reuters.com Thu February 27, 2003 09:46 PM ET By Pascal Fletcher

CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's negotiators failed to show up for talks with the opposition on Thursday, and foes accused the leftist leader of resisting efforts to discuss how to end a long-running political conflict.

Government negotiators cited security concerns in explaining why they stayed away from a second consecutive day of talks being brokered by Organization of American States Secretary General Cesar Gaviria.

Angry opposition representatives accused the government of deliberately stalling the talks to thrash out an agreement on elections to end the feud between Chavez and his foes in the world's No. 5 oil exporter.

"Once again we were left waiting for the government. ... You can see that there isn't much interest," negotiator and anti-Chavez union leader Manuel Cova told Reuters.

Chavez, a populist former paratrooper who was first elected in 1998 and survived a coup last year, has been resisting pressure to step down. His opponents accuse him of ruling like a dictator and of trying to install Cuban-style communism in oil-rich Venezuela.

The government delegation did not speak to reporters Thursday. But sources close to the talks said they had referred to anti-government student demonstrators outside the talks venue in Caracas as the reason for not turning up.

"They argued security problems," one source, who asked not to be identified, told Reuters. The talks were due to be held at the Caracas headquarters of the Latin American Economic System, a regional economic advisory body of 28 countries.

On Wednesday, the government used a similar argument to stay away after several thousand anti-Chavez protesters marched past the building where the negotiations, which have dragged on since late last year, were scheduled to take place.

Negotiations were scheduled for Friday, sources said.

The opposition wants the president to agree to elections before or on Aug. 19. The government has refused to set a firm day for elections. Chavez's term legally ends in 2007.

Tensions have been running high since the arrest last week of anti-Chavez business leader Carlos Fernandez, one of the organizers of a recent two-month strike that slashed oil output and pushed Venezuela deeper into recession. He is now under house arrest.

Chavez, who calls his foes "terrorists" and "coup mongers," has ordered the arrest of other alleged strike leaders.

SECURITY FEARS

Security was tightened around foreign embassies after bomb blasts early Tuesday badly damaged the Spanish embassy cooperation office and the Colombian consulate in Caracas.

Tuesday's bombings came after Chavez sharply criticized Colombia, Spain and the United States on Sunday, accusing them of meddling in his country's crisis.

His government denied any link between his remarks and the blasts. No one claimed responsibility for the bombings but leaflets signed by a radical pro-Chavez group were found at the scene. They expressed support for Chavez's "revolution."

The U.S. embassy was closed to the public on Thursday after officials said Wednesday they had received a threat. U.S. officials said the embassy would re-open Friday.

A telephone bomb threat Thursday forced the evacuation of the control tower and other parts of Maiquetia international airport that serves Caracas. Flights were delayed, airport officials said. No explosive device was found.

biz.yahoo.com Press Release Source: Philip Morris USA Wednesday February 26, 7:13 pm ET

MIAMI--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 26, 2003--Florida's Third District Court of Appeal today affirmed the dismissal of a lawsuit on behalf of a Peruvian smoker, ruling that Florida was not the proper forum for such a suit.

The lawsuit was filed by Ada Dejo in Miami-Dade County Circuit Court in 2000 on behalf of her deceased father, a medical doctor who lived his entire life in Peru and never set foot in Florida.

The trial Court dismissed the case because none of the parties are based in Florida and there is no justification for permitting the "expenditure of Florida citizens' tax dollars for problems not occurring in Florida." The appellate court today affirmed the ruling on the basis of the trial Court's order.

William S. Ohlemeyer, Philip Morris USA Inc. vice president and associate general counsel, said the company was pleased that the Court recognized the unfairness of making an out-of-state corporation defend lawsuits in Florida that have nothing to do with the state or its residents.

The decision follows the recent dismissal of a suit in Florida by the Republic of Venezuela against various tobacco manufacturers seeking to recover the costs of providing medical treatment to injured smokers.

In rejecting those claims, the Third District Court of Appeal observed that, "it is inappropriate for a plaintiff to attempt to turn Miami-Dade County into the courthouse for the world."

Contact:

 David Tovar, 917/663-2144

www.vheadline.com Posted: Wednesday, February 26, 2003 By: Patrick J. O'Donoghue

Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) stoppage leader Juan Fernandez says he has nothing to fear if he is arrested but he has serious doubts about Venezuela’s judicial system … “I am amazed at the speed with which the government is pushing its legal actions when it hasn’t even done anything about April 11.”

Fernandez, who acted as opposition shadow PDVSA president during the December-January stoppage, says all he and other PDVSA executives did was to fight for a better Venezuela … “if that’s a crime then there are millions of Venezuelans who must be arrested.”

• According to the oil sector leader, the government is panicking and persecuting people for their ideas.

Former PDVSA executives & managers have known that they were on the list of possible arrests for alleged civil rebellion and inciting PDVSA oil workers to acts of sabotage.

The threat of arrest against Fernandez has opened the door for opposition politicians to seek other avenues of undermining President Chavez Frias’ governance than those proposed by Fernandez, who represented a hard-line sector of the opposition with international connections.

Some political colleagues suggest that Fernandez' insistence on continuing the strike has set a dangerous precedent in the future, allowing future rebels to point to the relative liberty with which Fernandez & colleagues organized and accomplished the stoppage of Venezuela’s breadwinner with impunity.

www.vheadline.com Posted: Wednesday, February 26, 2003 By: Patrick J. O'Donoghue

Talcual tabloid editor has lashed out at Internet know-alls that hide behind anonymity and launch gung-ho solutions to get rid off President Hugo Chavez.   Petkoff says these “generals” have "big chests" and call on others to do the job for them.

It now seems that moderates in Coordinadora Democratica (CD) have become targets of their habitual bad language … something VHeadline.com has been receiving on the receiving end hourly for the last couple of years.

Talcual also attacks so-called political analysts and hell-raisers on TV chat shows that blast the “weak-kneed elements of CD ... when one thinks they are going to propose some 'new methods, they always end up asking the military to put their theories into practice … if the military don’t do it, they are on the receiving end of the tongues.”

Recalling his guerrilla past, Petkoff says that in the 60s, some people thought the answer was the gun and started an armed struggle for eight years and more … “they accepted the practical consequences of their political criteria and didn’t ask anybody to sing for them.”

Petkoff challenges Internet "tin-pot generals and armchair analysts" that criticize the CD for not mounting barricades and marching to fight the Chavist brigades to put themselves on the front line and lead the troops to Avenida Sucre and 23 de Enero instead of Altamira and Chuao.

“If they aren’t prepared to do that, then they should stop talking rubbish … Talcual will continue, as we were, chewing flowers."

www.vheadline.com Posted: Wednesday, February 26, 2003 By: Patrick J. O'Donoghue

Caracas Metropolitan nurses trade union president, Ana Rosario Contreras says she does not understand why pro-government agitators are targeting nurses, bio-analysts, dentists and workers from 14 hospitals and 85 outpatient units protesting at the Finance Ministry.

“We haven’t been paid for the last three weeks and that’s why we are protesting … we want the Ministry to pass our pay to the Metropolitan Mayor’s Office.”

Contreras complains that fellow nurse Anselmo Torres was hit in the back with a marble from a sling and threatened by government circles … “it’s the first time I have been discriminated against for attending patients.”