This is a report on day 2, as to all the irregularities observed by a voting watch organization. SOme are rather mild, some not so mild!
=== === === === === ===
Reporte Parcial del Proceso de Recolección de Firmas
promovido por la oposición
Día 2: 29 de Noviembre de 2003
Plan República vs. Ciudadanos
La Red de Veedores recibió numerosos reportes de ciudadanos y de algunos de sus veedores sobre el comportamiento hostil y de intervención irregular en todo el país por parte de oficiales del Plan República en el proceso de recolección de firmas y de su actitud intimidante dentro de los centros de recolección de firmas y en sus inmediaciones.
El irregular comportamiento de muchos efectivos del Plan República impuso la nota negativa de hoy, el cual se agudizó con respecto a la jornada anterior. En los sectores populares son permisivos con la presencia de grupos afectos al oficialismo en actitudes provocadoras. Se hace, cada vez, más patente la ausencia de una línea común, pues así como en algunos centros, especialmente, en aquellos donde se encontraban los efectivos de la Aviación, se mostraron apegados a la norma, la constitucionalidad y se limitaron a cumplir su rol, sin embargo, un altísimo número de reportes indicaron los excesos cometidos por los funcionarios del PR. Obviamente, las conductas irregulares fueron promovidas y/u ordenadas por la oficialidad, pues la actitud de los soldados y sub oficiales de rango inferior es de cordialidad.
Se destaca también el hecho del aumento sustancial de efectivos en los CRF; de los seis que estaban asignados y comenzaron ayer, hay centros donde hoy se encuentran apostados hasta cuarenta efectivos.
He aquí algunos ejemplos de conductas que consideramos irregulares o que exceden las normas establecidas por el CNE para el Plan República:
- En Cojedes, reportaron conductas que resultaron obstruccionistas por parte del Tte. Coronel G... (datos en reserva).
- En La Candelaria, el Teniente Coronel C... (datos en reserva), solicitó credenciales a observadores y testigos y permitió la acción de grupos agresivos que amedrentaban a los firmantes.
- Tte. A... (datos en reserva), en el Edo. Aragua: en horas de la mañana, ordenó que retiraran los carteles que identificaban los centros, confiscaron los distintivos de los miembros de mesa e impidieron la entrega del comprobante de la planilla.
- El Gral. N... (datos en reserva) dio la orden de retiro a los funcionarios del centro ubicado en la Crema Paraíso de San Bernardino. Retiro que duró 45 minutos y, luego, se reincorporaron. No obstante, el centro cerró a las 4.30 p.m., a pesar de tener planillas y firmantes en cola, por temor a las agresiones de los simpatizantes del oficialismo que se encontraban en las cercanías.
-En San Bernardino, el Gral. A... (datos en reserva) pasaba en un automóvil con placas TAG... (datos en reserva) e intentó retirar a los efectivos del Plan República de los CRF de la zona.
- El Tte. B... (datos en reserva) en el Colegio de Abogados en el Paraíso, intimidaba a los firmantes e integrantes de la mesa.
- El Sgto. Ch... (datos en reserva) en el Parque Naciones Unidas, de manera arbitraria, pretendió mudar el CRF a otro lugar, obligó a los recolectores a quitarse las franelas de sus partidos y grupos, impidió la entrega del sello: "sí firmo" y se mantuvo junto a los ciudadanos mientras firmaban.
Un caso particularmente ilustrativo resultó el del centro de la Universidad Santa María. El primer día de recolección de firmas se desarrolló con absoluta normalidad y armonía pero en la noche, apareció allí el Cnel. P. V. (Ej.) (datos en reserva), que actuando bajo supuestas órdenes del Ministro Diosdado Cabello, produjo "situaciones", que en la mañana de hoy, degeneraron en irregularidades y conflictos, ya que al extralimitarse en sus funciones, impidió la apertura del CRF y obligó a su mudanza en tres oportunidades.
A este punto, es conveniente resaltar que la resolución 031112-778 del 12 de noviembre establece, con absoluta claridad, las funciones del PR y estas no incluyen decidir dónde se instalan los centros, ni su apertura, ni cómo deben cerrar, ni a cuál hora, ni solicitar documento alguno ni a firmantes ni a miembros del centro de recolección, ni a pedir que se quiten franelas con los colores de la oposición, sobre todo que fue permitido abiertamente la semana anterior. etc. Sus funciones, por lo publicado en gaceta, se limitan a custodiar el material refrendario, velar por la seguridad de las oficinas y centros de adiestramiento, trasladar a los funcionarios del CNE, a los observadores, trasladar las actas de cierre y material de recolección. Cualquier otra atribución es una violación y extralimitación de funciones.
Hostigamiento sostenido:
El hostigamiento a los firmantes de la oposición en algunos sectores fue otra de las notas características de este día. Para la una de la tarde de esta segunda jornada de recolección de firmas, convocada por la oposición, sigue consolidándose lo que en horas de la mañana se perfilaba como la consigna del día: entorpecer y perturbar, desde diferentes niveles, en diversos grados y por distintos personajes, el normal desempeño de la jornada.
Grupos de simpatizantes del oficialismo, instalados al lado de los centros de recolección exhibiendo banderas y gritando consignas en contra de la oposición y los firmantes
Grupos de motorizados en recorridos, atronadores y amenazantes (algunos armados) "paseaban" por la ciudad, se identificaban como "tupamaros", de a dos en Vespas nuevas, sin placas y otros en motos normales con placas de Falcón y DF (datos en reserva)
Simpatizantes del oficialismo eran trasladados en camiones abiertos, algunos con equipos de sonido. circulando alrededor de los centros de recolección de firmas.
Órdenes impartidas a los miembros del Plan República para abandonar algunos de los centros, provocando el cierre antes de hora, por temor a las agresiones..
Visita de personajes oficialistas a sectores populares (alcalde Bernal en Caricuao, prefectos en Mérida, autoridades locales en varios municipios) a las que siguieron presencia de simpatizantes ajenos a la zona, promoviendo agresiones a los firmantes, intimidándolos e intentando espantar a las personas que estaban en las colas.
Lanzamiento de bombas lacrimógenas en el CNE para dispersar a grupos violentos del oficialismo cuando se disponían a declarar los miembros del G-5.
Testigos y observadores del oficialismo provocando situaciones de retraso y excediendo en número al estipulado por las normas. Acoso a los recolectores itinerantes.
Observadores infiltrados provocando la anulación de planillas.
Cierre temporal de varios centros, debido a situaciones violentas y no controladas por los efectivos del PR.
Veamos una muestra variada de lo expuesto, pero con ejemplos y en lugares concretos:
- En San Cristóbal dos heridos en la Casa Sindical (enfrentamiento entre sindicatos y Clase Media en Positivo)
- En Mucurubá -municipio Rangel, Edo Mérida- los oficialistas montaron 4 toldos que impiden el acceso al CRF y dando instrucciones que confunden a los campesinos.
- En el Pedregal, quedó registrado en acta, la actuación de un observador infiltrado que provocó la anulación de planillas.
- En la Hoyada, se produjo una golpiza entre simpatizantes de ambos bandos..
- En el centro de la Plaza Alfredo Sadel, el capitán del PR le levantó acta a la observadora oficialista quien dijo directamente a un agente recolector: "Yo vine hoy a fastidiarte". Trajeron numerosos testigos en procura de entorpecer el proceso. Todo esto en clara violación a la Resolución 03112-779 Art. 8 que establece que "...puede ser revocada la acreditación a aquellos observadores que asuman actitudes que denoten parcialización, injerencia o perturbación en la recolección de firmas"….
- En la UD2 de Caricuao, el CRF instalado allí desde ayer ha estado asediado por un grupo de simpatizantes del oficialismo, que el día de hoy en mayor número, reforzados con personas ajenas a la zona e instalados con equipos de sonido, perturban e intimidan a los firmantes y que al medio día intentaron apoderarse de la planillas y destruirlas.
- En el Pedregal, escuela Juan de Dios Guanche, una infiltrada como observadora de la oposición anuló 6 planillas de los itinerantes, a quienes ella acompañaba. Se registró en acta y fue retirada.
- En los Mecedores, el CRF estuvo sitiado, pacíficamente, por seguidores del oficialismo desde horas de la mañana.
- En Táchira, los ánimos estuvieron muy tensos debido a los camiones de simpatizantes del Gobierno que cercaban los centros. Así mismo, colocaron pancartas al lado de los CRF, provocando tanto a los miembros de mesa, como al PR y a los firmantes.
- Miembros del PR asumen aspectos operativos de las mesas contraviniendo las normas que rigen su participación.
- En Mérida, no quieren salir los itinerantes porque los siguen entre 6 y 8 testigos del oficialismo, incluido el Prefecto de la zona.
- En Palmira, Táchira, se presentó la Notario Cuarta de San Cristóbal, en una de las mesas para revocar a la Dip. Iris Varela, solicitando el "acta de apertura" (tal documento no existe en este proceso); verificó un ciber café de las cercanías e intentó tomar las computadoras allí existentes, dió órdenes a los miembros del Plan República, detuvo temporalmente el proceso, y levantó un acta contentiva únicamente de las declaraciones emitidas por el miembro del oficialismo.
- Tarde nos llegó el reporte del día 28 que informaba que los hermanos Otaiza, en Carabobo, generaron muchos problemas, como en el caso del María Montessori e incluso sustituyeron al observador oficialista que ya estaba trabajando en la mesa. De acuerdo con la norma, el mismo observador que abre, debe cerrar la mesa. Nos queda la duda sobre si tales planillas serán o no anuladas debido a esta situación.
El autoritarismo se contagia.
La actitud arbitraria asumida por algunos oficiales del Plan República y la actitud anti sociedad civil de las autoridades del CNE se contagia a los miembros de la oposición. El coordinador del CRF, ubicado frente al Jacinto Lara, calle 4 de La Urbina, Sr. C... (nombre en reserva) impidió la observación de una de las Veedoras y le dijo que si quería observar lo hiciera desde la acera de enfrente. Hemos de decir que en la mayoría de los CRF, esta semana y la anterior, no se nos impidió la tarea de observación como lo hizo este señor.
La actitud de los simpatizantes del oficialismo:
La semana pasada, durante la recolección de firmas promovidas por el oficialismo, se llevó a cabo sin interferencia ninguna de los simpatizantes de la oposición. Lo único que había alrededor de los CRF del oficialismo eran ventas o reparto de alimentos, azúcar y pollo. Esta semana, hay grupos de iracundos simpatizantes del oficialismo hostigando a los firmantes de la oposición y en algunos casos repartiendo botellazos, insultos. Eso ha llevado, en este proceso y el anterior, a cometer la irregularidad de trasladar planillas de unos centros a otros.
Esta actitud de hostigamiento se manifestó en otros niveles; no hubo presencia mediática de los líderes de oposición, ni eventos de calle que limitaran, impidieran o estorbaran en modo alguno, el ejercicio del derecho constitucional. En esta segunda jornada de recolección promovida por la oposición, en cambio, desde todos los sectores se reportan intentos de interferencia por parte de los simpatizantes del oficialismo.
Sobre normas, su conocimiento y aplicación:
En el día de hoy se ha acentuado lo que ayer, debido al ambiente festivo, la euforia y la desbordada afluencia de firmantes, no tuvo mayores consecuencias; Hoy, es evidente que hay mucho ruido, pero pocas nueces: grandes operativos, abogados, libros, folletos. Sin embargo, los miembros de los CRF, que tienen que lidiar con todas las dificultades, desconocen muchas de las normas y no cuentan con asistencia oportuna y adecuada.
Hay un evidente desconocimiento por parte de muchos miembros de las mesas: de las normas que rigen el procedimiento en todas sus fases, y las labores que corresponden a todos los designados para cumplirlas. Normas tales como los límites de los efectivos del Plan República, las funciones que les están permitidas a los observadores del oficialismo, el rol de los testigos, y las posibilidades de desplazamiento de los itinerantes. Desconocimiento que ha permitido a algunos excederse en sus funciones y ha limitado a otros su tarea.
En el día de hoy, uno de los casos más ilustrativos fue la interpretación de la norma del CNE que prohíbe la utilización de computadoras para verificar el REP (ya de por sí absurda) como que no se debía entregar al firmante una constancia de la planilla y línea en la cual estampó su firma, obligación establecida en el artículo 23 de las Normas sobre Referendo y en el aparte b) del artículo 8 de las Normas sobre los Observadores Nacionales.
Sobre este particular, la Red de Veedores consideró prudente emitir una comunicación a primera hora de la tarde, para proporcionar a firmantes y actores de los centros de recolección, el sustento legal para proceder apegados a la norma. Esta comunicación, hecha con espíritu de servicio intenta cubrir la carencia, en primera instancia del CNE cuya negligencia en este aspecto debe quedar registrada, así como la de los convocantes. Reportes y consultas recibidas en las primeras horas del proceso revelaban inseguridad sobre cómo proceder ante situaciones concretas, inseguridad que fue aprovechada por los factores oficialistas para imponerse aun en contra de la normativa respectiva. Citamos, textualmente, las palabras del reporte de una veedora en uno de los estados andinos: "O se dejan acoquinar, o delegan"
Planillas agotadas e irregularidades:
Desde un principio, se dijo al CNE que imprimir planillas sólo por un equivalente al 66% del REP no iba a ser suficiente. Esto se hace evidente el día de hoy en muchos centros que han agotado la totalidad de las planillas que les fueron asignadas.
Reportes múltiples señalan que se han abierto "centros irregulares" de recolección de firmas. Los veedores reportan que en esos centros, las planillas presentadas corresponden al proceso promovido por el oficialismo y que, sorpresivamente, aparecen circulando irregularmente.
Impresiones, emociones y curiosidades.
Para no concluir con una nota negativa, les comentamos algunas de las anécdotas que permitieron romper la tensión del día:
En Caricuao a las 5 pm., PR, oficialistas, opositores y Veedores, estuvieron todos juntos bajo un toldito protegiéndose del diluvio.
A la salida de un CRF en El Rosal, una vecina obsequiaba a los firmantes con "un dulcito de lechosa".
En algunos centros los miembros de los partidos políticos vestían pantalón amarillo, franelas de AD y gorras de COPEI.
En un CRF de Terrazas del Ávila, uno de los voluntarios se disgustó con una Veedora porque estaba enseñando al observador del oficialismo como usar el teléfono celular para llamar al CNE.
En Guarenas, un Tte. de la Guardia se escondió en la Iglesia cuando una Veedora le fue a entregar la copia de una resolución del CNE.
Se recibió en la tarde un mensaje a través de t-motion: "bombas lacrimógenas en San Bernardino"; se solicitó a quien lo enviaba que confirmara la veracidad y exactitud de la información, y se recibió la siguiente respuesta: "cof, cof, cof..."
Desde San Antonio de Los Altos, reporta un Veedor que un Tte. Coronel se mostró "inquieto" por su presencia y tras mostrarle los formatos de observación, el destino de los informes y la metodología de trabajo, se sintió más tranquilo. A partir de allí, el Veedor no tuvo contratiempos para realizar su trabajo.
Nuestra misión es observar, registrar, informar... y construir un mejor país.
Somos Ciudadanos en Ejercicio.
Somos la Red de Veedores
Tuesday, November 04, 2003
A Miami Herald article from Oppenheimer on Chavez agressivity towards the US
Posted on Thu, Oct. 30, 2003
Chávez steps up criticism of U.S.
BY PHIL GUNSON AND ANDRES OPPENHEIMER
aoppenheimer@herald.com
CARACAS - Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, a leftist firebrand who
is facing demands at home for a recall referendum, appears to be
doing his best to pick a fight with Washington.
He has hinted that the U.S. ambassador in Caracas is gay and branded
Bush administration officials as ''imbeciles'' and ''criminals,''
while his minions accused the CIA of trying to destabilize the
government.
Venezuelan political analysts differ as to whether Chávez is seeking
to bolster his chances in the recall referendum by playing the
nationalist card, or is looking for excuses to push his ''Bolivarian
Revolution'' further to the left.
Bush administration officials have largely avoided responding to
Chávez' jabs, saying they don't want to fall into any provocations
by Chávez and turn an internal political problem into a
U.S.-Venezuelan problem.
