December 2002

World News
Posted: Tuesday, December 31, 2002

¤ U.S.-British Jets Bomb Iraq Facilities
¤ Israel bribery crisis deepens
¤ Iraq protests against US air strike
¤ Kuwaitis seethe with anger as U.S. war drum beats
¤ Arafat aide: Increased violence is Israeli pre-election policy
¤ B.C. sighting adds twist to manhunt
¤ What are we being driven to?
¤ U.S. bombs hit Pakistan town after border clash
¤ Dangerous deficiencies in Bush's budget deficits
¤ NY Times Takes Control of Herald Tribune
¤ White House aims to reshape world
¤ Sharon takes on rabbis over Jewish identity
¤ South Korea Questions U.S. Plan on North
¤ Six Killed in Philippines' Bombing
¤ 1.7 million have wrong gas masks
¤ S.Koreans Ignore North's Nukes at Anti-U.S. Rally
¤ Bush: Iraq War, Yes; Korea War, No
¤ US fans fatal flames in a lawless land
¤ An Elusive Victory in Afghanistan
¤ Mass demo held in support of Arafat's Fatah
¤ Dow Jones Closing With Worst Annual Loss in 25 Years
¤ Crisis in Korea: America's dilemma
¤ At Least 4 Killed in Philippines' Blast
¤ 'No basis' for Iraq war now
¤ Iraq accuses US of seeking false information
¤ Annan: No argument' so far for strike on Iraq
¤ Saudis still smarting over Al-Jazeera programme
¤ 15 Freighters Believed to Be Linked To Al Qaeda
¤ North Korea: Confrontation Is Inevitable
¤ South Korea denounces US pressure on Stalinist North
¤ Cricket team's visit 'would endorse Mugabe's regime'
¤ Three US medical workers killed by fundamentalist gunman in Yemen
¤ The insistent, pervading fear of terror that will continue to blight our lives
¤ Howard retreats in Iraq-N Korea confusion
¤ Musharraf warned Indian PM of 'unconventional warfare'
¤ Powell ups pressure on Iraq as war preparations gather pace
¤ 27 killed in Iranian prison fire
¤ Eight militants killed; informer beheaded
¤ Pentagon build-up reaches unstoppable momentum
¤ Rumsfeld 'offered help to Saddam'

Petro-Politics Fueling Venezuelan Crisis
Posted: Tuesday, December 31, 2002

By Stephen Kangal

An appreciation of the internal dynamics of the tri-dimensional configuration of the current petro-politics being conducted by the protagonists in Venezuela is fundamental to an understanding of the current month-long crisis/4th strike that has hitherto virtually paralysed the oil-rich country.

Petro-politics underpins the strategies adopted both by Chávez and the Opposition (Coordinadora Democratica) that includes the private press/ electronic media, the Unions (CTV), The Fedecamaras (Caracas Chamber of Commerce), PDVSA and led by Carlos Ortega. PDVSA, the Venezuelan oil monopoly is pivotal to the anti-Chávez strike action. It earns 80% of Venezuela's foreign exchange earnings and contributes 50% of Government's revenues.

Petro-politics is the common thread underlying the escalation of the crisis and therefore serves as an instrumental and appropriate tool of crisis analysis and understanding. It is manifested in and determines the nature of the daily action-reaction/stimulus-response that is unfolding simultaneously at the national, regional and international levels. In fact the confrontational nature of the petro-politics is fueling the crisis. It is both the cause of as well as the short and long- term solution to the political situation in Venezuela.

The National Dimension

President Chávez has since assuming the Venezuelan Presidency in 1998 prosecuted his own genre of strident tri-dimensional petro-politics to foster and promote the viability of his own reformist national social agenda geared to reduce inequity and poverty among 80% of Venezuela's 24 million that supported his Bolivarian Revolution so overwhelmingly (56% of votes) that he eliminated the COPEI and Accion Democratica parties in the 1998 elections. Chávez's commitment to achieving a strong and viable OPEC predicated, inter alia, on Venezuelan determination to adhere rigidly to established OPEC production quotas was responsible for OPEC oil price stabilisation much to the dismay of the Americans who have a penchant for cheap oil irrespective of the long term high costs.

Internally he set himself the task introducing more Government controls by reforming the operations/management of Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) that were controlled by the traditional middle-upper class elitist oligarchy. They siphoned away 80% of PDVSA's revenues with only 20% going to the State. The remaining dissident management with workers of PDVSA itself is using an oil-shutdown, aided by crews of tankers, trucks joining forces with the Opposition Chilean-style, as a weapon in Venezuelan petro-politics designed to remove Chávez prematurely and unconstitutionally from the Mira Flores Palace. Workers of PDVSA have also defied a Court Order to return to work.

The President of PDVSA, Ali Rodriguez said of the petro-politics: "What can be gained by using PDVSA for an action that is clearly political"? (Newsday Dec.2, p. 57)

They have also picketed the T&T Embassy in Caracas in retaliation for T&T's state-owned Petrotrin undertaking to ship gasolene to Caracas on New Year's Day.

Venezuelan petro-politics has caused oil production to plummet from 3m bpd to 300,000 bpd and a revenue loss of $50m daily ($1.3 bn so far) causing Venezuela to import its first shipment of 520,000 barrels of gasolene from Brazil (Express 27 Dec, p.4). It is unable to supply regional partners including Cuba (Express 23 Dec., p.4) and most Caricom countries under the Caribbean Oil Facility that was itself an expression of Caribbean petro-politics designed to up-stage T&T and enhance Venezuela's influence in the Caribbean.

Chávez has instituted military control over most of the operations of PDVSA (30,000 of 40,000 employees support the strike), purged some anti-Chávez elements from senior management and will enforce effective 1 January a Hydrocarbon Reform Law to wrest control of PDVSA from the parasitic oligarchy to contribute more oil revenues to the national coffers to fund his social initiatives. In the aftermath of April 12 he also purged the army of potential opponents that explains why the military now supports his regime. This virtually rules out a military coup at present since the army chief also accused PDVSA employees of economic sabotage.

In fact the stubborn unwillingness of the Opposition elements to wait until the August 3 mid-term constitutional referendum is due is influenced by the fact that the economic position of Venezuela can improve from high oil prices following an Iraqi invasion and thereby enhance Chávez's political fortunes. Venezuela's economy shrank 6% last year, unemployment is at 17 % and inflation at 30%.

The Regional Dimension

Venezuela's regional petro-politics symbolised notably by its Caribbean Oil Facility offering oil on concessionary terms to Caribbean/ Central American countries was instrumental in galvanising diplomatic support for the embattled Chávez regime both within the OAS and bilaterally. The accession to the presidencies of two oil-producing neighbouring countries, Brazil and Ecuador by populist, leftist leaders Lula De Silva (1 Jan/03) and Lucio Gutierrez(10 Jan/03) respectively has made the overthrow of the Chávez regime more untenable (Guardian Editorial, Dec 9., p.24). The OAS Resolution passed 32-0 with solid Caribbean support backing the legitimacy of the Chávez regime is not only democratically inspired but also a manifestation of Caribbean petro-politics.

Shipments of 300,000 barrels of gasolene to be effected on New Year's Day from Petrotrin (Sunday Express 29/12, p.5) as well as food supplies received from the Dominican Republic and Colombia to be paid for in Venezuelan oil are indicative of regional solidarity with Venezuela as well as of strategic alliances.

The International Dimension

The beginning of hostilities against Iraq would appear to be conditional on the resolution of the strike at PDVSA since together they supply 5.5 million bpd and can trigger an oil price in excess of US$ 40.00 that will cause havoc in the world economy (The Probe, 29 Dec., p.4). Any attempt to ignore this reality of the petro-politics that can be catastrophic to developed and the developing world alike will be deemed extremely irresponsible on the part of the UK and USA as well as insensitive to the notion of the emerging globalised village.

It is to be noted that OPEC has issued a statement supporting the Chávez regime (Newsday 28 Dec., p. 9). The Allies would appear to be in a dilemma since no military action can responsibly be initiated against Iraq in the face of a closure of Venezuelan pipelines. Iraq and Venezuela contribute 5 million bpd of the 76m world- oil market. The US has released crude from its Strategic Petroleum Reserve to make up for dwindling supplies (Guardian Dec. 24, p. 13).

In fact US support for the removal of Chávez both in April and at present is closely linked to securing reliable supplies of Western Hemispheric energy in the face of the volatility of supplies from the Middle East and Chávez's own leftist anti- US stance. Removal of Chávez is the target of US petro-politics at the international level with no regard or precedence being accorded to the democratic basis of Chávez's election to the presidency. This reminds one of a similarity with the 1973 overthrow of democratically elected Salvador Allende of Chile with CIA complicity.

Venezuela: Interventions 'r' US
Posted: Monday, December 30, 2002

by Dale Allen Pfeiffer, FTW Contributing Editor for Energy

[Ed. Note: Remember the cardinal rule: Since the Second World War oil prices spikes have invariably led to recession. Recessions are a way of curbing demand for oil. Unemployed people buy less gasoline. And recessions never hurt the rich; only the middle classes and the poor. - MCR]

Who is the United States' number one opponent in its quest for imperialism? Forget about Osama Bin Laden, George Dubya certainly has. And don't fret about Saddam Hussein, he is simply an excuse for intervention. Never mind looking down the road to see when Russia or China will step into the fray. Our no. 1 opposition is a business cartel with the power to strangle the U.S. economically. As global oil production begins to decline, OPEC could become the most powerful organization on the planet, providing that George Dubya Bush does not smash it first.

Taking over Iraq and placing the Saudi oil fields under U.S. protection would break OPEC and establish the U.S. as the premier energy broker in the declining days of oil. And the Bush Administration has been very eager to do just this, though it is attempting to keep the international community appeased while making this power play. Now, however, the Iraq invasion is likely to be delayed until we have reined in another OPEC member much closer to home.

The oil industry in Venezuela has been idled by its upper management, as part of a supposed general strike intended to topple the Chavez government. This is a strike of the rich, and the vast majority of Venezuelans are not supporting it. The strike is a failure in every other respect but for the critical shutting down of oil exports. In this crucial industry, which provides most of Venezuela's wealth, the lockout has cut oil exports to a trickle.

Venezuela is the fifth biggest oil producer in the world, and is the third largest supplier to the U.S., exporting oil to this country at the rate of 1.5 million bpd. Venezuela's oil production has dropped from just under 3 million bpd to barely more than 825,000 bpd. Little more than one month ago Venezuela was supplying one out of every ten barrels of oil that the U.S. consumed. Now the country is having troubles just meeting its own oil demands. In fact, Venezuela has resorted to the short term importation of refined gasoline to keep its economy moving.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has called for the military to intervene in the oil lock out, echoing President Reagan's actions in the air traffic controllers' strike. And the military has acted to take control of a few of the idled tankers. But production and shipping are still down to a trickle of what they once were. The Supreme Court issued a temporary ruling ordering the striking employees back to work, but production remains stifled as oil executives continue their defiance.

President Chavez will have to end this strike soon and bring production back to normal levels, and do so without giving the U.S. cause to intervene. The longer this strike goes on, the longer it will take to get production back in order once the strike has ended.

The U.S.

The Venezuelan strike has already sent up oil prices. In the U.S., oil has already gone to over $32 per barrel, with prices rising at the pump as a result. If the strike continues, oil prices will continue to climb.

Look for the price climb to be led by Citgo Petroleum Corporation, which is owned by a subsidiary of Venezuelan PDVSA. Citgo is buying crude on the open market, but their refineries are geared for the heavy Venezuelan crude, and their production is being affected by the strike. Many other Gulf Coast refiners are also feeling the loss.

Already faced with possible natural gas price spikes if this is a cold winter, we are also going to see the price of gasoline rise. Either one could be fatal for our ailing economy.

While Dubya doesn't seem too concerned about the U.S. economy, the oil strike in Venezuela could upset his plans for Iraq. Former Venezuelan energy minister Calderon Berti said that if both the Venezuelan and Iraqi oil supplies were cut off, oil prices would soar to over $40 per barrel. Before Dubya can attack Iraq, he needs to secure the Venezuelan oil supply.

COUP

For this reason, the U.S. may sponsor a coup in Venezuela within the next month or so. And this is what the strikers want. Their goal is to disrupt Venezuela's economy until the military has to intervene against President Chavez. This strike was choreographed by experienced coup plotters in the U.S. The unions behind the strike, and the corporate media who have lied about it are financially tied to the National Endowment for Democracy, which is a cover for CIA financing.

Otto Reich of the State Department and Elliott Abrams of the National Security Council are overseeing the efforts to install a more compliant regime in Caracas. Both men are veterans of the contra war against Nicaragua. It is their plan to destabilize the country and then aid a military coup. They had hoped to pull off this coup months ago, but had not reckoned on Chavez's popularity with the vast majority of the population. Since then, they have been trying to erode that popularity while attempting to turn the military against Chavez.

Now that their plans have come to impede the invasion of Iraq and threaten the U.S. economy, Abrams and Reich will be urged to either bring their plans to fruition or allow somebody else to broker a settlement with Chavez. And there are other urgent deadlines in imposing a diplomatic junta on Venezuela. Jan. 1, Brazil will inaugurate Lula da Silva as president, and ten days later Ecuador will inaugurate Colonel Lucio GutiŽrrez. These men will provide a left-leaning block that could act in opposition to Washington's plans for the region. And perhaps most importantly, the Hydrogen Law will take effect on Jan. 1, giving Chavez the tools he needs to reform the state-owned oil industry. The Hydrogen Law is a piece of Venezuelan legislation which will socialize more of the profits of the oil business and keep them in Venezuela for the benefit of the Venezuelan people. This is perhaps the single most important issue for Chavez's opponents both at home and abroad.

For all of these reasons, for the U.S. economy, and for the invasion of Iraq, Washington is going to seek a quick resolution to the Venezuelan situation.

OPEC

OPEC may actually step in to help lower oil prices, should the current situation go on for too long. To extract the maximum profit without putting too much stress upon the world economy, OPEC has a target range for oil prices of between $22 and $28 a barrel. Below that price, OPEC members lose their profits, and above that price, the market begins to dry up. Within OPEC there is an agreement to step up production if the price of oil stays above $28 per barrel for 20 consecutive days. Let us not forget, however, that while it only takes five days for a shipment of Venezuelan crude to reach the U.S., it takes five weeks for a shipment of Middle East crude to reach the U.S. Any relief from the Middle East will be delayed by over a month.

And there are those who wonder if OPEC has the spare capacity to cover Venezuela's 3 million bpd. Virtually all OPEC countries are currently pumping in excess of their quotas. However, the current oil production is barely enough to stabilize the market. This question of spare capacity will become increasingly important in the years ahead. The amount of oil in the ground does not matter if you are pumping as much as you possibly can through all of the wells in operation.

Beyond the question of production capacity, is it in OPEC's best interest to aid the U.S. in the military domination of OPEC member states? It must be obvious to members of the cartel that the U.S. seeks to undermine their power and take over control of the planets remaining hydrocarbon deposits.

How can OPEC stand aside and do nothing while the U.S. stages coups in Venezuela, prepares to invade Iraq, and vilifies Saudi Arabia while eyeing that country's oil deposits? Certainly, the economic weapon which OPEC wields is a two-edged sword, but if you are fighting a war, then you must expect to make sacrifices. However, before OPEC will become a fighting machine, it needs a leader who can bring all of the member nations to see that they are in fact at war with the United States. And that will be a tough chore.

Perhaps OPEC will wake up in time. But it is just possible that the U.S. could be in control of a major portion of the world's remaining oil supplies when OPEC finally does wake up.

OUTLOOK

If the U.S. can back a successful coup in Venezuela and take Iraq quickly, Washington will be in a very powerful position and will rule a global empire for some time to come. And this prospect seems quite imminent to those who are calling the shots in Washington.

On the other hand, if operations become bogged down in either Venezuela or Iraq, the result could very well be the ruination of U.S. dreams of global imperialism. In Venezuela, if Chavez retains the backing of a major segment of the population and the military, then we could see a bloody civil war, which could disrupt oil supplies for some time to come. The situation could become quite ugly if U.S. intervention led to collaboration between Pro-Chavez forces and Colombian rebels. We could easily find ourselves in a regional conflict that could make Vietnam look like a Sunday picnic.

Likewise, if Saddam Hussein prepares his nation for urban guerrilla fighting, then we could find ourselves fighting a war of attrition in the Middle East. In this case, the extended warfare in oil producing regions could precipitate a global economic meltdown, for which the U.S. would be entirely responsible.

For the moment, keep your eye on Venezuela. The situation there must be resolved before Bush invades Iraq. President Chavez is an amazing man, and with the full support of the people, he has thwarted several attempts to unseat him, just in this past year alone. He has also won six elections in the last four years. Hugo Chavez may retain his presidency long enough to see George W. Bush lose his.

[© Copyright, 2002, From The Wilderness Publications, www.fromthewilderness.com. All rights reserved.
May be copied, distributed or posted on the Internet for non-profit purposes only.]

World News
Posted: Monday, December 30, 2002

¤ Carrying a religious mission to Muslim countries
¤ Thousands Mourn Guyana's Desmond Hoyte
¤ Israel Rules Reserves Must Serve in Occupied Territories
¤ Clone cult firm raided in S Korea
¤ Stock markets down third year in row
¤ Yemen Arrests Man in Slaying of Americans
¤ U.N. Security Council Votes for New Restrictions on Iraqi Imports
¤ White House aims to reshape world
¤ Powell insists N. Korea not a crisis
¤ Iraq Accuses U.S. of Double Standards with N.Korea
¤ Saudis deny letting US use bases
¤ Massive US buildup continues, inspectors find no arms
¤ Court rejects Israeli reservists' appeal
¤ Jordan steps up warnings against US war on Iraq
¤ The Accidental Imperialist
¤ Making a prison of Palestine
¤ Questions That Bother and Bewilder
¤ Air Defense Is Key
¤ 'Arms Inspectors' Bolster Canadian Anti-war Movement
¤ Suspected Islamic extremist kills three US doctors in Yemen
¤ US fed-up with UN dithering over Iraq as war clouds gather
¤ South Korean president slams US policy on North Korea nuke crisis
¤ Bush's 'War on Terror' Faces Mounting Criticism
¤ Take Time to Question Rush to War
¤ U.S. Had Key Role in Iraq Buildup
¤ The Penn paradox -- When actors take an unpopular stand
¤ Riyadh denies allowing US to use bases, airspace against Iraq
¤ US would protect Iraqi oil fields, may raise output
¤ French Police Arrest Airport Employee with Weapons, Explosives
¤ Spanish anti-terror judge blasts Bush
¤ Agreement On US 3.2 Billion Gas Pipeline Project Signed
¤ U.S Financial Aid To Israel: Figures, Facts, and Impact
¤ Protesters in Turkey Burn U.S. Flags
¤ Report: U.S. slow to pay New York in terror attacks
¤ German Nobel Laureate: Bush "Threat to World Peace"
¤ US, British aircraft bomb two Iraqi radar bases
¤ Historic victory for Kenya's opposition
¤ Lieberman: Al-Qaida Eying Saudi Arabia
¤ War with N. Korea is now the unavoidable choice facing U.S.
¤ US threatens North Korea with ruinous economic stranglehold
¤ It is wrong to overreact to the supposed threat of North Korea
¤ Philippines President Arroyo will not seek new term
¤ Lula prepared to take control in Brazil
¤ Ten Palestinians die as Israel turns up the heat
¤ Afghan leader warns foreign troops to leave
¤ Kremlin is afraid of peace
¤ Moscow aims to restore its influence in Central Asia
¤ Sharon approves new Middle East 'roadmap'
¤ Pyongyang defiant as Downer joins critics
¤ Report ties two African leaders to al-Qaeda diamond spree
¤ Texas executed more inmates than any other state in 2002

Update : Dec. 30, 2002
Posted: Monday, December 30, 2002

Trinidad and Tobago ships gasoline to Venezuela
PETROTRIN'S recent decision to ship gasoline to Venezuela will have no effect on its regular customers, the company's public relations officer Oliver Flax stated yesterday.
NOTE: Petroleum Company of Trinidad and Tobago Limited, PETROTRIN, integrated oil company incorporated January 1993, is fully owned by the Government of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago.

Trinidad will ship large quantity of gasoline to Venezuela on New Year's Day, officials say
PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad -- Trinidad's state-owned oil company will ship some 300,000 barrels of gasoline on New Year's Day to Venezuela, officials said Monday.
The arrangement is part of a commercial arrangement between both countries to trade crude oil for refined products, said Oliver Flaks, spokesman for Trinidad's state-owned oil company Petrotrin. The shipment is not related to an ongoing general strike in Venezuela, Flaks said. - Associated Press via www.sfgate.com

Venezuela: Interventions 'r' US
Who is the United States' number one opponent in its quest for imperialism? Forget about Osama Bin Laden, George Dubya certainly has. And don't fret about Saddam Hussein, he is simply an excuse for intervention. Never mind looking down the road to see when Russia or China will step into the fray. Our no. 1 opposition is a business cartel with the power to strangle the U.S. economically. As global oil production begins to decline, OPEC could become the most powerful organization on the planet, providing that George Dubya Bush does not smash it first. - by Dale Allen Pfeiffer

Trinidad and Tobago ships gasoline to Venezuela
Posted: Monday, December 30, 2002

Petroleum Company of Trinidad and Tobago Limited, PETROTRIN, integrated oil company incorporated January 1993, is fully owned by the Government of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago.

From: Newsday, T&T

PETROTRIN'S recent decision to ship gasoline to Venezuela will have no effect on its regular customers, the company's public relations officer Oliver Flax stated yesterday.

This in response to reports in a daily newspaper that Petrotrin has agreed to ship US$15 million worth of gasoline to strike-torn Venezuela in the wake of a formal bail-out request by the Hugo Chavez administration facing revolt and a series of crippling strikes which have led to food shortages and dry pumps at Venezuela's service stations.

It was reported that Petrotrin responded to this request by establishing a pro quid trading arrangement in which Venezuela will supply crude to Petrotrin in exchange for refined products, mainly gasoline.

In a telephone interview with the Newsday Flax said while the company planned to export approximately 300,000 barrels of gas to Venezuela's national oil company, Petroleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA) this was only due to a "company to company arrangement".

"We are not involved in the politics of Venezuela," Flax stated. "We are in the business of refining and selling products. In this case we are not dealing with the Venezuelan government at all, we are on a company to company business. We have a standing contract arrangement with PDVSA where they supply us with crude oil and we pay them money. On this occasion they said instead of giving them money we should give them gasoline and we agreed."

He said this arrangement is "a one-time thing" and would have no effect on Petrotrin's regular customers.

"In addition to supplying to our regular customers we also sell gasoline to other customers on the international market," he pointed out. "That is a regular thing. In this case they will continue to get what they are contracted to get. They are our number one priority and this arrangement will have no effect on them."

PDVSA's last shipment of crude oil arrived at the Pointe a Pierre jetty on Boxing Day and Flax said plans are in place to ensure that Petrotrin's shipment is expected to leave Trinidad either tomorrow or Wednesday.

But, Flax said, while there are no plans to continue shipping gasoline in exchange for crude oil to Venezuela the company would be willing to do so if asked.

