www.vheadline.com Posted: Monday, February 17, 2003 By: David Coleman

Former 1st National Assembly (AN) president Willian Lara says that the owners of Venezuelans print & broadcast media have raised objections to the draft Law on Social Responsibility in Radio & TV because they are desperate to retain the privileges they enjoyed through 40+ years of pseudo-democracy.  "They are attempting to preserve the corrupt status quo they had had before Chavez Frias became President and they are prepared to put their demands ahead of any concern for Venezuelan society at large."

The Movimiento Quinto Republica (MVR) deputy told reporters that "in Venezuela, where we are constructing a participative form of democracy, where citizens are equals among equals, we are at the stage of defining which way to go in television, in radio ... they also have the right to participate as much in the design and production of program content as the viewer or listener ... and this is the perspective that is assumed in the draft law on Social Responsibility in Radio & Television.

"Of course, I understand that today's proprietors have practically a monopoly, super-powerful ... they do not feel they need to consult anyone, much less enter into dialogue with anybody to regulate program content or to give any opportunity to independent producers."

"At the same time they must learn to discuss what they are doing with the users and they should ensure that their broadcast message adheres to values expressed in the Constitution and become a real instrument of information and entertainment as well as educative, contributing to what is expressed in our Magna Carta.  What we intend to do with this law is to develop the national Venezuelan culture and the fundamental rights of the population in matters of health, education etc., in accord with the administration of the whole spectrum of broadcasting as detailed in the existing Organic Law of Telecommunications."

The draft Law on Social Responsibility in Radio & TV contains 150 articles, and was approved in a first reading in plenary session of the National Assembly last week before being remitted to the Permanent Commission on Science & Technogy's Media Committee where deputies will revise the bill ahead of a second reading and discussion of each article in Parliament.

www.iht.com Juan Forero The New York Times Tuesday, February 18, 2003   CARACAS The story line is usually simple: poor girl meets rich man, falls in love and is in for madcap high jinks as parallel worlds collide. Or it is about a fiercely independent, successful woman who, following years of loneliness, finds love, loses love and then finds it again. This is the world of Venezuelan soap operas, the sappy, drippy daily dramas that captivate millions by sticking to a proven formula. For more than 40 years, it has worked - soap operas are as much an icon of Venezuela as oil and beauty queens. The telenovelas, as they are known, dominate nightly programming and rival their Mexican and Brazilian counterparts for their popularity overseas. However, with Venezuela in political tumult, coming off an economically devastating two-month anti-government strike, the scriptwriters of soaps like "My Fat Beauty" and "Intimate Underwear" are asking themselves whether they should not inject something new into the fables. It is not that love is going by the wayside. "Every telenovela is a story of love," a prominent program director said emphatically. But several leading scriptwriters are convinced that soaps need to reflect the reality of Venezuela, and that reality is a country roiled by protests and the daily rants of a pugnacious left-leaning president, Hugo Chavez, and his determined opponents. It is society so polarized that government backers refer to the upper classes as the "squalid ones" and the president's adversaries see his supporters as uncouth riff-raff. Leonardo Padron, a scriptwriter with the Venevision television station, sees delicious possibilities. He is the first who is planning to infuse his upcoming soap, "Sweet Thing," with a bit of up-to-date crumbling Venezuela. "As a writer, I am absolutely seduced by the idea of making a chronicle about what is happening," said Padron, who has made a string of successful soaps over 10 years. "I'm going to tell a story of love but in the context of what we are living," he continued. "I am going to try to create a cocktail that will have a dose of escapism, a dose of humor, but also a dose of reality." His work, though, will not be easy in a world in which television executives flinch at experiments. That is especially true now the Chavez, angry about anti-government news programs, is proposing restrictions on the media. So instead of Padron's initial idea - a poor girl from a pro-Chavez barrio falls in love with a "squalid one" - his tale will be largely metaphorical. The antagonist, he said, will be the president of a company who becomes intoxicated with power, a clear reference to Chavez. "Perhaps by the 15th show, people will say, 'That guy is just like Chavez,' but this will be without my saying that I am telling the story of the president," said Padron with a wry smile. Not everyone is convinced a new formula will work. Scripts must speak to the large masses of poor people, many of them Chavez supporters who might reject telenovelas with a political bent. Indeed, scriptwriters say the big question they face as they embark on writing 150-hour stories is whether viewers want more politics in a country infused with politics. "The conventional telenovela where the story is about love - that is what the people want to see, romance," said Arquimedes Rivero, a producer who has done as much as anyone to create the Venezuelan telenovela. "The people do not want discussion and conflict." Still, as the two main Telenovela studios here prepare to film a new string of soap operas this year, scriptwriters and producers are discussing ways of carefully incorporating the everyday into scripts that will remain heavy on love and betrayal, intrigue and jealousy. "It is inevitable," said Jose Simon Escalona, who oversees dramatic programming for Radio Caracas Television. "The telenovela looks to appeal to the masses, and to do that it has to explore the intimacies, how the people feel. We look to do telenovelas that talk to Venezuelans, that understand Venezuelans." Some scriptwriters said they would follow the old recipe, until Padron or others succeed with telenovelas that deal with the political. Perla Farias, a scriptwriter who is sticking to the basics, said: "I do not have anything finished just now, but it is going to be about love, a very complex love story."

