www.vheadline.com Posted: Thursday, February 27, 2003 By: Patrick J. O'Donoghue

Mainstream print & broadcast media have been playing down yesterday's Coordinadora Democratica (CD) march in support of fugitive Confederation of Trade Unions (CTV) president, Carlos Ortega and Federation of Chambers of Industry & Commerce (Fedecamaras) president Carlos Fernandez currently under house arrest.

Although the opposition has been slow to supply march estimates, the size of the march was lower than organizers expected.

Starting from Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) HQ in Chuao, anti-government supporters marched to Fedecamaras HQ where they were addressed by  the business sector deputy president, Albis Munoz and former Fedecamaras presidents.

The march avoided clashing with government supporters holed up at PDVSA offices in La Campina and ended in front of the CTV HQ where CTV general secretary, Manuel Cova accused the government of political ly persecuting Carlos Ortega ... calling Carlos Fernandez and rebel National Guard (GN) General Carlos Alfonzo Martinez “political prisoners.”

• Among politicos heading the march were Miranda State Governor and potential presidential candidate Enrique Mendoza, Enrique Naime, Cesar Perez Vivas, Alfredo Ramos, Rafael Narvaez, and Antonio Ledezma.

Former Libertador Mayor Ledezma challenged other opposition leaders, who did not turn up for the march, to get back out on to the streets and fight with “El Pueblo” and urged wannabe presidential candidates to drop their aspirations for a greater cause, namely opposition unity.

www.forbes.com Reuters, 02.26.03, 3:17 PM ET

(Recasts, adds details, background) CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - Several international oil majors have certified the safety of some Venezuelan ports, boosting government struggles to restore strike-hit crude exports, state oil firm Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) said on Wednesday. U.S. oil majors Exxon Mobil Corp., Chevron Texaco , France's TotalFinaElf, Norway's Statoil and Anglo-Dutch Royal Dutch/Shell "have certified the operational security of Venezuelan shipping terminals dedicated to hydrocarbons commerce", a PDVSA statement said. Ship owners and oil companies had been concerned about Venezuelan ports due to potentially unsafe conditions created by workers enlisted by President Hugo Chavez to break an oil strike. Companies hired independent inspectors have been brought in to certify port conditions. Most of port audits were for the eastern port of Jose, where synthetic oil produced by foreign firms and PDVSA is produced. Some majors have already completed inspections there and begun lifting syncrude. PDVSA said Chevron Texaco will load its first tanker of PDVSA-produced oil since the strike started on Dec. 2. ChevronTexaco will load the Shino Ussa vessel from the western Bajo Grande terminal with 270,000 barrels of Boscan crude, PDVSA said on its Web site. ChevronTexaco said the company does not comment on day-to-day operations. Some smaller oil firms had already resumed loadings of PDVSA crude. In addition, China Oil has scheduled a Very Large Crude Carrier from the Jose port to China on March 3. Refiner Reliance has booked a VLCC from Jose to India, due to begin loading on March 26. Venezuela, normally the world's No. 5 oil exporter, shipped nearly 2.7 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude and products before the strike. The government says it has restored exports to about 1.5 million bpd and oil production to 2 million bpd. PDVSA employees fired by Chavez during the strike say output is closer to 1.5 million bpd, compared with 3.1 million bpd in November. (With reporting by Stefano Ambrogi in London)

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

The weekend murder rate upward curve has halted and dipped from more than 100 homicides to 71.

27 homicides were committed in Caracas  last weekend compared to 44 in the provinces.

Metropolitan Police (PM) chief, Henry Vivas thinks that the drop has to do with the fact that salaries weren’t paid out last Friday, meaning less money was circulating on the streets.

“The sharp hike in homicides after the Christmas period were no doubt connected to logistic problems encountered by the PM … now we are collaborating better with other municipal police forces but we still have communications and long-weapon problems.”

Libertador Police (Policaracas) chief ,Antonio Pujol says the PM and Policaracas are rotating zones to attack the serious problem of collusion between officers and local gangs.