"As long as the price is right we would sell it," he said. "We are in the business of selling products and we would sell it to anybody who could pay for it."

World News
Posted: Sunday, December 29, 2002

¤ Kashmir: Indian army gets latest Israeli killing kits
¤ After 24 years, Kenya gets new leader
¤ U.S. Says No Attack Planned on N.Korea
¤ US Government probes cloning claim
¤ Cloned Baby Coming Home to U.S. on Monday
¤ Lessons from the fall of an empire
¤ Saudi makes U-turn on helping US in Iraq attack
¤ We're fine despite everything, says Saddam
¤ Passionate attachment to Israel
¤ Sharon diverts publicity from scandal to war with Iraq
¤ Israeli army murders two Palestinian school children
¤ Western warplanes attack two Iraqi radar sites
¤ Military Filming Protesters at D.C. Demonstrations
¤ Sharon after inciting US to wage war on Lebanon, Syria: daily
¤ Health Minister "anti-Zionistic" and "anti-Jewish" remarks
¤ Saudi Arabia ready to help US in Iraq war no sources given
¤ 9/11 Inquiry Chair Tied To Osama's Brother In Law
¤ Most see U.S. as a 'bully,' survey finds
¤ US warns N Korea of economic collapse
¤ 'Human shields' head for Iraq
¤ Chechnya suicide bombers 'used Russian military links'
¤ Briton tells of ordeal in Bush's torture jail
¤ '1m refugees' will flee Iraq war
¤ Now Pyongyang vows to expel UN nuclear inspectors
¤ Six killed in revenge raid
¤ Is it a clone or a con?
¤ Rumsfeld signs deployment order
¤ Unhappily ever aftermath
¤ Seoul appeals to China over North Korea
¤ GM crops are breeding with plants in the wild
¤ A terrorist outrage that underlines the need for a settlement in Chechnya
¤ Landslide smashes Moi's grip on Kenya
¤ U.S. Seeks Economic Pressure on N. Korea
¤ Iraq Names Scientists Involved in Weapons

Update : Dec. 29, 2002
Posted: Sunday, December 29, 2002

Chavez Frias thanks Brazil and Caribbean countries for support in oil war.
President Hugo Chavez Frias has publicly thanked Brazilian Fernando Cardoso and president-elect Lula da Silva for sending 520,00 barrel of gasoline on the "Amazon Explorer" which docked in Puerto La Cruz on Saturday.
Chavez Frias has let it be known that he has received gestures of support from the governments of Jamaica, Curacao, Cuba, Trinidad & Tobago and the Dominican Republic.
Trinidad & Tobago, the President says, will send 300,000 barrels of gasoline to cover the deficit until refineries start up again.
Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) members have offered help, along with the Russians, which is expected to send a committee of businessmen to help reactivate the oil industry.
Copyright © 2002VHeadline.com

Racial Label Surprises Many Latino Immigrants
Posted: Saturday, December 28, 2002

By Darryl Fears - The Washington Post
December 28, 2002

At her small apartment in Washington, D.C., Maria Martins quietly watched as an African American friend studied a picture of her mother. "Oh," the friend said, surprise in her voice. "Your mother is white."

She turned to Martins. "But you are black."

That came as news to Martins, a Brazilian who, for 30 years before immigrating to the United States, looked in the mirror and saw a morena--a woman with caramel-colored skin that is nearly equated with whiteness in Brazil and some other Latin American countries. "I didn't realize I was black until I came here," she said.

That realization has come to hundreds of thousands of dark-complexioned immigrants to the United States from Brazil, Colombia, Panama and other Latin nations with sizable populations of African descent. Although most do not identify themselves as black, they are seen that way as soon as they set foot in North America.

Their reluctance to embrace this definition has left them feeling particularly isolated--shunned by African Americans who believe they are denying their blackness; by white Americans who profile them in stores or on highways; and by lighter-skinned Latinos whose images dominate Spanish-language television all over the world, even though a majority of Latin people have some African or Indian ancestry.

The pressure to accept not only a new language and culture, but also a new racial identity, is a burden some darker-skinned Latinos say they face every day.

"It's overwhelming," said Yvette Modestin, a dark-skinned native of Panama who works as an outreach coordinator in Boston. "There's not a day that I don't have to explain myself."

E. Francisco Lopez, a Venezuelan-born attorney in Washington, said he had not heard the term "minority" before coming to America.

"I didn't know what it meant. I didn't accept it because I thought it meant 'less than,"' said Martins, whose father is black. "'Where are you from?' they ask me. I say I'm from Brazil. They say, 'No, you are from Africa.' They make me feel like I am denying who I am."

Exactly who these immigrants are is almost impossible to divine from the 2000 Census. Latinos of African, mestizo and European descent --or any mixture of the three--found it hard to answer the question "What is your racial origin?"

Some of the nation's 35 million Latinos scribbled in the margins that they were Aztec or Mayan. A fraction said they were Indian. Nearly forty-eight percent described themselves as white, and only 2 percent as black. Fully 42 percent said they were "some other race."

Race matters in Latin America, but it matters differently.

Most South American nations barely have a black presence. In Argentina, Chile, Peru and Bolivia, there are racial tensions, but mostly between indigenous Indians and white descendants of Europeans.

The black presence is stronger along the coasts of two nations that border the Caribbean Sea, Venezuela and Colombia--which included Panama in the 19th century--along with Brazil, which snakes along the Atlantic coast. In many ways, those nations have more in common racially with Puerto Rico, Cuba and the Dominican Republic than they do with the rest of South America.

This black presence is a legacy of slavery, just as it is in the United States. But the experience of race in the United States and in these Latin countries is separated by how slaves and their descendants were treated after slavery was abolished.

In the United States, custom drew a hard line between black and white, and Jim Crow rules kept the races separate. The color line hardened to the point that it was sanctioned in 1896 by the Supreme Court in its decision in Plessy v. Ferguson, which held that Homer Plessy, a white-complexioned Louisiana shoemaker, could not ride in the white section of a train because a single ancestor of his was black.

Thus Americans with any discernible African ancestry--whether they identified themselves as black or not--were thrust into one category. One consequence is that dark-complexioned and light-complexioned black people combined to campaign for equal rights, leading to the civil rights movement of the 1960s.

By contrast, the Latin countries with a sizable black presence had more various, and more fluid, experiences of race after slavery.

Jose Neinstein, a native white Brazilian and executive director of the Brazilian-American Cultural Institute in Washington, boiled down to the simplest terms how his people are viewed. "In this country," he said, "if you are not quite white, then you are black." But in Brazil, he said, "If you are not quite black, then you are white."

The elite in Brazil, as in most Latin American nations, are educated and white. But many brown and black people also belong in that class. Generally, brown Brazilians, such as Martins, enjoy many privileges of the elite, but are disproportionately represented in Brazilian slums.

Someone with Sidney Poitier's deep chocolate complexion would be considered white if his hair were straight and he made a living in a profession. That might not seem so odd, Brazilians say, when you consider that the fair-complexioned actresses Rashida Jones of the television show "Boston Public" and Lena Horne are identified as black in the United States.

Neinstein remembered talking with a man of Poitier's complexion during a visit to Brazil. "We were discussing ethnicity," Neinstein said, "and I asked him, 'What do you think about this from your perspective as a black man?' He turned his head to me and said, 'I'm not black,"' Neinstein recalled. " ... It simply paralyzed me. I couldn't ask another question."

By the same token, Neinstein said, he never perceived brown-complexioned people such as Maria Martins, who works at the cultural institute, as black. One day, when an African American custodian in his building referred to one of his brown-skinned secretaries as "the black lady," Neinstein was confused. "I never looked at that woman as black," he said. "It was quite a revelation to me."

Those perceptions come to the United States with the light- and dark-complexioned Latinos who carry them. But here, they collide with two contradictory forces: North American prejudice and African American pride.

Vilson DaSilva, a native of Brazil, is a moreno. Like his wife, Maria Martins, he was born to a black father and a white mother. But their views on race seem to differ.

During an interview when Martins said she had no idea how they had identified themselves on the 2000 Census form, DaSilva rolled his eyes. "I said we were black," he said.

He is one of a growing number of Latin immigrants of African descent who identify themselves as Afro-Latino, along the same color spectrum as African Americans.

"I've learned to be proud of my color," he said. For that, he thanked African American friends who stand up for equal rights.

DaSilva agreed that nuances separate African Americans and Afro-Latinos, but he also believes that seeing Latin America through African American eyes gave him a better perspective. Unfortunately, he said, it also made him angrier and more stressed.

When DaSilva returned to Brazil for a visit, he asked questions he had never asked, and got answers that shocked him.

His mother told him why her father didn't speak to her for 18 years: "It was because she married a black man," he said. One day, DaSilva's own father pulled him aside to provide his son some advice. "`You can play around with whoever you want,"' DaSilva recalled his father saying, "`but marry your own kind."' So DaSilva married Martins, the morena of his dreams.

She is dreaming of a world with fewer racial barriers, a world she believes she left in Brazil to be with her husband in Washington.

As Martins talked about the nation's various racial blends in her living room, her 18-month-old son sat in front of the television, watching a Disney cartoon called "The Proud Family," about a merged black American and black Latino family. The characters are intelligent, whimsical, thoughtful, funny, with skin tones that range from light to dark brown.

The DaSilvas said they would never see such a show on Latin American TV.

Martins said her perspective on race was slowly conforming to the American view, but it saddened her. She doesn't understand why she can't call a pretty black girl a negrita, the way Latin Americans always say it, with affection. She doesn't understand why she has to say she's black, seeming to deny the existence of her mother.

"Sometimes I say she is black on the outside and white on the inside," DaSilva said of his wife, who threw her head back and laughed.

© 2002 The Washington Post Company

World News
Posted: Saturday, December 28, 2002

¤ Spin of the Year
¤ Troops, Protesters Clash in West Bank
¤ U.S. Offers Aid to Turkey in Event of War
¤ A UN mandate does not make war on Iraq right!
¤ Getting our priorities straight
¤ Cloning Skeptics: Show Us The DNA
¤ Kenya's vice president loses seat
¤ Asia's Splits Deepen Korea Crisis (Registration)
¤ U.N. Inspectors To Leave North Korea Next Week
¤ Rescuers Comb Ruins Of Chechen Heaquarters
¤ U.S. Orders Thousands Of Troops To Gulf
¤ Iraq Shrugs Off US Buildup
¤ Bush Says U.S. Must Confront Iraqi Danger In 2003
¤ In Afghanistan, 'anyone with a gun is the government'
¤ Iraqi scientist blasts U.N. experts over interview
¤ Iraq gives UN inspectors list of scientists
¤ US-led group triggered N-crisis, says Moscow
¤ Six dead in Islamic Jihad revenge attack on Jewish settlement
¤ Insider gives UN details of Iraq arms
¤ Americans to man Israeli defences
¤ Iraq says UN can question hundreds of scientists
¤ A terrorist outrage, the need for a settlement in Chechnya
¤ War fears and strike to force petrol up by 4p
¤ Belfast execution heralds new war among loyalists
¤ West urges China to bring North Koreans into line
¤ Threats will change nothing, says Russia
¤ At least 46 killed as rebels destroy Russian HQ in Chechnya
¤ Israeli Army assassinates string of Palestinians
¤ To humankind, a clone - or a new-born fraud
¤ N Korea to expel nuclear inspectors
¤ Al-Jazeera gives West a new slant on Arab world
¤ We are ready to back US in Iraq, says NATO boss
¤ For Iraqis, too, war may not be lesser evil

A UN mandate does not make war on Iraq right!
Posted: Saturday, December 28, 2002

www.transnational.org
By Jorgen Johansen, TFF Associate, Director of the Centre for Peace Studies at Tromsø, University, Norway, and Jan Oberg, TFF director

A UN mandate does not turn war into peace

Governments, editors, commentators and even supporters of the United Nations currently express the view that a war against Iraq is, or will be, acceptable if the United States and others "go back" to the Security Council and obtain a "UN mandate" before they attack.

But, this is false logic and could spell the end of the UN as a peace organisation. If you think that the planned war is or entails a violation of international law, such a mandate does not make it more legal. If you think that the war is morally wrong or unfair, such a mandate won't make it right or just. If you think that war has nothing to do with conflict-resolution but must be categorised as aggression, a resolution - inevitably the result of horse-trading among the Five Permanent (and nuclear) Security Council members and the other ten under the leadership of Columbia - does not turn war into wise politics.

The Security Council has no magic formula and no magic wand to wave in order to turn war into peace and human folly into wisdom.

A Security Council resolution that endorses war is not the same as a "UN" mandate, as is often stated. It's hard to believe that something like a referendum among all members in the General Assembly would result in a go-ahead. There is still little enthusiasm for this war among "we, the peoples" around the world. If the Security Council self-importantly decided that it is the High Judge and that Judgement Day has come, all talk of an "international community" standing behind a war with Iraq would be grossly misleading.

A mandate is no comfort; no UN mandate is the better option

It is as if a "UN mandate" serves to make some people feel better about this war. The Swedish government, as an example of a country whose solidarity with the UN has never been questioned, seems to hope that it will not be forced to criticise the United States. Because, if there is such a UN mandate, it would be possible for Sweden to say, "well, we don't like wars, but this one has a UN mandate, and therefore it is acceptable to us." The Danish government, still the head of the EU for a few more days, has declared that it is willing to participate directly in the war if there is such a mandate.

There are two important arguments against a UN "mandate". Firstly, if there is no such mandate, it will be considerably more difficult for many member states to accept it or go along with it. That is, the United States would rather stand alone and carry the major burden of a political, legal and moral disaster. Secondly, it would save the UN from being dragged down into the quagmire called bombing, invasion, occupation and control of Iraq - not to mention the humanitarian consequences and the resources needed to rebuild the country physically, as well as psychologically. With no UN mandate, the UN could say "not in our name" and remain a genuine peace organisation true to the words and the spirit of its charter.

To put it simply, if George W. Bush and the people around him want to destroy Iraq, they should go it alone. The UN must never be misused to legitimate bellicose policies of any member state. The UN can hardly survive with repeated humiliation as has been the case in Croatia, Bosnia-Hercegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia, Somalia and Afghanistan.

The planned war violates the Charter's words and spirit

Let us hope that the war against Iraq will never receive approval from the United Nations. The Charter of the UN is clear; the organisation's highest purpose is "to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war." And "Armed force shall not be used, save in the common interest". There exists no common interest to do what is being planned against Iraq.

The war against Iraq has been going on for eleven years now. Since September 11 last year, the Security Council has lost colossal legitimacy due to a number of resolutions that have been passed. The tragic new interpretation of International Law itself and the implementation of it has seriously undermined the foundation of a system constructed to handle international conflicts. The principles and conventions developed in the post-Westphalian era have been damaged due to paranoid policies of revenge after the attacks on the Pentagon and World Trade Centre.

Since September 11, the UN has suffered even more blows

This loss of legitimacy is naturally more obvious among the 1,300 million Muslims in the world. They are about to loose confidence in an organisation in which 80 per cent of the permanent members of the supreme body are Christian countries. Seen from their vantage point, the Four Permanent members possess, if you will, Christian bombs and share the basic Old Testament image of the world that "the others" are either with us or they are against us and must be exterminated.

When the UN accepted to use International Law and not Criminal Law for the reaction to September 11, it opened doors that will be (mis)used by many actors in the future. Up until then, political and violent crimes had been handled by the police and not by the military. This shift is very dangerous. Then the U.S. decided, and the UN accepted, to use the principle of "self defence", but with a delay of almost a month (September 11 to October 7). In the field of Criminal Law, this would resemble that the attacked escapes from the attacker, locate him a month later and (with a bunch of friends) exercise his "self-defence" out of proportion to the first crime committed.

The Bush regime moves from MAD to NUTS

The UN Security Council resolutions on Iraq represent an even more dodgy new interpretation. This time the act of self-defence will be carried out years before the attacked assesses that he could, perhaps, be hit, i.e. pre-emptively. Unfortunately for the UN, international law holds no provisions for such pre-emptive policies or wars. They are found only in recent strategic documents from the Bush regime. Even worse, they contain a philosophical demolition of the principles of deterrence that enables the United States to use weapons of mass-destruction against countries that are not known to possess such weapons but are judged to be able to possess them some time into the future.

In short, instead of moving towards general and complete disarmament world-wide, or the abolition of all WMD (Weapons of Mass-Destruction) we are moving from MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction) to the fundamentally immoral and destabilising NUTs (Nuclear Use Theories).

Kidnapping Iraq's report and keeping U.S. involvement in Iraq's military secret

In spite of its real importance, the weapons inspection process is exploited as a game by the United States. Its representatives have done their best to provoke and find Iraqi violations of resolutions by the Security Council, including SC Resolution 1441. The recent U.S. kidnapping of the 12,000-page report produced by Iraq is one of the most serious in a long line of aggressive acts.

The U.S. claims that it wants to know everything about Iraqi military programs, but obviously not which U.S. and other Western companies have made them possible. Money doesn't smell of course until it comes out into the open. Instead of causing an outrage forcing the Bush regime to back down, most members accept this gross violation of decency and of the integrity of the United Nations.

Colin Powel returned from a short visit to Bogota on December 4 where he had announced major increases in American military aid to Colombia. Colombia presently serves as the chair of the Security Council. In exchange for the military support, Colombia presumably promised to let the U.S. steal Iraq's report to "edit" it, i.e. to practise censorship.

Kofi Annan should remember Article 99 and 100 and use them to save the UN

Despite the serious injury done to the UN, there is no other organisation that can assume global responsibility in the situation we are facing today. The Iraqis will suffer no less because "there was a UN mandate." A UN mandate only means that the UN will suffer too, most likely beyond repair. Western countries that bomb Muslim countries only amplify the hate against West. The number of potential suicide-bombers and terror attacks must be expected to grow with every military attack on innocent Muslims. They cannot possibly see the UN as a trustworthy world organisation.

Let the UN get back its status as a legitimate actor working for "peace by peaceful means." Let the U.S. establishment stand alone as the naked aggressor. The United Nations has already administered a genocide of up to 1 million Iraqis due to a sanctions regime only the U.S. insists on maintaining.

We prefer our world to be running according to the norms of the UN, not those of the U.S.! Article 99 of the UN Charter states that the Secretary-General may bring to the attention of the Security Council any matter which in his opinion may threaten the maintenance of international peace and security. Thus, he stands over and above the member governments. If he thinks that a U.S.-led war on Iraq is a threat to world peace, he has the power to act. Article 100 states that the Secretary-General and his staff shall not seek or receive instructions from any government or from any other authority external to the Organisation.

If the Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, makes use of Article 99 and 100 of the Charter, war on Iraq will not happen. Will he do so?

The U.S. tail must not wag the UN dog...

Letting the tail (the U.S.) wag the dog (the UN) is morally unacceptable and a violation of the Charter. The U.S. has tried and will try to do it again. Now is the time for the UN to stand up for itself, for the genuine international community.

Or will 2003 be remembered by future generations as the year in which a few members, against the will of the greater majority, decided to destroy the UN as a peace organisation? And got away with it only because the Secretary-General and member states who didn't want the war, failed to show civil courage in time and hid behind a self-condemning "UN mandate"?

© TFF 2002

Update : Dec. 28, 2002
Posted: Saturday, December 28, 2002

Alí Rodríguez anuncia importación de gasolina desde Trinidad Con el propósito de garantizar la existencia de suficiente combustible para abastecer el mercado interno el Gobierno nacional procederá a la importación de 400 mil barriles de Trinidad los cuales ingresarán a nuestro país en dos buques para ser descargados en Puerto La Cruz y distribuidos hacia los distintos puntos. - www.globovision.com

Why Such Meddling?
The U.S. media coverage reflects not only the Bush administration line, but also the anti-Chávez bias of most Venezuelan news outlets. The television networks Globovisión, Televen and Venevisión openly supported the coup and blacked out protests supporting Chávez. "It was a media coup," said veteran Unión Radio reporter María Lilibeth Da Corte, who added that most editors censored any reporting that put the coup in a negative light.
The media hostility toward Chávez may have something to do with his main base of support-the poor people who constitute 80 percent of Venezuela's population. Chávez opponents, in contrast, come mostly from the middle and upper classes and don’t want him to fulfill his promise to distribute more oil revenue to the poor.
- By Jessie Duncan, www.americas.org

World News
Posted: Friday, December 27, 2002

¤ Afghan pipeline deal inked
¤ Get Real... How Safe Are You?
¤ Gunmen kill Jewish settlers
¤ Top Talent Lining the War Path
¤ Two powerful bombs blast in Chechen capital
¤ N Korea to expel nuclear observers
¤ Chechnya bombing kills at least 40
¤ 35 Killed in Bombing at Chechen Government Headquarters NY Times
¤ UN Refugee Chief Says Iraq War Would Be Disaster
¤ Cult says it has first human clone
¤ Downer says North Korea is not a direct threat to Australia
¤ Israeli army kills 9 Palestinians, including guard at Ramallah hospital
¤ Israeli army kills seven Palestinians
¤ Russia yesterday widened a UN Security Council rift over Iraq
¤ Saddam readies Iraq for total war
¤ CIA accused of torture at Bagram
¤ US 'is using torture techniques' to interrogate top al-Qa'ida prisoners
¤ Russia and Iran boost nuclear pact
¤ Al-Jazeera broadcasts in English
¤ Korea's nuclear strategy attacked by UN
¤ Pyongyang may have A-bomb in 30 days
¤ Nato chief says alliance has moral duty to back Washington's line
¥ It should read, 'a racist duty' to back Washington's line
¤ Price of war may be more than US thinks, says study
¤ In Russia they no longer execute, they kill
¤ Thank You, Mr Bush
¤ In expectation of a war
¤ Pyongyang denies restarting nuclear program
¤ Price of war may be more than US thinks, says study
¤ Warlord says he has joined al-Qaeda to expel foreign soldiers
¤ New claims link army to US killings in Papua
¤ Hopes for end to Chechen war fade
¤ Israeli troops kill 7 in West Bank, re-enter Bethlehem
¤ Two die, 14 injured in Brazil air force crash
¤ U.S., UK warplanes attack Iraqi sites
¤ U.S. paper exposes CIA's 'brass knuckle' grillings
¤ Iraq says scientists may refuse to talk to UN inspectors
¤ War on Iraq could boost international terrorism: Russia
¤ Iran has abolished 'death by stoning'

Update : Dec. 27, 2002
Posted: Friday, December 27, 2002

Venezuela crisis has U.S. in a bind
The Bush administration is straining to find the right tone in its approach to the growing crisis in Venezuela. One day White House spokesman Ari Fleischer says the United States would like to see new presidential elections; the next day, it's a referendum.
However, at a time when Washington can least afford to see oil production disrupted, few people in Latin America believe the US claim that it stands for democratic rule. Washington’s influence in Venezuela’s crisis has been deeply eroded by its own actions.
By Frida Ghitis via www.abs-cbnnews.com

