Workers at the Ternium Siderurgica del Orinoco (Sidor) in Cuidad Bolivar have started a 48-hour strike after rejecting a wage offer from the company and despite continuing negotiations between Sidor and the Sutiss trade union. The employers are offering Bs. F, 44 a day, while Sutiss wants 50 bolivares. Labor Minister, Jose Ramon Rivero and Bolivar State Governor, Francisco Rangel are proposing a referendum among the workers. Sidor has backed the proposal and the Minister is waiting for a reply from the Sutiss union. If both sides agree, the referendum will be held tomorrow, Friday.
President Chavez has appointed a new Housing & Habitat Minister. Current deputy minister, Edith Gomez will replace Jorge Perez, who has only been on the job since January 5. At the end of February, Perez had proposed to drastically reduce the national housing deficit of 2 million houses by increasing production to 200,000 units each year and 200,000 this year. According to some observers, the government has found the hoarding and contraband of construction materials, as well as inefficiency major blocks in its housing plans. Gomez will be the fifth president heading the ministry in three years.
The Attorney General's Office will charge 11 Police Detective Branch (CICPC) agents for alleged involvement in the deaths of Felix Reinaldo Hernandez and Rafael Cecilio Matute on February 14 in Los Telares de Palo Grande barrio, Caricuao (Caracas). The agents face charges of manslaughter, violation of international treaties, inappropriate use of firearms and corruption. The names of the agents are: Chelerman Antonio Rodriguez Marcano, Jacinto Arturo Colmenarez Carucci, Gerardo Ramon Labrador Contreras, Franklin David Blanco Gonzalez, Ali Antonio Acosta Vasconez, Erick Gonzalo Ropero Navarro, Teofilo Enrique Useche Mendoza, Walter Jose Cabarcas Calanche, Hector Francisco Marturell Rodriguez, Charles Antonio Polacios Romero and Oscar Ernesto Parra Castillo. The victims were supposedly intercepted and arrested by members of the Caricuao sub-delegation on the night of February 13 and were later found dead in the Parque la Paz with gunshot wounds and signs of torture.
According to Interior & Justice Minister, Ramon Rodriguez Chacin, the USA has already started its blockade of Venezuela. The economic blockade, the Minister states, is evident from the difficulty Venezuela has in purchasing spare parts for military equipment and some vital food stocks. "This reality is part of a declared war on the Bolivarian revolution by Washington," based on such events as a paramilitary offensive in Venezuela and the actions of the opposition. Statements from George W. Bush yesterday, Rodriguez Chacin muses, is part of the US attempt to encircle President Chavez. The government is expecting more pressure from the US government, Rodriguez Chacin stresses, to create new and artificial tensions in political, diplomatic and even military fields.
State channel VTV deputy president, Willian Castillo states that the public media sector wants to compete with the private sector in quality, truthful journalism, information quality and entertainment with the important difference that it will not pursue consumer and business models used in the private sector. Castillo has announced that government audiovisual media will be joined in a single unit called "Network TV." The new organization, he explains, will concentrate on all areas of transmission and signals traffic. VTV will not have to worry about restoring signals anymore because Network TV will be the technical organ in charge of signals control. The radio network will also be articulated with specialization in news and cultural fields defining each station and channel. As an example, Castillo points to different angles that Telesur, the TV and TV channels used covering the last release of hostages under the Colombian humanitarian agreement. "Telesur was in one airport, VTV in another and Vive TV supplying back up in equipment." TVes has managed to secure the rights to broadcast the upcoming Beijing Olympics.
Polar Co. president, Lorenzo Mendoza recommends that the government give priority to installing talks with the food sector to guarantee food security. Everybody should take part in the talks with the President of the Republic acting as moderator, Mendoza suggests. The leading Venezuelan businessman also argues on the need of pushing forward as soon as possible easy access to dollars for food imports and proposes that one of the most urgent priorities is to import raw material rather than finished products. Such products, Mendoza insists, cost more to purchase and do not create any national wealth or employment. 50% of imports in 2007, he adds, were finished products. The Polar company has announced further investments in developing the food industry and confirms that it will maintain a dialogue with the authorities. Mendoza says that so far this year there has been no growth in the sector.
Patrick J. O'Donoghue
patrick.vheadline@gmail.com
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