sg.biz.yahoo.com Wednesday January 22, 1:11 AM 01-21-03 1156ET

Venezuela '02 Auto Sales Fell 41% On Year To 128,623 Units -2

CARACAS -(Dow Jones)- A total of 128,623 vehicles were sold in Venezuela in 2002, down about 41% from 216,977 units in 2001, the Venezuelan Automobile Industry Chamber reported Tuesday.

Sales were severely affected by a 92% drop in December to 1,627 units as a general strike that began the second day of the month shut thousands of businesses in various sectors including the automotive industry.

For the year, as a whole, the sales were slightly better than predictions made by industry officials who had forecasted an almost 50% drop due to higher interest rates and higher prices, particularly for imports, due to the bolivar's ($1=VEB1920) 46% devaluation in 2002. The currency has since devalued more than 25% this year.

Sales will likely be slow in January as the strike continues, with opposition leaders refusing to lift the action until President Hugo Chavez agrees to call early elections.

Chavez's critics blame his left-leaning policies for the country's deepening economic crisis, as the economy likely contracted about 8% last year amid unemployment of 17% and inflation of 31%.

Chavez has said the country's problems are due to an "economic coup" led by his opponents.

In 2002, General Motors Corp. (GM) led sales with 38,044 units, followed by Toyota Motor Corp. (TM) and Ford Motor Co. (F) with 20,934 and 17,971 vehicles, respectively.

-By Jehan Senaratna, Dow Jones Newswires; 58212 564 1339; jehan.senaratna@dowjones.com

www.morningstar.ca 21 Jan 03(12:52 PM) |  E-mail Article to a Friend By Richard Mably

LONDON (Reuters) - World oil prices set new two-year highs on Tuesday for fear of war in Iraq and then eased as cracks started to appear in a Venezuelan strike that has cut deep into exports to the United States.

U.S. light crude at 1745 GMT was down 21 cents at $33.70 a barrel after setting a fresh high of $34.52 in early electronic trade. London Brent blend eased 39 cents to $30.26 a barrel. President George W. Bush said it was now clear to him that Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was failing to comply with U.N. disarmament demands.

"He's delaying. He's deceiving. He's playing hide and seek with inspectors," Bush told reporters at the White House. "It's clear to me now that he is not disarming ... Time is running out."

Oil dealers said the remarks appeared to leave little doubt that Washington was now close to authorising the use of military force against Baghdad.

But early price rises were contained by news from Venezuela that tanker pilots in Lake Maracaibo, a strategic export route, had ended their part in the seven-week-old nationwide strike.

"This is something that helps Chavez. A prerequisite to restart production is to get exports going, so this is a step in the right direction," said George Beranek of Washington's Petroleum Finance Company.

While an end to the tanker pilots' action in Venezuela can be expected to boost exports, shippers said deliveries were not likely to rise rapidly until foreign ship operators began using ports again.

Most of the opposition to President Hugo Chavez extended their strike into a 51st day, aiming to force the leftist leader to resign and call immediate elections.

A spokeswoman for striking oil workers said they intended to send a senior representative to Maracaibo later on Tuesday to try to persuade the pilots not to abandon their action.

"We still have 90 percent of oil workers on strike," she said.

LONG ROAD

Even an end to the strike might not bring lower oil prices immediately.

"It will be a long, hard road for Venezuela even back to 75 percent of previous production capacity," said Geoff Pyne, consultant to Sempra Energy.

"There is still the threat of war in Iraq and stocks are very low. Traders are going to see it as dangerous to sell at this point."

With Venezuelan exports running in recent weeks at just 500,000 barrels a day, a fifth of normal flows, crude stockpiles in the United States are close to 26-year lows.

"A lack of adequate commercial oil stocks in the U.S. and no nearby replacement for lost short-haul crude from Venezuela has left the oil supply chain stretched almost to breaking point," said London's Centre for Global Energy Studies.

"OPEC alone does not have sufficient readily available spare capacity to replace both Venezuela's and Iraq's oil exports, much less to cope with any supply disruptions from other Gulf producers that might result from any prolonged conflict in Iraq," the CGES said in a report to clients.

OPEC's biggest producer Saudi Arabia already is tapping into the world's only significant spare capacity. Industry sources told Reuters at the weekend that Riyadh could be pumping nine million barrels daily by February, up a million barrels a day from December flows.

If OPEC is unable to cover a dual outage from Iraq and Venezuela, the Paris-based International Energy Agency is expected to release some of its emergency strategic reserves for the first time since January 1991 during the Gulf War.

"Were an attack to be launched on Iraq, consuming country governments would have to utilise quickly their abundant strategic oil stocks to ensure adequate supplies," said the CGES.

Oil dealers are counting down toward a major report on January 27 from U.N. weapons inspectors on whether Iraq has met its disarmament commitments.