World News
Posted: Thursday, December 26, 2002

¤ Bogus Case Against Black Citizens In Tulia, Texas
¤ Israel: Refusal to serve could be contagious
¤ Brand America
¤ Sharon's war?
¤ Israeli troops kill six Palestinians - BBC
¤ In Christmas, Israel continues killings and destruction
¤ U.S. Decries Abuse but Defends Interrogations
¤ Interrogating Captives: 'After 9/11, the gloves come off'
¤ Iraq Says Israeli WMD Claim 'Absolute Lies'
¤ Syrian spokesman refutes Israeli allegations on chemical weapons
¤ Philippines Ambush Kills 12
¤ New Fears Over N. Korea Nukes
¤ Iraq Stockpiles Food for War
¤ Powerball $314.9 million Winner Breaks The Bank
¤ At least 12 killed in ambush in southern Philippines
¤ Venezuela talks, protests resume - CNN
¤ N Korea nuclear moves alarm UN - BBC
¤ Iraq stockpiles food for war - BBC
¤ MI chief: Iraq won't attack before U.S. offensive
¤ Church leaders launch unified attack on war plans
¤ Iraqis ready for 'holy war and martyrdom'
¤ FBI asks colleges to hand over files on all foreigners
¤ The British monarchy is in need of radical reform
¤ Nuclear chill as Pyongyang warns US
¤ Washington has a new theory: these guys aren't crazy
¤ Iraq urges people to put lives on the line
¤ The humble latrine is making Madagascar a safer place
¤ Al-Qaeda's hideaway
¤ China frees dissident to improve ties with US
¤ Saudi reiterates it will not help US in war against Iraq
¤ Israeli leaders accuse Sharon of lying, creating hysteria
¤ Hekmatyar: Jihad against America will not end until liberation
¤ Turkey renews US permission to use bases in northern Iraq

Update : Dec. 26, 2002
Posted: Thursday, December 26, 2002

National dialogue sessions to resume today
The national dialogue table renews its sessions today in Venezuela in the midst of a situation of conflict provoked by the national strike led by the opposition, which is entering its 25th day. - www.granma.cu

Venezuela's opposition demands election
oil prices hit two-year high
- by James Anderson, AP Writer, via sfgate.com

Venezuela imports fuel as oil sector still halted
- Reuters News Service, via sfgate.com

International mass media conspiracy against Venezuela
Since decades, even centuries, as downtrodden peoples and revolutionaries of Africa, Asia, South America, Oceania, the Caribbean, and elsewhere, we are used to the distortions, lies, half-truths, character assassination, racism, discrimination, plots; to the body, mind and thought control mechanisms, to the inculcation of a master-slave mentality, of inferiority complexes, to our wonderful "education" and "socialization", to the "freedom of thought", to the "freedom of expression", to the magnificent "freedom of the press", to the "family" of Venevision, Globovision; of the fantastic "news" of "El Nacional", "El Universal", of the "Voice of Russia", the "Voice of America", UPI, Reuters, ARD, ZDF, CNN, BBC, dpa, New York Times, FAZ, Der Spiegel, BILD, etc., etc. (Now, we may also add the "Toronto Star!")
- by Dr. Franz J. T. Lee, www.aporrea.org

World News
Posted: Wednesday, December 25, 2002

¤ Gulf War I leftovers
¤ Bloody Prison Riot Kills 18 in Guatemala
¤ Democrats say they can work with Frist
¤ Renegade Afghan Warlord Warns of Stepped Up 'holy War'
¤ Zinn and the Art of Anti-War Movement Maintenance
¤ North Korea issues fiery warning
¤ Santa Claus Workshops Are Appalling Sweatshops...
¤ Afghan warlord threatens foreigners
¤ Dozens of Millionaires in 2002 Congress
¤ Syria Denies Sharon's Iraq Weapons Claim
¤ Attacks Mar Christmas in Pakistan, India
¤ Breathtaking Nuclear Hypocrisy
¤ Once again, there is no room at the Bethlehem Inn
¤ Bush labels Santa an "enemy combatant"
¤ The Dangers Behind America's Misguided Foreign Policy Plans
¤ Don't Let Democracy Fade into the Sunset of American Life
¤ Pope warns against Iraq war
¤ Israeli Soldiers Kill Top Palestinian Militant in West Bank
¤ Christmas cheer, Christmas fear around the world
¤ World seeks counterweight to North Korea's nuclear threat
¤ 45 Ukrainians and Russians die in air crash
¤ 13 dead as bomb goes off at Philippines mayor's home
¤ Clintons top list of 2002's 'most corrupt'
¤ MI chief: Iraq won't attack before U.S. offensive
¤ Khatami against pressure on Pak N-programme
¤ 'New Europe' struggles to flex muscle as war looms
¤ Iraq war is not inevitable, says Germany
¤ Iraqi fighter shoots down American drone in no-fly zone

World News
Posted: Tuesday, December 24, 2002

¤ Alarm as GM pig vaccine taints US crops
¤ There appear to be two countries called 'Venezuela'
¤ Bush to blame for North Korea crisis: Russia
¤ Israel Elections: Sharon May Sink in Likud Money Scandals
¤ Hizbullah provides Canadian reporter with recording of Nasrallah speech
¤ Sharon Says Iraq May Be Hiding Weapons in Syria
¤ 'It's Time To Get Tough With Israel' - US Army Brig General
¤ VIEWS: US silent about Israeli nukes
¤ Hezbollah Becomes Potent Anti-U.S. Force
¤ Saudi press raps US for vetoing UN text on Israel
¤ The specter of total privacy invasion
¤ Another War, Still No Proof
¤ In U.S., Terrorism's Peril Undiminished
¤ Chávez defies his opponents and remains on top of crisis
¤ UN prepares for Iraq war
¤ Philippines blast kills 13
¤ Rumsfeld gets tough on North Korea
¤ N.Korea defence chief vows to punish 'U.S. hawks'
¤ Nuclear peril from Iran, N. Korea
¤ Rumsfeld says U.S. can win war in two theaters
¤ Russia, France, and China - say they are not yet convinced
¤ Gulf states to U.S. war planners: It's now or never
¤ Hezbollah Becomes Potent Anti-U.S. Force
¤ Woman who nursed puppies has no regrets
¤ Lott seen as scapegoat to help party look inclusive
¤ Why vegans were right all along
¤ US plane shot down as Iraqis heighten tension
¤ Most British Muslims do not blame al-Qa'ida for attacks
¤ Mr Bush hangs another opponent out to dry
¤ Plane crash in central Iran kills 46
¤ North Korea 'greater risk than Saddam'
¤ Afghanistan is promised good neighbours
¤ Blair bowing to terrorism, says Netanyahu
¤ Jamaica wants to bring back hanging
¤ American Samoa bans nationals from 23 countries
¤ Supporters at UN turn against Baghdad

Update : Dec. 24, 2002
Posted: Tuesday, December 24, 2002

There appear to be two countries called 'Venezuela'
In the Venezuela in the real world, an extremely tiny number of racist rich people, who, not coincidentally, happen to be of European rather than Indian descent, and who completely control the Venezuelan media and run the oil companies, are attempting to stage a coup by making it appear that the government of Hugo Chavez is unpopular, and by trying to force U. S. involvement in removing Chavez by threatening U. S. access to the Venezuelan oil supply (as an aside, the current relatively diplomatic American positions on Iraq probably relate to this uncertainty about the Venezuelan oil supply). - xymphora

Chávez defies his opponents
and remains on top of crisis
The result is that Mr Chávez is on top of the crisis, even if the situation remains dire and could deteriorate further. There are signs that public support for the strike is starting to slip, as ordinary Venezuelans become increasingly frustrated at the disrupting effect it is having on their daily lives. - By Andy Webb-Vidal in Caracas, Financial Times

NAR Backs Manning On Venezuela
Posted: Tuesday, December 24, 2002

Newsday/TT

THE National Alliance for Reconstruction (NAR) has commended Prime Minister Patrick Manning and the Government of Trinidad and Tobago for expressing solidarity with the embattled, democratically-elected administration of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

In a statement yesterday, NAR Political Leader Lennox Sankersingh called upon Manning and other Caricom leaders to "publicly call on the United States Government to stay out of the internal affairs of Venezuela".

At a post People's National Movement (PNM) General Council meeting two weeks ago, the Prime Minister reiterated his government's support for Chavez and said there were no plans to evacuate nationals living in Venezuela despite the ongoing nation-wide strike there by opposition forces.

The Trinidad and Tobago Consulate in Venezuela has urged nationals not to travel there unless it is absolutely necessary.

Sankersingh said the NAR "condemns the involvement of the USA in Venezuela's internal affairs". "The NAR expresses its amazement at the hypocrisy of the government of the US which on the one hand is demanding some measure of democracy in Iraq while on the other hand, is destroying a democratically-elected government in Venezuela," he declared.

Sankersingh expressed concern that the present unrest in Venezuela could spread to neighbouring Ecuador or Brazil "where these leaders are seen as socialist reformers and whose administrations the US will undermine".

Putting Afro In Cuba Tours
Posted: Tuesday, December 24, 2002

by Willie Thompson

On the "Afro-Cuban Connections" tour, nine African North Americans who traveled to Havana, Regla and Santiago de Cuba with the Carlton Goodlett Institute and Marcus Books Oct. 25 to Nov. 1, reluctantly understood and accepted the reality that the alienation and compromised patriotism felt by many African North Americans are not shared by African Cubans, who, except for a few scary traitors who would welcome a U.S. invasion, are super patriots. Understanding, accepting and acting on these realities is a challenge, though not insurmountable, for connecting with the people of African descent in Cuba and elsewhere in the Americas, ending the United States travel ban and blockade against Cuba, ending racism and improving the social and economic conditions of people of African descent in the United States, Cuba and all the Americas.

How is it that these two westernized people, African North Americans and Cubans, differ so strongly on the national component of their identity? C.L.R. James, the Trinidadian intellectual and author of the best book on the Haitian revolution, "The Black Jacobins," said in an interview in the Black World that "it has to be realized that we in the United States, and in the Caribbean, are people who are to a substantial degree westernized."

Cubans agree strongly with their intellectual founding father, Jose Marti, who said, "More than Black, more than White, we are Cubans." The Cubans further believe that they have destroyed the pre-Castro governments that were dominated by the United States and are now free to reclaim what they want from Africa in the "new" Cuba.

On the other hand, Africans in the United States are deeply alienated and conflicted in a racist, materialistic, supra-rational, hegemonic white supremacist nation that was built, during its agricultural era, by our enslaved African ancestors and their descendants - work for which we have never been paid. This African North American alienation and compromised nationalism and patriotism can be partly understood by a brief review of the racist legacy of some of the icons of the U.S. indelibly instilled in its scientific, religious, symbolic, economic and political institutions.

Thomas Jefferson, the very personification of the United States, wrote: "I advance it … that the blacks, whether originally a distinct race, or made distinct by time and circumstances, are inferior to the whites in the endowment both of body and mind" (quoted by Elaine Brown in "The Condemnation of Little B," page 128, from "The Life and Selected Writings of Thomas Jefferson," edited by Adrienne Koch and William Peden, p. 243).

This sentiment is expressed by another "great American," Abraham Lincoln, who said, "There is a physical difference between the white and black races which I believe will forever forbid the two races living together on terms of social and political equality … and I as much as any other man am in favor of having the superior position assigned to the white race" (Howard Zinn, "A People's History of the United States," page 184).

The fact that Jefferson and Lincoln are not repudiated by North Americans has prompted many Black leaders to lead their Black audiences in the chant, "We are an African people," and to the spelling of Amerika with a K as in the Ku Klux Klan. The latter is the notorious vigilante group organized with state and federal sanctions following emancipation. The KKK numbered 2 million strong in the 1920s and carried out 100 years of lynchings of African North Americans.

African North Americans still confront a formidable European secular, scientific, economic and military dominance in the United States. Much of this dominance was made possible by an agricultural economy built with the unpaid labor of enslaved Africans and descendants of Africans for which we are now demanding reparations. Although we have always resisted this dominance, destruction and subjugation and participated at high levels in all U.S. institutions and served with valor and honor in its just and unjust wars, many African North Americans feel a profound alienation and compromised or debilitated patriotism. Our Cuban contacts boast of a strong identification with mestizo Cuba and feel assured that the African presence in the mestizo Cuban economic, political, religious, educational and scientific life is strong and will naturally grow stronger.

The members of the Afro-Cuban Connections tour often went our separate ways. Four of us spent our second evening and early morning with James Early, director of cultural heritage at the Smithsonian Institution. Early is highly regarded by the Cubans, but we learned from him that both the Cuban Communist Party and the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba have failed to heed his appeal to them to deal with the volatile issue of race in Cuba. These groups maintain this stupidity even though President Fidel Castro, son of a mulatta servant, openly admitted in 1985 that racial discrimination still exists in his country and that measures need to be taken against it, according to Eugene Godfried in an article on AfroCubaWeb.

In September 2000, Dr. Castro told the Pedagogia 99 Congress in Havana: "It was some time before we discovered that marginality and social discrimination with it are not something that one gets rid of with a law or even with 10 laws, and we have not managed to eliminate them completely in 40 years."

Most of us met the anthropological research team called Project Orunmila in Regla, Cuba, 10 minutes from Havana. I spent the last day alone with this family-run document recovery, transcription and dissemination project that also operates a farm to provide financial support. I had earlier misunderstood the extremely important work of this group and unjustly accused them of insufficient rage at the historical and contemporary color prejudice still extant in Cuba, as though rage and alienation are the only appropriate responses. I clearly undervalued the depth and significance of their work and the African originated materials they are diffusing in Cuba and beyond.

I quote from an annotation on one of their volumes, called "Awo Orunla Dice Ifa":
"This book is the widest and most complete compilation of the complex panorama of legends that once belonged to the Yoruba people of Nigeria and that are still standing in Cuba and in different areas of the Caribbean (Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, etc.), the USA and several Latin American countries (Venezuela, Mexico and Brazil). The work is organized according to the Oduns of Ifa. All writings are therefore placed in corresponding order. This leads the user to a better comprehension and understanding of the panoramic vision of the mythological world of Ifa. It relates an organized knowledge about the men's event as individuals, the way of thinking of those men, and about the society in which they live."

Sponsorship is needed for Project Orunmila to continue publication. The project may be reached by email at proyecto@orunmila.net or adeyeri@orunmila.net; by phone at 97-0677 (the home of Elsa, a neighbor) or by writing to Camilo Cienfuegos #109 e/c Oscar Lunar Y Nico Lopez, Regla 12 C.P. 11200, Ciuidad de la Habana Cuba.

The members of our group who visited the Agricultural Cooperative in Santiago rated it the best for its achievements, its holistic focus, the presence of Black Cubans in leadership positions and its warmth and receptivity. Some of our members said that they could have spent the entire day there. However, then we would not have been able to visit the Cuban Women's Federation or spend time with Eugene Godfried of the Radio Habana Caribbean Desk, who traveled by taxi from Guantanamo, Cuba, with the minister of culture for a frank and open discussion of African Cuban and African North American connections. We would also have missed Dr. Manuel Fernandez Carcasses, director of the Ateneo Cultural Center, who is an important link to the Oakland-Santiago de Cuba Sister City Committee.

The Casa de Africa at Humboldt's House in Havana was a superlative religious lecture-tour, music and dance experience by Los Ibeyis, directed by Daniel Rodriguez Morales (phone 99-2022). This foot-stomping, hand-clapping audience participation experience was superior to our visit to the Cuban International Ballet, which was enjoyable and included an orchestra directed by an African Cuban with several African Cuban musicians.

Afro-Cuban Connections may be the beginning of a more intense African North American tour that deepens fun, analysis, learning and action around the different realities of race, nationalism and patriotism and the alienation and resistance to violations by the United States of the constitutional rights of its own citizens and the sovereign rights of other countries who disagree with it.

We are deeply indebted to Dr. Raye Richardson, owner of Marcus Books in San Francisco and Oakland, for making this trip possible, with the cooperation of the Carlton Goodlett Institute and Global Exchange and a great deal of individual ingenuity and flexibility.

World News
Posted: Monday, December 23, 2002

¤ U.S. is losing the worldwide propaganda war
¤ Saddam planned to use bioweapons in Gulf War CIA Propaganda
¤ 10 Things About Frist Unsaid Yesterday
¤ Karzai's presence felt more strongly abroad than at home
¤ Netanyahu is finding Europeans hard to convince
¤ For U.N. Labor of Hercules, a Talk- and Walk-Through
¤ Attacks on U.S. forces downplayed
¤ France said ready to assist U.S. in Iraq invasion
¤ U.S. Testing Missiles and Spy Planes in Its Gulf Buildup
¤ Anti-War Not The Same As Anti-Defense
¤ Many Tools of Big Brother Are Up and Running
¤ Iraq 'Ready to Deal' With Questions
¤ Russians angered by Iraq's oil deal threat
¤ Same as It Ever Was: South Carolina and It's Flag
¤ Iraqi fighters shot down drone, says US
¤ Silence about Israel's nuclear weapons
¤ Tactics Switch Gives U.S. Head-Start for Iraq War
¤ Santa Claus reined in by U.S. border police
¤ U.S.: North Korea to produce bombs within months
¤ Blacks and the Anti-War Movement: Anti-War Hardcore v. Anti-War Lite
¤ The Other Trent Lotts - NY Times, (Registration)
¤ Federally funded study measures porn arousal
¤ Cities Urge Restraint in Fight Against Terror
¤ N Korea flouts nuclear monitoring
¤ Banned Farrakhan reaches UK audience via satellite
¤ Brazil Ferry Sinking Death Toll Rises
¤ Experts whose verdict could start a war: but can they stop it?
¤ US troops to join Israelis in Iraq war exercises
¤ The High and the Mighty
¤ France entangled in Ivory Coast war after Legionnaires kill rebels
¤ Russians angered by Iraq's oil deal threat
¤ Netanyahu criticises Blair over Assad's British visit
¤ Church leaders differ over war on Iraq
¤ UN chief issues secret orders for war in Iraq
¤ Stray bullet kills another youngster as Fonda tours West Bank
¤ British clergy have doubts about virgin birth

Update : Dec. 23, 2002
Posted: Monday, December 23, 2002

A Brit Reporter's Undisclosed Venezuela Conflicts
Phil Gunson and Eric Ekvall Are Upset with Narco News With Unabridged Letters from Phil Gunson and Eric Ekvall
- By Al Giordano, narconews.com
Editor's Note: Long article but worth reading to fully understand the journalists and their hidden agendas behind many reports that appear in the mainstream media on Venezuela's crisis.

Does the British Ambassador know something we don't? - by VHeadline.com News Editor Patrick J. O'Donoghue

Venezuelan security forces have begun boarding oil tankers
Venezuelan security forces have begun boarding oil tankers that have remained paralyzed due to the 3-week lockout-strike imposed by political opponents to President Hugo Chavez Frias.

Venezuelan Military Intelligence (DIM) foils dissident PDVSA plans

VHeadline.com Updates
Posted: Monday, December 23, 2002

VHeadline.com

Venezuelan security forces have begun boarding oil tankers that have remained paralyzed due to the 3-week lockout-strike imposed by political opponents to President Hugo Chavez Frias.

Striking Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) employees who do not turn up for work today will be declared in breach of their labor contract, will face summary dismissal and possible criminal sabotage charges.

Military Intelligence reports say opposition elements are growing desperate as the "El Paro" disintegrates and that they are capable of anything ... including booby-trapping the oil tankers to cause maximum environmental damage or explosions as Army boarding parties take over the ships. "They are really crazy now," a senior government official told VHeadline.com Venezuela. "We're taking the threats seriously ... they believe they have nothing to lose and, although we don't think they want to die for their cause, we have to take the eventuality into consideration."

There are increased fears that the US CIA or other covert intelligence agencies may already have advanced plans to assassinate President Hugo Chavez Frias and security around the person of the Head of State has been increased substantially in recent days.

In the event of a successful bid on the President's life, Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel would immediately step into his shoes under terms enshrined in the 1999 Bolivarian Constitution and it is seen as most likely that he (Rangel) would appoint current Interior & Justice Minister Diosdado Cabello as Vice President to see out the remainder of President Chavez Frias' Presidential mandate.

Even if a non-binding referendum were to be set in motion it is seen as unlikely that it could possibly meet a projected February 2 deadline and would logistically be more likely held in April or May. Further to that, in the event that President Hugo Chavez would not win approval by a majority of the voters in any such election, he could simply refuse to recognize the result and shift the question forward to a binding referendum bote which could be scheduled only in August 2003. Only at that juncture, the whole process of setting up a referendum (estimated to take at least two months to prepare) would only begin, thus scheduling any referendum date for October 2003. THEN ... if the vote went against the President, it would take a further process to remove him from power but fresh elections would necessarily have to be incurred to elect a new President and government.

ERGO: apart from a bloody overthrow of the democratically-elected President of Venezuela, political analysts concur that Chavez Frias will remain in power for at least another year, perhaps more.

VHeadline.com Venezuela

Caracas Needs A Christmas Star
Posted: Monday, December 23, 2002

VHeadline.com commentarist Charles Hardy writes:

There is a strange symbol in Venezuela that dominates the winter sky in many parts of Caracas. It is the Cross of Christmas. High on Mount Avila, there is a brilliant white cross that is illuminated at this time of the year and that, theologically, makes no sense.

A star is the usual symbol of the Nativity, recalling the star of Bethlehem.

It appears on Christmas cards, on wrapping paper and in crib scenes. But nowhere have I encountered the cross on any card I have received this year, on any gift paper. I have looked at in the stores or in any creche that I have passed by. It just wouldn't make sense to have a crucifix, for example in the middle of a Nativity scene.

But for some odd reason, someone decided to put a massive white cross on Mount Avila and light it at Christmas time.

I first noticed it during the Christmas season of 1990. I was sleeping in the South Cemetery at that time as bodies in black garbage bags were being removed from a part of the cemetery known as La Peste (The Plague). The cadavers were of people who "disappeared" in February and March of 1989 during the government of Carlos Andres Perez. They had been thrown in a common pit by the authorities and the government denied that any such place existed. I spent several nights there with other volunteers to assure that the government could not destroy the site.

68 bodies were removed ... three were positively identified and then the process of identification stopped.

Are there more such common graves in the South Cemetery?

What is the total number of the "disappeared"? Who will ever know?

The first body identified was that of a 16-year-old boy, Jose del Carmen Pirela. It is interesting to recall that no banks closed at that time to express their solidarity with the victims as they did recently after the deaths in Plaza Altamira. Possibly their executives were too busy planning how they would move their money out of the country a couple of years later when their banks would close. That left the ordinary person without their money and the government with the responsibility of trying to find some way to repay them. And don't let anyone try to tell you that the victims were simply looters. Someday I'll tell you the stories of some of them. (Speaking of looters, it would be hard to find any barrio person who could compete with the bankers of Venezuela.)

The volunteers would take turns sleeping and keeping vigil. Usually there were few moments of sleep as we talked and reflected about life in Venezuela. Often there were two Metropolitan Police present. I use the word "often" deliberately ... they were supposed to be there at all times, but seemed afraid in the cemetery environment. It was not hard for them to find reasons to leave for prolonged moments. The need for hot coffee was a frequent one ... it would sometimes take them a few hours to find it ... they had a vehicle; the volunteers didn't.

