Monday, June 30, 2008
Venezuela's Chavez Reiterates Threats To Expel EU Companies
Venezuelan "Catholic" sect seen as creation of Chavez
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez was personally involved in covering up his nation's role in an Argentine election scandal
Venezuela Dollar Bonds Gain on Renewed Debt Buyback Speculation
Less Venezuelan oil going to US, more to China
Venezuelans revel in costly petrol subsidy
“Why bother when you can earn more and work far less by buying petrol for next to nothing here and selling it for good money just on the other side of this river? Of course, it helps that the national guard turn a blind eye for a cut.” Such incentives to smuggle petrol mean the practice is rife in most border areas – locals even say that Farc, the Colombian Marxist guerilla group, is profiting handsomely from petrol contraband in the area. Venezuelans pay just 3 to 4 cents for a litre of petrol. A tank can be filled for as little as $1.50.
Fred Cederholm: July 4th is supposed to be a celebration of American Independence...
You see four years ago (on June 29, 2004), I wrote a column about the forthcoming July 4th holiday and how it is supposed to be a celebration of American Independence.
In objectively looking at the US situation I chronicled how much we “were” depending on foreign imported goods, foreign energy sources, and foreign money to keep the good old American economy chugging along. I had growing reservations about whether we are still the "land of the free," in the sense that the freedom of our choices and actions were more and more governed by our dependencies. When you are "dependent," the options that are open to you to choose from become constrained and colored by the very nature of the dependency. Moving ahead four years (and 208 weekly columns) later, it appears this sorry situation has not corrected itself one bit. Things are still as dire for US/ us -- or worse.
Our eight largest trade deficits for the month of April 2008 (and 2008 year to date) are as follows: China $20.239 billion ($74.984 billion YTD), Canada $7.611 billion, ($26.409 billion YTD), Japan $7.562 billion ($28.521 billion YTD), Mexico $6.824 billion ($23.437 billion YTD), Germany $4.438 billion ($15.246 billion YTD), Saudi Arabia $3.406 billion ($12.995 billion YTD), Nigeria $3.382 billion ($12.962 billion YTD), and Venezuela $2.983 billion ($11.757 billion YTD).
Our hands-down overall biggest dollar denominated imports are for crude oil and petroleum distillates -- note that our first, third, and fifth largest deficits are with countries who sell us no energy related products what-so-ever. Our trade surpluses grew by a record $5 billion in April 2008, but our trade deficits grew by a record $9.4 billion for the month! April imports of crude oil ($29.3 billion) and the April average price per barrel of crude oil ($96.81) were records as well.
The top eight sources of Uncle $ugar’s crude oil imports for April 2008 were: Canada (1.952 million barrels per DAY--MBPD) up 8.7% over March, Saudi Arabia (1.453 MBPD) down 5.3%, Mexico (1.259 MBPD) up 2.2%, Nigeria (1.115 MBPD) down 3.4%, Venezuela (1.019 MBPD) up 18.8%, Iraq (0.679 MBPD) down 12.2%, Angola (0.5.79 MBPD) up 50.8%, and Algeria (0.393 MBPD) up 59.1%. Uncle $ugar’s top eight sources of total petroleum imports for April 2008 were: Canada (2.476 MILLION barrels per DAY--MBPD) down 2.6%, Saudi Arabia (1.462 MBPD) down 5.2%, Mexico (1.357 MBPD) no change, Nigeria (1.214 MBPD) up 3.4%, Venezuela (1.176 MBPD) up 13.8%, Iraq (0.679 MBPD) down 12.2%, Algeria (0.628 MBPD) up 42.4%, and Angola (0.591 MBPD) up 52.3%. Crude imports averaged 9.921 MBPD. While the average April price was a record at $96.81, it should be noted that the Monday, June 30 pricing was approaching $143. Domestic energy consumption may be contracting, but the continued erosion of the purchasing power of the US dollar relative to other currencies gives the “appearance” of our spending more.
I’m very much looking forward to the July 4 observances in my little home community where we are having our first “make your own parade” featuring kids, adults, bikes, wagons, and pets “people powering themselves” down Main Street. There'll be patriotic singing and readings by the fire station with hot dogs, chips, and lemonade. Later… the holiday observances will continue with a concert and fireworks.
Happy 232nd Birthday, America! May you finally address your “dependencies” and have many more.
Fred Cederholm
asklet@rochelle.net
Venezuela is facing the most difficult period of its history with honest reporters crippled by sectarianism on top of rampant corruption within the administration and beyond, aided and abetted by criminal forces in the US and Spanish governments which cannot accept the sovereignty of the Venezuelan people to decide over their own future.
http://tinyurl.com/n4fg
Patrick J. O'Donoghue's round up of news from Venezuela -- June 30, 2008
Services & Commerce Confederation (Consecomercio) president, Nelson Maldonado claims that the business sector is languishing under aggressive and fierce state capitalism. The 10 years of Bolivarian rule, Maldonado states, has ruined Venezuelan's productive and marketing system. Speaking at the 38th annual assembly of the Confederation, Maldonado urges the government to rectify its economic policies, which, he proclaims, are inspired by a model of "Communist insinuation." The businessman says the government has rectified before and points to the elimination of the financial transactions tax as one example but more must be done, he maintains, such as rectifying exchange-rate control policies. In the openly hostile and unexpected attack, Maldonado argues that attempts to ignore market logic and substitute it with centralized planning has always failed and has led to "economic tyranny and social poverty."
