Interior & Justice (MIJ) Minister, Tarek El Aissami has announced the dismantling of what he calls an ammunition " factory" discovered in a Caracas barrio. According to the Minister, police officers are said to have been surprised by the size of the haul, 20,000 pieces of ammunition. One person has been arrested. The factory was located in Petare and produced 2,000 bullets a day of all kinds of caliber. The government has announced a change of name to the Bolivarian News Agency (ABN). The new name is the Venezuelan News Agency (AVN), which will become a fully fledged company with greater operational strength. The announcement was made by Communication & Information (Minci) Minister Andres Izarra. The name change, Izarra claims, concerns the legal character of the State information agency and is one way of granting workers greater guarantees and stability. According to the Minister, President Chavez wants to strengthen the agency, acquire greater benefits for workers and improve the marketing of products. It remains to be seen whether the initiative is aimed at charging for use of ABN stories. The last attempt to set up a charge system by lame duck, Venezolana de Television director, Yuri Pimentel had to be abandoned and nearly cost Izarra his job.
The National Assembly (AN) environment committee has requested the AN board to postpone a second reading of the territorial ordinance and administration law. Committee president, Earl Herrera says the reason for the request is to hear more from the public and receive comments on the draft law. The opposition has been increasing its criticism of the law in the lead up to next month's elections. The AN deputy points out that the opposition's complaints revolve around the current 1983 law, which establishes that the President of the Republic is the supreme authority in territorial ordinance and that s/he can decree new regions and appoint authorities. The supposed appointment of regional authorities by President Chavez, Herrera states, does not mean that they will usurp state governors and mayors. "At the moment those appointed are presidents of regional corporations under the government's integral development plan."
Argentina has called for an emergency meeting of the Southern Cone Economic Zone (Mercosur) to analyze the global financial crisis and coordinate positions. The Mercosur council is made up of the foreign and economic ministers of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. Venezuela is currently in the process of joining the organisation.
President Chavez has announced new prices for coffee that will come into force today. The beneficiaries will be domestic producers and a 63% adjustment has been made to the price of green coffee. The reason for the increase is the fact that prices have remained fixed since 2005. The President says mechanisms of regulating coffee are being relaxed but there is a limit and the government is moving with flexibility. Agriculture & Lands (MAT) Minister Elias Jaua recalls that when the President came to government, coffee production was around 63,000 tonnes and has improved 18%. The government is currently developing a plan of substituting old coffee fields that have gone down in production and wants to see national production rise to 100,000 tonnes a year by 2012.
United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) candidate to Zulia State governorship, Gian Carlo Di Martino has confirmed that current State Governor Manuel Rosales is under investigation for different properties he owns especially in Miami. Di Martino states that Rosales acquired two or three houses in Miami while he was state governor and which have been registered in the name of a private secretary. There are also several farms in the following municipalities: Baralt, Catatumbo, Colon and Jesus Maria Semprun registered in the name of third parties.
Patrick J. O'Donoghue
patrick.vheadline@gmail.com
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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.
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