www.vheadline.com Posted: Thursday, January 30, 2003 - 11:05:15 AM By: Robert Rudnicki

Former US President George P. Bush is heading to the Dominican Republic for a ;uxury holiday, where he will spend quality time with anti-government Venezuelan media tycoon Gustavo Cisneros, who President Hugo Chavez Frias accuses of leading a push for a coup d'etat to have him forcibly removed from office.

The Venezuelan leader has threatened to take action against many privately-owned media companies ... particularly the four privately-owned TV stations ... for broadcasting "seditious opposition propaganda" and a series of advertisements urging Venezuelans to support the work stoppage, which has had devastating effects on the country's economy.

Bush is set to arrive on the Caribbean island next Tuesday, where he will stay at the Casa de Campo resort owned by the Fanjul brothers, Alfi and Jose ... he will then join the Venezuelan media tycoon in several rounds of golf in the town of La Romana.

There are strong indications that Bush will also meet secretly with corruption-impeached former Venezuelan President Carlos Andres Perez.

This will be Cisneros' second meeting with a former US President in less than a month, after holding talks with Jimmy Carter in Caracas several weeks ago. Carter returned to Venezuela to break the political deadlock following a direct invitation from Cisneros to do so.

www.forbes.com Reuters, 01.30.03, 9:28 AM ET

CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - Venezuelan Finance Minister Tobias Nobrega, outlining planned foreign exchange controls aimed at countering the impact of an opposition strike, said the government would begin with a fixed single exchange rate that would be adjusted monthly. The government would later introduce a dual rate when production in the strike-hit oil industry recovered and political tension eased in the world's No. 5 oil exporter, Nobrega said in an interview with state television. President Hugo Chavez's government last week suspended currency trading to halt capital flight and a sharp fall in the bolivar currency caused by the opposition strike, now in its ninth week, which has slashed vital oil exports. Opposition leaders launched the protest shutdown Dec. 2 to press the leftist leader to resign and call early elections. The sharp drop in oil income caused by the strike has pushed the economy deeper into recession and triggered a fiscal crisis. "In a first stage, we would start off with a single market (rate). The idea is that it would be fixed, and fixed monthly," Nobrega said. "As ... the oil industry gradually recovers its income flows and as the political situation calms down, we would begin a system of a dual exchange rate," he said.. Nobrega also confirmed that the government planned a tax on "speculative" foreign exchange transactions, which had already been announced by Chavez at the weekend. The minister gave no details of what fixed rate would be introduced, but banking and government sources said the range under discussion was between 1,500 bolivars and 1,850 bolivars to the U.S. dollar. Battered by economic and political uncertainty, the bolivar has tumbled by 28 percent against the greenback since the strike began and the local currency closed at 1,853 bolivars to the dollar on the last currency trading day, Jan 21. The foreign exchange market is due to reopen again Feb. 5. Using troops and loyal personnel, the government has partially restored oil production. Energy Minister Rafael Ramirez said it reached 1.4 million barrels per day (bpd) Wednesday, although oil strike leaders put the figure at around 1 million bpd. Envoys from a six-nation "group of friends" formed to help solve the Venezuelan crisis were due to meet in Caracas Thursday and Friday to lend their support to negotiations between the government and opposition over elections to settle their conflict. The six nations, the United States, Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Spain and Portugal, will be backing peace efforts led by Organization of American States Secretary General Cesar Gaviria.

Associated Press

CARACAS, Venezuela — Under intense pressure from President Hugo Chavez, Venezuela's banks agreed to abandon a 59-day-old opposition strike — the latest sign the drive to force Chavez's quick ouster was unraveling.

Wednesday's decision came as the government nibbled away at the strike's core: a walkout that hobbled the oil industry, the world's No. 5 exporter.

Output surpassed 1 million barrels a day this week, a third of normal. Oil provides half of government income and 70 percent of export revenue.

www.vheadline.com Posted: Thursday, January 30, 2003 - 2:52:25 AM By: Robert Rudnicki

Central Bank of Venezuela (BCV) officials are set to meet their Colombian counterparts in Caratagena, Colombia, in the next few days to assess what effects Venezuelan exchange rate controls might have on its ability to meet debt payments.

• The concerns revolve around the issue that businessmen in Venezuela may be unable to pay Colombian businessmen what they owe them, once exchange rate controls are put in place.

The government announced a suspension of foreign exchange trading last week, which was extended by a further five days earlier this week, as the BCV and the Finance (Hacienda) Ministry decide what measures to take to prevent the bolivar from losing anymore ground on the exchange market.

Since the start of this year the bolivar was lost around 25% of its value as concerns over the long term effects of the strike lead many Venezuelans to seek the relative safety of the US dollar.

Colombian Finance Minister Roberto Junguito says "in the next few days these payment concerns will be discussed by central bank directors from Colombia and Venezuela."

www.vheadline.com Posted: Thursday, January 30, 2003 - 2:57:23 AM By: Robert Rudnicki

According to striking Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) managers, who have already been sacked for their abandonment of their positions in support of the Coordinadora Democratica-led national work stoppage, Venezuelan oil production fell to 1.04 million barrels per day on Wednesday, down from Tuesday's 1.05 million. 

The rebel workers claim that 692,000 barrels per day is coming from production in the east of Venezuela, while production in the oil rich west of the country was languishing at around 260,000 barrels per day. The striking managers estimate production in the south to be around 92,000 barrels per day. 

However, eastern production levels are forecast to rise by as much as 300,000 barrels per day over the coming few weeks. 

The strikers' figures remain short of government estimate, with President Hugo Chavez Frias claiming that PDVSA is now producing 1.32 million barrels per day, while PDVSA president Ali Rodriguez Araque has said the production is well over one million barrels per day.

Although unclear, estimates show that over 400,000 barrels per day is now being refined, with around half of this coming from the Puerto La Cruz refinery in eastern Venezuela.