Well, it was there, on a Christmas hillside high above the tombs of the poor who had been buried recently and the wealthy who had been buried there before the newer and more elegant private East Cemetery existed, that we looked at the Cross of the Nativity ... it was from there that the cross seemed to make some sense, a macabre sense.

Christmas, was a time to speak of new life, new hope for the world. There, almost two thousand years after the birth of Jesus, we were surrounded by needless symbols of death in the bodies being exhumed. Were those who put the Cross of the Nativity on Mount Avila prophesying what would some day happen in Caracas?

The question comes to mind again, even more strongly.

I went to Plaza Altamira the other evening to see if I could see the Cross from there ... I couldn't and so I asked a couple who lived in the area about it. They told me that the high buildings around the plaza hide it.

I wondered to myself if the 5-star-hotel generals could see it from their hotel rooms. It seemed to me that it would be a perfect symbol for them and possibly the motivation behind what they are doing to the Venezuelan people this Christmas time.

I don't understand it, but some people seem to enjoy crucifying others.

Well, I have a suggestion for the present Venezuelan government. Take the Cross of the Nativity off Mount Avila. Put it in Plaza Altamira and leave it there forever as a reminder of the cruelty that some human beings can inflict on other.

But on Mount Avila ... PUT A STAR! Let there be a new symbol of hope to fill the December sky in Caracas.

Possibly the 5-star-hotel generals, Carlos Ortega and Carlos Fernandez and their PDVSA friends won't be able to see it because of the high buildings, but the ordinary Venezuelan won't be able to see them either because of the buildings.

And beneath that star and the star-studded sky we could all go to sleep ... and have a Merry Christmas, now and forever ... in spite of Plaza Altamira.

http://www.vheadline.com/

Update : Dec. 22, 2002
Posted: Sunday, December 22, 2002

Christmas Comes Early in Caracas, Venezuela
Chronology of the Strike that Wasn't
- By Al Giordano, narconews.com : December 22, 2002

World News
Posted: Sunday, December 22, 2002

¤ LaRouche Warns Of Sharon War Plans
¤ The distorted vision of the American Jewish Committee
¤ Frustrated veterans accuse Bush of breaking promise
¤ FBI performs a nasty little sequel to whistle-blower saga
¤ Russia rules out joining operations against Iraq
¤ Brazil Ferry Sinking Death Toll Rises
¤ Iraq Wages Public Relations War Against U.S.
¤ Report: Evidence Points to Teen as Sniper
¤ N. Korea admits disabling UN cameras at nuclear reactor
¤ Palestinian leaders postpone January vote
¤ Lott: I Fell Into A Trap Set By Enemies
¤ Iraq dismisses U.S. and UK criticism CNN
¤ South Korea Longs for Reunification With the North Registration
¤ U.S. Warns North Korea Over Dismantling of U.N. Devices Registration
¤ The Plots and Designs of Al Qaeda’s Engineer Registration
¤ Many Held at Guantanamo Not Likely Terrorists Registration
¤ Russia okays Iraq declaration
¤ Sharon War Plan Exposed, Hamas gang is his tool
¤ US copying Israel in 'targeted killing'
¤ Israel Kills 11-yr-old Palestinian Girl, Hails U.S. Unwavering Support
¤ US missiles, troops on way to Israel
¤ Iraq labels Bush 'arrogant idiot'
¤ Iraq challenges US and UK on arms
¤ Blair fury over terror warnings to the public
¤ Russia opposes any US-led War on Iraq
¤ Iraq: U.S. Has No Evidence of Banned Arms
¤ France 'waging war' say Ivorian rebels
¤ America tore out 8000 pages of Iraq dossier
¤ US covers up killings of its troops in Kuwait
¤ Bishops defy Blair with tough anti-war message
¤ UK sells chemical weapons to the world
¤ U.S. Said to Ready Kurd Areas in Iraq for Possible War
¤ American spies yield to Blix over weapons
¤ Pentagon chief: We're ready to attack
¤ 'Do we give in to that knee-jerk revenge?'
¤ American soldier killed in Afghanistan
¤ British told to go as military in Venezuela is urged to act
¤ We must heed the lesson from the pulpit
¤ False dawns in the brave world of New Genetics
¤ If it's war, it has to be legitimate
¤ Oil-for-food deal at risk, warns UN
¤ New Bali bombing suspect named
¤ Lott falls on sword over race uproar
¤ 50,000 more US troops to Gulf
¤ US says no to cheap drugs deal
¤ Did Church hide priest's role in IRA blast that killed nine?
¤ Bikini blockade to beat Chavez
¤ Seven killed as German helicopter crashes in Kabul
¤ Bomb blast on Pakistan bus kills two

HANDS OFF VENEZUELA!
Posted: Sunday, December 22, 2002

An appeal to the international Labour Movement

The situation in Venezuela is reaching a critical point. The reactionary forces, backed by conservative big business and the US embassy, are mobilising all their forces to overthrow the legally elected government of Hugo Chavez by extra-parliamentary means.

The mass media have put in circulation the lie that this is a "general strike" supported by the workers of Venezuela against an unpopular government. There is absolutely no truth in this. In reality what we are seeing is a campaign of organised sabotage designed to destabilise the country and prepare the way for a right wing coup d'etat.

The bosses have organised what amounts to a lock-out with the support of certain right wing trade union leaders. This is already the fourth time this year that they have attempted to destabilise the country by these means. It is similar to the lorry drivers' "strike" that the CIA organised to bring down the legally elected government of Salvador Allende in Chile. These machinations led to the bloody dictatorship of Pinochet. Now the same people want to repeat the experience in Venezuela.

THEY MUST NOT BE ALLOWED TO SUCCEED!

The last time they moved in this way (last April) it led to a coup in which reactionary businessmen linked up with right wing army officers to arrest the President. They talked a lot about "democracy" but immediately came out in their true colours, with plans to suspend the Constitution and introduce a dictatorship of the rich.

The role of the USA in all this was quite clear. This great "democracy" - as always - refused to condemn the coup. The CIA has played, and is playing, an active role in this conspiracy, as it has in every other coup in Latin America: Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, and so on.

The attempted coup last April was defeated by a spontaneous mass movement of millions of workers, unemployed, peasants, soldiers and poor people. Now once more the masses are confronting the counterrevolutionary forces in the streets of Venezuela.

If the people of Venezuela were allowed to fight the counterrevolution on their own, they would easily defeat it. This was shown last April. But behind the counterrevolution stands the might of the USA and its allies in Latin America. These are intervening shamelessly in the internal affairs of Venezuela, encouraging and financing the counterrevolutionary forces.

The revolutionary process opened by the election of Hugo Chavez has aroused the workers, peasants and poor people of Venezuela and given them new hope for a better future. The government has carried through a series of progressive reforms to improve the conditions of the masses.

The people now understand that Venezuela is an immensely rich country with huge reserves of oil, but that the wealth of the nation is being plundered by foreign imperialists and a handful of wealthy local oligarchs who serve the interests of imperialism. They want to carry the revolution forward and put an end to this scandalous exploitation once and for all. This is the only "crime" of the people of Venezuela, for which the imperialists are determined to make them pay.

If the Venezuelan revolution goes down to defeat, it will be a severe blow against the cause of millions of poor people throughout Latin America who are fighting for their rights.

THE INTERNATIONAL LABOUR MOVEMENT MUST BE MOBILIZED IN THEIR SUPPORT.

The aim of the counterrevolutionary "strike" is to strangle the economy, paralysing the vital oil industry and the movement of essential supplies. They have already succeeded in causing food and petrol shortages. The intention is to cause such chaos that it will bring about a split in the tops of the armed forces and a coup by right wing army officers - as in Chile.

Not satisfied with seizing the oil of Iraq, the USA also wants to get its hands on Venezuelan oil. There is constant pressure from Washington and its corrupt allies in the region to force a "regime change".

This shameless and insolent bullying must cease! Let the international labour movement take a firm stand against imperialism!

The people of Venezuela must not feel alone in their hour of need. Let the world working class raise its voice in their support!

We appeal to you to raise this matter urgently in your trade union and Labour Party branch. Send messages of support to Venezuela and protest to the US embassy about its continued interference in the internal political affairs of Venezuela. Send letters to the press and to the British government, demanding that it does not support US aggression against Venezuela.

The youth must add its voice to the protest. Every youth and student organisation must mobilise to denounce the aggression against the Venezuelan revolution.

DO NOT DELAY. ACT NOW!

HANDS OFF VENEZUELA!

December 19, 2002

Anyone who wishes to add their signature to this appeal can do so by writing to Jorge Martin at: handsoffvenezuela@yahoo.co.uk

[We include model resolutions and letters of protest (see below), which should be sent immediately. Send emails to the relevant quarters. Phone up and demand answers. Contact your local member of parliament and demand to know where he or she stands on this issue. Better still organise pickets outside the US embassy to make them aware that we know what is going on.]

This appeal has been signed by the following trade union leaders, shop stewards and activists and also left wing party activists from the following countries:

Britain:

And the following, all in personal capacity:
Mick Rix, General Secretary of ASLEF (Rail Union) and member of the TUC General Council),
Jeremy Dear, General Secretary of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) and member of the TUC General Council),
Nigel Pearce, Vice-Chairman of the National Union of Miners (NUM) Yorkshire area,
Alan Woods, Editor Socialist Appeal
Ted Grant, Political Editor, Socialist Appeal
Ron Graves, Secretary of Peterborough branch of UNISON,
Phil Waker, member of the National Executive Committee of the Communication Workers' Union (CWU)
Andy Blake, secretary of the CWU London 7 branch,
Mike Hogan, Secretary of the Liverpool Community College branch of UNISON

Pakistan

Manzoor Ahmed, Member of Parliament for the Kasur II Constituency, Editor of The Struggle and President of the Pakistan Trade Union Defence Camapign (PTUDC)
Hameed Khan, Quetta city organiser of PTUDC and Press Secretary of BCSSA, (Baluchistan Civil Secretariat Staff Association)
Nazar Mengal, Baluchistan president of National Organisation of Postal Employees (NOPE),
Naseer Baluch (telecommunications union)
Khalid Bhatti (National Organizer, PTUDC)
Shahida Jabeen (executive member of PTUDC and National Coordination Secretary of PPP Women's Wing)

Other signatures to follow

Spain

Miriam Municio, Secretaria General, En nombre de la Ejecutiva del Sindicato de Estudiantes,
José Martín, Portavoz y coordinador de Izquierda Socialista-PSOE de Málaga.
José García, miembro de la coordinadora regional de Izquierda Socialista-PSOE de Andalucía.
Antonio Hijano, Secretario General de la Federación de trabajadores de la Tierra (FTT)-UGT de la comarca de la Axarquía.
María Fernández Molero, Presidenta de la cooperativa textil "El Lugar" y de la Asociación de Mujeres "Un día después" de El Borge (Málaga)
Jose Maria Gil, metalurgico, presidente del comité de empresa de PROGALSA y miembro de la ejecutiva de la Union Provincial de CC.OO. de Guadalajara.
Andres de las Heras, médico, miembro de la Ejecutiva Provincial del Sindicato de Sanidad de CC.OO.en Guadalajara.
Carlos Pineda: metalurgico, Secretario del Comité de Empresa de ECO refrigeracion, miembro de la Ejecutiva Provincial del Metal de CC.OO. de Guadalajara.
Jaime Sinde, médico, miembro del Consejo Regional de Sanidad de CC.OO. de Castilla la Mancha.
Carlos Rodriguez, parado, miembro del Consejo Político Provincial de Izquierda Unida de Guadalajara.
Jaime Vázquez, Presidente de la Cooperativa Redisma, Secretario general de la sección sindical de UGT y delegado del sector de distribución de prensa de Madrid
Agustin Plaza, Secretario General del Sindicato Comarcal de Vitoria de la Federación de Químicas, Minería e Industrias Afines de la Unión General de Trabajadores (FIA-UGT) y miembro del Comité Nacional de Euskadi del mismo sindicato.
Gregorio Barrantes, Miembro del Comité de Empresa y responsable de la Sección Sindical de UGT de Esmaltaciones San Ignacio (Alava).
Javier Plaza, Delegado de Personal por UGT de la empresa ALSATEC (Alava).
Liborio Pro, Delegado de Personal por UGT de la empresa ENVIROIL (Alava)
Rafael Gabikagogeaskoa, Delegado de Personal por UGT de DEYDESA (Alava)
Emilio Villarreal, Responsable de la Seccion Sindical de UGT de DEYDESA (Alava)
Maria Jesus Rodriguez, Miembro del Comité de Empresa por UGT de ÉCLAIR PRYNT (Alava)
Domingo Lorenzo Casas, trabajador sindical de la UGT de Euskadi
Jesus Diaz de Durana, trabajador sindical de la UGT de Euskadi
Gines Férez Abellán, Delegado de Personal por UGT de la Empresa LATIERRO.S.A (Alava)
Francisco Redondo, Miembro del Comité de Empresa por UGT de ARREGUI, S.A. (Alava)
Emiliano Domínguez, Gregorio Latorre, Comité de Empresa de Roca por CGT
Lluis Perernau, Miembro por UGT de la Junta de Personal de la Universidad Autónoma de Bellaterra (Barcelona)
Carlos Castellano, Delegado sindical de CCOO de Seguros Mafre
Salvador Aranda, Presidente del Comité de Empresa de Musersa (Girona)
Antonio Damián, Delegado de CCOO - Tesorería de la Seguridad Social de Barcelona
Alfredo Luna, Delegado de CCOO - Hotel Nuñez y Navarro
Pilar Ubeda, Presidenta del Comité de Empresa de Telefónica Móviles España
Conchi Garbi, Comité de Empresa de Telefónica Móviles España
José Hernández, Comité de Empresa del Auditorio Nacional de Música por CCOO
José Luis Ruíz, Delegado de UGT - Ayuntamiento de Parla (Madrid)
Teresa Cortés, Comité de Empresa del CO Juan de Austria - Comunidad de Madrid

Italy

Paolo Brini (shop steward Smalti Modena)
Domenico Minadeo (shop steward Irce Imola)
Davide Bacchelli (shop steward Ima Ozzano-Bo)
Giampietro Montanari (shop steward Cesab Bologna)
Orlando Maviglia (shop steward Minarelli Bologna)
Ivan Serra (shop steward Rcm- Bologna)
Annamaria Quadrelli (shop steward temporary workers Nidil-Cgil Tim Bologna)
Samira Giulitti e Samira Cimarelli (shop stewards Fisac-Cgil Direct Line Milano)
Nunzio Vurchio (shop steward D'Andrea Milano)
Laura Bassanetti (shop steward Aci Global Milano)
Fabrizio Parlagreco (shop steward Amisco Milano)
Stefano Pol (National Coordinating Committee Nidil-Cgil)
Rapresentanza sindacale unitaria (Shop stewards' committee) UPS Milano
Rapresentanza sindacale aziendale (Shop stewards' committee) UPS Vimodrone - Milano
Lorenzo Esposito (shop steward Banca d'Italia - Milano)
Vincenzo Longhi (shop steward General Detergent - Milano)
Sara Parlavecchia (National Coordinating Committee of the Committees in Defence of State Education, CSP)
Paolo Grassi (Provincial Coordinating Committee, Nidil-Cgil - Milano)
Claudio Bellotti (National Executive, Partito della Rifondazione Comunista)
Alessandro Giardiello (National Committee Partito della Rifondazione Comunista)
Dario Salvetti, Elisabetta Rossi, Jacopo Renda (National Committee Giovani Comunisti, Young Communists)
Gabriele Donato (coordinator Young Communists Udine)
Enrico Duranti (coordinator Young Communists Crema)
Mauro Vanetti ( coordinator Young Communists Pavia)

USA

ATU Division #788
St. Louis Local Organizing Committee (LOC) of the Labor Party

France

Greg Oxley, Parti Socialiste, Paris, Syndicat des journalistes CGT.
Jérôme Métellus, Parti Communiste (PCF), Paris.
Hubert Prévaud, Parti socialiste, Toulouse, CGT.
Marc Caprioli, PCF, Paris.
Christophe Schroedel, PS, Syndicat National de l'Enseignement, SNES.
Patrick Loiseau, PS, Paris.
Section de la Jeunesse Communiste, Amiens.
Jean-Marc Domart, PCF, CGT, Paris.

Germany

Hans-Gerd Öfinger, member of the Wiesbaden regional comitee Ver.Di (service sector union, the biggest single union, a merger of 5 unions)

Other signatures to follow

Belgium

Erik De Bruyn, shop steward Socialist Public Service Union City of Antwerp (ACOD)
Lin Van Rompaey, shop steward Socialist Public Service Union City of Antwerp (ACOD)
Mischa Van Herck, member of executive of Socialist Party Antwerp
Brecht Desmet, member student council University of Gent
Miguel Rubio, former convenor Metal Workers Union of Diamant Boart (CMB-FGTB)
Fabian Defraine, Independent Socialist Councillor in Tubize
Maarten Van Heuverzwijn, member of student council University of Gent
Roland Vanderbeke, member of Executive Socialist Public Service Union, Oostende (ACOD)
André Gonzalis, chairman of Public Service Union branch of Veurne and Shop Steward of Teachers Union (ACOD)
Bart Desmet, shop steward of Public Transport Union (ACOD)

NOTE: In Belgium the appeal will also be distributed later in the week to some 1200 trade unionists via a TU Newsletter.

Mexico

Rosalba Ramos, National Assembly of Workers, ANTT.
Luis Enrique Barrios, Workers´ Committee in Defence of the Trade Unions, Cotdesi.
Angel Chong, Comité for the Young Socialists of the PRD, CJJSSPRD.
Ubaldo Oropeza, Committee in Defence of State Education, Cedep.
Norma Edith Ramírez, Independent Union of Workers in the High Schools.
Adán Mejia, Mexican Electricians Union, SME.
Angel Ilich Cardosa, Editorial Board of the Workers´ Journal El Militante (Mexico).
Raúl Larios, National Resistance Front Against Privatisation of the Electrical Industry, FNRCPIE.
Amauri Solis, State Councillor of the PRD, Chiapas.
Carlo del Angel, PRD Youth Congress, Delegado por Hidalgo.
Victor Hugo Remirez, PRD Youth Congress, Delegate for the State of Mexico.
Jonathan López, Rank and File Insurgent Movement of the PRD, MOBI PRD.
Juan Manuel, Labour Solidarity and Cooperation Network (Red de Solidaridad y Colaboración Laboral)
Rubén Ribera, Action Committee of the Escuela Superior de Ingeniería Mecánica y Eléctrica, CLESIME-IPN.
Sergio Rojas, Committee in Defence of State Education, Cedep, Escuela Nacional de Estudios Profesionales, Actlan

Other signatures to follow

Greece

Panagiotis Lafazanis, Member of the Greek Parliament and Member of the Political Secretariat of the party Synaspismos
Stelios Dafnis, Member of the Central Committee of Athens Trade Council.
Tsitonis Takis, Member of Executive committee of Archaeological Sites Workers Union.
Ikonomou Konstantinos, Member of Executive committee of Archaeological Sites Workers Union
Delniotis Ioanis, Member of Executive committee of Archaeological Sites Workers Union
Dimarogonas Dimos, Member of Executive committee of Greek Federation of Union of Ministry of Culture Workers
Fotopoulos Nikos, Member of the National Executive committee of Technical Electrical Workers Union.
Tasios Thomas, Member of the National Executive committee of Telecommunication Workers Union.
Nikakis Dimitris, Member of the Executive committee of Shopworkers Union.
Nikolaou Martha, Member of the Executive committee of Shop - workers union.
Milonas Elias, Olympic Catering unionist.
Thanos George, Olympic Airways unionist.
Karagianopoulos Stamatis, Member of B 4 district Committee of PA.SO.K Youth.
Kanelopoulou Christina, Member of Athens PA.SO.K Youth Committee.
Kounougeri Giota, PA.SO.K Youth member
Sapranidis Nikos, PA.SO.K Youth member
Skourli Angela, PA.SO.K Youth member
Doulos Orestis, PA.SO.K Youth member
Karigianis Leonidas, PA.SO.K member
Gougousis Spiros, PA.SO.K member
Karaiskos Thodoros, PA.SO.K member
Bouras Kostas, PA.SO.K member

Austria

Lis Mandl, shop steward GPA-work@social and Young Socialists Vorarlberg
Tanja Kreinbucher, NEC Young Socialists, Austria
Manuel Kaufmann, NEC Young Socialists, Austria
Young Socialists Vienna-Alsergrund branch
Young Socialists Vienna-Josefsstadt branch
Young Socialists Mödling branch
Young Socialists Linz-Römerberg branch
Stefan Nagy, member CC Young Socialists Lower Austria
Manu Grabner, member CC Young Socialists Lower Austria
Josef Falkinger, member CC Young Socialists Upper Austria
Editorial Board of the Der Funke (marxist journal in the Social Democracy
and the Trade Unions)

Other signatures to follow

World News
Posted: Friday, December 20, 2002

The False Confessions in the Central Park Jogger Case:
How They Happened and How to Stop Similar Injustices in the Future
by ELAINE CASSEL, counterpunch.org

¤ The South's GOP isn't about economics
¤ As Big Powers Meet, West Bank, Gaza See Another Brutal Day
¤ Roh vows review of U.S. forces in South Korea
¤ 'Key Pakistan militant' dead
¤ Bush Appeals to Iran's Public in Radio Talk
¤ China Says It Holds American-Based Dissident on Terrorism Charges
¤ U.S. Demands for Help Roil Turkey's Government
¤ Hundreds of S.Koreans protest at U.S. embassy
¤ Japan said to begin drafting bill permitting troops in Iraq
¤ US, Australia move closer to Iraq war
¤ Britain will ask UN to approve war
¤ US lists alleged Iraqi ommissions
¤ French troops battle Ivory Coast rebels
¤ As allies succumb to crisis fatigue, intervention looks inevitable
¤ Britain rejects call to extend EU defence powers
¤ Palestinian radical was guest of US ambassador
¤ German TV airs documentary charging U.S. war crimes
¤
¤ Seven killed as German helicopter crashes in Kabul
¤ Anger as Israelis set up 'ghetto' for Arabs
¤ Azapo vows to oppose Bush's visit to South Africa
¤ Bush cancels next month visit to Africa
¤ Korea: Another Big Election Defeat For Bush
¤ UN inspector's plea to UK and US over Iraq arms
¤ Lott stirs civil war embers in heart of Dixie
¤ US wrecks cheap drugs deal
¤ At Least 15 Die in India Train Derailment
¤ Bloggers catch what Washington Post missed
¤ Blair puts forces on war-footing
¤ Two policemen dead in Yemen al-Qaeda clash
¤ U.S. vetoes anti-Israel UN resolution
¤ Blair puts troops on alert for Iraq war
¤ US is already planning a post-Saddam Iraq
¤ Arms build-up for an attack next month
¤ S Korea to loosen ties with Washington
¤ US loads the gun over Iraq breach
¤ Powell's journey from diplomat to warrior
¤ Find Freeport killers, Bush tells Megawati
¤ Veto sparks fresh crisis in Turkey