''We want to stop the microphone diplomacy,'' Roger Noriega,
assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs, told
The Herald on Wednesday.
Some Washington insiders speculate that there is an even greater
desire to avoid antagonizing Chávez at the Pentagon, where the top
priority is averting any diversions from Iraq, assuring the
continued flow of Venezuelan oil to the United States -- the United
States depends on Venezuela for more than 13 percent of its oil
imports -- and maintaining good relations with the Venezuelan
military.
AT ODDS
Chávez's leftist policies have long put him on a collision course
with U.S. policies in the region. Whether it is the Free Trade Area
of the Americas, U.S. military aid to neighboring Colombia or
relations with Cuba, his government is at odds with the U.S.
position.
Recently, however, he has stepped up his attacks on Washington with
the approach of Nov. 28-Dec. 1, when his opposition will be
collecting signatures seeking a recall referendum on his populist
rule.
He noted that U.S. Ambassador Charles Shapiro had kissed a male
guest at a recent embassy function and said, ''How strange,'' in
what virtually all Venezuelans perceived as calling him a
homosexual.
He has repeatedly accused the CIA of seeking to destabilize his
government -- but offered no evidence -- and warned Washington to
stop meddling in Venezuelan affairs.
A VIDEO
Just last week, pro-Chávez lawmakers made public a video they said
showed U.S. secret agents training dissident military officers and
municipal police in ''terrorist'' tactics. The U.S. Embassy said it
showed agents of the Miami-based Wackenhut security company in a
training session and denied any CIA wrongdoing.
''Mr. Bush,'' Chávez said in an Oct. 5 speech, ``deal with the
problems of the United States, which are plenty, because Venezuela's
problems belong to Venezuela.''
In the same speech, he referred to objections by Washington and
others to his government's confiscation of microwave transmission
equipment from the opposition TV news channel Globovisión.
''They behave like imbeciles,'' he said, ''because without knowing
what's really going on, they start issuing communiqués and saying
the Chávez government is violating I don't know what.'' He went on
to say that those critics were ``criminals, because they're
protecting criminals -- and he who protects a criminal ends up being
a criminal.''
CHILE COMPARISON
Two weeks earlier he claimed that business owners who took part in a
two-month-long strike against his government early this year were
paid by the CIA.
''It's the same thing that happened in Chile under Salvador
Allende,'' he said.
The CIA assertion has since been repeated by pro-Chávez legislators
and even Vice President José Vicente Rangel, all of whom allege that
a series of recent bomb attacks inside military installations was
carried out by the CIA. They offered no evidence.
''What [Chávez] is looking for,'' argues Felipe Mujica, president of
the opposition Movement to Socialism, ``is for [U.S. officials] to
attack him, so that he is left on his own and can do whatever he
likes.''
Chávez even appears to be preparing for a Cuba-styled U.S. embargo
and in recent months has repeatedly stressed the need for ``food
sovereignty.''
FOOD DISTRIBUTION
When the anti-government strike threatened food distribution, he set
up an embryonic government-run food import system, using Cuba as the
intermediary.
''If his regime could survive that way,'' said Elsa Cardozo, a
university professor of international relations, ``he wouldn't care.
He's shown no concern for the fact that the private sector is on the
verge of collapse.''
Under all the leftist theories of foreign policy that Chávez has
studied and now holds, political analyst and Chávez biographer
Alberto Garrido said, ``the final confrontation was always with the
United States.''
But Garrido believes Chávez may feel he's not yet ready for a
showdown, so he is nibbling around the edges of misbehavior in order
to lay the groundwork for an eventual break.
''He's playing on the U.S. weakness, which is oil,'' he said.
Herald staff writer Andres Oppenheimer reported from Miami and
special correspondent Phil Gunson from Caracas.
Posted on Thu, Oct. 30, 2003
Chávez steps up criticism of U.S.
BY PHIL GUNSON AND ANDRES OPPENHEIMER
aoppenheimer@herald.com
CARACAS - Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, a leftist firebrand who
is facing demands at home for a recall referendum, appears to be
doing his best to pick a fight with Washington.
He has hinted that the U.S. ambassador in Caracas is gay and branded
Bush administration officials as ''imbeciles'' and ''criminals,''
while his minions accused the CIA of trying to destabilize the
government.
Venezuelan political analysts differ as to whether Chávez is seeking
to bolster his chances in the recall referendum by playing the
nationalist card, or is looking for excuses to push his ''Bolivarian
Revolution'' further to the left.
Bush administration officials have largely avoided responding to
Chávez' jabs, saying they don't want to fall into any provocations
by Chávez and turn an internal political problem into a
U.S.-Venezuelan problem.
''We want to stop the microphone diplomacy,'' Roger Noriega,
assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs, told
The Herald on Wednesday.
Some Washington insiders speculate that there is an even greater
desire to avoid antagonizing Chávez at the Pentagon, where the top
priority is averting any diversions from Iraq, assuring the
continued flow of Venezuelan oil to the United States -- the United
States depends on Venezuela for more than 13 percent of its oil
imports -- and maintaining good relations with the Venezuelan
military.
AT ODDS
Chávez's leftist policies have long put him on a collision course
with U.S. policies in the region. Whether it is the Free Trade Area
of the Americas, U.S. military aid to neighboring Colombia or
relations with Cuba, his government is at odds with the U.S.
position.
Recently, however, he has stepped up his attacks on Washington with
the approach of Nov. 28-Dec. 1, when his opposition will be
collecting signatures seeking a recall referendum on his populist
rule.
He noted that U.S. Ambassador Charles Shapiro had kissed a male
guest at a recent embassy function and said, ''How strange,'' in
what virtually all Venezuelans perceived as calling him a
homosexual.
He has repeatedly accused the CIA of seeking to destabilize his
government -- but offered no evidence -- and warned Washington to
stop meddling in Venezuelan affairs.
A VIDEO
Just last week, pro-Chávez lawmakers made public a video they said
showed U.S. secret agents training dissident military officers and
municipal police in ''terrorist'' tactics. The U.S. Embassy said it
showed agents of the Miami-based Wackenhut security company in a
training session and denied any CIA wrongdoing.
''Mr. Bush,'' Chávez said in an Oct. 5 speech, ``deal with the
problems of the United States, which are plenty, because Venezuela's
problems belong to Venezuela.''
In the same speech, he referred to objections by Washington and
others to his government's confiscation of microwave transmission
equipment from the opposition TV news channel Globovisión.
''They behave like imbeciles,'' he said, ''because without knowing
what's really going on, they start issuing communiqués and saying
the Chávez government is violating I don't know what.'' He went on
to say that those critics were ``criminals, because they're
protecting criminals -- and he who protects a criminal ends up being
a criminal.''
CHILE COMPARISON
Two weeks earlier he claimed that business owners who took part in a
two-month-long strike against his government early this year were
paid by the CIA.
''It's the same thing that happened in Chile under Salvador
Allende,'' he said.
The CIA assertion has since been repeated by pro-Chávez legislators
and even Vice President José Vicente Rangel, all of whom allege that
a series of recent bomb attacks inside military installations was
carried out by the CIA. They offered no evidence.
''What [Chávez] is looking for,'' argues Felipe Mujica, president of
the opposition Movement to Socialism, ``is for [U.S. officials] to
attack him, so that he is left on his own and can do whatever he
likes.''
Chávez even appears to be preparing for a Cuba-styled U.S. embargo
and in recent months has repeatedly stressed the need for ``food
sovereignty.''
FOOD DISTRIBUTION
When the anti-government strike threatened food distribution, he set
up an embryonic government-run food import system, using Cuba as the
intermediary.
''If his regime could survive that way,'' said Elsa Cardozo, a
university professor of international relations, ``he wouldn't care.
He's shown no concern for the fact that the private sector is on the
verge of collapse.''
Under all the leftist theories of foreign policy that Chávez has
studied and now holds, political analyst and Chávez biographer
Alberto Garrido said, ``the final confrontation was always with the
United States.''
But Garrido believes Chávez may feel he's not yet ready for a
showdown, so he is nibbling around the edges of misbehavior in order
to lay the groundwork for an eventual break.
''He's playing on the U.S. weakness, which is oil,'' he said.
Herald staff writer Andres Oppenheimer reported from Miami and
special correspondent Phil Gunson from Caracas.
COMPLETE ARTICLE IN HOUSTON CHRONICLE ON THE VENEZUELAN OIL INDUSTRY PROBLEMS
HoustonChronicle.com
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/business/energy/2183523
Oct. 27, 2003, 11:53PM
Oil firings in Venezuela take toll down the line
By BRIAN ELLSWORTH
Copyright 2003 Houston Chronicle Foreign Service
ARACAS, Venezuela -- With oil prices hovering around $30, those in the energy
business have every reason to be looking for more crude.
But here in Venezuela, famed for its abundant fields, spiking oil prices seem to
be doing nothing for the dozens of contractors who work on everything from pumps
to pipelines. Private contractors who provide equipment or services to
Venezuelan state oil giant Petroleos de Venezuela, or PDVSA, say they are
billing only 60 percent of what they did last year.
In the oil-rich area of Lake Maracaibo, tugs and rigs are sitting idle on the
docks rather than drilling wells or exploring new fields. Contractors who
service wells and equipment say their business has plummeted, and some even talk
about leaving the country.
"I used to repair 200 to 300 pumps per month, but I haven't been called to
service anything since February," said one contractor, who spoke on condition of
anonymity. Buyers complain of high water content of crudes, and contractors
report high sand presence in wells and constant problems maintaining well
pressure.
The business slowdown for contractors, many of whom have ties with Houston, may
be a crucial piece of evidence in the debate over how much oil Venezuela is
actually pumping. And it may mean continued production declines to come.
Even though left-wing President Hugo Chavez survived a crippling two-month
strike by PDVSA workers launched last December, international observers believe
the work stoppage is now taking its toll.
Chavez broke the strike in early February, fired half of PDVSA's workers on Feb.
12 and staged a remarkable comeback that government leaders say has left
Venezuela producing 3.3 million barrels per day.
But agencies around the globe say the damage from the strike and the abrupt
dismissal of 18,000 workers has left PDVSA struggling to maintain an output of
only 2.6 million barrels per day.
Venezuelan authorities assure that this is a manipulation of figures, but 10
contractors reported that their slumping business confirms that production is
declining.
"We're at 60 percent drilling of pre-strike levels," one drilling contractor
said. "Where we should be drilling three holes we're drilling two; each drilling
takes longer and there is more time between each well we drill. That all says to
me that Venezuela can't be producing more than 2.6 million barrels per day."
He and the other contractors interviewed asked not to be identified to avoid
getting in the middle of the war of words between PDVSA and fired employees who
have launched an assault on the national oil company's credibility.
These contractors are probably the only ones in Venezuela who know what is
happening but have no political ax to grind. Many of the contractors even
complained of corruption on the part of former PDVSA employees, who government
leaders accuse of spinning production numbers to discredit the company that
fired them.
Other contractors estimate that 15 to 20 percent of PDVSA's rigs are out of
commission and that 80 to 90 percent of its equipment is due for maintenance.
"We have seen a total paralysis in well maintenance," another contractor said,
alleging that this has caused a spate of accidents, including one last month in
which an oil rig operating in Lake Maracaibo caught on fire.
However, there is little reliable information to compare the current accident
rates with those of previous years.
Venezuela has, in fact, already lost considerable production capacity over the
last five years. Venezuela was producing 3.7 million barrels per day in 1997,
before the start of the four heavy crude upgrading projects that now provide
500,000 barrels per day.
Therefore, even if Venezuela is producing 3.3 million barrels per day as the
government claims, the figure represents a loss of 900,000 barrels per day since
1997.
"Quite apart from what happened in the strike, in the coming months we are going
to see production declines resulting from five years of underinvestment," says
economist Robert Bottome of the business magazine Veneconomy.
And although current production figures are still in dispute, almost all signs
point to continued production slumps.
Venezuelan wells face annual decline of 25 percent, meaning that PDVSA must have
an average of 55 drilling rigs active at any given time to make up for lost
output in older wells.
Baker Hughes' rig count shows between 30 and 40 active drilling rigs -- at a
time when Venezuela is trying to make up for production lost during the strike.
Furthermore, experts indicate that an increasing proportion of drilling rigs are
run by international companies, which by Venezuelan law are required to operate
in marginal fields.
In addition, contractors indicate noticeable declines in work-over rig activity,
which spells considerable future declines in production, especially in western
Venezuela's mature fields.
According to Larry Goldstein, president of the energy think-tank Petroleum
Industry Research Foundation, Venezuela cannot be faulted for not bringing
production back to pre-strike levels, because most expected the strike would
cost the country at least 500,000 barrels per day.
"A company can't fire 18,000 employees without losing the institutional memory
of how to operate its fields," Goldstein said. At this point Venezuela is just
exaggerating the production data.
Goldstein says the primary problem that PDVSA faces is a lack of expertise in
everything from well maintenance to billing.
While PDVSA had the legal right to fire managers who had called for the strike,
doing so stripped the company of those who spent years studying Venezuelan wells
and production methods.
And the strike, which cost the country an estimated $7 billion, has left the
cash-strapped government with few options for reinvesting in future production.
Data on PDVSA's earnings also indicates that production levels are close to 2.6
million barrels per day. Venezuelan Central Bank Director Domingo Maza recently
said that the Central Bank is receiving only $1 billion in oil revenue per
month, rather than the $1.3 billion per month that would correspond to
production of 3.3 million barrels per day.
"Though there may have been a recovery in the production and export of oil,
there is no corresponding recovery in foreign currency payments," Maza told
Venezuela's National Assembly.
Figures provided by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and
the U.S. Department of Energy show Venezuelan oil production close to 2.6
million barrels per day, down from almost 3 million barrels per day in November
2002 and considerably below its quota of 2.9 million barrels per day.
This comes after Venezuela has been one of the most noticeable of the OPEC quota
cheaters, despite Chavez's pro-OPEC rhetoric.
Furthermore, Venezuelan authorities now insist on including upgraded synthetic
crude as part of petroleum production figures, whereas Venezuela previously
categorized synthetic crude as bitumen and therefore not part of quotas. While
Venezuela used to understate its production figures, now it is doing its best to
inflate them.
Leaders of Venezuela's political opposition hope to remove President Chavez
through a recall referendum this spring, which would allow fired workers to
return to the industry.
But no matter who is heading Venezuela's government next year, it looks like oil
production for this crucial OPEC member cannot go anywhere but south.
HoustonChronicle.com
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/business/energy/2183523
Oct. 27, 2003, 11:53PM
Oil firings in Venezuela take toll down the line
By BRIAN ELLSWORTH
Copyright 2003 Houston Chronicle Foreign Service
ARACAS, Venezuela -- With oil prices hovering around $30, those in the energy
business have every reason to be looking for more crude.
But here in Venezuela, famed for its abundant fields, spiking oil prices seem to
be doing nothing for the dozens of contractors who work on everything from pumps
to pipelines. Private contractors who provide equipment or services to
Venezuelan state oil giant Petroleos de Venezuela, or PDVSA, say they are
billing only 60 percent of what they did last year.
In the oil-rich area of Lake Maracaibo, tugs and rigs are sitting idle on the
docks rather than drilling wells or exploring new fields. Contractors who
service wells and equipment say their business has plummeted, and some even talk
about leaving the country.
"I used to repair 200 to 300 pumps per month, but I haven't been called to
service anything since February," said one contractor, who spoke on condition of
anonymity. Buyers complain of high water content of crudes, and contractors
report high sand presence in wells and constant problems maintaining well
pressure.
The business slowdown for contractors, many of whom have ties with Houston, may
be a crucial piece of evidence in the debate over how much oil Venezuela is
actually pumping. And it may mean continued production declines to come.
Even though left-wing President Hugo Chavez survived a crippling two-month
strike by PDVSA workers launched last December, international observers believe
the work stoppage is now taking its toll.
Chavez broke the strike in early February, fired half of PDVSA's workers on Feb.
12 and staged a remarkable comeback that government leaders say has left
Venezuela producing 3.3 million barrels per day.
But agencies around the globe say the damage from the strike and the abrupt
dismissal of 18,000 workers has left PDVSA struggling to maintain an output of
only 2.6 million barrels per day.
