sg.biz.yahoo.com Monday January 13, 9:19 PM

CARACAS -(Dow Jones)- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said over the weekend that he'd punish striking locally owned bank Banesco (E.BNS) by withdrawing all military funds deposited in the bank.

Military deposits make up about 10% of Banesco's 2.4 trillion bolivars ($1=VEB1,513.25) in deposits, the bank's president, Juan Escotet, said in a televised interview.

Banesco, Venezuela's fourth largest bank, has a market share of about 11.3%, according to the Banking Superintendent.

ADVERTISEMENT Escotet said he hoped to meet with Chavez and work the problem out.

Meanwhile, the Banking Superintendent said it's opening "administrative procedures" against all banks that are ignoring its order to maintain normal operating hours between 8:30 A.M. (1230 GMT) and 3:30 P.M.

Banks have mostly been open just three hours a day in support of a 43-day-old general strike against Chavez's leadership, and many shut completely Thursday and Friday but reopened with the restricted hours Monday.

Other local banks include subsidiaries of Citigroup Inc.'s (C) Citibank and Spanish conglomerates Banco Santander Central Hispano SA (STD) and Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA (BBV).

Opposition leaders are demanding that Chavez agree to call elections in 30 days if he loses a Feb. 2 nonbinding vote on whether he should remain president.

Chavez has thus far maintained the constitution only requires him to accept the results of a possible recall referendum next August, the midpoint of his term.

Chavez's critics blame his left-leaning policies for country's deepening economic crisis with a likely 8% contraction in 2002, amid 17% unemployment, and 31% annualized inflation sparked by a 46% devaluation of the bolivar.

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

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

www.heraldsun.news.com.au

President Hugo Chavez has threatened to revoke the broadcasting licences of Venezuela's main television and radio stations, accusing them of supporting opposition efforts to overthrow him through a six-week-old strike. The threat came as Venezuelan troops fired teargas to drive back tens of thousands of anti-government protesters.

Yesterday Mr Chavez said the stations were abusing their power by constantly broadcasting opposition advertisements promoting the strike.

The strike has dried up oil revenue in the world's fifth biggest oil exporting country but hasn't rattled the President's resolve to stay in power.

Venezuela's main TV stations have not broadcast any advertisements during the strike except the opposition ads.

Media owners have said they adopted that stance because Mr Chavez incited his supporters to attack reporters.

The oil producers' organisation OPEC has agreed to increase production to try to stabilise the price of oil.

www.greenbaynewschron.com By Joe Knaapen For The News-Chronicle

The American Dream - a way of life based on individual freedom, religious faith and free enterprise - is alive and well ... in Venezuela.

The sounds of freedom resound throughout the South American country every night when average people protest against an ungodly government by banging pots and pans for hours into the night.

Sounds of freedom exploded more often as 2002 ticked into 2003 when a general strike shut down the economic system in Venezuela.

"Imagine a country that totally stopped working for a month," said Peter Blanco, an independent business owner from Venezuela. "I live in a country where you can't dream about owning a Jaguar or Mercedes. You need to put food on the table."

Speaking on leadership at a recent convention in Atlanta, Blanco described how last year's protest against the government of President Hugo Chavez led to the current protests to force the president out of office. A general strike in December cut oil production in the world's fourth-largest oil-producing country by 90 percent.

"Eighty-two percent of the people don't want the government" of Chavez because of its corruption and ties to Fidel Castro in Cuba and Saddam Hussein in Iraq, Blanco said. There are indications aspects of the political turmoil stem from international terrorists - possibly a tie to al-Qaida - and drug-running guerrillas on the border with Columbia, Blanco said.

"We have learned from history that Cuba does not have the solution," he said. More important for the audience of business leaders - including several from Door County - was Blanco's message for people in other parts of the world, especially the United States, to guard their freedom.

"Don't be complacent; don't give up your freedom. Your country needs to get stronger," Blanco said.

The alternative, he said, was for complacency to erode into tyranny with the loss of individual freedoms taken for granted in the United States.

"We had our freedom, but we got complacent. We lost it," Blanco said. "Now the whole country has regained its political interest. Imagine a peaceful march held by 2.5 million people."

A series of coups and coup attempts in the last decade upset the stability of the South American country that is home to about 25 million people.

Blanco said the United States should relearn from the situation in Venezuela about how precious are its freedoms and how delicate is the balance that prevents complacency from dismantling free institutions.

The United States remains unique in the world with its political and economic system based on the motto of "In God We Trust" and pledge to a flag that unites the nation "under God," Blanco said.