The National Assembly (AN) will be working against the clock to complete and pass 30 laws within the framework of the Enabling Law, which ends on August 15. House president, Cilia Flores says parliament will try to pass all the laws before the deadline. According to Flores, the majority of laws need only a second debate to be passed. For his part, House defense & security committee president, Rafael Gil Barrios points out that the law against kidnapping and extortion is almost ready for discussion in plenary session.
Communication & Information (Minci) Minister Andres Izarra has announced that 31 community radio stations will shortly take to the airwaves as part of the government's push to democratize communication. In February, Izarra recalls, the governments gave credits to community media and made a commitment to install 23 stations. At the moment, there are 28 community stations that are ready for installation and should be on the airwaves today. The Minister reports that a document has been drawn up to give structure to alternative and community media so they can work organically, adding that the system should not be seen as an imposition from the government or the State because he argues that the document is a product of meetings between the government sector and the alternative media over the last couple of months.
The National Union of Workers (UNT) has been answering a challenge launched by Las Ultimas Noticias editor, Eleazar Diaz Rangel who criticized a communique from leaders of the trade union organisation rejecting President Chavez' call to the business sector to set up an alliance. What irks the trade union leaders is the editor's reference that the extreme left were responsible for the coup against Chilean President Salvador Allende in 1973. According to UNT national coordinator, Stalin Perez Borges, Diaz Rangel has distorted the reality of the Chilean historical process, letting the real coupsters off the hook and ignoring the Allende government's own vacillations. The UNT leaders have declared that President Chavez should undertake an alliance with the people and workers and not with the treacherous business sector. Chavez himself has used the same argument to attack what he considers undisciplined and extreme left sectors of the Bolivarian movement especially in the 23 de Enero district of Caracas. The UNT has announced that he will continue to function as a union central, despite desertion by many members and groups to form the Bolivarian trade union central currently in the stage of construction.
Patrick J. O'Donoghue
patrick.vheadline@gmail.com
Deadline for completing State takeover of Ternium-Sidor falls due today ... still far part on compensation
The biggest shareholder in Ternium-Sidor is Argentine engineering group Techint, with 60 percent. Chavez wants the State, which already has 20 percent, to have a minimum 60 percent.
With employees and retirees holding 20 percent, that implies Techint handing over 40 percent. At issue is how much it gets in compensation. Ternium-Sidor's book value was $2.758 billion at the end of 2007, but Techint's initial demand was $4 billion in market value. Chavez opened with a meager $800 million, vowing he wouldn't pay more although Techint could stay on in a minority.
However, both sides are said to have budged, with Techint coming down to $2.4 billion. The government went to $1.6 billion -- but for 50 percent, leaving Techint with just 10 percent.
Opposition moves forward ... nominations for eight governors agreed, elsewhere still to be settled
The impetus for making decisions is said to have come from Un Nuevo Tiempo, the party built around opposition Zulia State Governor Manuel Rosales. UNT party President Omar Barbozo has said the opposition will have its full list ready by July 15.
Among the single nominations already agreed, former Carabobo state governor Henrique Salas Feo will run for Proyecto Venezuela, a local party founded by his father. Other reportedly agreed candidates are independent Roberto Smith for state governor in Vargas, Enrique Catalan of UNT in Trujillo, and Eduardo Morales Gil of the erstwhile pro-government but now opposition social democratic party, Podemos, in Sucre.
Accion Democratica (AD) is said to have secured its candidates in Cojedes and Monagas states, while its old Social Christian rivals at Copei will run Victor Cedeno for governor of Delta Amacuro. Nueva Esparta is also said to have been settled. But at state level, that's just about as far as it gets. Comptroller General Clodosbaldo Russian's ban on 386 potential candidates running for office has inevitably complicated matters.
The opposition's still struggling between sticking with barred nominees, or standing them down to pick someone else -- to which the answer is they might get banned, too. William Mendez of Primero Justicia hopes to run for governor in Tachira state but he's banned. He faces competition from Copei Secretary General Cesar Perez, who's said to have problems in his own back yard.
In Miranda state, former governor Enrique Mendoza of Copei wants his old job back but he's banned, too. Baruta Mayor Henrique Capriles Radonski of Primero Justicia is pushing himself as the opposition's alternative.
Similarly, at municipal level, time was when Chacao Municipal Mayor Leopoldo Lopez looked a shoe-in to run for Metropolitan Mayor. But he's on Russian's list, and three contenders who aren't say they've got a case: Antonio Ledezma (who's been city chief before) of Alianza Bravo Pueblo, backed by AD; Ismael Garcia of Podemos; and independent Augusto Uribe.
In other contests for a crack at governor, UNT is head-to-head with Copei in Zulia and Falcon, AD in Barinas (President Hugo Chavez' home state), and Podemos in Aragua. In Apure state, it looks like the old days with AD and Copei at each other for nomination for governor; MAS, which gave way to Gerardo Blyde in the race for mayor of Baruta, is up against independents for governor in Guarico and Portuguesa states.
