<a href=www.vheadline.com>Venezuela's Electronic News Posted: Wednesday, April 16, 2003 By: Patrick J. O'Donoghue

Venezuelan National Defense & Security Council secretary General Melvin Lopez Hidalgo says the government has conclusive proof of USA involvement in the April 11 coup. 

Lopez Hidalgo says coordinated activities took place between the USA, the rebel Venezuelan Army and rebel National Guard (GN) elements and confirms reports that three (3) Black Hawk helicopters had landed at Caracas (Simon Bolivar) international airport at Maiquetia ... "their operations were planned for April 11 and 19." 

• The General says the 3 helicopters had landed with authorization from the Military intelligence Directorate ... "there were several levels of coordination at the time." 

Referring to Armed Force (FAN) Inspector General, 3-star General Lucas Rincon Romero's announcement on April 11 that Chavez Frias had resigned, Lopez Hidalgo says "he asked me, and he asked Garcia Carneiro what was happening with the commanders of units and we replied that they were at a meeting ... they made him believe that they had full FAN support .. it was false, a ploy and it confused Rincon Romero, who said what he said to avoid further bloodshed and chaos."

<a href=ogj.pennnet.com>Oil&Gas Journal By OGJ editors

HOUSTON, Apr. 14 -- Petroleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA) says that crude oil production in its eastern division, PDVSA Oriente Northern District, currently is averaging 804,000 b/d, OPEC News Agency reported Friday.

PDVSA said it is utilizing both normal recovery and secondary recovery methods, and production is being accomplished with 800 fewer workers than before the strike. PDVSA also is claiming a production savings of 50¢/bbl because the "estimate for this year was $2.30, and today it is estimated (at) $1.67/bbl."

<a href=www.vheadline.com>Venezuela's Electronic News Posted: Sunday, April 13, 2003 By: Einnoc Lebrac

Date: Fri, 11 Apr 2003 18:28:17 -0700 (PDT) From: Einnoc Lebrac venezuelanoestuya@yahoo.com To: editor@vheadline.com Subject: Letter to the Editor

Dear Editor: I read with dismay the first line of Gustavo Coronel’s editorial, “Distrust and handouts are killing Venezuela.”  It took me a few minutes to regain my senses … I just could not stop laughing ... what has happened to Gustavo Coronel?

Poor Gustavo Coronel ... he must really be feeling homesick in Valencia or Margarita Island … so far away from Disney World ... where he has a hard time hanging on to Fantasy Land. What was he really thinking to start a letter with such an outrageously funny line?

Hear me people: “I, Gustavo Coronel, 8 years of age (?), went to Walt Disney, and Mickey Mouse was at the bank and he smiled at me” … (this is the image I got).

Now, I believe I understand why he writes what he writes…

Of course he felt offended when he went to the (Venezuelan) bank and was treated like the rest of us! That has been the way people have been treated at banks for many years; you sign in front of the teller and your picture is taken.

You know, these are places where robberies are likely to happen ... whether in Venezuela or in the USA.

Gustavo Coronel probably never noticed it because he was used to the “doctor with money” type of treatment he perhaps received in the past.

I am almost certain that all of you “earthly-normal-aware” people have experienced it or known of somebody else who has gone to a bank or a very busy office where you need to wait in line in cities like Chicago, New York, etc …and if you step 2 inches beyond any waiting line, the security guard approaches you and roughly signals you to step back, smile not included. If you need to withdraw or deposit cash, you're asked questions, your picture taken and all, and no “Mickey Mousing” around.

The sad part in all of this is that people still try, whichever way they can, to ignore that today’s world is not as safe as it was few years ago. “Homeland” security measures are taken worldwide, and Venezuela is part of this world. It is not Chavez or those who follow him who are causing it.

People, let’s stop closing our eyes to the reality of the world!

Venezuela has changed …and we hope for the better!

NOTE: In the same article Gustavo Coronel says: “The Welfare State is the other main enemy of our social progress. Paternalistic political leaders have led Venezuelans to believe that they can sit and wait for the government to provide them with all their needs…”

Or maybe, Venezuelans should have maintained the status-quo and “sit and wait” for the government to keep on stealing from them instead…

Einnoc Lebrac venezuelanoestuya@yahoo.com

Referendum 2003 discuss the pros and cons of a revocatory referendum

President Hugo Chavez Frias express your opinions on the Presidency of Hugo Chavez Frias and his Bolivarian Revolution

Bolivarian Circles Are Bolivarian Circles a Venezuelan form of Neighborhood Watch Committees or violent hordes of pro-Chavez thugs?

Venezuela's Opposition What is it? Is a force to be reckoned with or in complete disarray?

narco News By Alex Contreras Baspineiro Reporting from Caracas with the Narco News Team April 11, 2003

APRIL 11, 2003; CARACAS, VENEZUELA: Thousands of people from all corners of the world, men and women, black and white, mestizo and indigenous, intellectuals and workers, revolutionaries and activists, students and journalists, join together from today until April 13, in the great land of Caracas, to participate in the World Gathering in Solidarity with the Bolivarian Revolution.

Speaking different languages, dressed in clothing of a thousand different colors, bringing with them unique life experiences and national symbols, but united in diversity with a goal of global solidarity and a revolutionary commitment, we are beginning to join our strength together.

This morning’s inaugural ceremony in the Teresa Carreño theatre was marked not only by the crowds, but also by their conviction. When President Chávez took his seat, the orchestra fell silent before the cries of “¡Uh, Ah! ¡Chávez no se va!” (“Ooh! Aah! Chávez isn’t leaving!”) from every section of the theater, and, above all, from the depths of every heart.

