<a href=www.vheadline.com>Venezuela's Electronic News Posted: Wednesday, June 11, 2003 By: Gustavo Coronel

VHeadline.com commentarist Gustavo Coronel writes: In Sabana del Medio, where I have my home, some 20 kilometers west of Valencia, the time of mangoes has come again. The whole area abounds in ancestral mango trees.

Each year the process is repeated. In March the trees are in full bloom, in April the sporadic rains start, get to be more frequent in May, giving almost everybody a mild case of intestinal upset called "mayo."

By the end of May the fruit is well developed and slowly turning color. In June, it ripens and mangoes start falling down ... blanketing the countryside and the streets of the village without the villagers paying much attention.

Nobody would be seen picking a mango from the ground since this would entail losing face, admitting to being needy enough to eat ... a mango, of all things.  And yet, the mango is one of the most delicious fruits we can eat ... the varieties are endless.

On my property, I planted about 15 mango trees and each one carries a different variety of fruit. The smaller ones, called "de bocado," are probably the best in flavor. Bocado means that one can eat such a mango almost in single bite due to its tiny size. They're usually very compact and resistant to the bite.

I also have some "manga" trees ... this variety was one of the earliest types of graft, bigger than the local varieties but keeping much of the original flavors and acidity. This "mangas" remind people of my generation of their childhood, because they were very popular in those days.

There are some modern graft varieties which are big ... say two pounders ... with a marvelous multicolor skin when growing ripe ... they're extremely juicy and sweet, and it is very difficult to bite into one without getting the juice cascading all over your arms and shirt ... what could justifiably be termed succulent.

And, then I also have a couple of trees which give enormous mangoes, easily four pounds or more, which are, however, rather insipid. They are called "burreros," possibly because of the size or, perhaps, because they are more adequate for donkeys.

Even within each variety there are complex nuances of taste ... like in dealing with wines one could distinguish citric, pear or apricot components when tasting. It might not get as sophisticated as a mango having to be defined as somewhat tart ... with reminiscences of apricot and vanilla and the long finish of a Corton Charlemagne (from the House of Louis Jadot, please...) ... but mango-tasting definitely calls for alert tastebuds.

I have often felt that mango time in our area could become as touristicaly famous, as the cherry blossoms of the Potomac Basin in Washington DC. During the first week of April the cherry trees around the Washington monuments are in bloom and attract hundreds of thousands of visitors to admire them ... and to eat and drink and stay at hotels and who knows what else ... this marvel of nature becomes a multimillion dollar industry.

As I go past the streets of the village, littered with mangoes, I cannot help thinking that, in Maryland, somebody must be paying $1.50 for a rather wrinkled mango at a Giant Food Market  ... and I start to see dollar signs at every corner.

The village is called Barrera, next to Sabana del Medio. It's located about two miles from the site of the Battle of Carabobo ... as a sacred historical ground for us, as Gettysburg is for Americans.

I dream of the Barrera International Mango Fair ... it would combine gastronomical wonders based on mangoes, jelly, preserves, chutneys, fresh salads, with exhibitions of regional art and crafts and music festivals, including classical music (there is a good symphony orchestra in Valencia).

Increasingly the Barrera International Mango Fair would start giving the cherry blossom a run for its money.

In the World, many small cities or even villages, have become internationally renowned due to the excellence of some event ... Montreux is a small city of some 25,000 people but, during the Jazz Festival, swells to more than 100,000 ... or at least that is what my musical coordinator cousin Jose tells me.

Woodstock, a small town in Massachusetts, became internationally known for its hippie gatherings, the flower children ... so, I think Barrera has a good chance ... its proximity to the field of Carabobo would be an additional asset, as visitors could attend tasteful reconstructions of the battle, together with entire armies dressed in their multicolored uniforms.  Perhaps our armed force would be induced to participate ... small shops could sell all kinds of patriotic souvenirs.

Several years ago, I started visiting some villagers to talk to them about this idea. Their reaction was often enthusiastic. They all felt inclined to participate "as soon as the government provided them with the required seed money and made the improvements in infrastructure that such a project would demand."  The national government is still considering their reply to my initial inquiry ... the Mayor of the nearby town, Tocuyito, felt that Barrera was home to many political adversaries, but he would consider the possibility. The Symphony orchestra had gone into hibernation due to lack of funds ... so, I gradually cooled down and forgot about the whole thing.