World News
Posted: Friday, December 20, 2002

¤ U.S. blocked poor countries from buying cheap drugs
¤ The "Secret" War On Iraq
¤ Private school surprise bathroom strip search
¤ EU tells HP et al to scrap inkjet 'clever chips'
¤ High-Tech U.S. Force Hunts Horn of Africa Militants
¤ Did Amphetamines Play a Role in Afghanistan 'Friendly' Fire?
¤ Text of President Bush's Kwanzaa Message
¥ Bush wants us to believe he is a Lott different
¤ Burning Down the House to Rid It of Its Termites
¤ We Must Not Back Bush In This Mad War
¤ Bush's Race To War Puts World At Risk
¤ South Africa: 'We don't think it is time to go to war'
¤ U.S. must justify any attack on Iraq
¤ Iraqi Scientists Interviews are bad policy
¤ Articles that outline Iraq's top secret report
¤ List of Who Sold Iraq Weapons of Mass Destruction
¤ U.S. stands alone on Iraq declaration
¤ U.S., U.K. jets fire on Iraqi defense sites
¤ Blix, has rebuked Britain U.S.
¤ Blix wants Iraq intelligence from U.S., U.K.
¤ UN weapons inspector challenges US and UK
¤ Viewpoint: UN inspections a side-show
¤ Lebanon bans U.S. image improving TV spots
¤ U.S. decided Israel won't take part in Iraq campaign
¤ UK Ministers given 'Gulf war' warning
¤ Bush Admin to Propose System for Monitoring Internet
¤ Sen. Lott Resigns As GOP Leader
¤ Hate and Ignorance at Vanderbilt
¤ Senator asks students to weigh bin Laden's appeal
¤ Blix asks US and UK spies for more help
¤ Britain to seek UN approval for war on Iraq
¤ Critic of US wins South Korean election
¤ Happy Christmas - The War Is Coming
¤ US not sharing intelligence, say UK agencies
¥ Maybe the U.S. does not have any intelligence
¤ Iraqi document offers no new reasons to use force
¤ California orders mass arrests of Muslim foreigners
¤ US risks dangerous instability - Russia
¤ US declares a 'material breach' by Saddam
¤ At least Korea is united over one thing - anger at the US
¤ January 27: decision day for war
¤ Cost of Afghan operation soars
¤ Growing support for UN to oversee future of Iraqi oil
¤ Belgrade 'withholding Milosevic evidence'
¤ Missing: four tons of nerve gas, 8.5 tons of anthrax
¤ Rebels take largest city in Ivory Coast's west
¤ Former KKK leader David Duke pleads guilty to federal charges
¤ Venezuela strikers to defy court ruling
¤ An occupation nobody wants
¤ Putin refuses to hold talks with Chechens

Update : Dec. 20, 2002
Posted: Friday, December 20, 2002

The Venezuelan revolution
An appeal from women to women all over the world
"We women reject the organizers of hate and chaos. We women are on the front line for our right to live in peace and to defend the Bolivarian Constitution of Venezuela, which gives us, for the first time in history, the right to full legal equality, to social security, to a pension for housewives. We are on the streets backing our President and our Bolivarian Revolution. Long live the Constitution! No to the fraudulent referendum! No to the pro-coup fascist stoppage! Don't stop for the stoppage!" by GLOBAL WOMEN'S STRIKE, Indymedia

Burning Down the House to Rid It of Its Termites
The country's anti-Chávez forces are not their nation's loyal opposition, but a group of anti-constitutional zealots - many of them with tarnished backgrounds and questionable credentials - who are prepared to risk the destruction of the country's constitutional system in order to eliminate a government they happen to despise.
- by Larry Birns : Council on Hemispheric Affairs

Update : Dec. 19, 2002
Posted: Thursday, December 19, 2002

Washington maneuvers toward Venezuelan coup
With an employer-organized lockout in its third week, the Bush administration is maneuvering with the Venezuelan right wing in an attempt to topple the country’s elected president, Hugo Chavez.
- By Bill Vann, December 19, 2002, wsws.org

Bush Administration Stumbles Again in Venezuela
Marcela Sanchez, washingtonpost

World News
Posted: Wednesday, December 18, 2002

¤ US hands over Japan rape accused
¤ Mad or bad, Kim is much more menacing than Saddam
¤ French backtrack on chemical attack claim
¤ Most Loathsome People in America, 2002
¤ 20 Cities Say No to Federal Snooping
¤ Barrick, JP Morgan Chase Accused Of Gold Manipulation
¤ Congress Cooperates in Not-So-Subtle Effort to Discredit Saudi Arabia
¤ Washington maneuvers toward Venezuelan coup
¤ Iraq Declaration Shows US Helped Saddam Get Weapons
¤ Smallpox Vaccine Campaign Collapses
¤ US government's drive to demonstrate respect for Islam
¤ No new information in Iraqi dossier
¤ Syria boycotts Iraq meeting
¤ Liberal wins South Korean presidency
¤ ICC gives Zimbabwe green light for Cricket World Cup
¤ U.S. Sets Late January Decision on Iraq War
¤ Iraq has upgraded bio-weapons since Gulf War, U.S. says
¤ Flawed investigation kills al-Qaida case
¤ No evidence yet of Iraqi nuclear program: inspector
¤ 'Fortress Baghdad' fears split Pentagon
¤ Saudis, U.S. Hold First Military Talks Since 2000
¤ China vows unrestricted rights visit
¤ Pentagon claims evidence against Iraq is mounting
¤ Split shakes up South Korea poll
¤ U.S. Generals fear 'risky' War strategy
¤ Europe's police round up terror suspects
¤ Sharon hit by votes-for-cash scandal in Likud
¤ Clinton calls GOP 'hypocritical' on Lott

World News
Posted: Wednesday, December 18, 2002

¤ How the U.S. armed Saddam
¤ 800 American professors' warning of Israeli ethnic cleansing
¤ Hundreds of Muslim Immigrants Rounded Up in U.S.
¤ The Real Distractions of Trent Lott
¤ Fascists hijack Lord of the Rings
¤ A Canadian View on Venezuela's Crisis
¤ Iraqi opposition fails to overcome rivalries
¤ Leaked report says German and US firms supplied arms to Saddam
¤ US requests British base for 'Son of Star Wars'
¤ Germany was 'key supplier' of Saddam supplier
¤ Mossad Exposed in Phony 'Palestinian Al-Qaeda' Caper
¤ Journalists are under fire for telling the truth
¤ The Secret War On Iraq
¤ Hoon says UK could attack Iraq without Security Council approval
¤ A Portrait of the Prophet Behind Islam
¤ Vatican: Inspection in Iraq should cover Israel
¤ Sharon: No peace 'roadmap' before elections
¤ Guilty Until Proven Innocent - The New American Way
¤ Kean in for Kissinger
¤ Egyptian TV Documentary Angers Israel
¤ Syria submits resolution to UN against Israel
¤ America announces premature birth of Son of Star Wars
¤ Mixed messages
¤ Revolt over 'Star Wars' base in UK
¤ China urges N Korea to end nuclear plan
¤ No decision on Australian troops for war in Iraq
¤ Australia: 'Defence force is in denial'
¤ Egypt is skeptical about U.S. program to foster democracy
¤ Fear mounts as US calls on Muslim men to register
¤ EU draws plans for military strike force
¤ Blair calls meeting with view to Palestinian autonomy
¤ US military extends curfew on troops following knife attack
¤ Oil ain't oil to Venezuela's white-collar rebel warriors
¤ Bush will let Lott just dangle in the wind
¤ What US tells its friends has Pentagon in a spin
¤ Paper leaks companies involved with Iraqi weapons
¤ Rising poverty in Israel spawns rash of soup kitchens
¤ Senate Republicans plot discredited leader's downfall
¤ UN: Israel Escalates Humanitarian crisis in Palestine
¤ 500 separatists killed in Indian Assam in 18 months
¤ Taliban era lives on for abused women

Coup de Petrol in Venezuela
Posted: Wednesday, December 18, 2002

by GREGORY WILPERT

Exactly one year after the opposition's first "general strike," on December 10, 2001, which launched the campaign to oust the democratically elected president of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, the opposition is engaged in its fourth "general strike" and has come very close to finally achieving its goal. The fourth employer-sponsored general strike, which began on December 2, seemed to have a strong start, as traffic resembled a Sunday and many stores and practically all private schools throughout the country were closed that day. However, by the second day it was clear that the strike would not last. Still, the opposition continued to extend the strike for an additional day every day, each time finding new reasons to continue the strike, even though it was clear that the strike had very little ongoing support beyond a few large businesses, such as McDonald's and other fast food chains, the supermarkets, and the private schools. The opposition, which consists of the main Chamber of Commerce Fedecameras, the union federation CTV, the coalition of opposition parties and organizations gathered under the "Coordinadora Democratica," and the private mass media kept claiming that the strike was a resounding success nonetheless.

The opposition's fortunes turned, however, when it pulled its trump card on the fourth day of the strike: the managers and administrative workers of Venezuela's oil company, PDVSA. Following a suspicious break-in at a manager's home and the government's raid of a tanker captain's home, managers and other white-collar workers of PDVSA staged a protest in front of the oil company's headquarters. The National Guard immediately broke-up this strike with tear gas and plastic bullets because the headquarters had several months earlier been declared a "security zone" and off limits to demonstrations, since it is of vital economic interest to the country. Despite PDVSA's president's continuous efforts to negotiate with dissident managers, these decided that it was time for them to join the strike, given the recent events. The management and white-collar worker strike, however, did not gain much momentum until tanker captains and dock workers joined it.

The opposition received an additional and tremendous boost when the opposition's leaders and the media took advantage of a terrible tragedy, in which a gunman opened fire on a peaceful opposition rally and killed three and wounded about 30 others. Opposition leaders immediately argued that the government was responsible for this atrocity. For the next two days the media continuously repeated the images of the chaos and confusion and of the dead and wounded that were recorded immediately after the shooting. The gunman was apprehended at the scene of the crime and within two hours of the shooting, amateur video footage surfaced that supposedly showed the gunman in the presence of pro-Chavez mayor Freddy Bernal a day earlier.

Investigators of the crime, however, have said that there is proof that the gunman, Joao de Goveia, a Portuguese national, entered Venezuela from Portugal the day before the shooting, but well after the footage of the amateur video was taped. In other words, either the video image is not of de Gouveia or the video might have been faked, which would not have been too difficult, since the image is very grainy and dark because it was filmed in the middle of the night. Apparently, de Goveia was living and working in Venezuela, but had been abroad for a while, just before the shooting.

As is usual in such high profile cases, the truth will probably never be known beyond a reasonable doubt, since there are too many interests at stake and too many people willing and in the position to forge evidence or testimony. Still, there can be little doubt that this attack was of absolutely no benefit to the government, since it rekindled a strike that was faltering. As a result, it provided a big boost to the opposition's campaign to oust President Chavez.

Opposition leaders' taking advantage of the attack and the relentless media campaign of the five private television stations and eight or so major newspapers, which consistently present only one perspective for interpreting all events that take place in Venezuela, upset many pro-Chavez Venezuelans even more with the media than they had already been. On the eighth day of the strike, "Chavistas" surrounded the headquarters of all of the major television stations in the capital and of several in the rest of the country, staging loud pot-banging "cacerolazos." (The opposition had already pioneered such protests on a regular basis at the building of the state-run television channel, ever since the two-day coup in April, but this never received any media attention, not even from the affected station.) After a couple hours of pot-banging, the demonstrators withdrew, at the behest of pro-Chavez legislators and OAS general secretary Cesar Gaviria. To the media, these protests were additional proof that Venezuela is a totalitarian country, of which Chavez is the dictator. Journalists argued that their lives were threatened, even though it was quite clear that these were peaceful protests. Still, the director of one TV channel even went so far as to argue that the protests constituted "genocide." One unoccupied station outside of Caracas did get looted, for which Chavistas blamed radical elements of the opposition, since witnesses say that there were no protests at that station that night.

Once again, these protests provided the ammunition the opposition needed to justify he continuation of the strike. While the strike has been relatively ineffective in the general population and especially among the poor, it has had its most devastating effect in the state-owned oil company, PDVSA. With the complete shut-down of Venezuela's main oil refinery, which is also one of the largest in the world, the walk-out of key dock workers, and the anchoring of tankers off of Venezuela's main ports, the supply of oil has been halved, from 3 million barrels per day (bpd) to 1.5 million bpd. Meanwhile, PDVSA's president, Ali Rodriguez, announced that a continued stoppage of oil production and shipments would seriously harm the Venezuelan economy, which is losing around $50 million per day as a result of the strike. Also, nearly all of Venezuela's economic activity depends in one way or another on the steady supply of oil from its own refineries, such as gasoline for the transportation food to cities or of supplies to factories, for the filling of airplanes that land in Venezuela with jet fuel, or for the generation of electricity. Rodriguez also warned that Venezuela would lose international oil customers and could default on debt payments, if oil production was not restarted soon. So far the restriction of oil supplies has had most of its impact on the lack of gasoline at many gas stations, especially in the country's interior, leading to long lines at gas stations throughout the country, due to consumer fears that their local gas station would soon run out of gasoline.

As of this writing (Dec. 16), the government claims that it has by and large managed to regain control over the oil production and shipping process, with the help of the military, so that oil supply should be back to normal within a few days. The opposition, however, denies this and warns that serious industrial accidents could result because unqualified personnel are taking control of the installations.

Both the opposition and the government are keeping up their efforts to mobilize their supporters through large mobilizations. On December 7 the government organized a large demonstration at the presidential palace, which attracted several hundred thousand supporters, at which Chavez promised that just as he had defeated the opposition in the seven elections of 1998 to 2001, he would defeat them again in the current confrontation. The opposition, for its part, organized a massive demonstration of its own, also attracting hundreds of thousands of its supporters, on December 14th. These demonstrations proved, once again, that both the government and the opposition enjoy widespread popular support. Of course, the private media in Venezuela does not reflect this and covers only opposition demonstrations, leaving the impression to non-participating observers that only the opposition has popular support.

It would seem that where the opposition's efforts to oust Chavez via a non-stop media campaign, large demonstrations, a coup, and four "general" strikes have largely failed, the management take-over, or coup, of the oil company might succeed. The scenarios for doing so are still murky, though. Many among the more radical elements of the opposition, to which the main actors behind the "general strike" belong, such as Fedecameras President Carlos Fernandez, CTV President Carlos Ortega, and Caracas Mayor Alfredo Pena, seem to be hoping for another military coup attempt. These three continuously issue calls to the military to "abide by their mission," to "defend the constitution," and to avert Venezuela's "castro-communist dictatorship." The more moderate elements of the opposition, such as CTV general secretary Manuel Cova and NGO-leader Elias Santana of "Queremos Elegir," seem to placing their bets on a negotiated settlement for early elections. However, the OAS-mediated negotiations have so far stalled and it is far from certain that they will reach any kind of agreement before Christmas. What is for sure, however, is that the opposition and a significant number of Venezuela's businesses prefer to commit economic suicide, in its efforts to oust Chavez, and to drag the country down with it.

Gregory Wilpert is a sociologist and freelance journalist living in Venezuela. He is currently working on a book on the Chavez presidency, which will be published by Zed Books in 2003.

Update : Dec. 18, 2002
Posted: Wednesday, December 18, 2002

U.S. is still intervening in Venezuela
Overt funding from Washington will turn out to be the tip of the iceberg. This was the case in Haiti, Nicaragua, Chile, and other countries where Washington has sought "regime change" because our leaders didn't agree with the voters' choice at the polls.
by Mark Weisbrot, December 18, 2002, ZMag

Spain's Izquierda Unitaria Europea-Izquierda Verde Nordica of the European Parliament has reaffirmed its support of the people of Venezuela.
Venezuela's Air Force (FAV) has confirmed its total respect for the country's authorities and institutions.
MRE Roy Chaderton Matos has ratified the support of the Inter-American community of nations for the Chavez Frias government
report © by VHeadline.com Reporters

A Canadian View: Venezuela's Crisis
Another development on Monday that re-affirmed Chavez' position was when army chief, General Garcia Montoya, called the opposition's tactics "sabotage". This strong public position reduces the likelihood of army intervention. - by Yves Engler, December 18, 2002

AP's One-Sided Venezuela Coverage
By Dan Feder, Special to the Narco News

BBC also Distorting Venezuela Coverage

African Venezuelans fear new U.S. coup against President Chávez December 12, 2002
- by Prof. Alejandro Correa & Prof. Emeritus Willie Thompson

African Venezuelans fear new U.S. coup against President Chavez
Posted: Wednesday, December 18, 2002

December 12, 2002
by Professor Alejandro Correa & Professor Emeritus Willie Thompson

African Venezuelan Young Men

This month, for the first time in history, Venezuelan people of African descent have total control of their historic Black university, the Instituto Universitario Barlovento. They are already planning a university administered hotel and a restaurant for students, faculty and the community. This is an achievement of a lifetime, and the people of Barlovento gather around their seat of higher learning to reflect on their success.

Another topic on their minds and hearts is the fate of President Hugo Chavez. He is Venezuela's first multiracial president and is called "Negro" (nigger) by his detractors because of his African-Indigenous features. Behind the enemies of Venezuela and Hugo Chavez are very large sums of money being spent to destroy the dreams of the people who historically have been discriminated against because of race, economic ideas, etc.

African Venezuelan School Children

These dreams of the African Venezuelan people may be deferred if the United States replaces Chavez with a rightwing businessman as president. Currently, three Blacks are state governors elected by the people; the secretary of education is black; two Indigenous Venezuelans are congresspersons elected directly by the people; Indigenous Venezuelans have the complete right to claim their historic lands; land is protected and available to Black and Indigenous Venezuelan farmers so that they can now engage in farming for the first time in generations; and Venezuelans of African descent are participating in conferences against racism around the world and establishing strategic relationships with international organizations. They have attended Congressional Black Caucus conferences in 2000, 2001 and 2002; the pre-conference against racism in Chile in 2000; and the United Nations World Conference Against Racism in Durban, South Africa, in 2001. The African Venezuelan community in Barlovento also hosted the Second International Reunion of the African Latin Family in 1999.

Sixty percent of the population of Venezuela are people of African descent. The others are Mestizos of Indigenous and European descent and Indigenous. The support of the people of African descent in the United States is one of the most strategic factors in helping the people of African descent survive and prosper in Venezuela.

President Hugo Chavez was elected in a democratic election with more than 70 percent of the 11 million votes cast. One of his first actions was to call for an election of a National Constituency Assembly whose mission was to reform the 1969 national Constitution. During 40 years of democracy this Constitution was used to avoid empowering the people. The election of the National Constituency Assembly allowed the participation of students, business related organizations, community representatives and parties opposed to the president in the Assembly. The entire society had its opportunity in the Assembly.

The National Constituency Assembly designed a new national constitution, which was widely discussed all around the country. Then a national election was called to consider the acceptance of the new constitution. The Venezuelan people, in direct election, said, "We do accept the new constitution" in 1999. New national elections were called at all levels of government to test the acceptance of the new constitution and renegotiate the public powers. President Hugo Chavez, again, won the election with over one million votes more than his closest opponent. The party supporting Chavez also won, as did several state governors who belonged to the party.

During his three years in power – the complete term is six years – President Chavez has been an advocate for the education of the poor. After 50 years of being eliminated, schools were created with full schedules from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., allowing children to stay longer in recreational programs and special classes.

Never before have small businesses flourished with the full support of the government at the local and national levels. Chavez has opened the doors for the participation of those who have long been excluded.

When President Chavez came to power, 80 percent of the population lived below poverty. Overcoming this difficult obstacle requires a joint effort at all levels of society. Unfortunately, the support has not echoed in the upper economic brackets of Venezuelan society. What have they done? Organizing a coup is not the way to support the government.

Venezuela is the fourth largest oil producer in the world and the second largest oil exporter to the United States. President Chavez has never threatened the export of oil to the U.S. He has visited the U.S. about five times, holding meetings with businesspersons, seeking to stimulate foreign investment in Venezuela in order to raise the level of employment and mitigate the conditions of the poor.

Unfortunately, the sectors of society wanting to reverse these important advances decided to violate Venezuelan democracy. A group of renegade military generals formed a coalition with "businessmen" – land owners whose ancestors stole it from Indigenous Venezuelans and used enslaved African labor to build the Venezuelan economy and society.

Some members of the press also belong to the business establishment. Three main private TV stations led a campaign against the evolution of democratic change in the same style Hitler used against the Jews: "Say a lie a thousand times and everybody will believe it as a truth."

These forces formed a coup to destroy freedom in Venezuela. For three days they controlled the government and instituted practices not seen in Venezuela since the ‘50s, during the days of the military rulers. Venezuelans in their 60s were astonished to see such violations of civil rights.

Leaders of the coup imprisoned President Chavez, isolating him from any public contact, lying about a presidential resignation, dissolving all legitimate national powers at all levels. Then they started hunting down the legitimate member of Congress and of the president's cabinet. Even the Supreme Court was forced to resign. They did all that in a period of three days. Further, they derogated the 1999 constitution.

In response, however, people of all races and backgrounds took to the streets, the military bases and public buildings to liberate President Chavez. He is in control again.

Venezuelans watched with deep concern how Ari Fleisher, Bush's press secretary, and Condoleezza Rice, Bush's defense advisor – a black woman – avoided calling the coup against President Chavez what it really was: a vulgar, right wing coup against a democratic government. Both have used vague rhetoric to criticize Chavez' administration rather than condemn the coup. The Bush administration in general looked with sympathy at the coup and issued no declaration condemning it.

The New York Times also has presented the facts in a less than objective way. Rather than going into the countryside to talk with the people, Times reporters appear to have visited only the Caracas suburbs to assess public opinion. Furthermore, the local media consider only the opinions of wealthy people. All other opinions are considered unworthy. So, if you are poor or if you are not in agreement with the media, then you are not considered a part of the public opinion.

U.S. Senator Christopher Dodd has expressed dismay over the Bush administration's behavior regarding the situation in Venezuela. His position is an example of goodwill and is appreciated by Venezuelans.

There's an international effort to destroy the public image of President Chavez. Let us briefly analyze it.

1) Hugo Chavez has visited Iraq, Iran and Libya. Because he is a friend of those nations, he is branded an enemy of the United States. Venezuela and the countries visited by President Chavez are members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). Together with these countries, Venezuela regulates oil prices and must agree with them on strategies for maintaining profitability while at the same time making prices affordable to the oil importing countries such as the U.S. With 60 percent of its national budget based on oil income, clearly Venezuela must talk with members of OPEC. This doesn't make Venezuela a partner in terrorism as has been insinuated by the U.S. and the media.

2) Hugo Chavez is a friend of Cuban Prime Minister Fidel Castro. It is insinuated that he is therefore an enemy of the U.S. Venezuela is a free and self-determining nation in its business relations with Cuba. It has a right to have business relations with China or any other country.

3) It is said that Hugo Chavez didn't condemn the attacks on the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, and is therefore an enemy of the U.S. But President Chavez most certainly did condemn the Sept. 11 attacks and said, just as France and Russia and the Pope did, that he doesn't support a heavy and indiscriminate attack against Afghanistan which might cause civilian casualties. The Bush administration considers neither the presidents of France and Russia nor the Pope as enemies of the U.S. and is not willing to plan and finance a coup against those leaders because they express humanitarian points of view.

