<a href=www.voanews.com>VOA Sports 27 Mar 2003, 20:25 UTC

Venezuela is happy with the opportunity to play the United States in a soccer friendly on Saturday in Seattle. Venezuela has only one week to prepare for the match as they are ranked 69th in the world by FIFA. The United States is ranked 10th in the world.

It is Venezuela's first match since a 1-0 win over Uruguay in November. Better known for its baseball, Venezuela is slowly being recognized as a soccer nation after a series of upset wins during South American qualifying for the 2002 World Cup.

The chance to play the Americans came after Japan canceled a two-game tour, citing security reasons because of the war in Iraq. In their last meeting, Venezuela rallied from a 3-0 deficit to tie the United States 3-3 in the 1993 Copa America.

More Reuters, 03.26.03, 3:52 PM ET

CARACAS, Venezuela, March 26 (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez threatened on Wednesday to challenge the Central Bank in the Supreme Court if the nation's top financial body did not cut current interest rates. Venezuela's government, struggling with a fiscal crunch after an two-month opposition strike disrupted its vital oil production, is scrambling to revive the recession-bound economy of the world's No. 5 petroleum exporter. Active interest rates -- the rates banks charge on loans -- range from 25 to 65 percent depending on the type of credit, according to the Venezuelan Banking Association. Chavez said the government had urged the Central Bank to consider cutting rates. "If they do not respond in a positive way, the government cannot just sit with its arms folded. If we have to go to the Supreme Court we will," Chavez told a conference of small-business owners. "Interest rates of about 45 percent just kill small firms. In Venezuela those rates should be about 30 percent," he said. In February firebrand leftist Chavez proposed introducing controls on commercial bank lending rates for the first time in seven years. But he has not followed through with those proposals. Venezuela's economy is mired in recession after contracting nearly 9 percent last year. The strike from December to January by oil workers and opposition groups failed to oust Chavez but further dented the economy. Oil provides about 50 percent of the government's revenues. Private sector activity has further stagnated since late January when the government introduced a strict foreign exchange control system, which has shut off access to foreign currency for more than 60 days.

<a href=www.vheadline.com>Venezuela Electronic News Posted: Wednesday, March 26, 2003 By: Robert Rudnicki

Executive Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel insists that the only way out of the current political crisis engulfing Venezuela is for the opposition to settle for a revocatory referendum in August this year, the earliest date permitted under the current Constitution. 

Rangel says that attention should now be focused on updating the electoral register through the new National Electoral College (CNE)  as well as furthering the disarmament of the population and the government would be more than happy to accept international observers in both cases, the Vice President assures. 

Following his return from a tour of Latin American countries to discuss the Venezuelan political stalemate Rangel says that he held fruitful discussions with both Brazil and Chile, members of the Friends of Venezuela group, and that they agreed to play more pro-active roles in the resolution of the Venezuelan crisis.

www.vheadline.com Posted: Friday, March 21, 2003 By: Patrick J. O'Donoghue

Venezuela’s leading human rights group PROVEA has delivered a seething condemnation of the war on Iraq in a letter handed in to the United States (US), United Kingdom (UK) and Spanish Ambassadors.

Calling the war “illegal and illegitimate,” PROVEA forecasts it will bring unforeseen consequences to the whole world, especially in the realm of public security.

“We wish you express to our solidarity with the pain this illegitimate and illegal action will cause the Iraqi people, whose human rights have been trampled upon enough already … we expressed the same solidarity with the pain caused on 9/11.”

PROVEA adds that the military action has undermined the United Nations (UN) as an institution and placed the USA outside the international rule of law.

www.vheadline.com Posted: Wednesday, March 19, 2003 By: Patrick J. O'Donoghue

Bank robbers made off with 75 million bolivares at Banesco in Puerto La Cruz (Anzoategui) after kidnapping the bank manager and his family the night before and forcing him to take them to the bank in his own car.

A Police Detective Branch (CICPC) spokesman says that, when the robbers entered the bank, they told manager Norman Perez to open the vault and then made off with the cash before other employees started turning up for work.

To prevent the manager from ringing any alarm bell, the robbers tied him up with a live hand grenade bobby taped to his body. State Political & Security (DISIP) police bomb disposal experts deactivated the device, after bank employees arrived only to discover a gagged and frightened manager.