It is only in June, as I drive through Barrera and see the wonderful mango trees giving us their fruit once more, that I remember ... but every year the memory is more like a dull ache in my heart and less like a song in my ear.

Gustavo Coronel is the founder and president of Agrupacion Pro Calidad de Vida (The Pro-Quality of Life Alliance), a Caracas-based organization devoted to fighting corruption and the promotion of civic education in Latin America, primarily Venezuela. A member of the first board of directors (1975-1979) of Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), following nationalization of Venezuela's oil industry, Coronel has worked in the oil industry for 28 years in the United States, Holland, Indonesia, Algiers and in Venezuela. He is a Distinguished alumnus of the University of Tulsa (USA) where he was a Trustee from 1987 to 1999. Coronel led the Hydrocarbons Division of the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) in Washington DC for 5 years. The author of three books and many articles on Venezuela ("Curbing Corruption in Venezuela." Journal of Democracy, Vol. 7, No. 3, July, 1996, pp. 157-163), he is a fellow of Harvard University and a member of the Harvard faculty from 1981 to 1983.  In 1998, he was presidential election campaign manager for Henrique Salas Romer and now lives in retirement on the Caribbean island of Margarita where he runs a leading Hotel-Resort.  You may contact Gustavo Coronel at email gustavo@vheadline.com

Posted on Wed, Jun. 11, 2003 MATT SEDENSKY Associated Press

HONOLULU - In the beginning, Hawaii was Hawaii. Think Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr on a deserted beach in 1953's "From Here to Eternity," or a surfboard-straddling Elvis Presley in 1961's "Blue Hawaii."

These days, though, this Pacific paradise is used less often for classic island images of breeze-tickled palms and gem-blue waves lapping a pristine beach. Instead, it's posing as a wide range of locales, from Nigeria and the Congo to Brazil and Venezuela.

Since 9/11, film and TV casts and crews have increasingly avoided foreign locations perceived as dangerous.

"Every month, people become more reluctant to go to more exotic, less secure places," said Bill Bowling, a veteran Hollywood location manager who has scouted in Hawaii. "Hawaii is situated just extremely well right now."

Hawaii also is more convenient to Hollywood. And for the island itself, playing various roles is good business.

"Hawaii - for it to be a player in this business - has to represent itself as more than just Hawaii," said Chris Lee, a former studio executive and producer who is now overseeing a new University of Hawaii program including film and digital arts. "If you said we're only going to be Hawaii, it's very limiting."

Since the beginning of film, moviegoers have seen Hawaii act as an impostor, from 1958's "South Pacific," in which Hawaii posed as an unnamed Pacific island, to 2000's "Jurassic Park III," which cast the state as Costa Rica.

Last year alone, the islands saw the filming of "Tears of the Sun," the Bruce Willis flick set in Nigeria; "Die Another Day," the James Bond film set off Korea; and "Welcome to the Jungle," the forthcoming movie with the Rock starring as a bounty hunter in Brazil's Amazon. Films generated an estimated $135 million for Hawaii's economy last year.

The islands have also played Tahiti ("Six Days/Seven Nights"), New Guinea ("Krippendorf's Tribe"), and Venezuela ("Dragonfly"), among other places.

"It's kind of limitless," said Timothy Hillman, another veteran location manager whose most recent project brought him to Hawaii for "50 First Kisses," an Adam Sandler/Drew Barrymore romantic comedy set on the island. "There's jungles where you can pretend you're anywhere in South America and Africa. There's places downtown that can pass for middle America."

To be fair, Hawaii does continue to play itself, as in last year's "Blue Crush" and "The Big Bounce." But, more and more, productions that might have previously ventured farther from home are ending up in the central Pacific.

The hit NBC show "ER," for example, first filmed on the islands in 2002, for an episode chronicling Dr. Mark Greene's final days in Hawaii before succumbing to a brain tumor. This year, the drama returned to film two more episodes - both set in the Congo.

"They were all determined that they were going to go to South Africa" to film, said location manager Ginger Peterson. "I was able to take pictures of (Hawaii) locations that nobody's ever shot at before and they were kind of blown away."

