www.vheadline.com Posted: Sunday, March 02, 2003 By: Patrick J. O'Donoghue

Local authorities are reporting a slow start to traditional 'Carnaval' festivities. Vargas State beaches and restaurants had a disappointing day on Saturday. Locals are hoping that things will improve today and Monday. The transport police say traffic has been flowing smoothly on the Caracas-La Guaira highway … it is usually chocker-block during the Carnaval season.

Hoteliers have told reporters that it’s not a problem of gasoline and argue that people are just short of cash after the December-January national stoppage.

It has been noted that more people have been flocking to beaches near Barlovento but then again numbers are not up to last year‘s standards.

Caracas (Simon Bolivar) international airport at Maiquetia has reported a 30% drop in domestic and international flights to traditional Carnaval haunts, such as Porlamar, Maracaibo, Maturin, Miami, Orlando (USA) and Punta Cana (Dominican Republic).

Meanwhile, water is being rationed in Caracas as is now customary during the Carnaval period because of drought and low water levels at reservoirs. The rainy season is expected to start in May and people in Caracas have been asked not waste water in Carnaval excesses.

www.forbes.com Reuters, 03.01.03, 11:12 AM ET CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - Venezuela's inflation rate jumped to 5.5 percent in February, the highest monthly rise in nearly seven years as many imported goods became scarce after leftist President Hugo Chavez introduced foreign exchange controls. Annualized inflation rose to 38.7 percent compared with 13.7 percent a year ago as the nation's oil-dependent economy fell deeper into recession, the Central Bank reported Saturday. A recent national strike, called to try to force left-winger Chavez to resign and hold early elections, cut back oil output by the world's No. 5 oil exporter, forcing the government to introduce foreign exchange restrictions and price controls on basic goods earlier this year. The Central Bank blamed the sharp rise in February on the government's move to stop the purchase of U.S. dollars without state permission. "This figure was mainly due to ... new foreign exchange controls that directly affected imports and supplies ... and sparked distortions in the market," the bank said in a statement. Chavez set a fixed exchange rate of 1,600 bolivars to the U.S. dollar -- a 16 percent revaluation -- and put other restrictions in place to stop dollars being siphoned out of the country, further destabilizing an economy that had been reeling from the strike. While the strike petered out last month, the economy is still feeling the impact of lost oil production, the country's main source of revenue. Venezuela's inflation rate closed 2002 at 31.2 percent, the highest level in five years and more than double the 12.3 percent recorded in 2001. Inflation in January this year was 2.9 percent. The February rise was the highest since June, 1996, when prices rose 7.1 percent. The economy shrank 8.9 percent in 2002, according to the government. Economists and analysts polled by Reuters in February predicted a sharper contraction this year of more than 13 percent. The poll saw inflation rising to 42.8 percent in 2003 from 31.2 percent last year.

edition.cnn.com Friday, February 28, 2003 Posted: 1554 GMT

CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) -- If you thought Venezuela's political crisis seemed to be dragging for an impossibly long time -- you were right.

In a bizarre mass-malfunction, Venezuela's clocks are ticking too slowly due to a power shortage weakening the electric current nationwide. By the end of each day, the sluggish time pieces still have another 150 seconds to tick before they catch up to midnight.

"Everything that has to do with time-keeping has slowed down. If it's an electric clock, it's running slow," said Miguel Lara, general manager of the national power grid.

"Your computer isn't affected. Your television isn't affected. No other devices ... just clocks," he added.

The meltdown has taken a total 14 hours and 36 minutes from Venezuela's clocks over 12 of the past 13 months, he said.

Pointing fingers If you're two minutes late to the office, and everybody else is too, there's no problem.

-- Rene Osurna, shipping company employee

In a country fiercely divided between friends and foes of its leader, President Hugo Chavez, it isn't surprising some opponents have jokingly blamed the clock chaos on the president.

But instead it appears to be Mother Nature that lashed out against Father Time. The river powering a major hydroelectric plant in southeast Venezuela lost force due to a severe drought in February 2001. To prevent blackouts, the country slightly lowered the frequency of the current.