Caracas Daily Journal News Briefs -- Monday, June 30, 2008
Enrique Naime of the Social Christian opposition party Copei, claimed that the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) "hadn't paid a cent" in fees to the National Electoral Council (CNE) for assistance it provided during the party's primary elections for regional election candidates on June 1. Naime said he expected responses from the CNE, the scientific and investigative police, Cicp, and the Attorney General's Office.
Air Force Commander Luis Jose Berroterán Acosta said that the fleet of operational aircraft had been doubled last year, although it was still short of 100 percent capacity. The fleet had only been 25 percent operational when he took up office in 2007, and this figure had been raised to "about" 50 percent, he claimed, as reported by the newspaper El Universal on Sunday.
There was no regular Sunday broadcast by President Hugo Chavez this weekend, perhaps to the relief of some reporters who have to hang on every word to make sure they don't miss something that's new. Officials said Alo Presidente had been ceded in support of a volleyball match between Venezuela and Brazil, which was due to start at the Poliedro in Caracas at 2:30 in the afternoon. Cynical minds suspected that the no-show might have had more to do with the parallel football clash on television between Spain and Germany in the Euro Cup. In other words, folks might have switched over in large numbers.
Foundation stone of any fair system of justice seems to have been absent in the Russian ban
Chavez has used his special powers extensively during the 17 months the Enabling Law has been in force. One law created the "strong" Bolivar Fuerte at the turn of the year. Another converted food hoarding and "speculation" into criminal offenses punishable with prison.
Most famously, earlier this month Chavez signed a law on the secret services only to veto it just days later. Perhaps he’d reached for his pen without thoroughly reading the intelligence law, widely thought to have been the work of Interior and Justice Minister Ramon Rodriguez Chacin. The law reorganized the intelligence community with the stated intention of doing away with two of them -- the state security service, Disip, and the military intelligence directorate, DIM. But it was Article 16 that caught the eye. This legally obliged people to inform on anyone who seemed to be acting or speaking against the security of the state, and was quickly seen as writ for snoopers and snitches.
The ink was barely dry when Chavez’ took to the airwaves on June 10 to denounce "disastrous" parts of the law which were not going to happen while he was around, vetoed the law and called on the Assembly for alternative legislation. Just how high up the legislative agenda this now is remains unclear. It’s said the plan won’t be resurrected until next year, by when Rodriguez Chacin maybe won’t be around any more.
Be that as it may, AN deputies have no shortage of things to do. The interior policy committee -- first port of call for Intelligence Law Mark II -- is looking at a reform of the Organic Penal Process Code aimed at speeding up court proceedings. Deputy Tulio Jimenez says this should go to a second debate and vote in the chamber this week.
Waiting in the wings are new laws on banks and other financial institutions; insurance and re-insurance; profits tax; the Organic Tax Code, and overturning the National Public Treasury Law because it’s "distorting" the national accounts.
All this time, the question has been why Chavez needed special powers in the first place, given his overwhelming majority in the legislature. The answer may be legislators’ tendency to fiddle with lesser items instead of the heavy stuff. Last week, for instance, they not only took time out to back the Russian ban on 386 aspirant election candidates, an issue for the courts, but also to make the rather meaningless gesture of declaring 2008 the Year of Salvador Allende, the Marxist president of Chile who died during a coup d’etat 35 years ago.
Meeting between Uruguay Foreign Minister and Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro was abruptly suspended
Officially, the meeting was called off for "reasons of agenda," according to the Uruguayan Foreign Ministry. And, anyway, it was said, the two would meet at the Mercosur summit in Tucuman, Argentina, today and Tuesday, which Venezuela has been invited to attend.
But it was also noted that Uruguayan Industry and Energy Minister Daniel Martinez last week said a contract for a refinery project would be put out to tender and not directly awarded to state oil corporation Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), as had been stated in Caracas.
That is said to have prompted PDVSA into not having anything more to do with the project. Reports also say that Uruguayan President Tabare Vazquez has doubts about the suitcase of cash Guido Antonini Wilson allegedly tried to take to Argentina from Venezuela. President Hugo Chavez is said to have accused fellow leftist Vazquez of "flirting" with the Bush Administration.
Archbishop claims creation of a "reformed" Catholic Church could cost Chavez votes in November elections
"I understand that this government doesn’t even accept what’s called the philosophy of history because what they’re trying to do failed in history," Luckert was reported to have said on Friday.
Luckert’s claims and complaints seemed to have something to do with a Mass that is said to have been held by Paraguayan President Fernando Lugo -- who resigned his position as a bishop to run for elected office -- during his official visit to Venezuela last week. He also questioned why the Defense Ministry was supposedly trying to install a "priest in every barracks."
The archbishop went on to claim that an individual, Jon Jen Shu Garcia, a member of the National Guard (GN) and married with children, was to be "ordained" as a "supposed" bishop on July 29.
Carabobo State seen as an uphill climb for PSUV and it’s suggested some of that could be down to Chavez
Chavez strolled to victory in Carabobo at the presidential elections in 2006, winning by 583,773 votes against Zulia state Governor Manuel Rosales’ 359,519.
The incumbent governor was Luis Felipe Acosta Carles, an old friend from way back when and a military man to boot. But since then, it’s all been downhill. When the citizens of Carabobo came to vote on Chavez’ ambitious bid to reform the Constitution last December, the vote went against him by 411,622 to 367,532.