Venezuelan authorities assure that this is a manipulation of figures, but 10
contractors reported that their slumping business confirms that production is
declining.
"We're at 60 percent drilling of pre-strike levels," one drilling contractor
said. "Where we should be drilling three holes we're drilling two; each drilling
takes longer and there is more time between each well we drill. That all says to
me that Venezuela can't be producing more than 2.6 million barrels per day."
He and the other contractors interviewed asked not to be identified to avoid
getting in the middle of the war of words between PDVSA and fired employees who
have launched an assault on the national oil company's credibility.
These contractors are probably the only ones in Venezuela who know what is
happening but have no political ax to grind. Many of the contractors even
complained of corruption on the part of former PDVSA employees, who government
leaders accuse of spinning production numbers to discredit the company that
fired them.
Other contractors estimate that 15 to 20 percent of PDVSA's rigs are out of
commission and that 80 to 90 percent of its equipment is due for maintenance.
"We have seen a total paralysis in well maintenance," another contractor said,
alleging that this has caused a spate of accidents, including one last month in
which an oil rig operating in Lake Maracaibo caught on fire.
However, there is little reliable information to compare the current accident
rates with those of previous years.
Venezuela has, in fact, already lost considerable production capacity over the
last five years. Venezuela was producing 3.7 million barrels per day in 1997,
before the start of the four heavy crude upgrading projects that now provide
500,000 barrels per day.
Therefore, even if Venezuela is producing 3.3 million barrels per day as the
government claims, the figure represents a loss of 900,000 barrels per day since
1997.
"Quite apart from what happened in the strike, in the coming months we are going
to see production declines resulting from five years of underinvestment," says
economist Robert Bottome of the business magazine Veneconomy.
And although current production figures are still in dispute, almost all signs
point to continued production slumps.
Venezuelan wells face annual decline of 25 percent, meaning that PDVSA must have
an average of 55 drilling rigs active at any given time to make up for lost
output in older wells.
Baker Hughes' rig count shows between 30 and 40 active drilling rigs -- at a
time when Venezuela is trying to make up for production lost during the strike.
Furthermore, experts indicate that an increasing proportion of drilling rigs are
run by international companies, which by Venezuelan law are required to operate
in marginal fields.
In addition, contractors indicate noticeable declines in work-over rig activity,
which spells considerable future declines in production, especially in western
Venezuela's mature fields.
According to Larry Goldstein, president of the energy think-tank Petroleum
Industry Research Foundation, Venezuela cannot be faulted for not bringing
production back to pre-strike levels, because most expected the strike would
cost the country at least 500,000 barrels per day.
"A company can't fire 18,000 employees without losing the institutional memory
of how to operate its fields," Goldstein said. At this point Venezuela is just
exaggerating the production data.
Goldstein says the primary problem that PDVSA faces is a lack of expertise in
everything from well maintenance to billing.
While PDVSA had the legal right to fire managers who had called for the strike,
doing so stripped the company of those who spent years studying Venezuelan wells
and production methods.
And the strike, which cost the country an estimated $7 billion, has left the
cash-strapped government with few options for reinvesting in future production.
Data on PDVSA's earnings also indicates that production levels are close to 2.6
million barrels per day. Venezuelan Central Bank Director Domingo Maza recently
said that the Central Bank is receiving only $1 billion in oil revenue per
month, rather than the $1.3 billion per month that would correspond to
production of 3.3 million barrels per day.
"Though there may have been a recovery in the production and export of oil,
there is no corresponding recovery in foreign currency payments," Maza told
Venezuela's National Assembly.
Figures provided by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and
the U.S. Department of Energy show Venezuelan oil production close to 2.6
million barrels per day, down from almost 3 million barrels per day in November
2002 and considerably below its quota of 2.9 million barrels per day.
This comes after Venezuela has been one of the most noticeable of the OPEC quota
cheaters, despite Chavez's pro-OPEC rhetoric.
Furthermore, Venezuelan authorities now insist on including upgraded synthetic
crude as part of petroleum production figures, whereas Venezuela previously
categorized synthetic crude as bitumen and therefore not part of quotas. While
Venezuela used to understate its production figures, now it is doing its best to
inflate them.
Leaders of Venezuela's political opposition hope to remove President Chavez
through a recall referendum this spring, which would allow fired workers to
return to the industry.
But no matter who is heading Venezuela's government next year, it looks like oil
production for this crucial OPEC member cannot go anywhere but south.
Sunday, May 25, 2003
Gunfire Erupts at Venezuela Rally, Killing One
CARACAS, Venezuela, May 24 (Reuters) — One person was killed and 15 were wounded by gunfire that broke out during a rally held by foes of President Hugo Chávez in a pro-Chávez district of Caracas today, officials said.
Three of the wounded were National Guard soldiers whose patrol came under fire as they took up positions in a security operation to try to prevent violence at the opposition rally.
Government and opposition representatives blamed each other for the shootings.
The gunfire erupted as several hundred supporters of the opposition Democratic Action Party held a rally in a narrow street in Catia, a poor, crime-ridden neighborhood that is a bastion of support for Mr. Chávez.
"This country doesn't just belong to Chávez supporters, but to all Venezuelans," said one of the demonstrators, Ana Maria Colmenares.
Mr. Chávez's opponents accuse him of ruling like a dictator and of trying to install Cuban-style communism in Venezuela, the world's fifth leading oil exporter.
Witnesses said some of the shots appeared to have come from side streets where groups of Chávez supporters had gathered to shout insults at the opposition protesters.
The violence broke out a day after government and opposition negotiators announced they had agreed to a pact to hold a referendum on Mr. Chávez's rule after Aug. 19.
The agreement aims to end months of conflict in Venezuela over Mr. Chávez's presidency. He was elected in late 1998 and survived a brief uprising last year.
Vice President José Vicente Rangel told reporters that 1 person had been killed in the shootings and 15 more wounded, including three National Guard troops.
The authorities had sent 2,000 police officers and troops to the area of sprawling hilltop slum neighborhoods in west Caracas where the rally was to take place.
It was not clear whether the violence might affect the formal signing of the referendum pact, which was scheduled to take place here in the coming week in the presence of the secretary general of the Organization of American States, César Gaviria.
Mr. Chávez, who has said he is willing to submit to the recall referendum allowed under the Constitution, was attending a meeting of Latin American presidents in Peru.
Thursday, April 24, 2003
The New York Times
March 5, 2003
Hugo Chávez and the Limits of Democracy
By MOISÉS NAÍM
WASHINGTON - For decades Venezuela was a backwater, uninteresting to the
outside world. It could not compete for international attention with
nearby countries where superpowers staged proxy wars, or where military
juntas "disappeared" thousands of opponents, or where the economy
regularly crashed. Venezuela was stable. Its oil fueled an economy that
enjoyed the world's highest growth rate from 1950 to 1980 and it boasted a
higher per-capita income than Spain from 1928 to 1984. Venezuela was one
of the longest-lived democracies in Latin America.
Venezuela is no longer boring. It has become a nightmare for its people
and a threat not just to its neighbors but to the United States and even
Europe. A strike in its oil industry has contributed to a rise in gasoline
prices at the worst possible time. Hasil Muhammad Rahaham-Alan, a
Venezuelan citizen, was detained last month at a London airport as he
arrived from Caracas carrying a hand grenade in his luggage. A week later,
President Hugo Chávez praised the arrest orders of two opposition leaders
who had been instrumental in organizing the strike, saying they "should
have been jailed a long time ago." Mr. Chávez has helped to create an
environment where stateless international networks whose business is
terror, guns or drugs feel at home.
Venezuela has also become a laboratory where the accepted wisdom of the
1990's is being tested - and often discredited. The first tenet to fall is
the belief that the United States has almost unlimited influence in South
America. As one of its main oil suppliers and a close neighbor has
careened out of control, America has been a conspicuously inconsequential
bystander.
And it is not just the United States. The United Nations, agencies like
the Organization of American States and the International Monetary Fund,
or the international press - all have stood by and watched. In the 1990's
there was a hope that these institutions could prevent, or at least
contain, some of the ugly malignancies that lead nations to self-destruct.
Instead, the most influential foreign influence in Venezuela is from the
1960's: Fidel Castro. The marriage of convenience between Cuba and
Venezuela is rooted in the close personal relationship between the two
leaders, with Mr. Castro playing the role of mentor to his younger
Venezuelan admirer. Cuba desperately needs Venezuelan oil, while the
Chávez administration depends on Cuba's experience in staging, managing or
repressing political turmoil.
Another belief of the 1990's was that global economic forces would force
democratically elected leaders to pursue responsible economic policies.
Yet Mr. Chávez, a democratically elected president, has been willing to
tolerate international economic isolation - with disastrous results for
Venezuela's poor - in exchange for greater power at home.
The 21st century was not supposed to engender a Latin American president
with a red beret. Instead of obsessing about luring private capital, he
scares it away. Rather than strengthening ties with the United States, he
befriends Cuba. Such behavior was supposed to have been made obsolete by
the democratization, economic deregulation and globalization of the
1990's.
Venezuela is an improbable country to have fallen into this political
abyss. It is vast, wealthy, relatively modern and cosmopolitan, with a
strong private sector and a homogeneous mixed-race population with little
history of conflict. Democracy was supposed to have prevented its decline
into a failed state. Yet once President Chávez gained control over the
government, his rule became exclusionary and profoundly undemocratic.
Under Mr. Chávez, Venezuela is a powerful reminder that elections are
necessary but not sufficient for democracy, and that even longstanding
democracies can unravel overnight. A government's legitimacy flows not
only from the ballot box but also from the way it conducts itself.
Accountability and institutional restraints and balances are needed.
The international community became adept at monitoring elections and
ensuring their legitimacy in the 1990's. The Venezuelan experience
illustrates the urgency of setting up equally effective mechanisms to
validate a government's practices.
The often stealthy transgressions of Mr. Chávez have unleashed a powerful
expression of what is perhaps the only trend of the 1990's still visible
in Venezuela: civil society. In today's Venezuela millions of once
politically indifferent citizens stage almost daily marches and rallies
larger than those that forced the early resignations of other
democratically presidents around the world.
This is not a traditional opposition movement. It is an inchoate network
of people from all social classes and walks of life, who are organized in
loosely coordinated units and who do not have any other ambition than to
stop a president who has made their country unlivable. Two out of three
Venezuelans living under the poverty line oppose President Chávez,
according to a Venezuelan survey released in January.
This amorphous movement is new to politics and vulnerable to manipulation
by traditional politicians and interest groups. For example, last year a
military faction took advantage of a huge but civil anti-Chávez march and
staged a coup that ousted the president for almost two days. By rejecting
the antidemocratic measures adopted by the would-be new president, the
leader of a business association, the movement helped bring about his
quick downfall.
Today the Venezuelan opposition consists of several factions, some of
which have participated in talks with the government. Yet it is a mistake
to equate these formal bodies with the widespread and largely leaderless,
self-organizing movement that has emerged in Venezuela. Many foreign
observers discount the opposition as mostly rich or middle class, a
coup-prone coalition of opportunistic politicians.
No doubt some protesters fit this ugly profile. Nor is there any doubt
that the Venezuelan opposition is clumsy and prone to blunders. Still, it
has helped millions of Venezuelans awaken to the fact that for too many
years they have been mere inhabitants of their own country. Now they
demand to be citizens, and feel they have the right to oust through
democratic means a president who has wrought havoc on their country.
It is a measure of Venezuela's toxic political climate that even though
the constitution allows for early elections, and even though President
Chávez has promised that he will abide by this provision, the great
majority of Venezuelans don't believe him. They are convinced that in
August, when the constitution contemplates a referendum on the president,
the government will resort to delaying tactics and dirty tricks. With
international attention elsewhere, Mr. Chávez will use his power to
forestall an election and ignore the constitution.
Venezuela's citizens have been heroically peaceful and civil in their
quest. All they ask is that they be given a chance to vote. The world
should do its best to ensure that they have that opportunity.
Moisés Naím, minister of trade and industry of Venezuela from 1989 to
1990, is editor of Foreign Policy magazine.
March 5, 2003
Hugo Chávez and the Limits of Democracy
By MOISÉS NAÍM
WASHINGTON - For decades Venezuela was a backwater, uninteresting to the
outside world. It could not compete for international attention with
nearby countries where superpowers staged proxy wars, or where military
juntas "disappeared" thousands of opponents, or where the economy
regularly crashed. Venezuela was stable. Its oil fueled an economy that
enjoyed the world's highest growth rate from 1950 to 1980 and it boasted a
higher per-capita income than Spain from 1928 to 1984. Venezuela was one
of the longest-lived democracies in Latin America.
Venezuela is no longer boring. It has become a nightmare for its people
and a threat not just to its neighbors but to the United States and even
Europe. A strike in its oil industry has contributed to a rise in gasoline
prices at the worst possible time. Hasil Muhammad Rahaham-Alan, a
Venezuelan citizen, was detained last month at a London airport as he
arrived from Caracas carrying a hand grenade in his luggage. A week later,
President Hugo Chávez praised the arrest orders of two opposition leaders
who had been instrumental in organizing the strike, saying they "should
have been jailed a long time ago." Mr. Chávez has helped to create an
environment where stateless international networks whose business is
terror, guns or drugs feel at home.
Venezuela has also become a laboratory where the accepted wisdom of the
1990's is being tested - and often discredited. The first tenet to fall is
the belief that the United States has almost unlimited influence in South
America. As one of its main oil suppliers and a close neighbor has
careened out of control, America has been a conspicuously inconsequential
bystander.
And it is not just the United States. The United Nations, agencies like
the Organization of American States and the International Monetary Fund,
or the international press - all have stood by and watched. In the 1990's
there was a hope that these institutions could prevent, or at least
contain, some of the ugly malignancies that lead nations to self-destruct.
Instead, the most influential foreign influence in Venezuela is from the
1960's: Fidel Castro. The marriage of convenience between Cuba and
Venezuela is rooted in the close personal relationship between the two
leaders, with Mr. Castro playing the role of mentor to his younger
Venezuelan admirer. Cuba desperately needs Venezuelan oil, while the
Chávez administration depends on Cuba's experience in staging, managing or
repressing political turmoil.
Another belief of the 1990's was that global economic forces would force
democratically elected leaders to pursue responsible economic policies.
Yet Mr. Chávez, a democratically elected president, has been willing to
tolerate international economic isolation - with disastrous results for
Venezuela's poor - in exchange for greater power at home.
The 21st century was not supposed to engender a Latin American president
with a red beret. Instead of obsessing about luring private capital, he
scares it away. Rather than strengthening ties with the United States, he
befriends Cuba. Such behavior was supposed to have been made obsolete by
the democratization, economic deregulation and globalization of the
1990's.
Venezuela is an improbable country to have fallen into this political
abyss. It is vast, wealthy, relatively modern and cosmopolitan, with a
strong private sector and a homogeneous mixed-race population with little
history of conflict. Democracy was supposed to have prevented its decline
into a failed state. Yet once President Chávez gained control over the
government, his rule became exclusionary and profoundly undemocratic.
Under Mr. Chávez, Venezuela is a powerful reminder that elections are
necessary but not sufficient for democracy, and that even longstanding
democracies can unravel overnight. A government's legitimacy flows not
only from the ballot box but also from the way it conducts itself.
Accountability and institutional restraints and balances are needed.
The international community became adept at monitoring elections and
ensuring their legitimacy in the 1990's. The Venezuelan experience
illustrates the urgency of setting up equally effective mechanisms to
validate a government's practices.
The often stealthy transgressions of Mr. Chávez have unleashed a powerful
expression of what is perhaps the only trend of the 1990's still visible
in Venezuela: civil society. In today's Venezuela millions of once
politically indifferent citizens stage almost daily marches and rallies
larger than those that forced the early resignations of other
democratically presidents around the world.
This is not a traditional opposition movement. It is an inchoate network
of people from all social classes and walks of life, who are organized in
loosely coordinated units and who do not have any other ambition than to
stop a president who has made their country unlivable. Two out of three
Venezuelans living under the poverty line oppose President Chávez,
according to a Venezuelan survey released in January.
