessment, regulatory support, transition power sales, bid evaluation, and due diligence support. In addition, Ms. Powers has substantial experience in energy procurement and has assisted several clients in obtaining competitive electricity supply in the deregulated market. Most recently, Ms. Powers served as a Senior Engagement Manager at Navigant Consulting, Inc. Ms. Powers has a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and an M.B.A. from Bentley College.

About CEA: Headquartered in Marlborough, Mass., CEA is a management consulting and financial advisory firm focused on the North American energy and water industries. CEA specializes in transaction-related financial advisory services, energy market strategies, market assessments, regulatory and litigation support, economic feasibility studies, and capital market analyses and negotiations. CEA is in no way affiliated with Commonwealth Energy Company of California.

More information on the firm's staff, affiliates, service offerings and its philosophy of client-consultant constructive collaboration can be found at CEA's web site, www.ceadvisors.com, or by calling the firm's headquarters at 508-787-0900.

 Contacts:
 John J. Reed           508-263-6262
 Robert B. Hevert       508-263-6204

Science Blog

New analysis of sediment samples from the southern Caribbean indicate that severe droughts occurred at the same time as the known collapse of the Mayan civilization. In a study in the March 14 issue of the journal Science, researchers report that sediments from the Cariaco Basin in northern Venezuela clearly show a dry spell in the Caribbean region starting in the seventh century and lasting for more than 200 years. From the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute: Century-Long Drought Linked to Collapse of Mayan Civilization

New analysis of sediment samples from the southern Caribbean indicate that severe droughts occurred at the same time as the known collapse of the Mayan civilization. In a study in the March 14 issue of the journal Science, lead author Gerald Haug of Geoforschungszentrum (GFZ) in Potsdam, Germany, together with Konrad Hughen of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and colleagues report that sediments from the Cariaco Basin in northern Venezuela clearly show a dry spell that the Caribbean region starting in the seventh century and lasting for more than 200 years.

The study looked at titanium concentration in undisturbed sediments recovered by the Ocean Drilling Program. Titanium varies with input from rivers and rainfall patterns over northern tropical South America, with titanium decreasing with decreasing rainfall. The international team focused on sediments from 750 AD to 950 AD, the period when the Classic Maya civilization collapsed in the lowlands of the Yucatan Peninsula. The data show a clear link between the chronology of regional droughts and the demise of the culture.

Multi-year droughts in the region occurred at approximately 810, 860 and 910 AD and are believed to have placed enough strain on resources in the region to contribute to the demise of the civilization. The Maya flourished for about 1,000 years and had a peak population of more than one million. They built pyramids and elaborate cities with irrigation systems on the Yucatan, now part of Mexico. They depended on a seasonally consistent rainfall to support agriculture. Although some cities were repopulated at various times, many of the cities were abandoned in the 9th century AD.

"The resolution of many paleoclimate records has limited us in the past from documenting a clear link between climate change and the detailed, often complex evolution of some of the great cultures around the world," Hughen says. "Evidence of long periods of drought had been found previously in sediments from lakes in Guatemala, but the resolution was not sufficient to identify the three phases of abandonment known from historical data. Our records have annual resolution so we can measure both the timing and the durations of the drought periods that caused each incremental collapse."

How this once great civilization collapsed has been the subject of continued debate. Paleoclimatologists have developed an increasingly accurate record of climate change for the past few thousand years, covering the same period in which human societies developed and flourished. Until recently, archaeologists and historians lacked information on short-term climate change, but now high-resolution records from ice cores, tree rings and some deep sea sediments provide evidence that climate shifts often coincided with sudden changes in human history.

Hughen, an assistant scientist in the Institution's Department of Marine Chemistry and Geochemistry, said the sediment records show a dry period beginning about 1,200 years ago that was punctuated by periods of three to nine years each when there was little or no rainfall. Each event placed more stress on the civilization, leading to a collapse of a portion of the population each time. The remaining population could not survive the last severe drought at about 910 AD.

Archeological data show that the Mayan communities in the southern and central lowlands collapsed first, while those in the northern highlands lasted for another century or so, possibly because they had access to more ground water resources. In the end, however, they couldn't survive the final dry period.

The study was conducted by Gerald Haug of Eidgenossiche Technische Hochschule (ETH) in Zürich, Switzerland, who is currently at Geoforschungszentrum (GFZ) in Potsdam, Germany, Detlef Gunther of ETH in Zürich, Switzerland, Larry Peterson of the University of Miami, Daniel Sigman of Princeton University, Konrad Hughen of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, and Beat Aeschlimann of ETH in Switzerland. Their work was supported by the Schweizer Nationalfonds (SNF) in Switzerland, the US National Science Foundation (NSF), and by British Petroleum and Ford Motor Company through the Princeton Carbon Mitigation Initiative (CMI).

WHOI is a private, independent marine research and engineering, and higher education organization located in Falmouth, MA. Its primary mission is to understand the oceans and their interaction with the Earth as a whole, and to communicate a basic understanding of the ocean's role in the changing global environment. Established in 1930 on a recommendation from the National Academy of Sciences, the Institution is organized into five departments, interdisciplinary institutes and a marine policy center, and conducts a joint graduate education program with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.