4) President Chavez is said to be a supporter of the Colombian guerrillas and is therefore involved in terrorism. The truth is that President Chavez has condemned terrorism in Colombia. Furthermore, the Venezuelan government under his administration has been a mediator in peace talks between the guerrillas and the Colombian government.

5) The people of the U.S. should think deeply about U.S. support of the failed coup and its leaders and its plans to change the regime in Venezuela. The result of President Chavez' trip to oil exporting countries was agreement on a solid oil price. In Venezuela, the price of oil is extremely important for education, health care and public services generally. The first declaration of the leaders of the failed coup was the abandonment of the quota system, which caused oil prices to drop.

Writer's note: Africans and people of African descent are beginning to tell our own story. Most other people have no vested interest in telling the truth about us. Professor Correa of Barloyento University is an African Venezuelan, and he tells the story of the achievements of African Venezuelans, the United States' participation in the failed attempt to overthrow President Chavez, and the certain reversal of the social, economic, cultural and psychological gains to African Venezuelans if President Chavez is overthrown. He pleads with us to 1) discuss in open forums, churches and community organizations the U.S. attacks on Venezuela and the conditions there, and 2) write letters to the U.S. Congress asking that the U.S. respect the Venezuelan government and follow the rule of law and international treaties in dealing with Venezuela. You can trust his advice and act on it.

U.S. is still intervening in Venezuela
Posted: Wednesday, December 18, 2002

by Mark Weisbrot

CARACAS (Dec. 18) "Where are they getting their money?" asks historian Samuel Moncada, as the television displays one opposition commercial after another. Moncada is chair of the history department at Central University of Venezuela in Caracas. We are sitting in one of the few restaurants that is open in the eastern, wealthier part of Caracas.

For two weeks during this country's business-led strike, the privately owned stations that dominate Venezuelan television have been running opposition "info-mercials" instead of advertisements, in addition to what is often non-stop coverage of opposition protests.

"I am sure there is money from abroad," asserts Moncada. It's a good guess: prior to the coup on April 11, the U.S. National Endowment for Democracy stepped up its funding to opposition groups, including money funneled through the International Republican Institute. The latter's funding multiplied more than sixfold, to $340,000 in 2001.

But if history is any guide, overt funding from Washington will turn out to be the tip of the iceberg. This was the case in Haiti, Nicaragua, Chile, and other countries where Washington has sought "regime change" because our leaders didn't agree with the voters' choice at the polls. (In fact, Washington is currently aiding efforts to oust President Aristide in Haiti -- for the second time). In these episodes, which extended into the 1990s, our government concealed amounts up to the hundreds of millions of dollars that paid for such things as death squads, strikes, economic destabilization, electoral campaigns and media.

All this remains to be investigated in this case. But the intentions of the U.S. government are clear. Last week the State Department ordered non- essential embassy personnel to leave the country, and warned American citizens not to travel here. But there have not been attacks on American citizens or companies here, from either side of the political divide, and this is not a particularly dangerous place for Americans to be.

In this situation, the State Department's extreme measures and warning can only be interpreted as a threat. The Bush Administration has also openly sided with the opposition, demanding early elections here. Then this week Washington changed its position to demanding a referendum on Chavez's presidency, most likely figuring that a divided opposition could easily lose to Chavez in an election, despite its overwhelming advantage in controlling the major means of communication.

The discussion in the U.S. press, dominated by Washington's views, has also taken on an Orwellian tone. Chavez is accused of using "dictatorial powers" for sending the military to recover oil tankers seized by striking captains. Bush Administration spokesman Ari Fleischer urged the Venezuelan government "to respect individual rights and fundamental freedoms."

But what would happen to people who hijacked an oil tanker from Exxon-Mobil in the United States? They would be facing a trial and a long prison sentence. Military officers who stood outside the White House and called for the overthrow of the government (and this just six months after a military coup supported by a foreign power) would end up in Guantanamo facing a secret military tribunal for terrorism.

In fact, the U.S. press would be much more fair if it held the Venezuelan government to the standards of the United States. In the U.S., government workers do not have the right to strike at all, as Ronald Reagan demonstrated when he summarily fired 12,000 air traffic controllers in 1981. But even this analogy is incomplete: the air traffic controllers were striking for better working conditions. Here, the employees of the state-owned oil company -- mostly managers and executives -- are trying to cripple the economy, which is heavily dependent on oil exports, in order to overthrow the government. In the United States, even private sector workers do not have the legal right to strike for political demands, and certainly not for the president's resignation.

In the United States, courts would issue injunctions against the strike, the treasuries of participating unions would be seized, and leaders would be arrested.

Meanwhile, outside of the wealthier areas of eastern Caracas, businesses are open and streets are crowded with shoppers. Life appears normal. This is clearly a national strike of the privileged, and most of the country has not joined it.

More than anything right now, this country needs dialogue and a ratcheting down of the tensions and hostilities between the two opposing camps, so as to avoid a civil war. But this dialogue will never happen if the United States continues to pursue a course of increasing confrontation.

Mark Weisbrot is Co-Director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, in Washington D.C.

Venezuela's Crisis: A Canadian View
Posted: Wednesday, December 18, 2002

by Yves Engler

As Venezuela's political crisis moves further into its third week, the intensity is rising by the day.

On Tuesday the US State Department warned of a possible "violent eruption."

Over the past couple of days, the anti-Chavez forces have brought hundreds of thousands into the streets and have blockaded the major highways into Caracas, leading to clashes with the police.

Opposition demonstrators also are considering a march on the Presidential Palace itself. The last time they tried, 19 people were killed and hundreds were wounded. On the other side, thousands of Chavez supporters have taken to the streets daily.

The ongoing turmoil stretches back to before April 11 when Chavez was ousted and returned to office within forty-eight hours. His return was thanks to a split within the army as well as the massive popular support that put Chavez in power in the first place ... he was elected in 1998 and again in 2000 with nearly 60% of the vote.

Today's conflict which, in large part is between the wealthy light-skinned elite and the dark-skinned poor. Nearly 80% of the population lives in poverty and there is a strong correlation between poverty and dark skin. Chavez, who is of black and indigenous origins, has concentrated on improving the living conditions of the poor ... his policies have included land redistribution for poor farmers, title to the self-built homes in the barrios (poor neighborhoods), steady increases in the minimum wage and of public sector salaries, and the enrolment of over one million previously excluded students in school.

This is not to say that Chavez does not have his faults.

... he has at times been overly dismissive of his critics. Rather, than noting their criticism he has preferred to denounce them as part of the corrupt oligarchy ... as a result he has antagonized some of the progressive forces in Venezuela.

However, for a President under such intense attack (especially in Latin America with its history of authoritarianism) he has displayed a strong commitment to electoral democracy and all it entails.

The anti-Chavez opposition is a mixed group with both the major business and elite trade union federation supporting the ongoing 'strike/lockout.' Another major player in the opposition is the private media ... for some time, independent sources and Chavez supporters have condemned the private media for their bias, however, now even the English-language corporate media is reporting on it.

On December 17, Cox news service said "several private TV stations are indisputable, proud players in the opposition movement" while the Financial Times claimed "the country's privately-owned channels, and the media barons who control them, have become an integral part of the relentless campaign to force him [Chavez] to resign (Dec 17 both)."

What is being termed a general strike by the opposition has been little more than a strike-lockout by a few big businesses since early on.

Nevertheless, much of the oil industry is involved and in a country where oil provides 80% of exports and 50% of government revenues its production is crucial to the economy (Forbes online Dec 17) ... estimates vary, but most say oil output is down to less than a quarter of its regular rate.

This reduction in Venezuelan output is one reason for the increase in world prices.

Still, oil purchasers (the US government for example) would be happy to see Chavez overthrown. According to Canada's Globe and Mail "he [Chavez] is among the staunchest advocates of OPEC quota discipline, and an anomaly among Venezuelan leaders. Any successor would be likely to revert to the historical Venezuelan habit of expansive cheating on OPEC quotas, putting downward pressure on the price of the oil (G&M Dec 17)." Besides the current disruption in supply, oil purchasers are fearful that the ongoing disruption could lead to equipment damage resulting in a long-term drop in Venezuela production capabilities.

The international ramifications of the crisis are already starting to manifest themselves.

Venezuelan oil exports have dropped significantly causing prices to rise sharply. Two Canadian companies have already been affected. Petro-Canada's refinery in Montreal was forced to buy alternative crude supplies and Falconbridge Ltd. Operations' in the Dominican Republic have been scaled back due to a lack of oil.

Likely, many other companies are also feeling the pinch.
In Venezuela, on December 16, SIDOR, Venezuela's largest steelmaker, said it had been forced to halt production because of a shortage of gas caused by the stoppage. The Venezuelan Guayana Corporation (CVG) ... the country's only producer of alumina ... suspended output for the same reason (Economist.com Dec 17).

Nevertheless, a number of recent developments have further supported the Chavez government.

On Friday, the Bush administration clearly siding with the opposition, requested Chavez call an election early next year (this would contravene the constitution).

By Monday, however, the Bush administration had backtracked claiming it was a misunderstanding. In fact, they meant a non-binding referendum not an election.

More important, however, was Monday night's Organization of American States (OAS) resolution, which strongly denounced any unconstitutional power grab. Many Latin American governments made it clear to the US that they would not support a coup.

On Tuesday, the US government publicly expressed its agreement with the OAS resolution. In time and depending on US citizen pressure we will find out whether this position is genuine.

Another development on Monday that re-affirmed Chavez' position was when army chief, General Garcia Montoya, called the opposition's tactics "sabotage". This strong public position reduces the likelihood of army intervention.

The US flip flop can be attributed to a number of factors.

First, is the lack of support on the part of the Venezuelan military for a coup. Second, is the strong commitment to electoral democracy on behalf of the surrounding Latin American governments. Third, is the fear of continued increases to the price of oil, especially while an attack against Iraq is looming. Fourth, is the fear that oil disruption could lead to economic instability. Fifth, the political costs within the US for siding against a democratic government only 7 months after being exposed for doing just this. Finally, Chavez' softening line towards the US since April's coup has reduced the degree to which he is a threat to Bush administration interests.

The changing American position is an important development since only 7 months ago the US helped orchestrate the coup.

On April 11, the US State Department was quick to recognize the new "democratic" government ... not only were they quick to recognize the government, their fingerprints could be found all over its ascendancy to power.

According to an August 18th Boston Globe article: "US tax money financed several Chavez opponents, including two organizations prominent in the protests that led up to the coup."

The two groups, money given by the American government through the National Endowment for Democracy Foundation, had sharply risen in the run-up to the coup.

"The International Republican Institute, which has an office in Caracas and is an arm of the US republican Party, grant grew from $50 000 in 2000, to promote youth participation in politics, to $339,998 last year for political party building. On the day of the coup, the institute's president, George A. Folsom, sent news media a fax rejoicing over Chavez' fall."

The article goes on to say that "another institute-sponsored activity, flying Chavez opponents to Washington to meet with US officials, may have accelerated the events leading up to the coup (August 18 Boston Globe)."

This is just a bit that has been reported in the corporate press. Undoubtedly, there is much more about US involvement out there.

The current demands of the opposition are either the removal of Chavez or an election in early 2003. Both would be unconstitutional. According to the constitution, to remove Chavez the opposition needs only to wait until August, half-way through his term when a binding referendum can be held.

There appears to be two major reasons why the opposition wants an election in early 2003 instead of waiting the full 8 months.

First, the Venezuelan economy is in a tailspin ... prior to the current crisis economists expected GDP to drop 6% this year. Like all politicians Chavez' support is tied to the economy. The economy, however, will probably start to grow next year.

As the US prepares to attack Iraq, oil prices are expected to increase (they already have) ... higher oil prices add to the Venezuelan treasury, which allows the government to increase funding for social programs and public works.

Furthermore, the main reason for Venezuela's economic decline is that this year, according to the Financial Times "investment has fallen by 14% and billions of dollars are being shipped abroad. (Dec 5)"

In effect, capitalists are striking.

The rich don't like Chavez' policies of redistribution and thus are using their money to demonstrate opposition to them. Our current age of 'globalization' has further liberalized financial market, facilitating this. Nevertheless, like any strike it cannot last forever.

The second reason, according to Hans Dieterich, for the pro-coup haste. is the entrance in vigor of various important laws that come into effect on January 1, 2003, that touch vital interests of the economic elite: Among them, the Land Law that affects not just the large plantation owners in the country but also real estate speculators and vacant lots in urban zones.

The Hydrocarbon law is even more important because it will permit the dismantling of the meta-State of the petroleum business PDVSA, the corrupt oil group that controls the economic life of the country and that is an integral part of the New World Energy Order of George Bush.

Today, only 20% of the income of this mega-company goes to the State ... 80% goes to "operating costs" that enrich secret accounts of the beneficiaries of this economic cancer.

Yves Engler is Vice President Communications for the Concordia Student Union and has traveled extensively throughout Venezuela.

Who pays for opposition TV infomercials?
Posted: Tuesday, December 17, 2002

vheadline.com

Center for Economic & Policy Research co-director Mark Weisbrot reports that University Central de Venezuela (UCV) History Department head Samuel Moncada has accused the US National Endowment for Democracy of funneling money to support Venezuela's opposition, based on similar destabilization efforts in Haiti.

"The so-called 'infomercials' on TV are being paid for with money from abroad ... I'm sure of it." The International Republican Institute is said to be another source of funding since its "seed" money shot up six-fold in 2001 to $340,000.

Weisbrot says the US press should judge Venezuela by its own standards ... "what would happen to people who hijacked an oil tanker from Exxon-Mobil in the United States?"

"They would be facing a trial and a long prison sentence. Military officers who stood outside the White House and called for the overthrow of the government (and this just six months after a military coup supported by a foreign power) would end up in Guantanamo facing a secret military tribunal for terrorism."

"In the United States, the courts would issue injunctions against the strike/lockout, the bank accounts of participating unions would be seized and their leaders would be arrested."

Update : Dec. 17, 2002
Posted: Tuesday, December 17, 2002

Police take action against road blocks
Clashes also occurred in other areas of Caracas and the country, as police and the military dug in to try and keep pro and anti-government supporters apart.

32 Nations Back Venezuela
The OAS backed, by a vote of 32-0 – with two countries not counted – a resolution to support the continuance of the democratically elected government of Hugo Chávez of Venezuela.
By Al Giordano : narconews.com

The OAS has unanimously approved a resolution "in support of democratic institutions in Venezuela." - From www.vheadline.com

In Venezuela, No Middle Ground In Battle Over Chavez
By Susan Ferriss / Cox Washington Bureau
In Venezuela, a surreal polarization over President Hugo Chavez and the meaning of democracy has left both sides accusing the other of being "fascists" and "terrorists."

Chief of Venezuela's army condemned the strike as sabotage - dealing a blow to opposition hopes of getting the army's support.
Statement carried in anti-Chávez BBC Website

17 U.S. Congress members speak on Venezuela
Members Of The United States House Of Representatives
The role of the United States government in the coup of April 11 remains unclear. We know that top US officials met with leaders of the coup in the months before it happened. Opposition groups that were involved in the coup also received funding from the United States government. At the same time, the Bush Administration openly expressed its hostility to the government of President Chavez. According to the State Department Office of the Inspector General, one of the reasons for this friction was President Chavez's "involvement in the affairs of the Venezuelan oil company and the potential impact of that on oil prices."

U.S. Revises Call for Early Elections
After issuing a statement Friday urging early elections as the best way to end a strike by opponents of President Hugo Chavez that has crippled oil production in the United States' third-largest petroleum supplier, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said Monday that Washington supports a "referendum" on Chavez's rule as "anticipated in the Venezuelan Constitution."
by T. Christian Miller: LA Times, Dec 17, 02 Regestration

Long Live Chávez & A Just Venezuela!
Posted: Tuesday, December 17, 2002

From: Slade

I was in Caracas not too long ago, came away with the same impression: Very nice people in general, beautiful country, but handicapped by a very racist and class prejudiced society which represents the Latin America and Caribbean of the slave and colonial era which, regrettably, still persist. We will never progress as a people or region, if these societies of the kind Chávez met do not reform. Anyone who calls a country where a 5% elite controls 90% of the wealth democratic is living in loony tune land. And for sure, Chávez did not cause that situation, he met it so and has been trying to change it for the better--if only the oil managers would allow the country's wealth to be invested internally and not be transported to Miami and elsewhere.

I am with you 100% And I pray and hope that Venezuelans of all stripes will wake up and confront the nightmare of inequity which grips so many countries in our region, like theirs, and not try scapegoat Chávez. He may have been provocative in his speech, and his style could have been more diplomatic, but all these coup planners have been allowed to demonstrate and plot, without one arrest. Generals calling for rebellion, in uniform, and not one court martial? A court which states that there was no coup, and not one justice sent home? Let a US general call for the overthrow of George Bush from Lafayette Square in Washington, and see how fast he would be clapped in irons?

Dictatorship under Chávez? What a joke.

As President, he has treated his opposition in a most Christ-like fashion. If this were the "democratic" Chile, Colombia or El Salvador they praise so much, they would have been packed into stadiums, shot at the altar, or their unionist buried in garbage dumps. That happened all the time in those other "democracies"; has it happened in Venezuela? Yet they call the man a dictator!!!?? Give me a break, those folk must not know their own history or they may have overdosed on cappuccino from their favorite Chacao Starbucks, or its local twin.

The Caribbean, indeed the world, can do without such "democrats" who oppress those who come from a lower station in life, or whose skin tan goes toward the dark side of the color line. Anyway, it's too late now. I believe the eyes of the people have been opened and even if they kill Chávez, he has already won!

Let freedom for all, not just the rich and powerful, ring!
Long Live Chávez and A Free Venezuela!

Chavez's challenge
Posted: Tuesday, December 17, 2002

Express Editorial

Trinidad and Tobago and the other countries in Caricom can hardly afford to back-pedal in their support for the embattled administration of Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez. The world’s only remaining super-power may be becoming increasingly lukewarm towards Mr Chavez, to put it mildly, but he is the duly elected leader of the world’s fifth largest petroleum producer.

In fact, it is open to question just how much of Mr Chavez’s present problems has been fuelled by the imperialistic tendencies the United States has always had towards Latin America, given that America has been found to have played an embarrassing hand when Mr Chavez was almost overthrown in an attempted coup earlier this year. MORE

World News
Posted: Monday, December 16, 2002

¤ 50 British Police held in net paedophile inquiry
¤ UK gearing up for Iraq war
¤ 'War on Terror' Infringing Human Rights
¤ Most Americans Unconvinced on Iraq War
¤ No Peace in Sight, Israelis Trust in a Wall
¤ Tensions at UN over Iraq dossier
¤ New Zealand lines up with Australia over preemptive military strikes
¤ France deploys 1,700 troops in Ivory Coast
¤ A haunting portrait of US-backed terror in 1950s Vietnam
¤ Boxer rejects talk of war, first strikes
> U.S. losing its moral authority, she warns in S.F.
¤ The OAS has unanimously approved a resolution
> "in support of democratic institutionality in Venezuela."
¤ American intervention in Israel's elections
¤ Israel Threatens to Bomb Lebanon Back to Stone Age
¤ Bio-weapon boom in Iraq since '98
¤ 32 Nations Back Venezuela
¤ Venezuela leader rules out early elections -BBC
> Chief of Venezuela's army condemned the strike as sabotage
- dealing a blow to opposition hopes of getting the army's support.
¤ 17 U.S. Congress members speak on Venezuela
¤ Alarm at 'EU Pentagon' plan
¤ Bush names ex-governor of New Jersey to head Sept. 11 panel
¤ Iraq Attack could be spark for Shia Muslim uprising
¤ Minister says Germany has no role in Iraq war
¤ Turkey Reports Drop In U.S. Compensation Offer
¤ Hindu victory rattles India's secular traditions
¤ Nuclear fears heighten South Korea's pre-poll angst
¤ What Does Regime Change in Iraq Really Mean?
¤ Blair plan for Arab summit
¤ 'Look what Bush is doing. He could invade'
¤ Colombia Bomb Explosion Kills One Person
¤ 'We'll have blood on our hands'
¤ Afghan Women Still Suffer Repression
¤ Why Blair's magic 'fix' is destined to end in failure
¤ Eight Palestinians killed in Israeli raid were unarmed civilians
¤ Alarm at 'EU Pentagon' plan

No plans to evacuate Trinis from Venezuela
Posted: Monday, December 16, 2002

Abstract: T&T Newsday

THE Government of Trinidad and Tobago has no plans to evacuate any of its nationals who live in Venezuela at this time. Speaking at a post-People's National Movement (PNM) General Council press briefing at Balisier House yesterday.

Prime Minister Patrick Manning admitted that if evacuation of TT citizens from the neighbouring South American republic became necessary, Government would need help to execute such an operation.

"As of now TT does not have the ability to perform operations of that nature, in the traditional way in which these things have been done," the Prime Minister said. Manning said the situation in Venezuela was discussed informally by Caricom leaders during their recent summit in Cuba.

"What we did note, is that a duly elected Government in Venezuela was under threat. I can tell you that since coming back here, I have been in touch with President (Hugo) Chavez of Venezuela and I have expressed our solidarity with him and his government. We expressed the view that matters in Venezuela be brought to an expeditious and amicable conclusion by democratic means," he stated.

Chavez's opponents have launched a 13-day, nationwide strike against his administration and are calling for early general elections. The United States has expressed support for early elections in Venezuela, the world's fifth largest oil producer.

More on Venezuela's Unrest

Update : Dec. 16, 2002
Posted: Monday, December 16, 2002

White House Error Backfires
Bush Withdraws "Elections" Demand; "Strike" is Over
Close shops and lock out workers by businesses owners – dishonestly called a "strike" by commercial media
By Al Giordano and correspondents : www.narconews.com

Is This What the U.S. Is Suppporting?
For them there is only one solution ... Chavez out!
...and to hell with constitutional law and/or democracy.
Editorial © by VHeadline.com Editor Roy S. Carson

BREAKING NEWS (3:30 p.m. VET):
In what is being described as "a preventative measure" and "a show of strength" units of the Venezuelan Armed Forces (FAN) -- with tanks, anti-aircraft missile batteries, military police and intelligence services -- loyal to President Hugo Chavez Frias, are being deployed around the Miraflores Presidential Palace on Avenida Urdaneta in Caracas. VHeadline.com sources stress that it is a purely preventive measure at this stage...

Yes, My Friends, They Have Sold Out Venezuela
by Charles Hardy : www.vheadline.com
"The past year in Venezuela has been a challenging one as the elite try to overthrow the democratically elected president, Hugo Chavez. My personal opinion: he's the most honest president Venezuela has had in the seventeen years I've been here. No wonder they want to oust him."
"We have been reading in the newspapers about the wealthy being on strike. What do they want? Higher incomes? Nicer living conditions? Less expensive private schools?" Good questions and next year when I reply to their letters I could answer all the questions by writing "yes, and above all, POWER."