This amorphous movement is new to politics and vulnerable to manipulation
by traditional politicians and interest groups. For example, last year a
military faction took advantage of a huge but civil anti-Chávez march and
staged a coup that ousted the president for almost two days. By rejecting
the antidemocratic measures adopted by the would-be new president, the
leader of a business association, the movement helped bring about his
quick downfall.
Today the Venezuelan opposition consists of several factions, some of
which have participated in talks with the government. Yet it is a mistake
to equate these formal bodies with the widespread and largely leaderless,
self-organizing movement that has emerged in Venezuela. Many foreign
observers discount the opposition as mostly rich or middle class, a
coup-prone coalition of opportunistic politicians.
No doubt some protesters fit this ugly profile. Nor is there any doubt
that the Venezuelan opposition is clumsy and prone to blunders. Still, it
has helped millions of Venezuelans awaken to the fact that for too many
years they have been mere inhabitants of their own country. Now they
demand to be citizens, and feel they have the right to oust through
democratic means a president who has wrought havoc on their country.
It is a measure of Venezuela's toxic political climate that even though
the constitution allows for early elections, and even though President
Chávez has promised that he will abide by this provision, the great
majority of Venezuelans don't believe him. They are convinced that in
August, when the constitution contemplates a referendum on the president,
the government will resort to delaying tactics and dirty tricks. With
international attention elsewhere, Mr. Chávez will use his power to
forestall an election and ignore the constitution.
Venezuela's citizens have been heroically peaceful and civil in their
quest. All they ask is that they be given a chance to vote. The world
should do its best to ensure that they have that opportunity.
Moisés Naím, minister of trade and industry of Venezuela from 1989 to
1990, is editor of Foreign Policy magazine.
The New York Times
March 4, 2003
Maracaibo Oil Region a Crucial Battleground for Chávez as Venezuelan
Conflict Rages
By DAVID GONZALEZ
MARACAIBO, Venezuela, Feb. 28 - In this sun-drenched city built on oil and
agriculture, government workers complain of missed paydays and stalled
projects. Beyond the high-rises and office towers, impoverished families
live in dank, crumbling shanties along bumpy dirt streets.
These scenes in the western state of Zulia make the billboard outside the
government-run oil company seem like a cruel taunt, particularly given
that Venezuela's journey to becoming the world's fifth-largest oil
exporter began here in 1914.
"Social Investment Fund," the sign proclaims. "Improving the Life of All
Zulianos."
Complaints that the central government has exported not just oil from the
region, but increasingly its attendant profits as well, have turned many
residents against President Hugo Chávez, whom they have accused of
withholding $500 million from their state budget over the years.
Only one of the state's 21 mayors supports Mr. Chávez, while the governor,
Manuel Rosales, has easily rallied tens of thousands of people against
him.
In Mr. Chávez's struggle to overcome the devastating effects of a
two-month nationwide opposition strike, Zulia, the country's most populous
state with 3.2 million residents, is a crucial battleground. Mr. Chávez
must not only boost oil production, but also his support in this state
whose people tend to vote as a bloc.
Two weeks ago, with the strike faltering, he set his sights on removing
Mr. Rosales, urging people to demand the kind of recall referendum that
his own critics have sought unsuccessfully against him.
Yet even among the poor, the very group that Mr. Chávez says benefits most
from his Bolivarian Revolution, disenchantment has grown.
"The economy is fatal, and since Chávez came to power it has gotten worse,
because there is no work," said Addis Atencia, who shares a compound of
five shanties with nearly three dozen adults and children. "In a country
that produces petroleum, how can you live like this?"
Zulianos consider themselves a breed apart, which is evident in their
accent, culture and temperament. The differences are a result of having
been cut off from the capital, Caracas, for years, and of frequent contact
with foreigners through the port here. For years before the bridge
spanning Lake Maracaibo was built in the 1960's, residents intent on going
to Caracas had to get a visa, since the ferry stopped first on the Dutch
island of Curaçao.
When Mr. Chavez introduced reforms, including one allowing squatters to
occupy fallow farmland, Zulianos reacted with a strike in September 2001.
For many the reforms were another insult after years of seeing no returns
on the revenue Zulia produced for the country.
"Zulia paralyzed the state and lit the fuse that led to a national
strike," said Tomás Guanipa Villalobos, the local leader of the Primero
Justicia political party. "Zulia has suffered the most under Chávez. The
money which was generated by oil was not invested into making Venezuela
truly productive."
Roads on the outskirts of Maracaibo are potholed, while signs heralding a
commuter rail station rise above empty lots where work has stopped. The
public hospital in the Veritas neighborhood looks rundown, paint flaking
from its walls and weeds blocking one entrance even as patients stream
into the building. A state medical supply store is shuttered.
Mr. Guanipa said that rather than tackle problems like those, Mr. Chávez
devoted most of a brief visit here last month to lambasting the governor
and the opposition as coup plotters.
"He said nothing about any program of investment to elevate Zulia," Mr.
Guanipa said. "He spent hours urging people to eliminate the enemy. It was
the politics of revenge, and that is very dangerous. It will get worse
unless we get out of this fast."
The government insists that production has improved among the oil rigs on
Lake Maracaibo, where soldiers patrol the lake and shores to prevent
sabotage. It estimates that production nationwide is now back up to 2.1
million barrels daily after being paralyzed by the strike. Venezuela
produced 3.1 million barrels a day before the strike.
Alexis Arellano, the coordinator of the oil company's Tía Juana district,
said he was now able to pump almost 800,000 barrels daily, despite having
dismissed 60 percent of his work force during the strike.
Combined with joint ventures that were not affected by the strike, he said
regional production hovered at a little more than one million barrels
daily.
"They said it was impossible to increase production," he said. "The people
who stayed with us see it as a personal challenge to keep on operating and
make the company grow."
But former executives dispute the government's figures and insist that
actual production is half of that claimed.
"If they are producing a million barrels a day with so many less people,
then they should have fired us," joked Tarciso Guerrero, who used to
manage the gas facilities. "They are only saying they reached a million to
show the country that everything is normal."
Outside the oil company's Miranda Building, lines of job applicants file
past a ragtag group of "Commando Reservists," Chávez supporters who have
guarded the area since December, a battered bus their headquarters and
dormitory.
The mood has been tense, especially after two people were injured this
week when unknown assailants tossed a grenade and fired a dozen shots
while the Chávez supporters slept by the sidewalk.
"We are defending these trenches because this institution is ours," said
one of the group, Leonardo Sencial. "Without this we are nothing. If they
try to take it away, we will take to the streets as the president said."
March 4, 2003
Maracaibo Oil Region a Crucial Battleground for Chávez as Venezuelan
Conflict Rages
By DAVID GONZALEZ
MARACAIBO, Venezuela, Feb. 28 - In this sun-drenched city built on oil and
agriculture, government workers complain of missed paydays and stalled
projects. Beyond the high-rises and office towers, impoverished families
live in dank, crumbling shanties along bumpy dirt streets.
These scenes in the western state of Zulia make the billboard outside the
government-run oil company seem like a cruel taunt, particularly given
that Venezuela's journey to becoming the world's fifth-largest oil
exporter began here in 1914.
"Social Investment Fund," the sign proclaims. "Improving the Life of All
Zulianos."
Complaints that the central government has exported not just oil from the
region, but increasingly its attendant profits as well, have turned many
residents against President Hugo Chávez, whom they have accused of
withholding $500 million from their state budget over the years.
Only one of the state's 21 mayors supports Mr. Chávez, while the governor,
Manuel Rosales, has easily rallied tens of thousands of people against
him.
In Mr. Chávez's struggle to overcome the devastating effects of a
two-month nationwide opposition strike, Zulia, the country's most populous
state with 3.2 million residents, is a crucial battleground. Mr. Chávez
must not only boost oil production, but also his support in this state
whose people tend to vote as a bloc.
Two weeks ago, with the strike faltering, he set his sights on removing
Mr. Rosales, urging people to demand the kind of recall referendum that
his own critics have sought unsuccessfully against him.
Yet even among the poor, the very group that Mr. Chávez says benefits most
from his Bolivarian Revolution, disenchantment has grown.
"The economy is fatal, and since Chávez came to power it has gotten worse,
because there is no work," said Addis Atencia, who shares a compound of
five shanties with nearly three dozen adults and children. "In a country
that produces petroleum, how can you live like this?"
Zulianos consider themselves a breed apart, which is evident in their
accent, culture and temperament. The differences are a result of having
been cut off from the capital, Caracas, for years, and of frequent contact
with foreigners through the port here. For years before the bridge
spanning Lake Maracaibo was built in the 1960's, residents intent on going
to Caracas had to get a visa, since the ferry stopped first on the Dutch
island of Curaçao.
When Mr. Chavez introduced reforms, including one allowing squatters to
occupy fallow farmland, Zulianos reacted with a strike in September 2001.
For many the reforms were another insult after years of seeing no returns
on the revenue Zulia produced for the country.
"Zulia paralyzed the state and lit the fuse that led to a national
strike," said Tomás Guanipa Villalobos, the local leader of the Primero
Justicia political party. "Zulia has suffered the most under Chávez. The
money which was generated by oil was not invested into making Venezuela
truly productive."
Roads on the outskirts of Maracaibo are potholed, while signs heralding a
commuter rail station rise above empty lots where work has stopped. The
public hospital in the Veritas neighborhood looks rundown, paint flaking
from its walls and weeds blocking one entrance even as patients stream
into the building. A state medical supply store is shuttered.
Mr. Guanipa said that rather than tackle problems like those, Mr. Chávez
devoted most of a brief visit here last month to lambasting the governor
and the opposition as coup plotters.
"He said nothing about any program of investment to elevate Zulia," Mr.
Guanipa said. "He spent hours urging people to eliminate the enemy. It was
the politics of revenge, and that is very dangerous. It will get worse
unless we get out of this fast."
The government insists that production has improved among the oil rigs on
Lake Maracaibo, where soldiers patrol the lake and shores to prevent
sabotage. It estimates that production nationwide is now back up to 2.1
million barrels daily after being paralyzed by the strike. Venezuela
produced 3.1 million barrels a day before the strike.
Alexis Arellano, the coordinator of the oil company's Tía Juana district,
said he was now able to pump almost 800,000 barrels daily, despite having
dismissed 60 percent of his work force during the strike.
Combined with joint ventures that were not affected by the strike, he said
regional production hovered at a little more than one million barrels
daily.
"They said it was impossible to increase production," he said. "The people
who stayed with us see it as a personal challenge to keep on operating and
make the company grow."
But former executives dispute the government's figures and insist that
actual production is half of that claimed.
"If they are producing a million barrels a day with so many less people,
then they should have fired us," joked Tarciso Guerrero, who used to
manage the gas facilities. "They are only saying they reached a million to
show the country that everything is normal."
Outside the oil company's Miranda Building, lines of job applicants file
past a ragtag group of "Commando Reservists," Chávez supporters who have
guarded the area since December, a battered bus their headquarters and
dormitory.
The mood has been tense, especially after two people were injured this
week when unknown assailants tossed a grenade and fired a dozen shots
while the Chávez supporters slept by the sidewalk.
"We are defending these trenches because this institution is ours," said
one of the group, Leonardo Sencial. "Without this we are nothing. If they
try to take it away, we will take to the streets as the president said."
March 3, 2003
Venezuela's Inflation Reached 7.1% Last Month, a 7-Year High
By BLOOMBERG NEWS
CARACAS, Venezuela, March 2 - The Venezuelan monthly inflation rate rose to
a seven-year high in February on increased demand as price controls and
restrictions on dollar sales caused shortages.
Consumer prices rose 5.5 percent in February compared with a 2.9 percent
rise in January, the central bank said in its monthly report, which was
released over the weekend. February's inflation rate was the highest since
a reading of 7.1 percent in June 1996. The 12-month trailing inflation
rate approached 39 percent, the highest since 1997.
In February 2001, prices rose 1.8 percent.
"Controlling prices has had less impact than the authorities expected," a
central bank director, Armando León, said, as quoted in the newspaper El
Universal. "It's caused a fall in the supply of goods."
The government fixed maximum prices for some goods last month to stem
inflation. Producers say they cannot make a profit selling at the fixed
price and have reduced output. Rising prices threaten to further undermine
support for President Hugo Chávez, who is facing wide opposition and calls
for a referendum.
A two-month general strike aimed at ousting Mr. Chávez cut oil exports,
the source of much government revenue, leading to a 17 percent contraction
of the economy in the fourth quarter.
The government banned foreign currency trading in January and expects in
mid-March to begin selling dollars to importers of what the government
considers essential goods.
"We must have development from the inside and not be dependent on outside
forces," Mr. Chávez said in a televised speech.
Venezuela imports about 60 percent of its food, medicine, electronic goods
and clothing. Imports fell 29 percent last year, to $12.3 billion.
Venezuela's Inflation Reached 7.1% Last Month, a 7-Year High
By BLOOMBERG NEWS
CARACAS, Venezuela, March 2 - The Venezuelan monthly inflation rate rose to
a seven-year high in February on increased demand as price controls and
restrictions on dollar sales caused shortages.
Consumer prices rose 5.5 percent in February compared with a 2.9 percent
rise in January, the central bank said in its monthly report, which was
released over the weekend. February's inflation rate was the highest since
a reading of 7.1 percent in June 1996. The 12-month trailing inflation
rate approached 39 percent, the highest since 1997.
In February 2001, prices rose 1.8 percent.
"Controlling prices has had less impact than the authorities expected," a
central bank director, Armando León, said, as quoted in the newspaper El
Universal. "It's caused a fall in the supply of goods."
The government fixed maximum prices for some goods last month to stem
inflation. Producers say they cannot make a profit selling at the fixed
price and have reduced output. Rising prices threaten to further undermine
support for President Hugo Chávez, who is facing wide opposition and calls
for a referendum.
A two-month general strike aimed at ousting Mr. Chávez cut oil exports,
the source of much government revenue, leading to a 17 percent contraction
of the economy in the fourth quarter.
The government banned foreign currency trading in January and expects in
mid-March to begin selling dollars to importers of what the government
considers essential goods.
"We must have development from the inside and not be dependent on outside
forces," Mr. Chávez said in a televised speech.
Venezuela imports about 60 percent of its food, medicine, electronic goods
and clothing. Imports fell 29 percent last year, to $12.3 billion.
washingtonpost.com
Meddle With Mr. Chavez [Editorial]
Saturday, March 1, 2003
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.
Meddle With Mr. Chavez [Editorial]
Saturday, March 1, 2003
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.
The New York Times
February 26, 2003
Venezuela's Lifeblood Ebbs Even as It Flows
By JUAN FORERO
CARACAS, Venezuela - Once more, tankers are setting sail loaded with crude
bound for the United States, while government planners busily rebuild and
reorganize the state-owned Petróleos de Venezuela, pondering how to
function with 40 percent fewer workers.
Oil, the lifeblood of Venezuela, is running again after a paralyzal, took on 25,000 barrels an hour.
But oil analysts and economists say the government's rosy picture hides a
painful truth about a 27-year-old company that was born when Venezuela
nationalized oil production and quickly became one of Latin America's more
highly regarded multinationals.
Petróleos de Venezuela has lost $4 billion in exports and nearly 16,000
workers, fired by the government for taking part in a walkout aimed at
debilitating President Hugo Chávez's left-leaning government. That
financial blow and the loss of workers with, on average, 17 years of
experience could permanently hobble the company, keeping it from assuming
its role as a leading world oil provider, analysts here and abroad say.
"It will not be the company it once was," said Mazhar al-Shereidah, an oil
economist in Caracas who helped write oil regulations for the Chávez
government. "For a country that depends on petroleum, now more than ever,
the challenges are too great. You have to pray for Venezuela."
The dire predictions, if true, would indeed be disastrous for this country
of 24 million, which depends on oil for half of government revenues and 80
percent of exports. It would also leave the United States - which has
counted on Venezuelan oil for decades - without one of its most reliable
suppliers as a possible war with oil-rich Iraq promises to batter energy
markets.
The obstacles are daunting after the strike, which started to fizzle in
February after two months. A lack of maintenance has caused sand to build
up in the gelatinous deposits and the pressure to drop, making some fields
worthless and threatening to cut production capacity by 300,000 or more
barrels a day. And perhaps most troubling is that no one knows what Mr.