By contrast, he continued, political leaders in Venezuela have "never been godly," and until godly leaders step forward, the country will struggle with corruption. But, Blanco said, "don't feel bad for us; that is our battle."

When the conference ended, Blanco said he was "going home" to Venezuela and would be "in every march - pray for us."

Most of the details described by Blanco can be verified easily on Internet sites as diverse as the United State Central Intelligence Agency and the World Travel Guide.

But the personal message delivered by Blanco and his wife brought the threat of the political retaliation to a personal, immediate level. From television sets in the conference center, news broadcasts displayed protests in Venezuela even as Blanco was speaking.

Blanco learned the basic principles of being an American as a student at Charleston (S.C.) Southern University in the 1990s. His dream at the time was to play major league baseball. Blanco could bat well enough to earn letters all four years of college, but his arm strength wasn't what the pros wanted in a third baseman, so he ventured into the world of business.

Returning to Venezuela, Blanco began establishing his business and recruited the woman who became his wife. Marjorie Blanco knows the political situation from a different point of view: Her father was one of the few military officers who refused to go along with Chavez during an attempted coup in 1992 and his successful takeover in 1997. As a result, her father had to be secreted out of the country, and she is reluctant to discuss details about her family.

Despite the risks, Mrs. Blanco stood by her husband as he spoke out against the tyranny of the Venezuelan government.

"We'd be lying to our group if we just ran away," she said. "We went out in a peaceful protest a year ago, April 11, 2002, and got shot at by government troops."

Blanco said he wouldn't have known how much he and his countrymen had lost if he hadn't been exposed to principles of freedom while studying in the United States.

The key to those freedoms, Blanco reminded his audience, was leaders who linked their lives and decisions to God.

"We have to stop putting our trust in human beings and look to God," Blanco said.

www.miami.com Posted on Mon, Jan. 13, 2003 BY CHRISTINA HOAG choag@herald.com

From airlines to oil refineries, traders to soft-drink bottlers, U.S. companies that do business with Venezuela are reeling from the effects of the South American nation's unrelenting 42-day-old national strike.

''We're all in pain,'' said Francisco González, president of the Venezuelan American Chamber of Commerce of the United States, which represents some 300 Venezuelan-linked businesses. ``It's worrisome. Some businesses have had to close, others are desperately looking for new clients.''

The strike, called Dec. 2 by opposition leaders to pressure leftist President Hugo Chávez out of power, has virtually shuttered Venezuela's commercial sector and paralyzed its vital oil exports.

Losses are now spilling over into South Florida, which has traditionally counted Venezuela as one of its top three international trading partners as well as a key source of shopping-loving tourists.

Under normal conditions, 50,000 Venezuelans come to Miami per month, typically spending $1,200 to $1,500 each. Visitors double over the December holidays, according to the Venezuelan Chamber.

But November witnessed the arrival of only 7,000 Venezuelans in Miami, González said. ''Do the math and you can see the loss in revenue for Miami-Dade County,'' he said.

New visa restrictions will choke that tourist market even further. Fearing an influx of visitors who don't want to return to a nation careening toward civil war, the State Department announced last month that the Caracas embassy will not renew or issue new visas to Venezuelan nationals as of Jan. 20.

Airlines have trimmed their operations accordingly. United Airlines shut down its office in the Venezuelan capital and canceled its daily Miami-Caracas flight, while American Airlines has suspended its routes to Caracas from Dallas/Fort Worth and San Juan, Puerto Rico, until Jan. 31.

For security reasons, the carrier has changed the schedules of its remaining four Miami-Caracas flights so crews and planes do not have to stay overnight in Venezuela.

The crisis, which shows no sign of abating, is exacting a particularly heavy toll on South Florida's trade sector.

''We have merchandise sitting in warehouses without possibility of shipping it,'' said Alberto Villegas, president of Pantrade, a Miami importer-exporter who relies on Venezuela for about 40 percent of his business. ``The shipping lines don't want to go there.''

The trade flow has dried up so completely that Xiomara Castillo decided to temporarily shutter her Hialeah export firm, Transoceanic Trade, which sends heavy machinery and parts to the country's state oil company Petróleos de Venezuela and mining firms.

''It's not safe to send the shipments,'' she said. ``The situation is very volatile, you don't know if the ports and customs are working or if there's gasoline for the truckers to deliver the goods.''

Ports are in fact technically open, said Bruce Brecheisen, vice president of Seaboard Marine in Miami, but that did not keep the shipping line from suspending sailings. ''We had to divert Venezuela-bound cargo to Cartagena, Colombia, and Río Haina in the Dominican Republic,'' he said. ``We're waiting for the situation to improve.''