Now it’s suggested that Chavez’ decision to spurn Acosta Carles -- and to do so in such a public manner during a speech at a military parade commemorating the historic Battle of Carabobo on June 24 -- could backfire on him in the state. Chavez said the candidate would be Mario Silva, a broadcaster.
Acosta Carles, a former general, said he might stand as an independent for re-election. While he’s not given much chance of winning, it’s said he could put a large enough dent in the PSUV vote to stop Silva winning. The opposition has already settled its choice of candidate, and the president’s supporters or chavistas are at odds in Carabobo.
In Caracas, Lina Ron is openly backing two alternatives on the grounds she thinks Silva’s already beaten if Acosta Carles runs, and maybe even if he doesn’t. The problem, it seems, is that local PSUV members aren’t enthused about Silva, who also appears to be a less than ideal candidate.
Barak Obama must carefully show himself from now on as whiter than white...
Ron Jacobs, an important commentator writing at Zmag.org seems the latest to find himself surprised by "opposition" presidential candidate Barak Obama's warm and fuzzy friendliness to the warfare policies of our US corporate state.
Mr Jacobs professes to find himself bemused by Mr Obama's cozying up to the Israel-American Political Action Committee -- the candidate expressing before that group his support for the expansion of war for oil in the Middle East. Mr Obama has in recent days also supported the extension of the death penalty, and criticised the members of his own racial minority for their propensity to anti-social behavior.
At least on the matter of war, such support seems utterly unnecessary in attracting votes, given that a substantial majority of the voters here want us out of Iraq now.
Anti-black racism is another matter -- it being of near-constitutional importance here in the supposedly United States.
You see, dear foreign reader, how successful we have been in the assimilation of all the mutually hostile tribes of Europe into a cohesive, even often a fanatical nationality. We Euro-Americans are all whites together. And we can only define ourselves in this way because we are not-blacks.
Here Serbs marry Croats. Irish girls make babies with English guys. Germans and French live in the utmost harmony. Magyars and Poles go to the same churches. All see themselves as 100% Americans.
This is a real problem for Obama. He is actually of course, half white himself. But here that does not signify. He looks like one of "them", not us. Here is the existential difference between the US and European styles of Toryism. (Although the European leadership are learning from us now how to introduce into their own poisonous corporatism their own coded racisms) All the US political class is aware of how to appeal to this fundamental factor by carefully coded appeals to prejudice. And they are usually successful when they do so.
Hence his ability to move away from the conservative paradigm is very limited. Since the days of President Nixon's election, by a landslide, it has been clear that most of our citizens had then and have now no use for Black equality. There is only one place, because of their historic social disabilities, that we are ready to make some extra places for blacks -- the penitentiaries.
Barak Obama must, to have any chance at all at election, carefully show himself from now on as whiter than white. He must disparage the interests and the aspirations of his own minority. He must govern from the right like all other US politicians.
He will, as was Clinton before him, if elected by the influx of younger voters, less impressed with racism than their parents, STILL be unable to enact any sort of liberal or progressive programme and will face unremitting attack for the slightest misteps from an hostile corporate press and TV. And however much foreign leaders would like to deal with Mr Obama this inability to deliver on any deals outside the corporate and militaristic box will make their diplomatic tasks just as frustrating as has been this work vis-a-vis the present regime.
Too many liberals like Mr Jacobs have little appetite for facing the reality of just how little the civil rights struggles of the sixties and seventies impress most of white America. In fact, this historical memory still induces most to vote conservative.
And as with any other psychopathology the failure to come to grips with root causes makes the insanity of US policy and negotiating positions appear to many incomprehensible.
This is why this writer thinks foreign leaders interested in the protection of their own, have little choice but to find ways of breaking with the empire. For it can no more reform itself from within than could the equally ossified Soviet state. No one is more aware of these facts of life than Barak Hussein Obama.
From the imperial capital
Chris Herz
cdherz44@yahoo.com
Venezuela is facing the most difficult period of its history with honest reporters crippled by sectarianism on top of rampant corruption within the administration and beyond, aided and abetted by criminal forces in the US and Spanish governments which cannot accept the sovereignty of the Venezuelan people to decide over their own future.
http://tinyurl.com/n4fg
Oil at $150 ‘may be the tipping point’
Venezuela nears new mining law
Washington Post: The Rival Chávez Won't Permit - washingtonpost.com
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Rosales expondrá violación de derechos en Venezuela ante Internacional Socialista
Hugo Chavez faces political crisis as allies desert him
Headliner: "At the gateway to a coup d'etat, Chavez hostage to insecurity!"
To try to navigate among the various levels of political chicanery and media manipulation that have beleagured the Governor's current status (in the Venezuelan equivalent of Siberia), is probably the subject of some political-psychological treatise in the upper echelons of academia, but the baseness of insults and counter-insults slung through the celebratory air, defies rational explanation other than its getting down and dirty in the inevitable aftermath of the June 1 launch of the President's attempt at unifying left-leaning Venezuelan politics under a single banner of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV).
The anglo-vocalised English acronymn PSUV has the unfortunate ability to sound like a deflating tire ... which could easily describe deflated or deflating spirits on the Venezuelan left who've found their individual party allegiances forcibly subdjugated to an ethos of 'either with us or against us' rather reminiscent of arch-enemy George W. Bush's remonstrations to the Republican faithful Stateside.