For years, the state-run Hawaii Film Office has been trying to spread the message that Hawaii offers a window into faraway worlds.

The office has run ads and inserted posters into trade magazines such as The Hollywood Reporter, billing the islands as "As close as faraway gets." After the Oscars, it ran an ad with an image from "Tears of the Sun," that read: "We've landed the roles of the Brazilian jungle, the Korean peninsula and war-torn Africa, not to mention Venezuela, England and Mars. Is there an Award for Best Location Double?"

The efforts, industry leaders say, appear to be working.

"You're seeing Hawaii being doubled for other locations more than Hawaii playing itself," said Donne Dawson, manager of the state-run Hawaii Film Office.

The reason: "A production was scouting Hawaii and another location in South America at the same time. The production crew that was out scouting actually got hijacked in the jungle," Dawson said. "They ended up saying 'That's it, we're going to Hawaii.'"

Hawaii still faces stiff competition from other locales, including Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Fiji and the Bahamas. Those places can sometimes offer similar settings, security, and better financial incentives. But they can't always duplicate the convenience.

The distance of the islands from Los Angeles means a weekend at home is not out of the question. And the small size of the islands means the commute time between accommodations and sets is relatively short.

Bowling, who has worked on productions in more than 70 countries in his 20-year career, said there are some drawbacks to filming foreign-set shots in Hawaii rather than on-location.

"Looks get used up," he said. "Everything's good about it but you've just sort of seen the place in many movies. You don't want the audience to think they've seen it before."

Still, many producers have been able to pull off unique looks. And they say the benefits are incomparable.

"I think it was the logical choice," said Chris Chulack, the producer of the "ER" episodes in which Hawaii shed its idyllic image to become a war-torn country in which the show's doctors risk their lives. "And it works out wonderfully at the end of the day when you get to go take a dip in the ocean."

ON THE NET

Hawaii Film Office: www.hawaiifilmoffice.com

El Universal, Executive Daily News & Summary Alberto Garrido

As Enrique Mendoza, a leader of opposition umbrella group Democratic Coordinator, said it: "I think that some people were waiting for some kind of magical agreement, but we have to put our feet firmly on the ground when negotiating (a pact)." Asked about the date when a referendum to revoke president Hugo Chávez' mandate may be held, Mendoza said that the National Electoral Council (CNE) could change it, "because the law authorizes them to do so. CNE determines the deadlines and time required for activities related to any electoral process. So I think we have to be a little bit rational." Mendoza has his feet firmly on the ground. Some members of the Democratic Coordinator have announced that the recall referendum is to be held on August 19, while others have said that it would be made 90 days later, "in accordance with the law."

More than a year ago, on April 2002, Hugo Chávez defined Venezuela's current scenario. In the event that the country decided to have a referendum, the vote to terminate the president's mandate would be the last one to be held -elections to revoke the mandates of governors and mayors would had to be made first. Chávez later made clear that the agreement reached by the Negotiation and Agreement Table, which he claimed was a "political victory" for the Bolivarian revolution, would not automatically lead to "his" recall referendum. According to Chávez, for holding "his" recall referendum, a new CNE's board of directors must be elected, a new electoral register must be created, new signatures requesting the vote must be gathered, and the new signatures collected must be reviewed -just to begin with. Subsequently, other revoking votes may be conducted.

Chávez, as usual, has clear tactics. The Democratic Coordinator expects him to oppose to the revoking referendum, as this would be a good ground for the opposition to demand both the National Armed Force and the international agencies to intervene in the country's affairs. But Chávez will not oppose. Holding his Constitution in hand, he will manage to get a turtle to look like a hare.

Time for political bureaucrats is not time for a process that has to walk through the path of hegemony by destroying the political, economic, and social status quo in order to earn the qualification of revolution,. Besides, the Bolivarian revolution has to move fast, as the United States is creating a new list of priorities in its global war and is making its calculations based on the oil Chávez is -for the moment- selling to Washington.

Meanwhile, jobless people in Venezuela shall wither on the vine; the streets shall permanently belong to homeless children; poor patients will end up in the graveyard; shortages of basic items will be the rule; Colombia will no longer be just a reference about any kind of crimes; university professors will resort to barter by using the bonds handed to them as a compensation; mass media will no more be the media but the end of communication, and so on.