Chief weapons inspector Hans Blix delivers his judgement to a full U.N. sitting next Monday and the 15-member Security Council evaluates the report on January 29.

Blix spoke to reporters in Athens after a two-day visit to Baghdad. "The Iraqis became aware that the world is disappointed with their declaration," he said of Iraq's 12,000 page dossier.

"We feel the declaration has not answered a great many questions."

www.amnestyusa.org AI Index: AMR 53/002/2003 Publish date: 21 January 2003

As the international community is taking an increasingly active role in the Venezuelan crisis, Amnesty International today said that a long-term, comprehensive human rights vision must be one of the guiding principles in seeking ways to avoid a political breakdown and further polarization of the situation.

"Long-standing disrespect for human rights is one of the roots of the crisis, so it is only natural that national and international instruments set up to protect those rights should provide a framework to promote its resolution," the organization added.

While much of the debate at the moment is focused on electoral issues, Amnesty International urged the international community -- and in particular the "group of friends" and international and regional human rights organizations -- to promote a comprehensive strategy based on the full respect for human rights as a key to strengthening the rule of law.

Amnesty International proposed human rights agenda for the Venezuelan crisis focuses on:

• strengthening justice - including by guaranteeing the independence of the judiciary -- and eradicating impunity for past and present human rights violations through impartial and thorough investigations and prompt trials;

• ensuring that the armed forces and security forces do not play a political role, remain subordinated to the civilian authorities and that they act impartially and in full compliance with standards on the use of force;

• guaranteeing freedom of expression and the right to information;

• enabling human rights defenders to carry out their work without fear;

• implementing concrete and effective policies to combat the extreme poverty and exclusion which has contributed to the extreme polarization of Venezuelan society. It is the responsibility of all political actors in Venezuela to ensure that these issues are seriously and effectively addressed. When exercising their legitimate rights to freedom of expression, assembly and association, opposition sectors should take responsibility for choosing protest methods that do not undermine constitutional guarantees.

"Far too often all parties involved in the crisis have made an instrumental use of human rights, appropriating, manipulating and distorting the issue to use it as yet another weapon for polarization and confrontation," Amnesty International said.

"It is now time to see the full respect of all the human rights of all Venezuelans as one of the cornerstones on which to build long-lasting, viable solutions to the crisis. The international community has an important role to play in this respect," the organization added.

Background

César Gaviria, Secretary General of the Organization of American States, has been facilitating negotiations between the opposition and the government in order to achieve a peaceful resolution to the crisis. So far these negotiations have not produced concrete results. The political crisis which has been threatening political stability in Venezuela for the last year reached a new stage with the opposition general strike which began on 2 December and is now in its eighth week. The extremely tense situation is in danger of leading to serious human rights violations.

As a response to the heightened tension and the apparent unwillingness of the two sides to find a peaceful negotiated solution to the crisis, a number of international government have proposed a group of "amigo de Venezuela" countries to further encourage a negotiated solution. The countries which form this group are the USA, Brazil, Spain, Portugal, Mexico and Chile.

Source: Amnesty International, International Secretariat, 1 Easton Street, WC1X 8DJ, London, United Kingdom

www.washingtonpost.com By Alexandra Olson Associated Press Writer Tuesday, January 21, 2003; 12:41 PM

CARACAS, Venezuela –– Former President Carter said Tuesday he drafted two proposals for leading Venezuela toward elections and ending a deadly 51-day-old strike intended to force President Hugo Chavez from office.

Carter made his proposals after attending negotiations between the government and opposition and meeting separately with Chavez and strike leaders. His Atlanta-based Carter Center, the Organization of American States and the United Nations are sponsoring the talks.

One proposal would amend Venezuela's constitution to allow for early general elections and to cut terms in office, Carter said. The amendment would have to be approved by Congress and voters.

Venezuela's opposition would call off the strike and, in return, the government – which has a majority in Congress – would agree to move quickly to adopt the amendment and organize early elections, Carter said.

Carter's second proposal calls for both sides to wait for a recall referendum on Chavez's rule, which the constitution says can happen halfway into the president's six-year term. In Chavez's case, that is August.

The Nobel Peace Prize winner said before leaving Venezuela that the government and opposition would receive his proposals later Tuesday.

"We've been pleased with the reception we've had from both the government and the opposition," Carter said. "My opinion is that both sides want to end an impasse that is destroying the economy."

Business leaders, labor unions and opposition parties launched the strike Dec. 2 to demand that Chavez resign or call early elections.

Chavez said Tuesday he told Carter he would abide by any constitutional changes.

"If the people were to decide it should be four years ... I have no problem with that," Chavez said.

Strike leader Carlos Ortega, president of the 1 million-member Confederation of Venezuelan Workers, said earlier that Chavez never would accept a vote on his rule.