The brouhaha appears to have originated in the PSUV party leadership's decision to 'parachute' its own candidate to challenge Acosta Carlez' continued governorship, making it plain that he should move over ... or as President Chavez somewhat indelicately put it: 'to leave by the back door,' presumably with his revolutionary tail between his legs.
It seems like the many supporters that Chavez though he had had in the Bolivarian Revolution are failing him in droves and news reports claim that he's had to send hundreds of military personnel home on enforced non-operational leave because they're refusing to accept a politicization of the Venezuelan military in the swearing of political allegiances rather than the traditional pledge of allegiance to the President and the Flag. Considering that it is only a few short years since the military won the right to vote, it is something the men and woman in uniform are finding it hard to stomach, especially if they come from the political 'right' side of the tracks, as many senior officers do!
The situation is getting darker by the minute as PSUV officials insist on blind allegiance, or immediate exile to the political wilderness with all the follow-on effects that that implies in Venezuela's very much codified heirarchy of social inclusion/exclusion.
Readers will be reminded that VHeadline has always pledged itself to support Venezuela's democracy, constitutionality and the rule of law ... BUT ... it is increasingly difficult to tally the current adminsitration's brand of political representation with democracy per se; especially considering that the President has always preached the enfranchisement of the masses ... those who believed (and perhaps continue to believe) that power was being turned over to them to decide the nation's political and economic future from the grassroots up and not imposed on them fromt he top down.
Chavez has been insistent about his personal pledge to the Venezuelan people but reality is showing the pledge to be no further from reality than enforcement by caudillos of cliques within the party or administrative structure who seem to impose their will rather than to accept leadership from the people they are supposed to represent.
How this will resolve itself -- if indeed it will resolve itself -- ahead of November 23 local and regional elections is anybody's guess, but already there are angry murmurs from the provinces that point to huge dissatisfaction and a presumptive electorate that's could be rallied to reject the President's best laid plans.
Disturbing effluent from the pre-election battle maneuvers also comes in the form of a decision to approve Attorney General Clodosbal Russian's plan to ban some 400 candidate (mainly opposition) from the November hustings based on the spurious claim that they have pending charges against them on allegations of corruption, malfeasance and other violations.
The electoral blacklist, however, points to a culture where the allegation of some crime appears to be sufficient in the public mind to construe immediate guilt withbout the benefit of a court of law or a judge's sentence. It is one of the more unfortunate aspects of Venezuelan journalism that reporters don't seem to have brought themselves up-to-date on the new Criminal Code after the dissolution of the Napoleonic Criminal Code many years ago. Quite simply put, justice is intended to deem the alleged criminal innocent of all charges until such times as a court of law pronounces legal sentence ... and, while this is a concept that is easily understood elsewhere around the world, the Napoleonic concept of 'guilty until proven innocent' pervades despite the best efforts to modernize the law.
That said, the luckless 400 have been branded guilty, although it must be admitted that many of them are 'as guilty as hell' though not yet decided upon by a judge... Why not? you may ask ... and that's the point of the whole.
If indeed Attorney Russian were to question the fact that those who are 'guilty as hell' have so far evaded criminal penalty, it would be much better -- from an internationally legal perspective -- for him to attack the Why rather than to seek to by-pass legal restraints that are purposely included in the country's Constitution to avoid abuse by officialdom, present or future.
What will be the outcome ... God alone knows ... since the opposition is seething at its teeth to use the 400 injustices as a clarion call to further decry the Chavez administration as an Evil Dictatorship at the behest of the Washington Beltway Bullies who are eager to see President Chavez go down the proverbial tube come November.
Small wonder then that this weekend's issue of 'Las Verdades de Miguel' splashes its front page with "At the gateway to a coup d'etat, Chavez hostage to insecurity!" and colleague Miguel Salazar is not tardy to editorially detail cause and effect!
Roy S. Carson
vheadline@gmail.com
Venezuela is facing the most difficult period of its history with honest reporters crippled by sectarianism on top of rampant corruption within the administration and beyond, aided and abetted by criminal forces in the US and Spanish governments which cannot accept the sovereignty of the Venezuelan people to decide over their own future.
Chávez-linked church decried
Venezuela owns Citgo, not Conoco
Heather Mills’ new lover has already cheated on her
Crystallex International Corp.-- This Venezuelan Mining Company May Again Be a Buy
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Dissenting military officers say they've been pushed aside in Venezuela under Chavez
He said the motto, previously used by Cuban leader Fidel Castro, 'takes away the right of every Venezuelan citizen to think differently and to disagree with socialism.'
Newsweek: The War Premium On Oil
Deputy minister of industry to become Belarus’s ambassador to Venezuela
Foundation stone of any fair system of justice absent when National Assembly voted on the Russian ban
Escarra claimed that the 386 people on Russian's list had been barred from standing as candidates "because they're thieves, they took money away from the national patrimony." This was not quite the case in law, as a handful of dissident deputies subsequently pointed out.
Deputy Ismael Garcia of Podemos, the social democratic party which once sided with the government and is now in opposition, pointed to Article 65 of the Constitution. This, as he and numerous others have noted, states that people can't run for elected office if they've been convicted by a court of criminal offenses while they were exercising public office. García went on to observe that even a report by Russian's own office concluded that the "irregularities" supposedly committed by the people in question had not caused "patrimonial damage" to the country. If they were thieves, he asked, why weren't they behind bars?