This is the third scenario of the national reality, which goes beyond the agreements signed by the government and opposition groups.

The revoking referendum is a commitment between Hugo Chávez' administration and the Democratic Coordinator. That is true. It should be held in a peaceful and democratic way. That is desirable. The Democratic Coordinator should fight so that the voting is held as soon as possible. That is its duty. The problem is that, beyond good intentions, a real revolution has never existed within the framework of a representative democracy. Agreements, as Mendoza said, are not magical.

Translated by Patricia Torres

<a href=www.vheadline.com>Venezuela's Electronic news Posted: Monday, June 09, 2003 By: Patrick J. O'Donoghue

Veteran historian and political analyst, Domingo Alberto Rangel say the disarming issue is a permanent feature in all the opposition's petitions ... "general secretary of the cadaverous Confederation of Trade Unions (CTV),  Manuel Cova went so far as to demand disarming of civilians in six months ... he forgot to ask Washington to send the Marines." That's what it would take to disarm civilians in Venezuela. 

Rangel maintains that Venezuela is armed to the teeth. The US State Department declared that it would suspend all arms sales to Venezuela but the State stops functioning at the entrance of Caracas' barrios where the law of the jungle starts. To survive one needs two weapons: the revolver or machine gun and cunning or sympathy , friendship.

"In Venezuela, there are two powers, two States, two societies: that of the urbanizations and that of the barrios ... the urbanizations where the civil sector holds sway and the barrios where the natural sector rules."

The neighborhood warlord is Head of State with his entourage and his armed guard.  If there are two states in Venezuela,  it's only natural that there are two armies. "We have the Armed Force (FAN) and thousands of armies ... it's a reality that everybody knows about but nobody makes public ...  disarm in six months? ... it would be a job for General Tommy Franks."

Rangel maintains that battles have already taken place ever since the civil sector army and the natural sector armies clashed on February 27, 1989 (Caracazo) ... "the barrio armies made a mistake and withdrew to the hillsides leaving unarmed protesters that had acted as a shield unprotected." The barrios started re-arming after that and international arms-traffickers fed but Russia, Israel and Belgium made a killing. 

"Over the last couple of years middle-class urbanizations have been purchasing arms since they lost confidence in the FAN to protect them ... I was told that in Valencia, El Trigal, El Vinedo and other urbanizations have set up barricades, as though they were at war."

Hammering home, Rangel states it's an impossible task to disarm the population ... " the army guessed as much on 27F ... who is going to disarm the barrios and withdraw barricades in the urbanizations?" 

Rangel comments that there is one character that revolutionaries have overlooked in the barrios and urbanizations: the petty criminal who mugs and robs and yet knows about guns and has gunfights with the police at night. "I'm not saying he should be enrolled ... I'm just suggesting we should not ignore his existence ... he can fight better than any cop or soldier." 

<a href=www.vheadline.com>Venezuela's Electronic News Posted: Monday, June 09, 2003 By: Patrick J. O'Donoghue

National Electoral College (CNE) president Romulo Rangel has ruled out the Sumate organization as an electoral observer group, saying that in organizing the opposition signature campaign in January for anything going, it has taken on a political role and is clearly identified with one side of the political spectrum. 

Rangel says he has no problem with Sumate as one of the recall referendum political tendencies but rules out any "independent" role.  

Critics say the Andres Bello Catholic University (UCAB) Observers Network is another organization that has lost its independent observer status because of the partisan stance of its leaders, even though it was on the CNE 2000 mega-elections roster, along with the Federation of Chambers of Industry & Commerce (Fedecamaras). The Bolivarian Workers Front (FBT) is another non-starter ... perhaps the only independent groups are PROVEA and Red de Apoyo.

Among the groups approved for the July 30 and November 8, 2000 elections were the following: Red de Veedores de la UCAB, Asamblea de Dios, A.C de Vecinos por Venezuela, Jovenes por Venezuela, Universidades Nacionales, Grupo social Cesap, Fedecamaras, Grupo Caruao, Federacion de Estudiantes Universitarios, Fundabeo, Frente Bolivariano de Trabajadores (FBT) , Fundacion Dale al Voto, Iniciativa Propia  and five other regional groups.