President Chávez urges Firm Stand
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez yesterday, through the Express, sent a message to Prime Minister Patrick Manning and the rest of Caricom urging them to stand firm and avoid being blackmailed by any country.
From Curtis Williams, Trinidad Express

World News
Posted: Monday, December 16, 2002

¤ White House Venezuela Error Backfires
¤ Under suspicion, Iran hits out at Israeli nuke program
¤ Kissinger resigns as head of September 11 probe (THANK GOD)
¤ Israel demolished Palestinian homes, 3 killed
¤ Likud Party bribery allegations
¤ Sharon Threatens Global Nuclear War
¤ Yemen House speaker blasts US 'terror'
¤ The papers that cried wolf
¤ U.S.: No Second Chance for Iraq on Any Omissions
¤ Iran hits out at Israeli nuke program
¤ US drags Blair from his European tasks
¤ Assad told to cut links with terror
¤ Arafat Banned From Bethlehem on Christmas
¤ CIA authorised to target and kill al-Qaida members
¤ South African stadium atrocity thwarted
¤ Fears for secular India after BJP win landslide in Gujurat
¤ Anti-US feeling spurs new wave of patriotism in Seoul
¤ Spinners are now out of control
¤ Blair and Assad prepare for bruising encounter over divisions on Iraq
¤ Iraqi opposition gathers to plot Saddam's fall
¤ Bush lists wanted terrorists - dead or alive
¤ Eight killed in plane crash after airstrip ceremony
¤ A U.S. road map to faillure

World News
Posted: Sunday, December 15, 2002

¤ Gore Says He Won't Run In 2004
¤ Venezuela's Chavez Defies Strike, Troops Take Ship
¤ US, UK hit civilian Iraq sites
¤ Iraq Urges UN to Stop 'Undeclared War'
¤ British lawmaker warns against attack on Iraq
¤ Making a Hit List, Checking It Twice
¤ The US may use torture against terrorism
¤ 50,000 rally in Seoul for change in rules for US troops
¤ Chechen warlord dies in jail
¤ French troops arrive in Ivory Coast
¤ French mobilise an 'occupying force' into former colony
¤ The death of opposition in America
¤ Saddam given two weeks to name scientists
¤ British troops are expected in the Gulf next month
¤ US cash squads 'buy' Iraqi tribes
¤ 'We're not human shields, but we'll stay through the bombing'
¤ If there is to be a war, the world needs to know why
¤ Saddam given two weeks to name scientists
¤ Venezuela on brink of second coup
¤ N Korea raises the stakes in nuclear standoff
¤ Saudis gear up for oil price war
¤ Eight killed as violence spirals in Israel, occupied territories

Update : Dec. 14, - 15, 2002
Posted: Sunday, December 15, 2002

Playing With Fire
The international community is playing a very dangerous game here in Venezuela, along with self-described democrats who are calling for military intervention. To consider what could go wrong, just look next door at Colombia, torn apart by civil war for half a century. By Nicholas D. Kristof, NY Times

Ayinde : The writer played down the U.S. involvement in the previous coup attempt and the U.S.'s covert support for this new effort to oust Chávez. The article is still worth reading especially the part about Gaviria.

Chávez Rejects U.S. Call for Early Vote
President Hugo Chávez on Saturday dismissed U.S. calls for early elections to end the crisis over his rule in the world's No. 5 oil exporter. by Patrick Markey, Reuters via commondreams

Venezuela on brink of second coup
The President's supporters are preparing for a last stand
Duncan Campbell, The Observer, Dec 15, 2002

Venezuela: A Canadian Perspective
by Yves Engler, Dec. 14, 2002

In Venezuela Today...
Posted: Sunday, December 15, 2002

Dear Editor:

Today, Sunday, December 15, 2002, I began my walk around the barrio at 8:00 am.

Stores were already beginning to open. By 10:30 am, about 75% were open, as usual for a Sunday.

Yesterday, mid-afternoon I went to buy inter-city bus tickets at one of the "Executive" bus line in Caracas (large air-conditioned buses with toilet and TV). I was with my friend from the barrio who drove me to the terminal in his beat up Jeep.

We entered the terminal together (beautifull place), waited in line and asked to reserve and buy tickets for early this coming week. The response was to this effect, "... well, you know, we are operating on a day-to-day basis due to El Paro.... we are not sure about our schedules for that day, we will only make the schedule for that day on that day itself ... sorry, we suggest you come early that day and take you chances..." I laughed, responding that it is no problem, I will begin walking instead. They laughed.

As we left the parking lot in his banged up Jeep, past the Mercedez Benz and the new Jeep Cherokee, I said to my friend, "... I bet you that if we had arrived in a Mercedez or with diamond rings on our fingers or if I spoke English and told them I was Canadian, we would have had a confirmed ticket in hand without any ifs or buts ... so let's come back tomorrow, I will dress in suit and tie and drop me off a half block away so they won't see your car, and let me go in alone ... you will see ... ha !".

We arrived at his house about half an hour's later and I decided to call another executive bus company by phone to reserve and purchase using my Gold credit card. I began with, "...hello, I would like to reserve tickets and pay you by phone with my credit card....". The girl attending to me said, "...no, problem, we can reserve your tickets by phone ... guaranteed departure on that date..." Next, she suggested that better yet, I could go to their offices in person, confirm and pay at once. Upon her giving me directions to the terminal, I realized that it was the same place we were at half an hour ago!

I told that I was just there about half an hour before. Her response, (after consulting fellow employees) was, "... oh, I am so sorry, I have just been informed that the schedules were done just after you left our offices earlier on..."

Later today, I will go there, dressed sharply, speaking intentionally broken Spanish with a Canadian passport.

I WILL have my tickets in hand.

Why did this happen?

Here is my analysis:

Since we did not look like people that were in support of "el paro", they (supporting el paro) had to give the inpression that because of "el paro" there was no way of assuring service. (I noticed that it is rather easy to know if one supports "el paro." One either has a Venezuelan flag attached to the car or hat or clothes, or asks with enthusiasm, upon meeting someone,"...are you going to la marcha?")

The high class people in line before us were able to buy confirmed tickets for a day after our planned trip date.

In other words, if I own a credit card, I must be in favor of "el paro" (Chavistas don't own credit cards, in their minds).

Therefore, if I have to travel, I will get a ticket because I understand the circumstance and by purchasing a ticket I am helping them stay in business during "el paro". Buddies in protest.

On to another subject.

Many people in the barrio here are anti-Chavez, verbally supporting "el paro" and "las marchas," but most of these tell me that even being anti-Chavistas they don't trust ANY of the other current "opposition" either.

Most of the storeowners I have been speaking with aren't either for or against. For them it is business as usual. One put it in these terms ... "I have five children, I want a better life for them, I dont want them to go throught what I have had to go through, I want them to go to school, become something better than I, live better ... no government has ever helped me(us) ... I own my home and my business only by the sweat of 40 years."

I spoke with some anti-Chavistas an told them about what we hear in the media in Canada (don't go to Venezuela, civil war, high risk of being attacked, robbed, kidnapped, no food left on shelves, civil riots, Circulos Bolivarianos running rampant throughout the streets murdering people, etc.) They were appalled. I was saddened. This is what all this "impatience" with Chavez is doing to your beautiful country, I told them.

In a few days, I will be far from Caracas, still in Venezuela.

I wonder what it will be like there?

Oscar

Visit VHeadline.com for more news and views.

Chavez snubs US request for elections
Posted: Sunday, December 15, 2002

By Curtis Williams, Trinidad Express

The embattled Chavez government in Venezuela yesterday dismissed a request by the United States that it should call early elections and said it has received statements of support from Trinidad and Tobago and other Caricom countries

In an exclusive interview with the Sunday Express at the Mira Flores Presidential Palace, Venezuela Foreign Minister, Roy Chaterdon-Matos, said to accede to the US election request would be to breach the Constitution of Venezuela.

Chaterdon-Matos said he had received word from Trinidad and Tobago and other Caricom neighbours who have all stated their support for the Chavez administration.

"We have had an excellent relationship with Port of Spain and indeed Trinidad and Tobago and the rest of Caricom have all stated that they are fully behind the legitimately elected Government of Venezuela and that they want a peaceful settlement to the issue."

Chaterdon-Matos explained that under the Venezuelan Constitution the population had a right to recall a President whom they may feel is not operating in their best interest, but that this must be done at mid-term which for the Chavez administration, is not until next August.

He maintained that the Venezuelan Government would be willing to consider an election at that time. He said if it were to meet the demands of the Opposition for elections in February, the Venezuelan constitution would have to be changed.

The Foreign Minister said there was also the difficulty of the Government not having an opportunity to get its side of the message out to the people of Venezuela because the media is controlled by the very business interests which oppose Chavez’s continuation in power.

"In this country, if you contest for the post of President and you win you govern, and if your government does not perform then the people have a right to punish you and remove you from office. But in the media there is no elections for the president of a television station. And while they do not have to answer to an electorate they form the official opposition and seek to demonise President Chavez with no opportunity being afforded for him to rebutt the allegations."

Chatergon-Matos insisted that the government remained firmly in place and that negotiations with T&T on the unitisation of the East Coast gas fields with that of the Plataforma del Tana were continuing at full speed.

"Both countries are committed to jointly developing these resources and this incident has not slowed the process," he said.

Yesterday, the Venezuelan cabinet met at the Presidential Palace to discuss the on-going national strike as hundreds of thousands of supporters on either side prepared to hit the streets from evening into the night.

Casual observation showed that the poorer elements in Caracas were behind Chavez and in those parts of capital the stores remained opened and it was almost business as usual.

In the upscale areas such as Altamira, where the Opposition has its stronghold, shops remained closed in support of the national strike.

On Friday night, the usually bustling Caracas night life was almost non-existent with only a candle-light vigil in Altamira where those opposing Chavez prayed for his ouster.

In this highly Catholic society almost every supporter on either side has been armed with a copy of the Constitution and a copy of the Bible. In Altamira Square, a statue of the Virgin Mary is surrounded by candles and flowers as opposition leaders spoke from a podium designed like an altar decked with candles and a crucifix of Jesus Christ.

Emotions continue to run high here in Venezuela and even as the government remains in the saddle, no one could say for sure how the protracted protest is likely to end.

Venezuela: a Canadian Perspective
Posted: Saturday, December 14, 2002

by Yves Engler

Close your eyes and imagine a country that supplies a major portion of the United State's imported oil. Imagine a country historically dominated by American corporate interests. Imagine that this country's government is considered "too left wing" by powerful forces in the United States. Imagine this country's media is overwhelmingly conservative and pro-American.

Envision what might happen. Now open your eyes to the reality of Venezuela. Yes, Canadians have good reason to be concerned about recent events in that South American country. Only seven months after a military coup, Venezuela is again descending into social chaos. For the past 10 days the country has been gripped by a general strike, the fourth of the year, supported by both major business and the elite trade union federations. Though the strike seems to be withering, in the key oil industry disruption continues. Talk of armed gatherings by both the opposition and pro-government forces is rife. Military intervention and civil war are a possibility. Today's turmoil stretches back to before April 11 when President Hugo Chavez was ousted and returned to office within 48 hours. His return was due to a split within the army and massive popular support. That coup was led by then leader of the country's main business group Fedecámaras. Today, in a similar situation the anti-government opposition forces are calling on Chavez to resign.

While Chavez has important enemies his supporters are many and committed. Chavez was elected in 1998 and again in 2000 with 58% of the vote. His victory broke a 50-year-old two-party stranglehold on the reins of power. Chavez is leading a "Bolivariano revolution", named after the 19th century independence hero, in a country polarized both on economic and racial lines. Over 80% of the population lives below the poverty line and there is a strong correlation between poverty and dark skin. Chavez, who is of black and indigenous origins, has concentrated on improving the living conditions of the poor.

His policies have included land redistribution for poor farmers, title to the self-built homes of the barrios, steady increases in the minimum wage and of public sector salaries, and the enrollment of over one million previously excluded students in school.

Two years ago Chavez called upon his supporters to organize themselves into Bolivarian Circles, a grassroots network of neighborhood groups designed to shore up the "revolution". They act as lobbying groups that appeal directly to Chavez for help financing community programs. Money is awarded for almost anything from loan programs to individual medical needs. The circles are concentrated in Caracas' teeming slums where over 60% of the city's 5 million people live. Estimates put the number of Bolivariano Circles at over 140,000 across the country. Since each circle has between seven and fifteen members the nation-wide total membership is over one million.

Many critics charge that the circles are little more than intimidation groups. The opposition believes that the government has armed the circles and trained them in neighborhood spying in the manner of Cuba's Committees for the Defense of the Revolution, although there is little evidence to back those claims.

Chavez has at times been overly dismissive of his critics. He rails against the corrupt oligarchy. As a result he has antagonized large segments of society. Nevertheless, supporters of democracy must concede Chavez's right to continue in power even if his support has dropped to between 30 and 35 per cent (How many Canadian politicians support has dropped to this level?).

According to the constitution, to remove Chavez, the opposition needs only to wait until August, half way through his term when a binding referendum can be held. But the main demand of the general strike is an earlier non-binding referendum. The American position towards Chavez is unclear. Prior to the April 11 coup, U.S. state department officials met with coup leaders. Similarly, the U.S. was quick to recognize the new government. Recently Chavez has, however, been more conciliatory towards the U.S. Nonetheless, state department officials have been ambiguous about their position.

The Canadian government thus far has also been weak in defending Venezuelan democracy. While after April 1 most Latin American leaders strongly condemned the coup, our government said little. Now Foreign Affairs Minister Bill Graham is simply asking for both sides to resume dialogue.

Mr. Graham, in the spirit of continental integration, should clearly state Canada's opposition to any government that gains power un-democratically. Anything less is tacit consent to a return to the bad old days of South American coups and military juntas.

Yves Engler is Vice President Communications for the Concordia Student Union and has traveled extensively throughout Venezuela.

Venezuela: a Canadian Perspective
Posted: Saturday, December 14, 2002

by Yves Engler

Close your eyes and imagine a country that supplies a major portion of the United State's imported oil. Imagine a country historically dominated by American corporate interests. Imagine that this country's government is considered "too left wing" by powerful forces in the United States. Imagine this country's media is overwhelmingly conservative and pro-American.

Envision what might happen. Now open your eyes to the reality of Venezuela. Yes, Canadians have good reason to be concerned about recent events in that South American country. Only seven months after a military coup, Venezuela is again descending into social chaos. For the past 10 days the country has been gripped by a general strike, the fourth of the year, supported by both major business and the elite trade union federations. Though the strike seems to be withering, in the key oil industry disruption continues. Talk of armed gatherings by both the opposition and pro-government forces is rife. Military intervention and civil war are a possibility. Today's turmoil stretches back to before April 11 when President Hugo Chavez was ousted and returned to office within 48 hours. His return was due to a split within the army and massive popular support. That coup was led by then leader of the country's main business group Fedecámaras. Today, in a similar situation the anti-government opposition forces are calling on Chavez to resign.

While Chavez has important enemies his supporters are many and committed. Chavez was elected in 1998 and again in 2000 with 58% of the vote. His victory broke a 50-year-old two-party stranglehold on the reins of power. Chavez is leading a "Bolivariano revolution", named after the 19th century independence hero, in a country polarized both on economic and racial lines. Over 80% of the population lives below the poverty line and there is a strong correlation between poverty and dark skin. Chavez, who is of black and indigenous origins, has concentrated on improving the living conditions of the poor.

His policies have included land redistribution for poor farmers, title to the self-built homes of the barrios, steady increases in the minimum wage and of public sector salaries, and the enrollment of over one million previously excluded students in school.

Two years ago Chavez called upon his supporters to organize themselves into Bolivarian Circles, a grassroots network of neighborhood groups designed to shore up the "revolution". They act as lobbying groups that appeal directly to Chavez for help financing community programs. Money is awarded for almost anything from loan programs to individual medical needs. The circles are concentrated in Caracas' teeming slums where over 60% of the city's 5 million people live. Estimates put the number of Bolivariano Circles at over 140,000 across the country. Since each circle has between seven and fifteen members the nation-wide total membership is over one million.

Many critics charge that the circles are little more than intimidation groups. The opposition believes that the government has armed the circles and trained them in neighborhood spying in the manner of Cuba's Committees for the Defense of the Revolution, although there is little evidence to back those claims.

Chavez has at times been overly dismissive of his critics. He rails against the corrupt oligarchy. As a result he has antagonized large segments of society. Nevertheless, supporters of democracy must concede Chavez's right to continue in power even if his support has dropped to between 30 and 35 per cent (How many Canadian politicians support has dropped to this level?).

According to the constitution, to remove Chavez, the opposition needs only to wait until August, half way through his term when a binding referendum can be held. But the main demand of the general strike is an earlier non-binding referendum. The American position towards Chavez is unclear. Prior to the April 11 coup, U.S. state department officials met with coup leaders. Similarly, the U.S. was quick to recognize the new government. Recently Chavez has, however, been more conciliatory towards the U.S. Nonetheless, state department officials have been ambiguous about their position.

The Canadian government thus far has also been weak in defending Venezuelan democracy. While after April 1 most Latin American leaders strongly condemned the coup, our government said little. Now Foreign Affairs Minister Bill Graham is simply asking for both sides to resume dialogue.

Mr. Graham, in the spirit of continental integration, should clearly state Canada's opposition to any government that gains power un-democratically. Anything less is tacit consent to a return to the bad old days of South American coups and military juntas.

Yves Engler is Vice President Communications for the Concordia Student Union and has traveled extensively throughout Venezuela.

Now in Venezuela, what to believe
Posted: Saturday, December 14, 2002

VHeadline.com

Dear Editor:

I arrived in Venezuela from Canada a few days ago. Am now in one of the Caracas barrios at one of these wonderfull little internet places.

This morning on TV, the media is spending alot of time on gasoline delivery truck "accidents", implying that it is because the people driving the gasoline trucks (who according to the media are replacing drivers who are supporters of "el paro") are inexperienced, drunks and inept. Reporters just "happen to be there" to report on the accidents as they occur. They interviewed one of the drivers who responded to them that he had been driving for several years. Later, after the "live reporting", it seems that the news people suggested that the driver may have been drunk. Oh yeah, sure! Suddenly there is a series of "accidents" involving gasoline trucks that are attempting to re-stock the gas stations so that people can go on with their lives.

On another note, the "acaparadores" have started their activity (apparently several days ago). In the barrio where I am, (one of the large ones), all stores are open, internet places, restaurants, cabinet makers, mechanics, etc. The same hustle and bustle as usual. The only immediate difference is that we cannot buy certain things; Polar beer in small bottles, Malta en boteilla, cigarettes and sodas. Isn't that funny!

Easy for the opposition to "acapararse" of some basics, and blame it on "el paro". Of course, they own or control most of the the industries such as Polar. They are also the instigators of "el paro".(Rumor also has it that "Harina Pan", the basic Venezuelan staple, may also be pulled off the market.)

People in this barrio (and I suspect that in most barrios it must be similarly so) are saying that they are open for business as usual because they HAVE to work. This is the best time of the year for them business-wise, allowing them to make a little extra money to better enjoy this X-mas season. According to most people I have been talking to, only the people who HAVE money (such as much of the opposition and conventional media operators) can afford to "not go to work". They can also afford to stock up on "Harina Pan".

Yesterday we ate arepas con queso y cafe guarapo. Nine people living in a 4-room home. I bought some Malta en lata for us since I can afford it; 3000Bs. for 6 cans. Also bought 2 whole BBQ chickens at 5400Bs each (the minimum wage around here is under 200,000 Bs. monthly - figure it out - and some, such as my friends here are not getting full salary due to stoppages).

Yesterday I reserved an airplane ticket with Aeropostal (to travel within Venezuela) for a friend, while at the same time the media was announcing that Aeropostal had joined "el paro", and everyone we talked to told us that it was useless to even think about it since it is being announced in the media that all or most of the transportation sectors are shut down.

My friend left this morning with no problems.

When I asked about bus travel between cities, EVERYONE here told us not to bother since there is no inter-city bus travel, since there is no more gasoline and since many of the bus lines have joined "el paro". I called, many lines are open, and I am picking up my tickets later today, for travel early next week.

A little note: As far as I know, in many countries "acaparadores" would be heavily fined in proportion to the social damage caused by such abuses.

Go on, those that can afford to stock up, and let your minimun wage earners suffer the effects of your support for "el paro".

Oscar

p.s. Must say that I enjoyed Gerald Crowley´s letter, " What do they really want?"

World News
Posted: Friday, December 13, 2002

¤ U.S. and British forces strike Iraqi communications sites
¤ Blix Asks Iraq for List of Scientists
¤ Hawks fail to secure Turkey's early EU entry
¤ EU Votes To Expand Into Former Soviet Bloc
¤ Bombs Explode in Colombian Capital
¤ Women body search clashes with culture in Afghanistan
¤ The strange affair of the Yemeni Scud missiles
¤ Who wants to rule the world?
¤ Trio of WTC 'victims' found alive
¤ US: All three 'Axis of Evil' nations may pose nuclear threat
¤ Gufron Arrest May Lead to Suharto's Dark Forces
¤ S.Koreans in candlelit protest over U.S. military pact
¤ E.U. strongly condemns Israeli settlements
¤ Democracy: US should practice what it preaches
¤ U.S. Calls for Early Elections in Venezuela
¥ US sends strong signal of support for coup plotters
¤ Bush's Desperate Venezuela Statement
¤ Canada not with Bush about Venezuela
¤ 10-foot-tall Iraqis
¤ Drew Hamre: Looking in the wrong places
¤ Blair has 10 days to opt for war
¤ Nuclear reaction jolts US
¤ US to open its dossier on Iraq
¤ Kim ups ante in bold poker game
¤ Powell launches ambitious plan to uplift Arab world
¤ Anti-US fury in South Korea
¤ East Timor at flashpoint as disillusionment sets in
¤ Sharpton Blasts 'Favorite Son' Plan
¤ US to claim Iraqi report a total failure
¤ Dying for work, five pay price at Gaza
¤ US treads softly with powerful N. Korea
¤ Bush angers Europe as Ankara is rebuffed

Update : Dec. 13, 2002
Posted: Friday, December 13, 2002

Bush's Desperate Venezuela Statement
Read Between the Lines: The Coup is Falling Apart
By Al Giordano, narconews, Dec. 13, 2002

Canada Breaks with Bush Over Venezuela
Foreign Minister Bill Graham was cool to U.S. calls for early elections, saying the people of Venezuela themselves should work out a solution to their problems. "Well, that may be the American policy, but it's not our policy at this point," he said.
By David Ljunggren, Reuters, Dec. 13, 2002

U.S. Calls for Early Elections in Venezuela
U.S. Reaffirms Support for OAS Secretary General's Efforts in Venezuela and Calls for Early Elections. "We reaffirm our support for OAS Secretary General Cesar Gaviria's efforts in Caracas to facilitate such an outcome."

Ayinde : These two statements makes it clear that Cesar Gaviria is not an honest broker and should leave Venezuela. Gaviria is there to facilitate the U.S. inspired and conspired overthrow of the democratically elected leader of Venezuela.

Venezuela: Opposition leader says...
Posted: Friday, December 13, 2002

Venezuela: Opposition leader says
"we should not continue to insist on reaching
solutions written in the Constitution of the
Republic or in any other law"
report © by VHeadline.com Reporters

"We are clear that to exit the grave crisis that Venezuela is experiencing, it is an indispensable condition to provoke the resignation of Hugo Chavez, but in the same way we must affirm that is is also necessary in the best possible way to substitute the representatives of the remaining public powers since, while it is well certain that with Chavez' exit the immediate problem will be resolved, it is no less certain that the survival of the putrefied grip on the Moral Power (Official Ombudsman, Solicitor General and Comptroller of the Republic), in the Legislative Power and Judiciary."