The strike has crippled Venezuela's oil industry, which was the world's fifth-largest exporter and a major supplier to the United States.

The strike has slashed production by more than two-thirds and caused domestic shortages of gasoline, food and drinking water. It has cost Venezuela $4 billion, according to the government, and contributed to the plummeting of the bolivar currency.

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries said it will be difficult to make up for shortages of Venezuelan oil in the United States because many U.S. refineries are geared to process heavier Venezuelan crude.

After an early surge Tuesday, European Brent crude fell to $30 a barrel after Venezuelan tanker pilots announced they would resume work – which could convince foreign tanker companies to dock at Venezuelan ports. Foreign companies refused to do so during the strike for security and insurance reasons.

At least six people have died in political violence since the strike began, including a man killed Monday in clashes between Chavez supporters and opposition marchers. The violence in Charallave, 20 miles south of Caracas, also injured dozens.

Six countries – Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Portugal, Spain and the United States – have begun an initiative called "Friends of Venezuela" to help end the crisis. Diplomats from the six nations will meet at OAS headquarters in Washington on Friday.

The National Elections Council, accepting an opposition petition, agreed to organize a Feb. 2 nonbinding referendum asking citizens whether Chavez should step down.

Chavez says the vote would be unconstitutional and his supporters have challenged it in the Supreme Court. But the president has welcomed a possible binding referendum halfway through his term.

The 48-year-old Chavez was elected in 1998 and re-elected in 2000 on promises to redistribute the country's vast oil wealth among the poor majority.

His opponents accusing him of steering the economy into recession with leftist policies and running roughshod over democratic institutions.

www.cbc.ca 04:29 PM EST Jan 21

CARACAS (AP) - Former U.S. president Jimmy Carter said Tuesday he drafted two proposals for leading Venezuela toward elections and ending a deadly 51-day-old strike intended to force President Hugo Chavez from office.

Carter made his proposals after attending negotiations between the government and opposition and meeting separately with Chavez and strike leaders. His Atlanta-based Carter Center, the Organization of American States and the United Nations are sponsoring the talks.

One proposal would amend Venezuela's constitution to allow for early general elections and to cut terms in office, Carter said. The amendment would have to be approved by Congress and voters.

Venezuela's opposition would call off the strike and, in return, the government - which has a majority in Congress - would agree to move quickly to adopt the amendment and organize early elections, Carter said.

Carter's second proposal calls for both sides to wait for a recall referendum on Chavez's rule, which the constitution says can happen halfway into the president's six-year term. In Chavez's case, that is August.

Carter, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, said before leaving Venezuela that the government and opposition would receive his proposals later Tuesday.

"We've been pleased with the reception we've had from both the government and the opposition," Carter said. "My opinion is that both sides want to end an impasse that is destroying the economy."

Business leaders, labour unions and opposition parties launched the strike Dec. 2 to demand that Chavez resign or call early elections.

Chavez said Tuesday he told Carter he would abide by any constitutional changes.

"If the people were to decide it should be four years ... I have no problem with that," Chavez said.

Strike leader Carlos Ortega, president of the one million-member Confederation of Venezuelan Workers, said earlier that Chavez never would accept a vote on his rule.

The strike has crippled Venezuela's oil industry, which was the world's fifth-largest exporter and a major supplier to the United States.

The strike has slashed production by more than two-thirds and caused domestic shortages of gasoline, food and drinking water. It has cost Venezuela $4 billion US, according to the government, and contributed to the plummeting of the bolivar currency.

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries said it will be difficult to make up for shortages of Venezuelan oil in the United States because many U.S. refineries are geared to process heavier Venezuelan crude.

After an early surge Tuesday, European Brent crude fell to $30 US a barrel after Venezuelan tanker pilots announced they would resume work, which could convince foreign tanker companies to dock at Venezuelan ports. Foreign companies refused to do so during the strike for security and insurance reasons.

At least six people have died in political violence since the strike began, including a man killed Monday in clashes between Chavez supporters and opposition marchers. The violence in Charallave, about 30 kilometres south of Caracas, also injured dozens.

Six countries - Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Portugal, Spain and the United States - have begun an initiative called "Friends of Venezuela" to help end the crisis. Diplomats from the six countries will meet at OAS headquarters in Washington on Friday.

The National Elections Council, accepting an opposition petition, agreed to organize a Feb. 2 nonbinding referendum asking citizens whether Chavez should step down.

Chavez says the vote would be unconstitutional and his supporters have challenged it in the Supreme Court. But the president has welcomed a possible binding referendum halfway through his term.

Chavez, 48, was elected in 1998 and re-elected in 2000 on promises to redistribute the country's vast oil wealth among the poor majority.

His opponents accusing him of steering the economy into recession with leftist policies and running roughshod over democratic institutions.