The one item that Venezuelans are sending abroad is money. Coral Gables-based Commerce Bank, owned by Caracas' Mercantil Servicios Financieros, has recently seen a 25 to 50 percent spike in deposits from Venezuelan clients.

''The purchase of dollars by individuals has gone up,'' bank Chairman Guillermo Villar said. ``We're seeing more flow [of money] coming in.''

Oil companies wish that were the case. The strike has slowed the flow of petroleum from the world's fifth-largest oil exporter from 2.5 million barrels per day to 400,000.

The situation is difficult at Tulsa, Okla.-based Citgo Petroleum, which is wholly owned by Petróleos de Venezuela and receives about half of its crude from Venezuela. The company's four U.S. refineries process 865,000 barrels of oil a day to supply 14,000-plus gasoline stations across the United States.

The company has so far managed to keep pipelines flowing thanks to the spot market, but the crude crunch may get so severe that the U.S. government, a favorite target of Chávez's incendiary rhetoric, may have to bail it out as a matter of national security.

''We talked with the Department of Energy early on and told them we may reach a point where we may need to borrow from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and repay it at a later date,'' spokesman Kent Young said. ``The DOE hasn't made a decision yet.''

Foreign companies operating in Venezuela are in a bind. They don't want to be seen as actively getting involved in domestic politics, but at the same time if they start operating, they run a risk of violent attacks.

Most multinationals are at a standstill simply due to practical reasons. Operations at Venezuela's Coca-Cola bottler, Miami-based Panamco, are involuntarily paralyzed as most employees cannot report to work due to scarce gasoline supplies, Chief Financial Officer Annette Franqui said.

''It's not feasible to operate,'' she said. ``We sold one day during the beginning of the strike, but right now plants are not operating. We don't want to produce because product becomes obsolete as we cannot guarantee delivery.''

With Venezuela's gross domestic product predicted to plummet a stunning 12 percent in the first quarter of 2003, Venezuelan business people -- such as Ariel Acosta-Rubio, president of the Churromanía fast-food franchise -- are looking to the United States for salvation.

Acosta-Rubio is set to open five new churro outlets throughout Florida by April. His 35 Venezuelan stores are under lock and key.

''The losses are gigantic. The franchisees call me every day, they don't know what to do,'' he said from his Brickell Avenue office. ``The business here is going to have to help the businesses there get back on their feet. Thank God for the United States!''

www.chron.com Jan. 12, 2003, 10:09PM By MAE GHALWASH

The political, social and economic turbulence that started in April in Venezuela has sparked a patriotic fervor among members of the Venezuelan-American community in Houston, prompting them to reach out to each other and rediscover their culture.

Hundreds of Venezuelan-Americans have turned out for four major cultural and social gatherings -- during which not a hint of politics was raised -- since April, said Cristal Montanez Joslin, a spokeswoman for the Venezuelan-American Association of Texas, which arranged the events.

"Many people don't like political activities, so we have to work on what people like: the culture that is being lost," Joslin said.

"The culture is not being showcased or shared," she added. "It is our responsibility to develop the cultural talents within the community."

Venezuela's troubles began when clashes erupted over President Hugo Chavez's state oil policies. Chavez survived an earlier coup attempt, but the country remains divided over his rule. Chavez's opponents, mostly members of the elite oil sector, claim he is destroying the country's democracy and economy. His supporters, mostly the poor, accuse the oil giants of using the sector to augment their own bank accounts.

In December, oil workers started a strike to force Chavez from office, and the streets of Caracas have been filled with mass demonstrations in support of the strike and counterdemonstrations in support of Chavez. The strike has crippled Venezuela's oil production, the country's chief source of revenue. Venezuela is the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries' third-largest producer.

The tensions in Venezuela spread to Houston, with anti-Chavez activists staging demonstrations in front of the Venezuelan consulate, five in December alone.

Although those protests received wide local attention, each attracted just over 100 protesters, said Joslin. But nearly 500 Venezuelan-Americans attended each of four cultural and sporting events, Joslin said.

Some Venezuelan-American parents used the cultural events to introduce their American-raised children to their heritage. Children who did not read Spanish, or knew little of Venezuelan music, literature or dance, were soon reading and memorizing songs and poetry in Spanish to recite at the gatherings.

For one event, a children's choir was formed to sing Spanish songs, while other children performed Venezuela's national Joropo dance and still others performed in a musical recital featuring the Venezuelan cuatro, a small, guitar-like instrument.

The most popular of the events was a baseball game, which brought Venezuelan-American teenagers and their families together with others in their community, Joslin said. Some 500 people attended that event.

"I have met more Venezuelans since April than in my almost 25 years here in Houston," said Joslin.