This global gathering commemorates the first anniversary of the popular insurrection that toppled the dictatorship imposed by the coup d’etat of April 11 last year. At that time, the commercial media, along with the Venezuelan fascist oligarchy, proclaimed the success of the reactionary coup and the overthrow of the President of the Bolivarian Republic to be a success. Nothing could have been further from the truth.

At a conference on the ideas of liberator Simón Bolívar, Samuel Moncada, Director of the School of History at the Catholic University of Venezuela, remembered those days:

“April 11 was labeled the day of tragedy, when a group of military officers, together with the multinational corporations, CEOs, and some trade unionists, carried out a violent massacre against the people of Venezuela. The 12th was defined as the day of the boss’s revenge, as the new junta imposed a climate of terror, violating human, social, and political rights. The portrait of Bolívar (that hangs in the presidential press conference room) was removed and hidden, and the name of the Bolivarian Republic changed.

“But April 13th was the day of the dignity of the Venezuelan people. First dozens, then thousands, then millions of men and women confronted the coup to demand Chávez’s return to power. Unarmed except for the copies of the Constitution in their hands, the power of the people overthrew the fascist generals.”

Everyone “against the force of power”

Ignacio Ramonet, editor of the French newspaper Le Monde Diplomatique, spoke at the event’s opening. The thousands of people there, he said, from all over the world, were there in solidarity not only with the valiant Venezuelan people, but also with President Chávez.

“It is an honor,” he said, “to begin this meeting of meeting of solidarity with the Bolivarian Revolution, which, in my opinion, is also an encounter with Venezuelan democracy. Appropriately, then, it is also a meeting in solidarity with a president who was democratically elected and who governs democratically.”

Ramonet spoke about the massacre of Iraq by the United States and other powerful nations, and warned that the same thing could occur in other countries around the world as an “ideological and political war.” He identified a new “military democracy” as the armed wing of globalization. The only response to this, said Ramonet, is a global mobilization against the force of power.

This gathering will see solidarity-building activities, a refreshing of the collective memory, a series of panels and conferences, symbolic actions, presentations on the experience of popular organizing, as well as artistic and cultural events. Together with Ramonet, world personalities such as US antiglobalization analyst James Petras, Bolivian coca-farmers’ leader Evo Morales, Argentinean leader Hebe Bonafini (veteran of the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo group), Mexican economist Ana Esther Ceceña, Francois Houtart of Belgium, María Valencia of Colombia, Jaime Amorím of Brazil, José Cademátori of Chile, and many, many more have begun to arrive.

Hundreds of journalists are also meeting in Caracas. These journalists come not from the commercial media, but represent an alternative, popular, community-based and authentic communication. They are getting together to bring the truth about this event to the world, and to form a common front against the corporate press. Although at this time the Venezuelan masses face a difficult economic and social situation – the result of the work lockout and boycott by the Venezuelan corporations this winter – they take great pleasure in their liberty, solidarity, respect and friendship. More than ever, they believe in the construction of a new society.

Alex Contreras, graduate and now professor of the Narco News School of Authentic Journalism from Cochabamba, Bolivia, reports from Caracas this week with Narco News Andean Bureau chief Luis Gómez and other members of our news team on the first anniversary of the defeat of last April's coup d'etat. See our Spanish language front page for more reports from this historic celebration.

Source

Venezuela is guaranteeing supplies of oil to its clients in the United States despite President Hugo Chavez's vocal opposition to the US-led war in Iraq, Venezuelan Energy Minister Rafael Ramirez said.

Left-winger Chavez, who has angered Washington in the past by maintaining friendly ties with Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, has sharply criticized the US and British military campaign against Baghdad, especially the civilian casualties it has caused.

Venezuela, the world's number 5 oil exporter, is a major provider of crude oil and products to the US market. Iraq's ambassador to Venezuela urged the world's oil producers to halt shipments to the United States and Britain.

Speaking on local television in Caracas, Ramirez said Chavez's anti-war stancewas no different to the positions expressed by other governments in the United Nations and by other members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.

"The position that we have always maintained in OPEC, and it is the policy of this government, is that oil should not be converted into a political weapon," he said.

"We have guaranteed the supply of oil to all of our clients in the United States," Ramirez added in an interview with the private Televen television channel. Venezuela normally supplies more than 13% of all US oil imports.

Chavez, who has strengthened ties with states seen as hostile by Washington, like Iran and Cuba, infuriated the US government in 2000 by travelling to Baghdad to become the first head of state to meet with Hussein since the 1991 Gulf War.

Any decision by Venezuela on its oil production and exports would be taken within OPEC as a group, Ramirez said.

Venezuela, whose output and exports were slashed by a crippling opposition strike against Chavez in December and January, has been working to get oil operations back to normal since then. Oil exports are the country's economic lifeblood and account for around half of government revenues. Since the anti-Chavez strike fizzled out early in February, Venezuelan officials have gone out of their way to convince the US government that their country will remain a reliable supplier of crude and oil products.

The government insists oil production has been restored to pre-strike levels of 3.1 million barrels per day. Striking oil workers, more than 16,000 of whom have been fired by the government, have put current output at around 2.45 million bpd.

Ramirez said the stoppage, which tried but failed to force the Populist Chavez to resign and hold early elections, cost the country's strategic oil industry $US6 billion in lost revenues and damage to installations.