Chávez's government has in store, though it has promised a wholesale
revamping of what was once the world's second-largest oil company.
Reports from international analysts are blistering. UBS Warburg predicts
that oil's contribution to gross domestic product will fall 22 percent in
2003, with Venezuela facing "a fiscal crisis of major proportions." Fitch
Ratings says Venezuela's "image as a reliable crude oil supplier has been
undermined" and will he hard to recover.
Analysts say the lack of technical expertise, combined with the financial
straits, means that Petróleos de Venezuela will be unable, in the short
term, to reach production levels of the prestrike days, when Venezuela was
the world's fifth-largest oil exporter. Most recent production has been in
fields that were easiest to restart, leading independent analysts to
predict that Venezuela will, at best, produce 2.3 million barrels daily by
year-end.
"We believe the company's role in Venezuela society has been permanently
altered," a recent Deutsche Bank report said. Assuming average daily
production of 1.7 million barrels for 2003, the bank estimated that oil
revenue would reach only $14.1 billion, down nearly 50 percent from 2001.
The government is already preparing for the worst. The 2003 budget for the
oil company was cut by $2.7 billion, to about $6 billion, while the income
the government draws from oil is forecast by UBS Warburg to fall from
$11.5 billion in 2002 to as little as $5 billion in 2003. The drop will
make it especially difficult to raise the $5 billion the company would
have spent to keep production steady.
Alí Rodríguez, the former leftist guerrilla turned president of Petróleos
de Venezuela, does not gloss over the obstacles. But in an interview, Mr.
Rodríguez said the doomsday predictions originated with dissident
executives who hoped to undermine international confidence in the oil
company to weaken Mr. Chávez.
He predicted that through sharp budget and personnel cuts, the company
would reach 3.1 million barrels a day. And "with its resources," he said,
"it is perfectly possible that it will even surpass that level."
To be sure, the Petróleos de Venezuela now emerging will be a far
different company, in both its management and philosophy.
Gone will be the highly autonomous octopus that Mr. Rodríguez said
functioned with great independence from the state, controlling revenues
and influencing oil policies. The new company, taking advantage of some of
the world's largest oil deposits outside the Middle East, "must give
maximum contribution to the nonpetroleum sector, which is the majority of
the people," Mr. Rodríguez said.
Still, even inside the gleaming office tower in Caracas where the company
is based, the short-term outlook seems dismal as managers pore over
financial statements.
"There is no investment, so there is no doubt that the company at this
moment is very debilitated," Bernard Mommer, a close adviser to Mr.
Rodríguez who is helping guide the restructuring, said in an interview.
"Up ahead, we are going to have problems like how to recover the quality
of the company."
Venezuela will benefit little from the higher world oil prices projected
in coming months, since production capacity remains limited. By the time
Petróleos de Venezuela is producing close to three million barrels daily -
if it ever does - prices are likely to have stabilized, analysts say.
In the meantime, Mr. Rodríguez and his managers are busy splitting the
company into three divisions: a natural gas branch to develop the largest
deposits in Latin America, and companies in the east and west intended to
make obsolete the executive offices in Caracas, where antigovernment
activities percolated.
Venezuela may also unload foreign assets, like refineries in the United
States that operate under the Citgo chain, which is wholly owned by
Petróleos de Venezuela, and other installations in Europe and the
Caribbean.
Publicly, officials deny the companies are for sale. But Mr. Mommer said
Citgo remained overly expensive while providing scant returns.
"The sophisticated part of our business, refining, that's not our
business," Mr. Mommer said. "Exploration and production, that is where the
big money is."
Such a sale would "dismember" the company, warned José Toro Hardy, an
influential former board member, because Citgo refineries are specially
outfitted to process Venezuela's particularly gummy brand of heavy crude.
"There are few refineries in the world that can refine" this crude, Mr.
Toro Hardy explained. "Without Citgo, Venezuela's heavy oil would lose
value."
Oil analysts also warn that the company will be debilitated for years from
the loss of experienced workers. Executives, office workers, engineers and
highly trained technicians joined the walkout and, in some cases, damaged
computers and software and stole files to hinder reactivation efforts.
Mr. Chávez, who has referred to the employees as traitors and fascists,
has promised that they will not be rehired.
But already, oil analysts say, the shortage of experienced workers is
being felt in every corner of the company. In the patents and technology
department, which develops technology for exploration and refining, 800
were fired. The department that trains executives has lost hundreds, as
has the crucial commercialization department, which contracts with oil
purchasers.
"Even if you replace the bodies, you don't replace institutional
memories," said Larry Goldstein, president of the Petroleum Industry
Research Foundation, an industry-supported analysis group in New York.
"It's a hidden loss. You can't touch it or taste it, but it's there."
February 26, 2003
Venezuela's Lifeblood Ebbs Even as It Flows
By JUAN FORERO
CARACAS, Venezuela - Once more, tankers are setting sail loaded with crude
bound for the United States, while government planners busily rebuild and
reorganize the state-owned Petróleos de Venezuela, pondering how to
function with 40 percent fewer workers.
Oil, the lifeblood of Venezuela, is running again after a paralyzal, took on 25,000 barrels an hour.
But oil analysts and economists say the government's rosy picture hides a
painful truth about a 27-year-old company that was born when Venezuela
nationalized oil production and quickly became one of Latin America's more
highly regarded multinationals.
Petróleos de Venezuela has lost $4 billion in exports and nearly 16,000
workers, fired by the government for taking part in a walkout aimed at
debilitating President Hugo Chávez's left-leaning government. That
financial blow and the loss of workers with, on average, 17 years of
experience could permanently hobble the company, keeping it from assuming
its role as a leading world oil provider, analysts here and abroad say.
"It will not be the company it once was," said Mazhar al-Shereidah, an oil
economist in Caracas who helped write oil regulations for the Chávez
government. "For a country that depends on petroleum, now more than ever,
the challenges are too great. You have to pray for Venezuela."
The dire predictions, if true, would indeed be disastrous for this country
of 24 million, which depends on oil for half of government revenues and 80
percent of exports. It would also leave the United States - which has
counted on Venezuelan oil for decades - without one of its most reliable
suppliers as a possible war with oil-rich Iraq promises to batter energy
markets.
The obstacles are daunting after the strike, which started to fizzle in
February after two months. A lack of maintenance has caused sand to build
up in the gelatinous deposits and the pressure to drop, making some fields
worthless and threatening to cut production capacity by 300,000 or more
barrels a day. And perhaps most troubling is that no one knows what Mr.
Chávez's government has in store, though it has promised a wholesale
revamping of what was once the world's second-largest oil company.
Reports from international analysts are blistering. UBS Warburg predicts
that oil's contribution to gross domestic product will fall 22 percent in
2003, with Venezuela facing "a fiscal crisis of major proportions." Fitch
Ratings says Venezuela's "image as a reliable crude oil supplier has been
undermined" and will he hard to recover.
Analysts say the lack of technical expertise, combined with the financial
straits, means that Petróleos de Venezuela will be unable, in the short
term, to reach production levels of the prestrike days, when Venezuela was
the world's fifth-largest oil exporter. Most recent production has been in
fields that were easiest to restart, leading independent analysts to
predict that Venezuela will, at best, produce 2.3 million barrels daily by
year-end.
"We believe the company's role in Venezuela society has been permanently
altered," a recent Deutsche Bank report said. Assuming average daily
production of 1.7 million barrels for 2003, the bank estimated that oil
revenue would reach only $14.1 billion, down nearly 50 percent from 2001.
The government is already preparing for the worst. The 2003 budget for the
oil company was cut by $2.7 billion, to about $6 billion, while the income
the government draws from oil is forecast by UBS Warburg to fall from
$11.5 billion in 2002 to as little as $5 billion in 2003. The drop will
make it especially difficult to raise the $5 billion the company would
have spent to keep production steady.
Alí Rodríguez, the former leftist guerrilla turned president of Petróleos
de Venezuela, does not gloss over the obstacles. But in an interview, Mr.
Rodríguez said the doomsday predictions originated with dissident
executives who hoped to undermine international confidence in the oil
company to weaken Mr. Chávez.
He predicted that through sharp budget and personnel cuts, the company
would reach 3.1 million barrels a day. And "with its resources," he said,
"it is perfectly possible that it will even surpass that level."
To be sure, the Petróleos de Venezuela now emerging will be a far
different company, in both its management and philosophy.
Gone will be the highly autonomous octopus that Mr. Rodríguez said
functioned with great independence from the state, controlling revenues
and influencing oil policies. The new company, taking advantage of some of
the world's largest oil deposits outside the Middle East, "must give
maximum contribution to the nonpetroleum sector, which is the majority of
the people," Mr. Rodríguez said.
Still, even inside the gleaming office tower in Caracas where the company
is based, the short-term outlook seems dismal as managers pore over
financial statements.
"There is no investment, so there is no doubt that the company at this
moment is very debilitated," Bernard Mommer, a close adviser to Mr.
Rodríguez who is helping guide the restructuring, said in an interview.
"Up ahead, we are going to have problems like how to recover the quality
of the company."
Venezuela will benefit little from the higher world oil prices projected
in coming months, since production capacity remains limited. By the time
Petróleos de Venezuela is producing close to three million barrels daily -
if it ever does - prices are likely to have stabilized, analysts say.
In the meantime, Mr. Rodríguez and his managers are busy splitting the
company into three divisions: a natural gas branch to develop the largest
deposits in Latin America, and companies in the east and west intended to
make obsolete the executive offices in Caracas, where antigovernment
activities percolated.
Venezuela may also unload foreign assets, like refineries in the United
States that operate under the Citgo chain, which is wholly owned by
Petróleos de Venezuela, and other installations in Europe and the
Caribbean.
Publicly, officials deny the companies are for sale. But Mr. Mommer said
Citgo remained overly expensive while providing scant returns.
"The sophisticated part of our business, refining, that's not our
business," Mr. Mommer said. "Exploration and production, that is where the
big money is."
Such a sale would "dismember" the company, warned José Toro Hardy, an
influential former board member, because Citgo refineries are specially
outfitted to process Venezuela's particularly gummy brand of heavy crude.
"There are few refineries in the world that can refine" this crude, Mr.
Toro Hardy explained. "Without Citgo, Venezuela's heavy oil would lose
value."
Oil analysts also warn that the company will be debilitated for years from
the loss of experienced workers. Executives, office workers, engineers and
highly trained technicians joined the walkout and, in some cases, damaged
computers and software and stole files to hinder reactivation efforts.
Mr. Chávez, who has referred to the employees as traitors and fascists,
has promised that they will not be rehired.
But already, oil analysts say, the shortage of experienced workers is
being felt in every corner of the company. In the patents and technology
department, which develops technology for exploration and refining, 800
were fired. The department that trains executives has lost hundreds, as
has the crucial commercialization department, which contracts with oil
purchasers.
"Even if you replace the bodies, you don't replace institutional
memories," said Larry Goldstein, president of the Petroleum Industry
Research Foundation, an industry-supported analysis group in New York.
"It's a hidden loss. You can't touch it or taste it, but it's there."
The New York Times
February 26, 2003
Explosions Rip Diplomatic Offices in Caracas
By DAVID GONZALEZ
CARACAS, Venezuela, Feb. 25 - Powerful explosions outside two diplomatic
offices shattered windows and nerves early today, leaving four people
wounded and many others uncertain about the prospects for a peaceful
solution to the political crisis here.
One blast ripped the glass and steel facade of the Colombian Consulate
downtown, twisting a thick steel entry gate and ruining two of the
building's four floors. A second blast, outside the foreign aid office of
the Spanish Embassy in a residential area, knocked a gate off its hinges
and punched a hole through a wall. In both cases, people were wounded by
flying glass, authorities said.
The explosions, which the police said were extraordinarily large and which
neighbors said felt like earthquakes, came two days after President Hugo
Chávez publicly berated Spain and Colombia for interfering in Venezuela's
internal affairs. Mr. Chávez, who has outlasted an attempted coup and an
opposition strike, had been criticized for the arrest of an opposition
leader as well as for not assisting Colombia in its fight against leftist
guerrillas.
The government denied any involvement in the blasts and ordered tighter
security for foreign missions and the diplomatic corps. The deputy foreign
minister, Arévalo Méndez, said the bombs were the work of a "sick and
confused mind that had nothing to do" with any criticisms Mr. Chávez might
have voiced against other nations.
"We repudiate this act of terrorism," Vice President José Vicente Rangel
said at an afternoon news conference. "The government rejects any
terrorist act, whatever it is, wherever it is, whoever the author. We
reject any form of terrorism, whether it is from the state or from
individuals."
Diplomats from Colombia and Spain did not blame the government but did
urge thorough investigations, as did the United States.
The blasts, which occurred around 2:30 a.m. local time, also came one day
before the resumption of talks between the government and the opposition,
which only last week had agreed to tone down their accusations and reject
violence. But the arrest last week of Carlos Fernández, a business leader
who spearheaded the strike, had already increased skepticism over Mr.
Chávez's commitment to a peaceful resolution. "This defines a new stage in
the political situation in Venezuela, one in which there is greater chaos
and violence and a president who is becoming more entrenched," said
Michael Shifter, vice president for policy at the Inter-American Dialogue
in Washington. "It makes it very hard to see negotiations, given this
climate."
It is just as difficult to know who is responsible for the bombs. Leaflets
were found at the sites of both explosions, signed by an obscure group,
the Bolivarian Liberation Force, and the Simón Bolívar Coordinator, Urban
Militia. Juan Contreras, director of the Simón Bolívar Coordinator, told a
local newspaper that his group was a cultural association and said whoever
used its name was fighting "a dirty war."
Only two days ago, during his weekly television broadcast, Mr. Chávez had
lashed out at his critics, telling them to respect Venezuela's
sovereignty. He said some of the nations that were faulting him for
arresting the strike leader had supported the coup that failed to oust him
last April.
"Where do Spain and Colombia want this to get to?" he said during the
broadcast. "To break relations?"
A diplomat who is in close contact with the government and the opposition
said the bombs were out of character for Venezuela, where previous
explosions have been limited to grenades or pipe bombs left outside
television stations.
The jangle of thousands of shards of glass being swept away echoed through
the street outside the Colombian Consulate, where the entry gate was
twisted. The concussion from the blast smashed countless windows inside an
office building across the street, where dazed residents slowly picked
their way through small rooms.
"The strike had already paralyzed the country," said Alberto Buroz, the
president of an environmental engineering firm whose offices were the most
damaged in the building. "Now with the few clients we have left, how can
we attend to them? We have crossed the line. I don't know. I'd like to
understand what will be the end of this story. But that has not been
written yet."
Outside, Marta Lucía Varón stood by a banner held aloft by a group of her
countrymen from Colombia. They had come to the street in solidarity, she
said, as soon as they heard the news.
"This violence was created by the Chávez government," she said, despite
protests from several Chávez supporters near her. "We fled violence in
Colombia and chose Venezuela to make a living. And now we find this?"
February 26, 2003
Explosions Rip Diplomatic Offices in Caracas
By DAVID GONZALEZ
CARACAS, Venezuela, Feb. 25 - Powerful explosions outside two diplomatic
offices shattered windows and nerves early today, leaving four people
wounded and many others uncertain about the prospects for a peaceful
solution to the political crisis here.
One blast ripped the glass and steel facade of the Colombian Consulate
downtown, twisting a thick steel entry gate and ruining two of the
building's four floors. A second blast, outside the foreign aid office of
the Spanish Embassy in a residential area, knocked a gate off its hinges
and punched a hole through a wall. In both cases, people were wounded by
flying glass, authorities said.
The explosions, which the police said were extraordinarily large and which
neighbors said felt like earthquakes, came two days after President Hugo
Chávez publicly berated Spain and Colombia for interfering in Venezuela's
internal affairs. Mr. Chávez, who has outlasted an attempted coup and an
opposition strike, had been criticized for the arrest of an opposition
leader as well as for not assisting Colombia in its fight against leftist
guerrillas.
The government denied any involvement in the blasts and ordered tighter
security for foreign missions and the diplomatic corps. The deputy foreign
minister, Arévalo Méndez, said the bombs were the work of a "sick and
confused mind that had nothing to do" with any criticisms Mr. Chávez might
have voiced against other nations.