Escarra's response was to raise the case of opposition Mayor Leopoldo Lopez of Chacao, who's alleged to have taken funds from his mother while she was at the state oil corporation, Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA). This accusation has yet to be proven in court, but Lopez is nevertheless on the list. Earlier this week, Lopez and his wife were held at the airport for two hours by shadowy officials on their return from the United States, where'd he spoken out about the ban.
Troublesome deputy Luis Tascon chipped in, as might have been expected after being sent to the doghouse for persisting in questions about alleged corruption at the Infrastructure Ministry. What he wanted to know was how many times cases had been brought to the chamber and nothing had happened.
Garcia is acquiring a reputation as the chamber's resident troublemaker. He asked for the list of legislators to be reviewed because as he understood things, a person who had been "inhabilitated" was a member of the chamber. That individual, deputy Regulo Hernandez, reportedly insists the ban against him has been lifted.
Earlier, Garcia had claimed AN employees had sat in the chamber during a recent debate, and even taken part in a vote. At the time, this was laughed off as yet another bee in Garcia's bonnet, but he's plugging for a full investigation.
Caracas News Briefs -- Saturday, June 28, 2008
Panhandlers who are being pressed to move into agriculture took to the streets in Raul Leoni in Bolívar state on Thursday, blocking access roads into the town. They say they're still waiting for payment of Bs.F.10,000 to each of them which they claim Basic Industries and Mining Minister Rodolfo Sanz promised three months ago.
Uruguayan Industry and Energy Minister Daniel Martinez said there was no agreement with state-owned Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) on a refinery project, as has been reported in Caracas. The project would be put out to international bid tender, the minister said.
Officials at state electricity company Cadafe are said to have prepared plans to ration supplies in the states of Anzoategui and Sucre -- and possibly elsewhere in the country as well -- because there isn't enough power to go arround. Consumers could be put on a rota of cuts of up to 90 minutes at peak times.
Police in Miranda state say they've caught a fraudster whom they'd been chasing for 10 years. The suspect, named as Gustavo Perez, had fooled families in Plaza and Zamora by promising homes to them. He was arrested after being stopped on a rural road in broad daylight. As they say, there's one born every minute.
Watchrepairer Javier Antonio Marin Martinez, 31, was minding his own business and doing his work when a gunman turned up and shot him twice in the head without uttering a word on Avenida Fuerzas Armadas last Thursday. Bystanders said they'd witnessed two killings at the same spot and both victims repaired watches.
Schools dig in their heels against 15% ceiling on fee increases
The national institute for the defense of the consumer, Indecu, has threatened to impose fines on schools and colleges that don't abide by the ministerial order. Fines ranging up to 3,000 tax units could reach as much as Bs.F.110,000.
This prospect doesn't seem to faze Cavep president Octavio de Lamo. He's willing to meet Indecu, but says Cavep will fight its case in the courts over each and every fine levied on a school. This could prove anything but an idle threat, to judge by comments from middle class parents opting for private education. "I don't want my children getting behind and then lost in the state system," said one father who's carrying the burden of three with another coming up on the rails.
This is by no means a sun-tanned, gold-bedecked man in a smart (imported) suit who's just stepped out of a swanky (ditto) automobile. Most times, this individual can be seen carefully counting cents and beers. He goes to work on the Metro and a bus. He's willing to pay more, even if it means taking a second job. He's worried that if schools can't get by, rising costs will inevitably erode standards. "If they dealt with inflation, the schools wouldn't need an increase," he says.
People nearby, having caught on to the conversation, nod in agreement. They, too, don't see the problem as the fault of school proprietors, but the government's inability to get a grip on constantly rising costs. "The buck stops there, not at the school gates," says a lawyer, in English.
Navarro says parents can make donations to schools if they so wish. But he's reported to want a 15 percent limit on that as well.
Lula, Chavez meeting shows confidence, not distancing, between the two leaders
Other accords covered natural gas, agriculture, industry, telecommunications, and food supply, French news agency AFP reported. Lula's visit was scheduled to last about five hours, officials said.
Chavez met Lula with a warm embrace on the steps of Miraflores presidential palace, after which Lula inspected a military guard of honor. Chavez' welcome was attended by Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro, Finance Minister Ali Rodriguez Araque and Oil and Energy Minister Rafael Ramirez, who is also head of the state oil corporation Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA).
Maduro told reporters that the meeting would allow for the "consolidation of confidence between both countries" at a time when it was being suggested that there had been a "distancing" between the two presidents. Discreet talk in diplomatic circles has it that Lula has in the past bluntly advised Chavez to lower the volume of his comments about, and tone down his attitude towards, the governments of other countries, not least the Bush Administration in Washington.
Lula was accompanied during his visit by Brazilian Defense Minister Nelson Jobim, Mines and Energy Minister Edison Lobao, Development Minister Miguel Jorge, and presidential international adviser Marco Aurelio Garcia. The head of the state oil corporation, Petrobras, Jose Sergio Gabrielli, was present as a member of a delegation of Brazilian business executives.
Lula recently chided Petrobras and PDVSA for not making more headway towards joint projects, chief among them a refinery to process 200,000 barrels a day (b/d) of oil at Pernambuco in north-east Brazil. Brazil is Venezuela's third largest trading partner after the United States and Colombia. Bilateral trade with Brazil totaled more than $4 billion in 2007.