At least one time expert was caught off guard.

"It's the most bizarre thing I've ever heard of," said Dan Nied, head of the U.S.-based School of Horology, or the science of time measurement. "But yes, clocks would slow down."

For common quartz clocks, the slight drop in frequency slows the vibration of the crystal that regulates time keeping, he said, adding, "People must be going nuts."

What's the problem?

Venezuelans have taken their time troubles in their stride. An air traffic controller casually said that his office corrected its clocks every few days or months, without incident so far.

"Yes, it's been happening here. But we correct the clocks every three months and there's no problem," he said.

Many people on the streets of Caracas were only vaguely aware that their clocks had been slowing down.

"I wake with the sun," said Rene Osurna, who works at a shipping company. "And if you're two minutes late to the office, and everybody else is too, there's no problem."

www.washingtonpost.com Saturday, March 1, 2003; Page A18 Editorial

U.S. OFFICIALS long sought to play down the danger that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez poses by pointing out that his acts rarely matched his words. Mr. Chavez, who was elected president after promising a socialist revolution for Venezuela's poor majority, might talk about confiscating property, supporting leftist guerrillas in neighboring Colombia or admiring Fidel Castro and Saddam Hussein, but in practice he mostly remained within democratic boundaries.

Yet now the gap between Mr. Chavez's inflammatory rhetoric and his actions is narrowing. Having survived a strike by his opposition, Mr. Chavez has proclaimed 2003 the "year of the offensive"; so far he has taken steps to bring the economy under state control, eliminate independent media and decapitate the opposition. One of the strike's three top leaders has been arrested, while another has gone into hiding. Even more disturbing have been the unexplained murder of three dissident soldiers and an anti-Chavez protester and the explosion of bombs outside the Colombian and Spanish embassies. Government officials have denied responsibility, but these acts, too, followed Mr. Chavez's words: his labeling of dissident officers as "traitors" and his attacks on Colombia and Spain for "meddling."

Without more meddling, and soon, Venezuela will likely see the collapse of what was once one of Latin America's richest economies and strongest democracies. Mr. Chavez appears to have tired of his half-baked populism; now he seems prepared to destroy what remains of civil society and the private sector. He placed strict controls on foreign currency and has vowed to take away the licenses of private television stations that supported the opposition. He fired 16,000 employees of Venezuela's state oil company -- the country's economic lifeline -- and moved to bring an institution long known for its professionalism under his personal control. Independent economists are forecasting a catastrophic drop in Venezuela's economic output this year; some foresee the virtual disappearance of the private sector. That would bring Venezuela far closer to Cuba, which maybe shouldn't be a surprise: Mr. Castro, who is Mr. Chavez's closest ally, reportedly has dispatched thousands of officials to Venezuela.

Spain recently joined with the United States, Brazil, Chile, Mexico and Portugal to support a negotiated political solution to the crisis through the mediation of Cesar Gaviria, the secretary general of the Organization of American States and a former president of Colombia. The opposition, which at times has supported anti-democratic means of ousting Mr. Chavez, now endorses Mr. Gaviria's proposal for a new presidential election or a referendum on Mr. Chavez's recall. The current constitution would allow for a referendum to be held as early as August; that may be the easiest and best way out. But Mr. Chavez knows he would very likely lose a fair vote, and he will likely do everything possible to prevent it. That's why it is essential that the Bush administration join with the "group of friends" to insist that Mr. Chavez release his political prisoners, stop his revolutionary "offensive" and commit to a decisive vote. It may be democracy's last chance.

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Posted by chrisd on Friday February 28, @02:08AM from the hz-donut dept. Christopher Frank writes "Seems Venezuela's lack of power has finally caught up with them! MSNBC has the story: 'If you thought Venezuela’s political crisis seemed to be dragging for an impossibly long time — you were right. In a bizarre mass-malfunction, Venezuela’s clocks are ticking too slowly due to a power shortage weakening the electric current nationwide. By the end of each day, the sluggish time pieces still have another 150 seconds to tick before they catch up to midnight.'"