"We repudiate this act of terrorism," Vice President José Vicente Rangel
said at an afternoon news conference. "The government rejects any
terrorist act, whatever it is, wherever it is, whoever the author. We
reject any form of terrorism, whether it is from the state or from
individuals."
Diplomats from Colombia and Spain did not blame the government but did
urge thorough investigations, as did the United States.
The blasts, which occurred around 2:30 a.m. local time, also came one day
before the resumption of talks between the government and the opposition,
which only last week had agreed to tone down their accusations and reject
violence. But the arrest last week of Carlos Fernández, a business leader
who spearheaded the strike, had already increased skepticism over Mr.
Chávez's commitment to a peaceful resolution. "This defines a new stage in
the political situation in Venezuela, one in which there is greater chaos
and violence and a president who is becoming more entrenched," said
Michael Shifter, vice president for policy at the Inter-American Dialogue
in Washington. "It makes it very hard to see negotiations, given this
climate."
It is just as difficult to know who is responsible for the bombs. Leaflets
were found at the sites of both explosions, signed by an obscure group,
the Bolivarian Liberation Force, and the Simón Bolívar Coordinator, Urban
Militia. Juan Contreras, director of the Simón Bolívar Coordinator, told a
local newspaper that his group was a cultural association and said whoever
used its name was fighting "a dirty war."
Only two days ago, during his weekly television broadcast, Mr. Chávez had
lashed out at his critics, telling them to respect Venezuela's
sovereignty. He said some of the nations that were faulting him for
arresting the strike leader had supported the coup that failed to oust him
last April.
"Where do Spain and Colombia want this to get to?" he said during the
broadcast. "To break relations?"
A diplomat who is in close contact with the government and the opposition
said the bombs were out of character for Venezuela, where previous
explosions have been limited to grenades or pipe bombs left outside
television stations.
The jangle of thousands of shards of glass being swept away echoed through
the street outside the Colombian Consulate, where the entry gate was
twisted. The concussion from the blast smashed countless windows inside an
office building across the street, where dazed residents slowly picked
their way through small rooms.
"The strike had already paralyzed the country," said Alberto Buroz, the
president of an environmental engineering firm whose offices were the most
damaged in the building. "Now with the few clients we have left, how can
we attend to them? We have crossed the line. I don't know. I'd like to
understand what will be the end of this story. But that has not been
written yet."
Outside, Marta Lucía Varón stood by a banner held aloft by a group of her
countrymen from Colombia. They had come to the street in solidarity, she
said, as soon as they heard the news.
"This violence was created by the Chávez government," she said, despite
protests from several Chávez supporters near her. "We fled violence in
Colombia and chose Venezuela to make a living. And now we find this?"
eluniversal.com - Daily news and summary
Caracas, February 24, 2003
Several thousands of shot impacts and hundreds of shells were
found in the site where the bodies were found
(Photo: Fernado Sánchez)
Venezuela's internal security service allegedly linked to killing of
three soldiers and a protester
GUSTAVO RODRIGUEZ / EL UNIVERSAL
Three dissident soldiers and a protester found dead last weekend in
the outskirts of the Venezuelan capital of Caracas were killed at a
shooting ground where special forces of the Directorate for
Intelligence, Security, and Prevention (Disip) practice target
shooting.
A series of circumstantial evidences have led authorities to believe
that officers of Disip -Venezuela's internal security service- may
be involved in the killings.
Witnesses at Plaza Altamira, where soldiers lived since they
declared in disobedience against President Hugo Chávez' government,
said the victims were kidnapped by commandos in two four-wheel drive
vehicles similar to those used by Disip officers.
As to the girl that survived to the slaughter, Roxana Caterina
Rivero, officials investigating the killings said that she was not
wounded in the head. The girl was hit in the head with a shotgun
stock, but she pretended she had been shot to avoid being killed.
Meanwhile, Liliana Ortega, Director of COFAVIC, a respected
Caracas-based nongovernmental organization that promotes and
protects human rights, said a thorough and responsible investigation
has to be conducted. "The State has to launch an independent and
detailed investigation leading to the conviction of the offenders."
According to Ortega, some hasty conclusions issued on the case are a
bad signal. She asked the government and authorities to determine if
the killings were politically motivated.
"So far there has been no result from inquiries concerning around 50
political crimes in the country. We reject the fact that authorities
investigating the facts are giving early opinion on the events. We
ask the Ombudsman's Office and the Public Prosecutor's Office to
step in and ensure the proper investigations -in accordance with
international treaties- are conducted."
Caracas, February 24, 2003
Several thousands of shot impacts and hundreds of shells were
found in the site where the bodies were found
(Photo: Fernado Sánchez)
Venezuela's internal security service allegedly linked to killing of
three soldiers and a protester
GUSTAVO RODRIGUEZ / EL UNIVERSAL
Three dissident soldiers and a protester found dead last weekend in
the outskirts of the Venezuelan capital of Caracas were killed at a
shooting ground where special forces of the Directorate for
Intelligence, Security, and Prevention (Disip) practice target
shooting.
A series of circumstantial evidences have led authorities to believe
that officers of Disip -Venezuela's internal security service- may
be involved in the killings.
Witnesses at Plaza Altamira, where soldiers lived since they
declared in disobedience against President Hugo Chávez' government,
said the victims were kidnapped by commandos in two four-wheel drive
vehicles similar to those used by Disip officers.
As to the girl that survived to the slaughter, Roxana Caterina
Rivero, officials investigating the killings said that she was not
wounded in the head. The girl was hit in the head with a shotgun
stock, but she pretended she had been shot to avoid being killed.
Meanwhile, Liliana Ortega, Director of COFAVIC, a respected
Caracas-based nongovernmental organization that promotes and
protects human rights, said a thorough and responsible investigation
has to be conducted. "The State has to launch an independent and
detailed investigation leading to the conviction of the offenders."
According to Ortega, some hasty conclusions issued on the case are a
bad signal. She asked the government and authorities to determine if
the killings were politically motivated.
"So far there has been no result from inquiries concerning around 50
political crimes in the country. We reject the fact that authorities
investigating the facts are giving early opinion on the events. We
ask the Ombudsman's Office and the Public Prosecutor's Office to
step in and ensure the proper investigations -in accordance with
international treaties- are conducted."
The New York Times
February 23, 2003
Salons Dabble in Venezuelan Black Market
By REUTERS
Filed at 5:58 p.m. ET
CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - At Isabel's beauty salon in downtown
Caracas you can get more than a bikini wax, manicure or a hair cut. You
can now also dabble in the country's burgeoning black market.
Wedged next to a shuttered foreign currency exchange house, Isabel's is
one of the newest additions to Venezuela's not-so-secret underworld of
dollar traders -- looking to make quick cash off newly imposed draconian
currency controls.
Embattled President Hugo Chavez unceremoniously shut currency markets last
month, starving the nation of precious dollars in a bid to shield
government foreign reserves from a swelling economic crisis.
``Hey mister, you looking for dollars?'' one beauty salon worker, clips
and brushes peeking from her uniform pockets, whispers to Jose Dos Santos,
who is just outside.
Breaking his worried gaze from the darkened windows of the currency
exchange next door, Dos Santos blurts out a confused but determined,
``Yes, miss. I am.''
``I'm leaving tomorrow to live in Portugal and what am I going to do with
bolivars over there?'' he said.
Dos Santos, his graying chest hair peeking out of the top of his light
blue dress shirt, might as well be the poster-boy for Venezuela's
disillusioned immigrant population. He arrived here on the eve of the
country's oil boom in the 1960s and opened a small grocery store.
``I've sold everything, my family has sold everything, we're leaving this
country,'' he explained.
ECONOMIC MELTDOWN
The currency controls, which value the crippled bolivar currency at an
artificially strong 1,600 per U.S. greenback, are among the latest
attempts by Chavez to stem fallout from a devastating economic crisis in
the world's No. 5 oil exporter.
Latin America's fourth-largest economy shrank a whopping 8.9 percent last
year, and striking oil workers bent on choking off the government's
financial lifeline -- petroleum revenues -- will likely exacerbate the
contraction this year.
The two-month shutdown was meant to buckle the populist president and
force him to call early elections. But Chavez, who says he has the support
of Venezuela's poor majori tomatoes to kitchen soap at government-set levels.
So, Dos Santos wants out. And there are plenty of places like Isabel's
willing to help him.
About an hour after his chat with the beauty parlor attendant, a casually
dressed gentleman arrived at the salon. After exchanging a few whispers
with the hairdresser, the gentleman asked ``How much you want to buy?''
``I bought about $2,000 at 2,200 bolivars a dollar,'' Dos Santos said
after the transaction. It valued the bolivar nearly 40 percent below the
government's official rate.
NEXT ARGENTINA?
The head of the government's new currency control board, retired army
Capt. Edgar Hernandez, recently admitted the black market is ``difficult
to avoid and difficult to control.''
Some officials have said that the government could introduce a dual
control system that would permit a parallel market orientated toward
industry. But Chavez has refused.
``Leave a dollar free, floating around so the conspirators can slip in
there? The dollar's value will rise and undermine the other controls. No,
this must be an integrated system,'' Chavez said during his weekly Sunday
television broadcast.
``Conspirators'' against Chavez's self-styled ``revolution'' are already
at work -- at least in the currency markets. Some are exploring the
Internet as an option, eyeing schemes in countries like Argentina, which
introduced currency controls at the start of 2002 after a devastating debt
meltdown.
One idea would copy the model of an Argentine online music retailer, which
allows paying patrons access to a virtual plaza for buying dollars.
Venezuela has already adopted a lower-tech Argentine invention -- the
so-called ``Arbolito,'' or the currency seller who hawks his wares on
street corners.
``We sell and buy gold,'' shouts out a middle-aged man in a Caracas plaza.
With a sheepish look, he furtively hands over a scrap of paper to a
potential client that offers to trade in dollars.
``How much?'' asks the client who is looking to sell $500.
The question hangs in the air for a second until the seller leads his
customer to a hidden location in the center of Caracas, where gold traders
operate a few meters from the National Assembly.
So begins the trade.
``She wants to sell $500, how much?''
``1,700 bolivars,'' answers the trader.
The client respond quickly: ``So low? The newspapers tout the price at
2,200 to 2,500 (bolivars).''
The customer leaves looking for a better price. She later sold the dollars
to a friend for 2,000 bolivars to the dollar.
She should have gone to Isabel's.
February 23, 2003
Salons Dabble in Venezuelan Black Market
By REUTERS
Filed at 5:58 p.m. ET
CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - At Isabel's beauty salon in downtown
Caracas you can get more than a bikini wax, manicure or a hair cut. You
can now also dabble in the country's burgeoning black market.
Wedged next to a shuttered foreign currency exchange house, Isabel's is
one of the newest additions to Venezuela's not-so-secret underworld of
dollar traders -- looking to make quick cash off newly imposed draconian
currency controls.
Embattled President Hugo Chavez unceremoniously shut currency markets last
month, starving the nation of precious dollars in a bid to shield
government foreign reserves from a swelling economic crisis.
``Hey mister, you looking for dollars?'' one beauty salon worker, clips
and brushes peeking from her uniform pockets, whispers to Jose Dos Santos,
who is just outside.
Breaking his worried gaze from the darkened windows of the currency
exchange next door, Dos Santos blurts out a confused but determined,
``Yes, miss. I am.''
``I'm leaving tomorrow to live in Portugal and what am I going to do with
bolivars over there?'' he said.
Dos Santos, his graying chest hair peeking out of the top of his light
blue dress shirt, might as well be the poster-boy for Venezuela's
disillusioned immigrant population. He arrived here on the eve of the
country's oil boom in the 1960s and opened a small grocery store.
``I've sold everything, my family has sold everything, we're leaving this
country,'' he explained.
ECONOMIC MELTDOWN
The currency controls, which value the crippled bolivar currency at an
artificially strong 1,600 per U.S. greenback, are among the latest
attempts by Chavez to stem fallout from a devastating economic crisis in
the world's No. 5 oil exporter.
Latin America's fourth-largest economy shrank a whopping 8.9 percent last
year, and striking oil workers bent on choking off the government's
financial lifeline -- petroleum revenues -- will likely exacerbate the
contraction this year.
The two-month shutdown was meant to buckle the populist president and
force him to call early elections. But Chavez, who says he has the support
of Venezuela's poor majori tomatoes to kitchen soap at government-set levels.
So, Dos Santos wants out. And there are plenty of places like Isabel's
willing to help him.
About an hour after his chat with the beauty parlor attendant, a casually
dressed gentleman arrived at the salon. After exchanging a few whispers
with the hairdresser, the gentleman asked ``How much you want to buy?''
``I bought about $2,000 at 2,200 bolivars a dollar,'' Dos Santos said
after the transaction. It valued the bolivar nearly 40 percent below the
government's official rate.
NEXT ARGENTINA?
The head of the government's new currency control board, retired army
Capt. Edgar Hernandez, recently admitted the black market is ``difficult
to avoid and difficult to control.''
Some officials have said that the government could introduce a dual
control system that would permit a parallel market orientated toward
industry. But Chavez has refused.
``Leave a dollar free, floating around so the conspirators can slip in
there? The dollar's value will rise and undermine the other controls. No,
this must be an integrated system,'' Chavez said during his weekly Sunday
television broadcast.
``Conspirators'' against Chavez's self-styled ``revolution'' are already
at work -- at least in the currency markets. Some are exploring the
Internet as an option, eyeing schemes in countries like Argentina, which
introduced currency controls at the start of 2002 after a devastating debt
meltdown.
One idea would copy the model of an Argentine online music retailer, which
allows paying patrons access to a virtual plaza for buying dollars.
Venezuela has already adopted a lower-tech Argentine invention -- the
so-called ``Arbolito,'' or the currency seller who hawks his wares on
street corners.
``We sell and buy gold,'' shouts out a middle-aged man in a Caracas plaza.
With a sheepish look, he furtively hands over a scrap of paper to a
potential client that offers to trade in dollars.
``How much?'' asks the client who is looking to sell $500.
The question hangs in the air for a second until the seller leads his
customer to a hidden location in the center of Caracas, where gold traders
operate a few meters from the National Assembly.
So begins the trade.
``She wants to sell $500, how much?''
``1,700 bolivars,'' answers the trader.
The client respond quickly: ``So low? The newspapers tout the price at
2,200 to 2,500 (bolivars).''
The customer leaves looking for a better price. She later sold the dollars
to a friend for 2,000 bolivars to the dollar.
She should have gone to Isabel's.
The New York Times
February 23, 2003
Venezuela's Chavez Tells World to Back Off
By REUTERS
CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez warned the
world to stop meddling in the affairs of his troubled South American
nation on Sunday, as police locked up a prominent strike leader on ``civil
rebellion'' charges.
The populist president accused the United States and Spain of siding with
his enemies, warned Colombia he might break off diplomatic relations, and
reprimanded the chief mediator in tortuous peace talks for stepping ``out
of line.''
``I ask all of the countries of this continent and of the world ... are
you going (to) stop this meddling?'' Chavez asked angrily, during his
state-sponsored television show 'Alo Presidente.' ``This is a sovereign
nation.''
The tongue-lashing followed a recent flurry of diplomatic communiques
expressing concern over Carlos Fernandez, a strike leader and prominent
businessman who was yanked out of a Caracas steakhouse on Thursday at
gunpoint by police.
A judge placed the silver-haired executive under house arrest on Sunday to
await trial for charges of civil rebellion and criminal instigation, which
could land him up to 26 years in prison. He spearheaded a two-month
nationwide shutdown by oil workers and industry in a failed bid to force
elections.
``I've committed no crime, of any kind,'' Fernandez said defiantly from
his country home just outside Caracas.
Chavez carped that the same international worry by diplomats over
Fernandez wasn't shown when he was briefly ousted in a 48-hour coup last
year. He said some countries, including Spain and the United States,
applauded the putsch.
``It's worth remembering that the Spanish ambassador was here, in this
room, applauding the coup. So the Spanish government is going (to) keep
commenting?'' Chavez asked.
``We say the same thing to the government in Washington. Stop making
mistakes ... A spokesman comes out there saying he's worried. No! This is
a Venezuelan matter.''