Hopes of boosting Venezuela's oil trade with Brazil went under a cloud after Petrobras announced a giant offshore oil and natural gas find earlier this year. Whether non-economic issues were also on the agenda remained unclear. There'd been speculation the two presidents would discuss ways of cooperating in efforts to secure the release of hostages held by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). The best-known of the hostages is the Franco-Colombian former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt. Chavez also met former French Premier Dominique de Villepin on Friday morning.
Venezuelan, Colombian presidents will accept differences in planned talks: Chavez
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Friday, June 27, 2008
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Venezuelan National Assembly's Permanent Committee for Economic Development minutes from June 4, 2008
http://www.mediafire.com/?mmyqz9nqtyj
Patrick J. O'Donoghue's round up of news from Venezuela -- June 27, 2008
One of the disqualified politicians, Chacao Mayor Leopoldo Lopez says his passport was taken from him and his wife at Simon Bolivar international airport at Maiquetia when he returned from a visit to the USA where he was campaigning against the ban. While in Washington, Lopez managed to hold a meeting with US presidential candidate, Obama Barack. After two hours of waiting, the passports were returned but no explanation given for the hassle.
According to Communication & Information (Minci) Minister, Andres Izarra the Venezuelan government will propose the setting up of a radio station and a news exchange network at the next meeting of information ministers belonging to the Movement of Non-Aligned Countries. Venezuela will host the meeting on Margarita Island on July 2-4. At a press conference to inform about the event, Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro insists that the domination of mainstream news networks must be broken and information and communication de-colonized. Izarra reports that 118 member countries are working together and seeking agreements that will benefit communication. 73 delegations have confirmed their assistance, of which 43 will come with ministerial representation and 11 represented by deputy ministers. The new news agency will have its base in Malaysia and Venezuela will be on the editorial committee.
Brazil's President Lula da Silva is in Caracas today to meet President Chavez and review bilateral projects currently in motion. A Venezuelan Foreign Ministry communique states that the meeting is part of a three- monthly work schedule. Minister Maduro calls the meeting positive and hails its mechanisms that allow the two countries to advance in bilateral cooperation and political confidence, as well as intensifying cooperation to push forward regional projects.
Executive Vice President Ramon Carrizalez is currently visiting Russia and says the motive of the visit is to strengthen relations of cooperation between the two countries. The Vice President is accompanied by Defense Minister, General (G-i-C) Gustavo Rangel Briceno, Deputy Foreign Minister for Europe, Alejandro Fleming, Deputy Finance Minister Gustavo Hernandez and Basic Industry & Mining Deputy Minister Jesus Paredes. It has been announced that Venezuela will purchase 4 more Sukhoi-30 fighter planes for the Venezuelan Air Force (FAV).
Patrick J. O'Donoghue
patrick.vheadline@gmail.com
Mexico's Cemex keen to stay in Venezuela
Venezuela to lend $500 million to Belarus
U.S. Diplomats and Legal Experts Comment On The Unusual Circumstances Surrounding the Cedeno Case In Venezuela
Nigeria wants talks with Venezuela on oil price
Dr. Odeen Ishmael: Examining the "food crisis" in Latin America and the Caribbean
Without a doubt, what is now called a "food crisis" is having a dire effect on the poor in the region. Actually, a recent ECLAC study indicates that more than 10 million people could join the 80 million in the region who already cannot afford a minimum diet.
While the problem is already causing some economic and social setbacks in the region, it is more related to the escalating prices for food than a shortfall in local food production and supply. Even so, Ecuador has restricted its rice exports to meet increased local demands while Argentina has placed export controls in addition to a 10 percent export tax on meat and cereals. The Argentine government says farmers are benefiting from rising world prices and the profits should be spread to help the poor. However, farmers are protesting against the tax saying they want to reinvest the profits but the higher taxes prevent them from doing so.
The Caricom response
But even before the "food crisis" assumed global proportions, the Caricom sub-region had already begun to address such an eventuality, and agreed, as a priority, to increase agricultural production to meet the needs of the region as well as the international market. This is especially important since there are eight Caricom nations which are dependent on agriculture with 10 to 40 percent of their GDP being attributed to this sector.
President Bharrat Jagdeo of Guyana, who has the lead role for agriculture within Caricom, set the stage in 2004 with the preparation of a strategy to reposition Caribbean agriculture in the economic development of the region. This approach, known as the "Jagdeo Initiative", seeks to re-position the agricultural sector to ensure food security, rural development and further wealth in the Caribbean. Thus, it proposes the implementation of targeted, focused and practical interventions at both the regional and national levels to alleviate ten identified constraints affecting agriculture in the Caribbean region.
These constraints are: limited financing and inadequate new investments; outdated and inefficient agricultural health and food safety systems; inadequate research and development; a fragmented and disorganised private sector; inefficient land and water distribution management systems; deficient and uncoordinated risk management measures; inadequate transportation systems; weak and non-integrated information and intelligence systems; weak linkages and limited participation of producers in marketing; and the lack of skilled and quality human resources.
Caricom governments have since been working together to overcome these problems, but they still have to make greater efforts to alleviate them.