www.iht.com Juan Forero The New York Times Tuesday, February 18, 2003   CARACAS The story line is usually simple: poor girl meets rich man, falls in love and is in for madcap high jinks as parallel worlds collide. Or it is about a fiercely independent, successful woman who, following years of loneliness, finds love, loses love and then finds it again. This is the world of Venezuelan soap operas, the sappy, drippy daily dramas that captivate millions by sticking to a proven formula. For more than 40 years, it has worked - soap operas are as much an icon of Venezuela as oil and beauty queens. The telenovelas, as they are known, dominate nightly programming and rival their Mexican and Brazilian counterparts for their popularity overseas. However, with Venezuela in political tumult, coming off an economically devastating two-month anti-government strike, the scriptwriters of soaps like "My Fat Beauty" and "Intimate Underwear" are asking themselves whether they should not inject something new into the fables. It is not that love is going by the wayside. "Every telenovela is a story of love," a prominent program director said emphatically. But several leading scriptwriters are convinced that soaps need to reflect the reality of Venezuela, and that reality is a country roiled by protests and the daily rants of a pugnacious left-leaning president, Hugo Chavez, and his determined opponents. It is society so polarized that government backers refer to the upper classes as the "squalid ones" and the president's adversaries see his supporters as uncouth riff-raff. Leonardo Padron, a scriptwriter with the Venevision television station, sees delicious possibilities. He is the first who is planning to infuse his upcoming soap, "Sweet Thing," with a bit of up-to-date crumbling Venezuela. "As a writer, I am absolutely seduced by the idea of making a chronicle about what is happening," said Padron, who has made a string of successful soaps over 10 years. "I'm going to tell a story of love but in the context of what we are living," he continued. "I am going to try to create a cocktail that will have a dose of escapism, a dose of humor, but also a dose of reality." His work, though, will not be easy in a world in which television executives flinch at experiments. That is especially true now the Chavez, angry about anti-government news programs, is proposing restrictions on the media. So instead of Padron's initial idea - a poor girl from a pro-Chavez barrio falls in love with a "squalid one" - his tale will be largely metaphorical. The antagonist, he said, will be the president of a company who becomes intoxicated with power, a clear reference to Chavez. "Perhaps by the 15th show, people will say, 'That guy is just like Chavez,' but this will be without my saying that I am telling the story of the president," said Padron with a wry smile. Not everyone is convinced a new formula will work. Scripts must speak to the large masses of poor people, many of them Chavez supporters who might reject telenovelas with a political bent. Indeed, scriptwriters say the big question they face as they embark on writing 150-hour stories is whether viewers want more politics in a country infused with politics. "The conventional telenovela where the story is about love - that is what the people want to see, romance," said Arquimedes Rivero, a producer who has done as much as anyone to create the Venezuelan telenovela. "The people do not want discussion and conflict." Still, as the two main Telenovela studios here prepare to film a new string of soap operas this year, scriptwriters and producers are discussing ways of carefully incorporating the everyday into scripts that will remain heavy on love and betrayal, intrigue and jealousy. "It is inevitable," said Jose Simon Escalona, who oversees dramatic programming for Radio Caracas Television. "The telenovela looks to appeal to the masses, and to do that it has to explore the intimacies, how the people feel. We look to do telenovelas that talk to Venezuelans, that understand Venezuelans." Some scriptwriters said they would follow the old recipe, until Padron or others succeed with telenovelas that deal with the political. Perla Farias, a scriptwriter who is sticking to the basics, said: "I do not have anything finished just now, but it is going to be about love, a very complex love story."

www.forbes.com Reuters, 02.17.03, 5:32 PM ET

CARACAS, Venezuela, Feb 17 (Reuters) - Venezuelan state oil firm PDVSA has begun construction of a 125,000 barrel per day plant to process orimulsion boiler fuel for export to China, tapping an initial investment of $360 million, PDVSA said on Monday. The construction follows a 2001 supply contract lasting 33 years between China National Petroleum (CNPC), parent of PetroChina <0857.HK> (nyse: PTR - news - people), and Venezuela's PDVSA. CNPC owns a 40 percent stake and PetroChina owns a 30 percent share of the contract. PDVSA owns the remaining 30 percent. Construction of the plant is slated to be finished by next year. The ground breaking came as Venezuela, the world's No. 5 oil exporter, struggles to restore its petroleum industry to pre-strike levels after a work stoppage started on Dec. 2. Orimulsion, a mixture of 70 percent extra heavy crude oil and 30 percent water, is produced in Venezuela and used for direct burning in power plants. PDVSA said in a statement the plant was being constructed in Anzoategui state. It would generate state income of $2.2 billion in the first 20 years of operations.

www.vheadline.com Posted: Monday, February 17, 2003 By: Patrick J. O'Donoghue

Venezuelan Confederation of Trade Unions (CTV)  general secretary Manuel Cova has proposed a signature campaign to choose a single opposition candidate to run against President Hugo Chavez Frias.

Cova says that diversity inside the Coordinadora Democratica (CD) is one of its strengths because it enriches the political debate … “so long as we don’t lose sight of the main objective, namely to place collective interests before anything else.”

The CTV leader, who has been given opposition media spotlight since the collapse of the national stoppage, suggests that a signature campaign would help void internal divisions and intrigues … “the candidacy would have the backing of millions of signatures.”

Cova says he agrees with the proposal of a constitutional amendment to shorten the presidential period and elections with a second round.

“It would help an opposition signature campaign, owing to diversity inside CD and would also help the problem of governance that we have in Venezuela because future rulers would be elected by a solid majority.”