PEACE HOPES WANE
Venezuela's crisis has drawn the international spotlight with leaders
afraid the world's No. 5 supplier of oil could slide into civil war as
Chavez allies and enemies face off.
Hailed by supporters as a champion of the poor, the
paratrooper-turned-president has pledged to crack down on enemies of his
self-styled ``revolution.'' Foes call him an ignorant dictator looking to
impose Cuban-style communism.
Chavez crushed an oil walkout by firing 13,000 dissident workers, and
laughed off the two-month-old strike which hurt the private sector and was
meekly abandoned in early February.
He won an arrest warrant for another strike leader, union boss Carlos
Ortega, and threatens to lock up a group of media moguls he dubs the
``Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.''
The United States, Spain and four other countries have dispatched
diplomats to the negotiating table in a bid to defuse tensions fueling the
crisis. But the talks have so far proven fruitless, and Chavez on Sunday
seemed to push away members of the six-nation group.
Chavez reserved his most severe criticism for Cesar Gaviria, who is the
chief mediator in talks to end the political deadlock. Gaviria, a former
Colombian president, is the head of the Organization of American States.
``Mr. Gaviria, this is a sovereign nation, sir. You were president of a
country. Don't step out of line,'' Chavez said.
The maverick leader, whose fiery rhetoric inflames adversaries, also took
time on Sunday to include Colombia in his tirade. The neighboring nation's
foreign minister accused Chavez last week of meeting frequently with rebel
leaders.
Chavez has always denied those allegations, and on Sunday criticized the
country for providing asylum for Venezuela's brief president during the
April coup -- Pedro Carmona.
``What do they want? For us to break offrelations? That we break off
ties?'' Chavez exclaimed.
``Over there in Colombia they had a party on the day of the coup ... They
applauded Carmona and they have Carmona over there in Bogota. He lives
over there, that fugitive.''
Venezuela's internal standoff has left at least seven dead and scores
injured in street violence since December. Police are also investigating
last week's killings of three dissident soldiers and an anti-Chavez
protester, which relatives of the victims blame on political persecution.
February 23, 2003
Venezuela's Chavez Tells World to Back Off
By REUTERS
CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez warned the
world to stop meddling in the affairs of his troubled South American
nation on Sunday, as police locked up a prominent strike leader on ``civil
rebellion'' charges.
The populist president accused the United States and Spain of siding with
his enemies, warned Colombia he might break off diplomatic relations, and
reprimanded the chief mediator in tortuous peace talks for stepping ``out
of line.''
``I ask all of the countries of this continent and of the world ... are
you going (to) stop this meddling?'' Chavez asked angrily, during his
state-sponsored television show 'Alo Presidente.' ``This is a sovereign
nation.''
The tongue-lashing followed a recent flurry of diplomatic communiques
expressing concern over Carlos Fernandez, a strike leader and prominent
businessman who was yanked out of a Caracas steakhouse on Thursday at
gunpoint by police.
A judge placed the silver-haired executive under house arrest on Sunday to
await trial for charges of civil rebellion and criminal instigation, which
could land him up to 26 years in prison. He spearheaded a two-month
nationwide shutdown by oil workers and industry in a failed bid to force
elections.
``I've committed no crime, of any kind,'' Fernandez said defiantly from
his country home just outside Caracas.
Chavez carped that the same international worry by diplomats over
Fernandez wasn't shown when he was briefly ousted in a 48-hour coup last
year. He said some countries, including Spain and the United States,
applauded the putsch.
``It's worth remembering that the Spanish ambassador was here, in this
room, applauding the coup. So the Spanish government is going (to) keep
commenting?'' Chavez asked.
``We say the same thing to the government in Washington. Stop making
mistakes ... A spokesman comes out there saying he's worried. No! This is
a Venezuelan matter.''
PEACE HOPES WANE
Venezuela's crisis has drawn the international spotlight with leaders
afraid the world's No. 5 supplier of oil could slide into civil war as
Chavez allies and enemies face off.
Hailed by supporters as a champion of the poor, the
paratrooper-turned-president has pledged to crack down on enemies of his
self-styled ``revolution.'' Foes call him an ignorant dictator looking to
impose Cuban-style communism.
Chavez crushed an oil walkout by firing 13,000 dissident workers, and
laughed off the two-month-old strike which hurt the private sector and was
meekly abandoned in early February.
He won an arrest warrant for another strike leader, union boss Carlos
Ortega, and threatens to lock up a group of media moguls he dubs the
``Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.''
The United States, Spain and four other countries have dispatched
diplomats to the negotiating table in a bid to defuse tensions fueling the
crisis. But the talks have so far proven fruitless, and Chavez on Sunday
seemed to push away members of the six-nation group.
Chavez reserved his most severe criticism for Cesar Gaviria, who is the
chief mediator in talks to end the political deadlock. Gaviria, a former
Colombian president, is the head of the Organization of American States.
``Mr. Gaviria, this is a sovereign nation, sir. You were president of a
country. Don't step out of line,'' Chavez said.
The maverick leader, whose fiery rhetoric inflames adversaries, also took
time on Sunday to include Colombia in his tirade. The neighboring nation's
foreign minister accused Chavez last week of meeting frequently with rebel
leaders.
Chavez has always denied those allegations, and on Sunday criticized the
country for providing asylum for Venezuela's brief president during the
April coup -- Pedro Carmona.
``What do they want? For us to break offrelations? That we break off
ties?'' Chavez exclaimed.
``Over there in Colombia they had a party on the day of the coup ... They
applauded Carmona and they have Carmona over there in Bogota. He lives
over there, that fugitive.''
Venezuela's internal standoff has left at least seven dead and scores
injured in street violence since December. Police are also investigating
last week's killings of three dissident soldiers and an anti-Chavez
protester, which relatives of the victims blame on political persecution.
washingtonpost.com
General Strike Leader Arrested in Venezuela
2 Others Sought as Chavez Targets Opponents
By Scott Wilson
Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, February 21, 2003
BOGOTA, Colombia, Feb. 20 -- Venezuela's secret police have arrested a key
opposition leader and are searching for two others in an apparent crackdown by
President Hugo Chavez against leaders of a recent general strike designed to
force him from office.
Carlos Fernandez, head of Venezuela's largest business federation, was arrested
late Wednesday by about eight government agents outside an upscale restaurant in
eastern Caracas. Fernandez was taken to the headquarters of Venezuela's secret
police agency, the Directorate of Intelligence and Prevention Services.
Opposition leaders say he is being held on charges of treason, "civil rebellion"
and illegal assembly.
Government authorities are now searching for Carlos Ortega, the head of
Venezuela's largest labor federation, who with Fernandez was prominent in the
two-month strike that ended this month. Ortega called Fernandez's arrest a
"terrorist act" and said he would not turn himself in.
Government officials said a third arrest warrant had been issued for Juan
Fernandez, the former financial planning director at the state oil company,
Petroleos de Venezuela, who led the strike at the company. He was fired by
Chavez, along with about 13,000 other employees.
The new action appears to be part of a calculated retaliation by Chavez against
the opposition movement just as the oil-rich country is showing signs of
recovering from the crippling general strike. It also has complicated
negotiations to end a political crisis that has shaken Venezuela for more than a
year and raised the specter of fresh violence.
"These people should have been jailed a long time ago," Chavez said today at a
ceremony at the Foreign Ministry.
Authorities this week discovered the bodies of three dissident Venezuelan army
soldiers and an opposition activist in a killing characterized by international
human rights groups as politically motivated.
The arrest of Carlos Fernandez came a day after government and opposition
negotiators agreed to an eight-point declaration renouncing violence and
inflammatory rhetoric as they seek a deal on new elections. The document was the
first accord to emerge in three months of talks mediated by Cesar Gaviria,
secretary general of the Organization of American States, who called on the
government today to ensure that Fernandez receives an "independent, impartial"
trial.
Thousands of Chavez opponents demonstrated today in response to Fernandez's
arrest, many in front of the headquarters of Petroleos de Venezuela, where
thousands of employees continue their walkout.
Chavez, a populist firebrand elected in 1998 on a pledge to help Venezuela's
poor, survived a military-led coup last April that began with a strike in the
oil sector. But an opposition movement made up of labor and business groups,
leftist political parties, and middle- and upper-class civilians continued the
effort to drive him from office.
Opposition leaders called a general strike on Dec. 2 to force Chavez to resign
or move up presidential elections, scheduled for 2006, to this year. Chavez
weathered the strike by creating a system that maintained food and gasoline
supplies, but depleted the public treasury. The financially damaged private
sector lifted the protest on Feb. 3.
Although workers at the state oil company remain on strike, the government says
production has returned to more than half its pre-strike level of 3 million
barrels a day. The company accounts for half the government's revenue and 15
percent of U.S. oil imports.
Jose Miguel Vivanco, head of the Americas division of Human Rights Watch, said
Fernandez's arrest left him "extremely concerned by these retaliatory
operations." Opposition members said at least one of the charges against
Fernandez, civil rebellion, does not even appear in the criminal code.
"The risk here is that the government has decided to criminalize political
expression and the actions of the opposition," he said.
The OAS talks are scheduled to resume Wednesday, giving both sides time to plan
their next steps. Rafael Alfonzo, an opposition negotiator who represents
Fedecamaras, the business federation that Fernandez heads, said, "Obviously, we
must do something about this."
"Some [opposition] people complained when we signed the [nonviolence] agreement,
but we believed in it," Alfonzo said. "Now we have this demonstration on the
government's part that shows clearly that we do not have a democracy and
freedom."
General Strike Leader Arrested in Venezuela
2 Others Sought as Chavez Targets Opponents
By Scott Wilson
Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, February 21, 2003
BOGOTA, Colombia, Feb. 20 -- Venezuela's secret police have arrested a key
opposition leader and are searching for two others in an apparent crackdown by
President Hugo Chavez against leaders of a recent general strike designed to
force him from office.
Carlos Fernandez, head of Venezuela's largest business federation, was arrested
late Wednesday by about eight government agents outside an upscale restaurant in
eastern Caracas. Fernandez was taken to the headquarters of Venezuela's secret
police agency, the Directorate of Intelligence and Prevention Services.
Opposition leaders say he is being held on charges of treason, "civil rebellion"
and illegal assembly.
Government authorities are now searching for Carlos Ortega, the head of
Venezuela's largest labor federation, who with Fernandez was prominent in the
two-month strike that ended this month. Ortega called Fernandez's arrest a
"terrorist act" and said he would not turn himself in.
Government officials said a third arrest warrant had been issued for Juan
Fernandez, the former financial planning director at the state oil company,
Petroleos de Venezuela, who led the strike at the company. He was fired by
Chavez, along with about 13,000 other employees.
The new action appears to be part of a calculated retaliation by Chavez against
the opposition movement just as the oil-rich country is showing signs of
recovering from the crippling general strike. It also has complicated
negotiations to end a political crisis that has shaken Venezuela for more than a
year and raised the specter of fresh violence.
"These people should have been jailed a long time ago," Chavez said today at a
ceremony at the Foreign Ministry.
Authorities this week discovered the bodies of three dissident Venezuelan army
soldiers and an opposition activist in a killing characterized by international
human rights groups as politically motivated.
The arrest of Carlos Fernandez came a day after government and opposition
negotiators agreed to an eight-point declaration renouncing violence and
inflammatory rhetoric as they seek a deal on new elections. The document was the
first accord to emerge in three months of talks mediated by Cesar Gaviria,
secretary general of the Organization of American States, who called on the
government today to ensure that Fernandez receives an "independent, impartial"
trial.
Thousands of Chavez opponents demonstrated today in response to Fernandez's
arrest, many in front of the headquarters of Petroleos de Venezuela, where
thousands of employees continue their walkout.
Chavez, a populist firebrand elected in 1998 on a pledge to help Venezuela's
poor, survived a military-led coup last April that began with a strike in the
oil sector. But an opposition movement made up of labor and business groups,
leftist political parties, and middle- and upper-class civilians continued the
effort to drive him from office.
Opposition leaders called a general strike on Dec. 2 to force Chavez to resign
or move up presidential elections, scheduled for 2006, to this year. Chavez
weathered the strike by creating a system that maintained food and gasoline
supplies, but depleted the public treasury. The financially damaged private
sector lifted the protest on Feb. 3.
Although workers at the state oil company remain on strike, the government says
production has returned to more than half its pre-strike level of 3 million
barrels a day. The company accounts for half the government's revenue and 15
percent of U.S. oil imports.
Jose Miguel Vivanco, head of the Americas division of Human Rights Watch, said
Fernandez's arrest left him "extremely concerned by these retaliatory
operations." Opposition members said at least one of the charges against
Fernandez, civil rebellion, does not even appear in the criminal code.
"The risk here is that the government has decided to criminalize political
expression and the actions of the opposition," he said.
The OAS talks are scheduled to resume Wednesday, giving both sides time to plan
their next steps. Rafael Alfonzo, an opposition negotiator who represents
Fedecamaras, the business federation that Fernandez heads, said, "Obviously, we
must do something about this."
"Some [opposition] people complained when we signed the [nonviolence] agreement,
but we believed in it," Alfonzo said. "Now we have this demonstration on the
government's part that shows clearly that we do not have a democracy and
freedom."
February 20, 2003
Nerves Frayed in Venezuela After Killings of Chávez Opponents
By REUTERS
CARACAS, Venezuela, Feb. 19 - Venezuela was still reeling today after the
weekend killings of three dissident soldiers and a protester opposed to
President Hugo Chávez, and the police and grieving relatives split over
whether the killings were politically motivated.
According to police investigations, about 12 armed men kidnapped the four
victims on Saturday night as they were leaving a protest. They were bound
and gagged, and some were tortured before the gunmen executed them, the
police said.
The last two bodies, badly decomposed and showing signs of torture, were
found on Tuesday on the outskirts of Caracas.
The case has fueled opposition fears that Mr. Chávez may be leading the
country toward armed struggle by encouraging supporters to silence
dissenting voices, more than 10 months after narrowly surviving a coup led
by rebel officers.
The police tried to soothe frayed nerves today, saying the motive for the
killings appeared to be revenge, not politics. They cited reports of a
scuffle on Saturday between the soldiers and a fellow protester, Edgar
Leonardo Machado, who has become the lead suspect in the killings.
Family members of the victims criticized the investigations as corrupt.
They accused the police of trying to avert a scandal and said the four
dead were clearly killed for their protests against Mr. Chávez.
"They want to clear themselves politically, and they say it's about
revenge," said Miguel Pinto, whose 21-year-old brother, Felix Pinto, a
member of the country's air force, was one of the dead. "My brother had no
enemies. The only enemy we have here is Hugo Chávez."
Despite occasional violence in Venezuela's political standoff, there have
been no confirmed selective killings of Mr. Chávez's allies or enemies.
Still, street clashes have claimed at least seven lives and have left
scores wounded since December.
Mr. Chávez has styled his government on Cuban socialist ideals and the
nationalist fervor of Venezuela's 19th century revolutionary leader, Simón
Bolivár.
After gaining power in 1998, he set up community networks called
Bolivarian Circles, which were meant to spread the word of his revolution.
But the opposition says Mr. Chavez's supporters take his calls to defend
the revolution literally. They brand the groups Circles of Terror, and
they have started their own armed groups to oppose them.
The political situation, with daily marches by supporters and opponents of
the president, is growing more tense as Mr. Chávez refuses to bend to
opposition calls to hold early elections. His term in office ends in 2007.
The police say that the testimony of a 14-year-old girl will be vital to
solving the killings. The girl is thought to be the girlfriend of Mr.
Pinto, and she was abducted along with the four but survived the shooting,
the police said. She has been hospitalized and was unable to give
investigators a formal statement.
The case is mired in controversy, especially since it appears to involve a
deadly Dec. 6 shooting at the Plaza Altamira, which was witnessed by two
of the victims.
Zaida Perozo, a protester whose body was found on Monday, was wounded
along with 20 others in the Plaza Altamira and had been considering
testifying against a suspect.
Relatives of those who were killed said they feared more attacks would
follow on opposition leaders.
"This is like a chess game," Mr. Pinto said. "First they go after the
pawns and then later for top leaders."