And in the endeavour to boost agricultural production, the Guyana government has offered the Caribbean island-states, which have limited areas of arable land, the opportunity to invest in agricultural production in Guyana in order to expand the region's food supply and agricultural exports.
Throughout the region, governments are introducing programmes aimed at reducing in the short and medium term the effects of the rapid rise in food prices on their citizens. In Guyana, for instance, these include a 5 percent increase in pay for Government workers; an increase in the tax free allowance for low income workers; a reduction by 10 percent of the fuel tax; and the distribution of seeds, fertilisers and pesticides to farmers aimed at increasing food production. These actions have since been assessed by the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) as the best in the Caricom sub-region.
Causes of the crisis
The wider regional food situation was discussed in Caracas on May 30 when the Latin American and Caribbean Economic System (SELA) held a high-level regional meeting on food security, which drew participation from its 26 member-states, as well as international organisations including the World Food Programme, the Food and Agriculture Organisation, the Inter-American Institute for Agricultural Cooperation and IICA. At this meeting, the SELA secretariat presented a significant analysis of the current global food situation, outlining the structural and circumstantial factors responsible for the food shortages and escalating prices.
These include the seven-fold increase of financial investment and speculation in agricultural products in the past four years. Added to this, the weakness of the US dollar and low international interest rates are driving financial operators to seek shelter for their funds in the acquisition of various commodities, thus pushing up prices.
Further compounding the problem, the rapid rise in the price of oil, a necessity for food production and transport, has pushed up production costs in almost all areas. (SELA notes that, as an example of the rapid rise in food prices, a tonne of powdered milk cost $1,500 eight years ago when a barrel of crude oil cost around $30; with oil now hovering near $140 dollars a barrel, a tonne of powdered milk has gone up to $4,500).
Undoubtedly, a food crisis has gripped some regions. Food stocks, especially of cereals, have fallen at a rate of 3.4 percent annually since 1995. This is now leading to restrictions on rice exports, particularly by some Asian countries, and such action has resulted in the skyrocketing price of this commodity. However, over the past two weeks the price on the world market has slipped back since rice stocks are not as low as were initially estimated.
Much of this shortfall in especially cereal production can be attributed to climate change which has caused severe droughts (and devastating floods) in countries which are normally large food producers, such as Australia, Ukraine and the United States. In LAC, hurricanes and tropical storms have affected food production in Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic while floods also severely damaged agricultural areas in Bolivia and Ecuador.
At the same time, demand for food has increased in Asia with its growing population. For example, in 2003-04, maize consumption in south, east and south-east Asia totalled 200 million tonnes while in 2007-08, this increased to 227 million tonnes. Some blame for the cereal shortage is also attributed to the increased demand for animal feed, especially in the United States where fodder accounted for 47 percent of the 332 million tonnes of maize produced last year.
Significantly, in 2007, domestic maize consumption in the United States increased by 48 million tonnes, but of this amount, nearly 30 million tonnes were used exclusively for ethanol production. Thus, the increased demand for biofuels, the production of which utilises mainly maize for ethanol, as in the United States, is identified as a factor spurring the "food crisis".
LAC governments are generally opposed to the production of biofuels from edible agricultural raw materials. Nevertheless, Brazil, the largest biofuel producer in the region, takes the position that the production of biofuels does not preclude an increase in food production.
At the recent Food and Agriculture (FAO) meeting in Rome, President Lula da Silva expressed this view, adding that biofuels "are an important instrument for generating income and creating jobs "helping countries to combat food and energy insecurity." Showing the advantages of using sugar cane for ethanol, he said it gives off 8.3 times more energy than is needed to produce it, while for maize the ratio is 1.5 times. He explained that Brazilian cultivation of sugar cane for ethanol accounts for just one per cent of Brazil's 340 million hectares of arable land, and the plantations have not encroached on land used for food cultivation or on the Amazon rainforest.
The SELA analysis, further, blames the protectionist policies in the industrialised countries of the North for distorting the global agricultural market. For instance, Haiti, almost self-sufficient in rice 30 years ago, was forced to cut import tariffs and local subsidies to qualify for credit from the multilateral financial institutions. The result was massive imports of subsidised rice from the United States which undercut local prices and Haitian farmers, unable to earn a living in rice farming, migrated to the overcrowded urban areas.
Looking to the future
At the regional meeting, SELA members agreed that the region must respond to the food crisis with a regional food security programme. During the debate, Guyana proposed the establishment of a special fund to assist poor countries with food security and to offer concessionary term credit for small agricultural producers to assist them in overcoming the high cost of restarting after losses due to pests, floods and other natural disasters.
In the end, the meeting called for the establishment of a special fund administered by any of the multilateral financial institutions to assist countries affected by the food crisis. This proposal was subsequently sent to the FAO meeting in Rome.
Looking to the future, LAC governments, keeping in mind the constraints and factors affecting food supplies, must actively encourage sustained and scaled-up investment in agriculture at all levels, including the enhancement of the security of tenure for small land-holders and the preservation and expansion of agricultural livelihoods.
Certainly, the current food crisis must not be considered as just a phase in global development. And, definitely, its adverse consequences in the region, as well as globally, will not be confined only to small developing countries and poor people.
Odeen Ishmael
embguy@cantv.net
(The writer is Guyana's Ambassador to Venezuela. The views expressed are solely those of the writer)