Nerves Frayed in Venezuela After Killings of Chávez Opponents
By REUTERS
CARACAS, Venezuela, Feb. 19 - Venezuela was still reeling today after the
weekend killings of three dissident soldiers and a protester opposed to
President Hugo Chávez, and the police and grieving relatives split over
whether the killings were politically motivated.
According to police investigations, about 12 armed men kidnapped the four
victims on Saturday night as they were leaving a protest. They were bound
and gagged, and some were tortured before the gunmen executed them, the
police said.
The last two bodies, badly decomposed and showing signs of torture, were
found on Tuesday on the outskirts of Caracas.
The case has fueled opposition fears that Mr. Chávez may be leading the
country toward armed struggle by encouraging supporters to silence
dissenting voices, more than 10 months after narrowly surviving a coup led
by rebel officers.
The police tried to soothe frayed nerves today, saying the motive for the
killings appeared to be revenge, not politics. They cited reports of a
scuffle on Saturday between the soldiers and a fellow protester, Edgar
Leonardo Machado, who has become the lead suspect in the killings.
Family members of the victims criticized the investigations as corrupt.
They accused the police of trying to avert a scandal and said the four
dead were clearly killed for their protests against Mr. Chávez.
"They want to clear themselves politically, and they say it's about
revenge," said Miguel Pinto, whose 21-year-old brother, Felix Pinto, a
member of the country's air force, was one of the dead. "My brother had no
enemies. The only enemy we have here is Hugo Chávez."
Despite occasional violence in Venezuela's political standoff, there have
been no confirmed selective killings of Mr. Chávez's allies or enemies.
Still, street clashes have claimed at least seven lives and have left
scores wounded since December.
Mr. Chávez has styled his government on Cuban socialist ideals and the
nationalist fervor of Venezuela's 19th century revolutionary leader, Simón
Bolivár.
After gaining power in 1998, he set up community networks called
Bolivarian Circles, which were meant to spread the word of his revolution.
But the opposition says Mr. Chavez's supporters take his calls to defend
the revolution literally. They brand the groups Circles of Terror, and
they have started their own armed groups to oppose them.
The political situation, with daily marches by supporters and opponents of
the president, is growing more tense as Mr. Chávez refuses to bend to
opposition calls to hold early elections. His term in office ends in 2007.
The police say that the testimony of a 14-year-old girl will be vital to
solving the killings. The girl is thought to be the girlfriend of Mr.
Pinto, and she was abducted along with the four but survived the shooting,
the police said. She has been hospitalized and was unable to give
investigators a formal statement.
The case is mired in controversy, especially since it appears to involve a
deadly Dec. 6 shooting at the Plaza Altamira, which was witnessed by two
of the victims.
Zaida Perozo, a protester whose body was found on Monday, was wounded
along with 20 others in the Plaza Altamira and had been considering
testifying against a suspect.
Relatives of those who were killed said they feared more attacks would
follow on opposition leaders.
"This is like a chess game," Mr. Pinto said. "First they go after the
pawns and then later for top leaders."
Venezuelan Soldiers Killed
February 19, 2003
Venezuelan Soldiers Killed
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
CARACAS, Venezuela, Feb. 18 (AP) - The bodies of three soldiers who had
called for "civil disobedience" against President Hugo Chávez's government
have been found with their hands tied and faces wrapped with tape,
forensic police officers said today.
No arrests had been made and authorities were still trying to determine a
motive behind the killings of the three soldiers, Erwin Argüello, Ángel
Salas and Félix Pinto.
The bodies were found in Guarenas, 18 miles from Caracas, said César
Hernández, chief of the forensics homicide division.
February 19, 2003
Venezuelan Soldiers Killed
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
CARACAS, Venezuela, Feb. 18 (AP) - The bodies of three soldiers who had
called for "civil disobedience" against President Hugo Chávez's government
have been found with their hands tied and faces wrapped with tape,
forensic police officers said today.
No arrests had been made and authorities were still trying to determine a
motive behind the killings of the three soldiers, Erwin Argüello, Ángel
Salas and Félix Pinto.
The bodies were found in Guarenas, 18 miles from Caracas, said César
Hernández, chief of the forensics homicide division.
TEN UNANSWERED QUESTIONS
By Michael Rowan for el Universal 18 Feb 03
Last week's column 'Ten Times Wrong' noted the common mistakes of the
international news media about the Venezuela story and Chavez. This week's
column is devoted to ten questions the opposition needs to answer if it is to be
taken seriously by the world:
One, what is your government program? Be specific. Did you arrive at the
program democratically? Did you have a convention where elected delegates
nationally voted in favor of the program?
Two, what is your solution to poverty? Where are the details of the War
Against Poverty you plan to wage? How do you plan to provide the Tools for
Wealth - titles to housing, credit, training -- to the poor?
Three, what is your solution to systemic corruption? Do you plan to eradicate
the monopoly power and secrecy that has corrupted Venezuelan governments
from time immemorial? Specifically, how are you going to do that?
Four, how will you find a leader to win an election that stands for what you
want to do in the nation? Will you have a primary election? Will losers abide
by the decision of the majority?
Five, what are your plans for the oil industry? Do you believe in the expansion
or price strategy? Opening the business to Venezuelans and the world, or
closing the business for the state only? Using oil for wealth creation of the
nation {liberty}, or wealth distribution by the state {rents}?
Six, do you want an economy owned and operated by the state or the nation?
If the nation, what mechanisms will you use to 'nationalize' wealth creation,
liberty, and economic opportunity?
Seven, do you believe in inclusiveness or exclusiveness? If inclusiveness,
what are your plans to include Chavistas in political and economic alliances
for common cause?
Eight, what are your plans to build the nation? How are you going to attract
global and national partners for investment, job-creation, and diversification?
Nine, how do you plan to protect citizens against state despotism? What are
your specific, concrete plans for individual Bill of Rights, judicial reform,
independent prosecutors, and checks-and-balances in the executive,
legislative, and judicial powers?
Ten, are you a departure from the past or are you part of the past?
Systemically, the Fifth Republic [since 1998 by Chavez fiat!] is an
exaggerated extension of the deficiencies of the Fourth Republic [the ever
vilipended system pre Chavez!]. If you are different, how are you different?
Chavez is not what he appears to be to the world, true. But, dear opposition,
who are you?
The New York Times
February 18, 2003
Venezuela Says Oil Industry to Rebound Soon From Strike
By JUAN FORERO
BOGOTÁ, Colombia, Feb. 17 - The state-owned oil company in Venezuela,
though hobbled by a faltering 78-day strike by oil workers, could be
producing 2.8 million barrels per day within a month, Venezuela's quota as
set by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, the
president of the company said today.
Reaching 2.8 million barrels per day would be a milestone for the
state-owned company, Petróleos de Venezuela, once the world's
second-largest oil company and a major supplier of petroleum to the United
States. The company used to produce 3.1 million barrels a day until an
antigovernment strike paralyzed production, devastating Venezuela's
economy and severely testing the leftist government of President Hugo
Chávez.
The announcement by Alí Rodríguez, president of the company, was quickly
challenged by dissident oil executives who on Dec. 2 led a walkout of
thousands of workers that continues to this day. The walkout was part of a
nationwide general action, but the strike in the other sectors fizzled out
earlier this month.
The government and the opposition agreed today to an eight-point
resolution to reduce tensions, the first development in three months of
talks guided by the Organization of American States, Reuters reported,
quoting a source close to the talks as saying, however, that a deal to end
the conflict seemed no closer.
The striking oil executives say that production stands at 1.4 million
barrels per day, and that reaching 2.8 million per day will take many more
months because Petróleos de Venezuela lacks the managers and technicians
to reactivate the industry quickly and properly. Mr. Chávez has fired
nearly 13,000 striking workers, many of them senior executives and highly
trained engineers.
"Without these people what will Pdvsa do?" José Toro Hardy, an oil analyst
and former company board member, said in a recent interview, using the
name by which the company is widely known. "Instead of producing 3.1
million, it could produce 1.5 to 1.8 million."
Indeed, oil analysts outside Venezuela say Petróleos de Venezuela would
probably never again be the same giant it once was because it has been so
hobbled by the loss of qualified workers, the damage to its reputation
caused by the strike and financial losses estimated at $3 billion.
But Mr. Chávez's government has touted its efforts to restart the oil
industry, saying the company is now producing more than two million
barrels each day as blue collar workers returned to their jobs. Today, Mr.
Rodríguez also announced that the company would soon be meeting domestic
demand for gasoline.
Mr. Rodríguez, and other managers at Petróleos de Venezuela, are going
through with a restructuring of the company that they say will see it
split in two. The plan is to cut jobs and streamline operations, which has
prompted speculation that the company's refineries in the United States
could be sold.
Today, Mr. Rodríguez denied that the government was considering selling
those refineries, operated by Citgo, but he did say that Petróleos de
Venezuela was reviewing all of its worldwide assets to determine if any
should be sold. "At the moment, we are in the process of a review of all
of Pdvsa's businesses, domestic and international," he said. "Once that
review has been completed, once we have a new business plan set out, which
is being drawn up, then we will make the decisions about businesses at
home and abroad."
February 18, 2003
Venezuela Says Oil Industry to Rebound Soon From Strike
By JUAN FORERO
BOGOTÁ, Colombia, Feb. 17 - The state-owned oil company in Venezuela,
though hobbled by a faltering 78-day strike by oil workers, could be
producing 2.8 million barrels per day within a month, Venezuela's quota as
set by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, the
president of the company said today.
Reaching 2.8 million barrels per day would be a milestone for the
state-owned company, Petróleos de Venezuela, once the world's
second-largest oil company and a major supplier of petroleum to the United
States. The company used to produce 3.1 million barrels a day until an
antigovernment strike paralyzed production, devastating Venezuela's
economy and severely testing the leftist government of President Hugo
Chávez.
The announcement by Alí Rodríguez, president of the company, was quickly
challenged by dissident oil executives who on Dec. 2 led a walkout of
thousands of workers that continues to this day. The walkout was part of a
nationwide general action, but the strike in the other sectors fizzled out
earlier this month.
The government and the opposition agreed today to an eight-point
resolution to reduce tensions, the first development in three months of
talks guided by the Organization of American States, Reuters reported,
quoting a source close to the talks as saying, however, that a deal to end
the conflict seemed no closer.
The striking oil executives say that production stands at 1.4 million
barrels per day, and that reaching 2.8 million per day will take many more
months because Petróleos de Venezuela lacks the managers and technicians
to reactivate the industry quickly and properly. Mr. Chávez has fired
nearly 13,000 striking workers, many of them senior executives and highly
trained engineers.
"Without these people what will Pdvsa do?" José Toro Hardy, an oil analyst
and former company board member, said in a recent interview, using the
name by which the company is widely known. "Instead of producing 3.1
million, it could produce 1.5 to 1.8 million."
Indeed, oil analysts outside Venezuela say Petróleos de Venezuela would
probably never again be the same giant it once was because it has been so
hobbled by the loss of qualified workers, the damage to its reputation
caused by the strike and financial losses estimated at $3 billion.
But Mr. Chávez's government has touted its efforts to restart the oil
industry, saying the company is now producing more than two million
barrels each day as blue collar workers returned to their jobs. Today, Mr.
Rodríguez also announced that the company would soon be meeting domestic
demand for gasoline.
Mr. Rodríguez, and other managers at Petróleos de Venezuela, are going
through with a restructuring of the company that they say will see it
split in two. The plan is to cut jobs and streamline operations, which has
prompted speculation that the company's refineries in the United States
could be sold.
Today, Mr. Rodríguez denied that the government was considering selling
those refineries, operated by Citgo, but he did say that Petróleos de
Venezuela was reviewing all of its worldwide assets to determine if any
should be sold. "At the moment, we are in the process of a review of all
of Pdvsa's businesses, domestic and international," he said. "Once that
review has been completed, once we have a new business plan set out, which
is being drawn up, then we will make the decisions about businesses at
home and abroad."
TEN TIMES WRONG
By Michael Rowan for El Universal 11 Feb 03
Many in the world media have made ten fundamental mistakes about the
Venezuelan story. These are:
One, Chavez is waging a revolution against poverty. It's all talk. Poverty has
increased by 20% or more in the last four years, and precisely because of
Chavez' policies.
Two, Chavez is out to eliminate corruption. Just the opposite is the fact. The
systemic incentives for corruption -- monopoly and secrecy -- have
skyrocketed under Chavez. Immense amounts of public spending are not
accounted for. The president has openly pledged to punish political enemies
through the [currency] exchange system - a virtual announcement of planned
corruption.
Three, Chavez is fighting an oligarchy. Truth is, Chavez is the oligarchy.
Read the dictionary definition of the term.
Four, Chavez is president of all the people of Venezuela. No, he does not
govern to unify Venezuela but to divide it with class warfare. There are
millions of people the president does not represent and who he wants to drive
out of the country.
Five, Chavez is a democrat. No he is not. He was democratically elected, just
as Hitler was. But at heart he is an autocrat like Castro.
Six, there was a coup on April 11th waged by terrorists. False. There was a
coup on April 12th waged by a few dozen idiots who hijacked a genuine and
spontaneous public outrage by millions of peaceful demonstrators.
Seven, the media are leading the effort to remove Chavez from office. In fact,
the media are following the effort by millions of Venezuelans to do so. The
messenger is not the message. Take away the media, and the opposition to
Chavez would not diminish by one iota.
Eight, Chavez is the victim of racism - a small group of rich white men want
to cashier the dark-skinned president. This assertion is the height of cynicism.
If only people of color were to vote in an election, Chavez would lose.
Nine, PDVSA will recover from the attack on knowledge, technology, finance
and organizational culture it has been developing for 25 years. No it will not.
The PDVSA of 2002 is gone, whether it can recover is doubtful.
Ten, Chavez is a leftist like Lula of Brazil or Gutierrez of Ecuador. No he is
not. Like Castro, the president is obsessed with accumulating power, not
using it for any purpose on the left, center or right.
International journalists must not take the words of the most calculating spin-
doctor in Latin America literally. Look into the facts to find the truth.
mrowan@cantv.net
By Michael Rowan for El Universal 11 Feb 03
Many in the world media have made ten fundamental mistakes about the
Venezuelan story. These are:
One, Chavez is waging a revolution against poverty. It's all talk. Poverty has
increased by 20% or more in the last four years, and precisely because of
Chavez' policies.
Two, Chavez is out to eliminate corruption. Just the opposite is the fact. The
systemic incentives for corruption -- monopoly and secrecy -- have
skyrocketed under Chavez. Immense amounts of public spending are not
accounted for. The president has openly pledged to punish political enemies
through the [currency] exchange system - a virtual announcement of planned
corruption.
Three, Chavez is fighting an oligarchy. Truth is, Chavez is the oligarchy.
Read the dictionary definition of the term.
Four, Chavez is president of all the people of Venezuela. No, he does not
govern to unify Venezuela but to divide it with class warfare. There are
millions of people the president does not represent and who he wants to drive
out of the country.
Five, Chavez is a democrat. No he is not. He was democratically elected, just
as Hitler was. But at heart he is an autocrat like Castro.
Six, there was a coup on April 11th waged by terrorists. False. There was a
coup on April 12th waged by a few dozen idiots who hijacked a genuine and
spontaneous public outrage by millions of peaceful demonstrators.
Seven, the media are leading the effort to remove Chavez from office. In fact,
the media are following the effort by millions of Venezuelans to do so. The
messenger is not the message. Take away the media, and the opposition to
Chavez would not diminish by one iota.
Eight, Chavez is the victim of racism - a small group of rich white men want
to cashier the dark-skinned president. This assertion is the height of cynicism.
If only people of color were to vote in an election, Chavez would lose.
Nine, PDVSA will recover from the attack on knowledge, technology, finance
and organizational culture it has been developing for 25 years. No it will not.
The PDVSA of 2002 is gone, whether it can recover is doubtful.
Ten, Chavez is a leftist like Lula of Brazil or Gutierrez of Ecuador. No he is
not. Like Castro, the president is obsessed with accumulating power, not
using it for any purpose on the left, center or right.
International journalists must not take the words of the most calculating spin-
doctor in Latin America literally. Look into the facts to find the truth.
mrowan@cantv.net
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