"Evidently there must be a way to substitute the de-legitimized participants in the public powers. In this respect, the immediate route is not written in any legal text, what I want to say is that we should not continue to insist on reaching solutions written in the Constitution of the Republic or in any other law."

http://www.vheadline.com/0212/14269.asp

World News
Posted: Thursday, December 12, 2002

Venezuela Opposition leader says:
"we should not continue to insist on reaching
solutions written in the Constitution of the
Republic or in any other law"
report © by VHeadline.com Reporters

¤ Kissinger Quits as Chairman of 9/11 Panel
¤ Lott apologizes anew for comments
¤ The Ways Republicans Talk About Race
¤ Bush to Nominate Fellow Skull & Bones Member as SEC Chair
¤ Our Politically Correct Theologian-in-Chief
¤ Germany fights increasing anti-Semitism
¤ Iran invites inspectors to nuclear sites
¤ N. Korea: U.S.-led oil embargo forces nuclear plant revival
¤ U.S. Blocks Inspections
¤ US vetoes Germany in quiet retaliation
¤ Baghdad pulls plug on Russian oil deal
¤ U.S. Sees Showdown Over Iraqi Scientists
¤ French accuse U.S. of meddling in EU
¤ Syrian leader: war with Iraq will create more terrorists
¤ Syrian leader defends suicide bombers on eve of London visit
¤ Russian president orders referendum on Chechnya
¤ Illegal "no-fly zones" could be war's trip wire
¤ Bush Moves Ahead With 'Faith-Based' Plan
¤ The core of Korea's nuclear threat
¤ Fast food in the cradle of civilisation
¤ Blix Gets Suggestions on Iraq Declaration
¤ Powell unveils plan to reform 'autocratic' Middle East
¤ General denies Iraq shipped nerve agent to al-Qa'ida
¤ North Korea throws down nuclear gauntlet to US
¤ Frustrated US lets Scud cargo sail on
¤ First casualty of war talk is tolerance
¤ Mud kills dozens in East Java

U.S. Tries to Recruit Uruguay in Venezuela Coup Plot
Uruguay Official Blows the Whistle
By Vheadline.com December 12, 2002

Is the CIA preparing another coup? By Bill Vann, Dec. 11, 02
Racist rage of the Caracas elite by Richard Gott, Dec. 10, 02
Bush Administration Pushes "Regime Change" in Venezuela
By Mark Weisbrot, Dec. 3, 02
Four Employer-led "General Strikes" and a Coup Attempt Later
By Gregory Wilpert, Dec. 4, 02

World News
Posted: Thursday, December 12, 2002

¤ Hezbollah says Canada was duped into calling them terrorists
¤ Another gas pipeline linking Turkmenistan through Afghanistan
¤ Washington at war
¤ Bush Funds Iran Terrorist group
¤ Iraq denies report that it provided nerve agents to al-Qaida
¤ Tensions between Israel, U.N. near boiling point
¤ Iraq Inspectors Give Old Nuke Plant OK
¤ Recovered History: When Donald Met Saddam
¤ Israel urges curbs on small missile sales: Report
¥ Israel likes attacking people whose defence is throwing stones
¤ Japan firm raided for missile tech sale to Iran
¤ Scud affair draws US apology
¤ 10 Afghan children freeze to death in refugee camp
¤ Restriction of Iraq arms tome 'unfortunate': UN chief
¤ At Least 28 Killed in Indonesia Mudslide
¤ Pakistan is being slowly Talibanised
¤ Who will blink first?
¤ Pacifist Leonardo may have made mistakes to foil warlords
¤ Weapons sales are hard cash lifeline for N Korea
¤ For North Korea, missiles pay
¤ India says Pakistan is a rogue nation that supports terror
¤ How a show of force in the war on terror turned into an explosive farce
¤ US warns Iraq it will get nuclear response
¤ Pentagon makes final preparations for Military tribunals
¤ Strong reaction if US attacks Iraq: Nasrullah
¤ Turkey rejects 2005 for EU talks, hints at counter-measure
¤ We'll use nuclear arms, US warns
¤ Iraqi text contains much old material
¤ State's rights? Lott in a right state again
¤ European journalists released from Bangladesh
¤ Bali warning was not good enough, says British committee
¤ South African police nab key rightwing bombing suspects
¤ US journalist excused from testifying at war crimes trial
¤ Yemen says US frees scud missile ship
¤ Bush prepares to authorise mass smallpox vaccination
¤ White supremacist gets 22 years
¤ McDonald's, Bali bombs 'linked'

USA intelligence agencies in plot to oust Venezuela's President
Posted: Thursday, December 12, 2002

VHeadline.com

Uruguayan EP-FA congressman Jose Nayardi says he has information that far-reaching plans have been put into operation by the CIA and other North American intelligence agencies to overthrow Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez Frias within the next 72 hours.

Nayardi says he has received copies of top-secret communications between the Bush administration in Washington and the government of Uruguay requesting the latter's cooperation to support white collar executives and trade union activists "to break down levels of intransigence within the Chavez Frias administration."

In an interview with reporters from the Uruguyan newspaper La Juventud, Nayardi says he observes a domestic-political situation in Venezuela which could easily erupt into a civil war and bloodbath ... "the whole process is a shocking reminder of what happened in Chile in 1973 ... I sincerely hope it does not come to that!"

Nayardi says he does not foresee any immediate foreign military intervention in the Venezuelan situation but warns of a possible escalation if the opposition gets the upper hand over constitutional law and order.

"The problem is that Venezuelan television and major newspapers have been hiding the true fact that there are huge popular uprisings in support of the Chavez Frias government ... now that Venezuelans are beginning to understand that they have been duped by the anti-government media, they are demanding that these information channels should begin to tell the truth!"

Reproduced from:
http://www.vheadline.com/0212/14248.asp

Update : Oct. 27, - Dec. 12, 02
Posted: Wednesday, December 11, 2002

Venezuela Opposition leader says:
"we should not continue to insist on reaching solutions written in the Constitution of the Republic or in any other law"
report © by VHeadline.com Reporters

U.S. Tries to Recruit Uruguay in Coup Plot
Uruguay Official Blows the Whistle
By Vheadline.com December 12, 2002

Is the CIA preparing another coup?
By Bill Vann, Dec. 11, 2002

Racist rage of the Caracas elite
by Richard Gott, Dec. 10, 2002

What Happened In Plaza Altamira?
by Prof. Roldan Tomasz, Dec. 9, 2002

Why Are the Coup Plotters So Impatient? ...
And How Venezuela Can Defeat Them Legally
By Heinz Dieterich Steffan, Dec. 8, 2002

Four Employer-led "General Strikes" and a Coup Attempt Later By Gregory Wilpert, Dec. 4, 2002

Bush Administration Pushes "Regime Change" in Venezuela By Mark Weisbrot, Dec. 3, 2002

Coup attempts continue in Venezuela
- by Bill Vann, October 28, 2002: www.wsws.org

Why Venezuela's Middle Class (for the most part) Opposes Chavez by Gregory Wilpert, Oct. 27, 2002

World News
Posted: Wednesday, December 11, 2002

¤ Mitchell Declines 9/11 Post, Hamilton Steps In
¤ US hands over seized Scud missiles to Yemen
¤ Preemptive Strikes Part Of U.S. Strategic Doctrine
¤ The Railroad Barons Are Back - And This Time They'll Finish the Job
¤ Lott expresses regret for remarks; court filing from 1981 surfaces
¤ Helms defends Lott remarks
¤ Punish FBI, CIA officials who mishandled Sept. 11, panel urges
¤ Annan Says U.N. Not U.S. Puppet Over Iraq Dossier
¤ Iraq claims U.S. tampered with report
¤ U.N. Official Won't Reveal Iraq Suppliers to the Public
¤ US hints at nuclear option in Iraq threat
¤ Exec: U.S. Blackmailing Russian Firms in Iraq
¤ IMF: Israel can cope without US aid
¤ Venezuela: Is the CIA preparing another coup?
¤ U.N. still awaits list of Iraqi scientists
¤ U.S. interceptor missile test over Pacific fails
¤ Schröder faces new Iraq row with US
¤ Diverse Groups Protest Possible Iraq War
¤ Powell to speak Thursday on Arab democracy
¤ Turkey outlines price of co-operation with US
¤ The Problem With Muslims
¤ Henry Kissinger: We Can Do Anything We Want!
¤ 4 Adults, 3-Year-Old Shot Dead in Ariz.
¤ Iraq claims US 'blackmail' to get uncut dossier shows lust for war
¤ US patrol intercepts North Korean missiles
¤ US swaps secrets for uncut arms report
¤ Carter receives award and warns against war
¤ At least 39 killed in Brazil mudslides
¤ Terrorism victims need help after the spotlight dims
¤ Victims before the war
¤ Iraq's conundrum
¤ Stars come out against Bush's war
¤ Iraq fury at US full dossier access
¤ Iraq blasts US for dossier 'blackmail'
¤ UN inspections could last eight months: Iraq
¤ Algeria wooed with more US weapons
¤ Cheney can keep his energy secrets, judge rules
¤ Kim joins protests after US troops cleared of girls' deaths
¤ In the name of God, why are we fighting?

Venezuela: Is the CIA preparing another coup?
Posted: Wednesday, December 11, 2002

By Bill Vann
With a "strike" organized by Venezuela’s employers now entering its second week, there is every indication that the South American country is being subjected to a classic destabilization campaign organized in collaboration with US intelligence.

Having failed to topple Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in a US-backed coup last April, Venezuela's ruling circles, working in conjunction with Washington, are attempting to force him to resign or provoke a new military seizure of power. MORE

Venezuelan Majority Takes to the Streets, Coup Plotters Hide
Posted: Wednesday, December 11, 2002

By Al Giordano
A Narco News Breaking News Editorial
December 10, 2002

These are the hours of immediate history.

As in Eastern Europe 13 years ago, the final defeat of dictatorial power in Venezuela came last night at the doors of its "control rooms" – the TV stations.

On Monday night, the Venezuelan majority - unwilling to allow an upper-class economic coup d’etat that poses dishonestly as a "strike" to unseat its democratically elected government - took to the streets on a scale only seen once before in the nation’s modern history; as they had last April, when they turned back a military coup d’etat.

By early Tuesday morning the masses had every Commercial TV station in the nation surrounded. Their weapons were nonviolent and theatrical: pots, pans, fireworks and thousands of defiant but smiling faces.

Only at one TV installation in one of the outlying provinces - in Maracay State - did the public actually invade the facilities of a station that uses the public airwaves. Everywhere else, including at all the national TV stations in Caracas, immense restraint has been shown by the masses protesting outside of them.

The bluff of the former ruling class and its media – that their top-down imposed sabotage of the Venezuelan economy and oil industry of the past week is somehow a popular "strike" – has been called. The "strike leaders," including corrupt oil union boss Carlos Ortega, have, in recent hours, disappeared from public view, abandoning their own supporters among the upper classes.

To make sure the coup plotters don’t flee the country, the neighbors of Simón Bolívar International Airport near Caracas have surrounded the airport as well. Full Article

World News
Posted: Tuesday, December 10, 2002

¤ Judge taped using slur will fight removal
¤ Anti-war protesters rally across U.S.
¤ Iraq file lists suppliers of dangerous arms
¤ Russians warn US over trying to oust Saddam
¤ Israel Threatens to Launch Nuclear Attack on Islamic Sites
¤ Venezuelan Coup tonight?
¤ Iraq Indicates Names of Arms Suppliers in Document
¤
¤ German Coalition at Odds Over Help for U.S. in Iraq Attack
¤ UN row erupts over Iraq dossier
¤ UN members resent denial to Iraq dossier
¤ Iraq declaration may embarrass UN
¤ US upsets UN by seizing Iraq's arms declaration
¤ Lott Apologizes for Comments on Thurmond
¤ European Satellite Plunges Into Ocean
¤ Celebrities to Send Bush Anti-War Letter
¤ Open letter to Rev. Pat Robertson
¤ Cherie Blair admits intervention in Foster case
¤ US wins battle to see Iraq's unedited weapons report
¤ We tried to build an atom bomb, says Iraqi weapons chief
¤ Are the American hawks pulling back from war?
¤ Norwegians key to resolution of civil war in Sri Lanka
¤ US arms Algeria for fight against Islamic terror
¤ US and UK admit lack of 'killer' proof
¤ US lies and duplicity to bring an end to the Vietnam war
¤ Car bomb wounds 32 in Colombia
¤ British group mounts court challenge to Iraq war
¤ US launches huge dry run for war
¤ Cleric 'sowed seeds of Australian Islamic state'
¤ Bush told to reveal all on Iraq
¤ No smoking gun to silence Saddam
¤ Arafat says Israelis must withdraw before poll
¤ Defiant Chavez may call out troops

People Rise Up Against Commercial Media
Posted: Tuesday, December 10, 2002

The People Rise Up Against Venezuela's Commercial Media
Peaceful Demonstrations that Frighten the Corrupt and Powerful

By Alex Main
Special to the Narco News Bulletin

An amazing sight: Thousands of people have surrounded the headquarters of five commercial television stations (RCTV, Globovision, TVS, Meridiano TV, Venevision) and are treating them to one hell of a cazerolazo (pot-banging). They are shouting "medios golpistas!" (putschist media) and "terroristas!". The channels have stopped (probably only briefly) broadcasting anti governmental propaganda and are at last giving some pro governmental demonstrations some coverage.

The television commentators keep reminding their audience of the grave threat to their lives and their profession. The OAS secretary general, Cesar Gaviria, who is here to "mediate" negociations between the government and the opposition, just made a declaration in which he condemns these "assaults on press freedom" (this phone declaration is being broadcast over and over by the TV stations that are surrounded by demonstrators).

But these declarations somehow fall flat when you see the images of the demonstrators: many women, old men (banging away impressively for their age), very ordinary looking citizens, many still in their work clothes. No sticks, no guns, no people trying to climb over the fences and walls of the establishments. Just peaceful groups of citizens saying: we've had enough, how about showing a little bit of us now instead of always showing rich folks demonstrating in the east of Caracas and instead of trying by any means possible to make your audiences think that this government is undemocratic, dictatorial, and "castro-communist."

These people are of course being depicted as mobs of uneducated, bloodthirsty Chavistas that dream of savagely attacking journalists.

On previous nights the well-bred eastern caraqueños were doing their own potbanging in front of Channel 8, the state-run television station that broadcasts "Alo Presidente," Chavez's weekly radio/TV show. This received no coverage from the commercial media and provoked no comments from Cesar Gaviria. Go figure.

Reproduced from:
http://www.narconews.com/Issue26/article557.html

Venezuelan Coup tonight?
Posted: Tuesday, December 10, 2002

Emailed to Trinicenter from a respectable source. We are withholding the name of the source and are publishing this as a possible serious warning.

The information below that concerns a coup plan for tonight is based on a report issued by Venezuelan military intelligence. It was forwarded to me by someone who works closely with the military intelligence at the Miraflores Presidential Palace. Let's hope they're wrong.

Se ha conocido un plan de la oposición golpista para ser ejecutado esta misma noche que consiste en atacar el Palacio de Miraflores con cohetes AT-4 y fuego de fusilería, y,un breve tiempo después atacar a a su propia gente que los ahupa en la Plaza Altamira, con la finalidad de montar un show mediático con el cual piensan culpar al gobierno de una masacre y promover el alzamiento de los militares en contra del Presidente Chávez.

Adcionalmente pretenden dar a la luz un video DONDE APARECERÍAN MILITARES AFIRMANDO QUE EL PRESIDENTE HA RENUNCIADO.

Google Translation

A plan has been known the opposition coup participant to be executed this same night that consists of attacking the Palace of Miraflores with rockets AT-4 and fire of fusilade, and, a brief time later to attack its own people who ahupa in the Altamira Seat, with the purpose of mounting a mediatic show with which they think to blame the government of a massacre and to promote the rise of the military against President Chávez. Adcionalmente tries to give to the light a video WHERE the MILITARY WOULD APPEAR AFFIRMING THAT the PRESIDENT HAS RESIGNED.

World News
Posted: Monday, December 9, 2002

¤ US develops response to Iraq report
¤ Blair signals readiness to act against Iraq
¤ Noam Chomsky Analyzes The Bush Administration
¤ Bush directs 92 million in aid to Iraqi opposition
¤ U.S. Scrambles to Control Access to Iraq Weapons
¤ Iraq urges US to let world see evidence
¤ Lawmakers Call for U.S. Info on Iraq
¤ Iraq to USA: Put Up or Shut Up!
¤ Lebanon adds voice as Iran and Syria oppose US war
¤ Sharon: Arafat 'should not go to Bethlehem'
¤ Russia, China, and India – the anti-supremacy triangle?
¤ 'Al-Qaida tape' lays claim to Kenyan attacks
¤ U.S., Others to Get Complete Iraq Papers
¤ Permanent War State
¤ Blair was 'unaware' wife used blind trust to buy flats
¤ Ivory Coast falls into civil war
¤ Turkish inclusion would destroy EU, says Stoiber
¤ Kostunica slams govt for polls rigging
¤ Belgrade 'will not send more accused to war tribunal'
¤ Bush doll becomes talking point
¤ Iraq challenges US: Prove we still have WMD
¤ A welcome shift: no evidence, no war
¤ Not such a super power after all
¤ Economist tallies swelling cost of Israel to US
¤ Israeli settlements 'barrier to peace'
¤ Jewish settlers in Hebron claim they have history on their side
¤ Israeli agents accused of creating fake al-Qaeda cell
¤ America demands access to Iraq report
¤ Conman ordered out of country after emails embarrass Blairs
¤ Venezuelans support embattled president
¤ Infinite universe given the flat Earth treatment
¤ Iraq's 12,000-page innocence report
¤ US withholds weapons data from inspectors
¤ Burden of proof lies with US
¤ Bush wields axe to save his job
¤ Bush needs Turkey to get to Iraq

The Fire Down Below
Posted: Sunday, December 8, 2002

December 08, 2002
By Raffique Shah

FOR the discerning eye in those among us who lived through the tense years of the Cold War, the events in Venezuela are playing themselves out in classical State Department styling. With international eyes focused on the showdown in Iraq where the Americans are clearly setting the stage for yet another invasion, this time to unseat Saddam Hussein and replace him with a White House-friendly regime, not many people outside of South America and some Caribbean countries are bothered about the seemingly permanent state of unrest that has gripped Caracas. And even here many believe that Hugo Chavez looked for his troubles, so let him fend for himself.

Few people recall that here was a young rebel who defied the odds of a coup-maker and won some 80 per cent of the popular vote in two successive elections. Or that in the process, he all but annihilated the traditional parties that had controlled Venezuela's politics for decades, sharing between them the spoils of an oil-rich nation in which the bulk of its citizens live in squalor. He was seen as the strongman who would deliver the downtrodden from a state of persistent poverty. He would stop runaway corruption that has bedevilled resource-rich countries like his own, Nigeria, Angola and Brazil, to name a handful, in which the leaders looted the treasuries in a most vulgar manner.

Yet, in a short time we saw this immensely popular president being faced with protests against his rule. Firstly, there were the middle-class housewives, usually representative of the old order trying to resuscitate the parties that protected their interests at the expense of the mass of the population. Then there were the "colonels", meaning mainly high-ranking officers in the armed forces, who started their assault by speaking out publicly against Chavez, and later actually pulling off a short-lived palace coup.

Later, powerful trade union leaders threw their weight behind the protestors. They summoned their members to march against Chavez. Over the past few days they have conducted a general strike. Independent BBC reports coming out of Caracas spoke of limited support for the strike. Thus far, Chavez has managed to hold on to office by using a clever blend of tactical moves and draconian measures against his opponents. He used the National Guard to seize control of the Caracas metropolitan police, a tool in the hands of one his most bitter opponents, the city's Mayor Alfredo Pena. Last Thursday, he ordered armed personnel to take over one of over forty oil tankers in Maracaibo on which the captain and crew had joined the strike. And he has declared the national oil company a strategic asset, using that to put it under some measure of military control.

In the midst of it all, the OAS has intervened. The organisation's head, Cesar Gaviria, has been in Caracas for some time now trying to work out an accommodation between the president and his opponents. The latter are calling for a referendum on Chavez's presidency, which the OAS seems to be inclined towards. But the seemingly indefatigable president has met all the challenges with the courage and wiles of a professional military officer, again, cleverly blended with populist support from the barrios where the poor stand to benefit most from his radical approach to the re-distribution of that country's immense wealth. Many see him as a dictator-in-the-making. For many more, he is a saviour.

Realistically, Chavez's chances of survival, of remaining President, are not good. I started this column pointing fingers at the State Department, an arm of the US government that supervises the subversion of governments that are deemed as dangerous to US interests. The CIA is usually over-active in such countries, often equipped with generous budgets that allow for opponents of the regime to acquire both the tools of resistance and considerable sums of money in their bank accounts. There are those who believe that the CIA no longer exists, or if it does, it has gone "clean". Perish that thought. Especially when you are looking at a country whose oil supplies are critical to the US economy, Venezuela and Mexico being the two "biggies" in the business that lie close to America.

In the past, these agencies have used an almost textbook approach to destabilizing a "hostile" government. The business sector and conservative politicians are their "weapons of choice" these days: they always were. But time was when the military, through its senior officers who were "recruited" while they studied in the US, were the first line of offence. Note that whenever a strike is called in Venezuela, central Caracas promptly shuts down. I won't be surprised if the striking "colonels" have been generously compensated for their brazen defiance of military norms. And many trade unionists, like the military, have been properly groomed by the CIA to do the dirty work of sabotaging the economy by politically motivated strikes.

For those who believe that the picture I'm painting is a flight of fancy of an "old leftist", they should read what happened in Guyana when Cheddi Jagan's PPP first came to power in that country in the 1950s. One of the first CIA officers to expose the Agency's modus operandi was Phillip Agee, who wrote the book "Inside The Company". In that "diary" of events when he was posted in South America, he noted the Agency's "victory" in Guyana when Jagan was removed from office the second time around. During the Cold War, both Russia and America moved aggressively to subvert governments they did not approve of, or those of strategic interests that appeared to be going astray.

That scenario is precisely what is being currently played out in Venezuela. Chavez may be popular, and he does seem to still control support of the masses. But he has come up against "Predator V" whose appetite for oil is insatiable. So Venezuela's vast reserves are critical to the US, just as three-million-barrels-a-day of Iraqi oil would dampen prices of crude. In the end, it's the interests of America and Americans that count. Forget the starving masses of South America or elsewhere, and forget countries that don't have oil.

Chavez, poor fella, faces a most uncertain future. And while the assault appears to come from the mass of Venezuelans, a closer examination will reveal the bloody hand of the CIA, always ready to wreak havoc and shed blood-in America's interest, of course. The saving factor for Chavez is that in both Brazil and Equador, populist politicians have come to power via elections. America now faces a wild fire "down below". Maybe that will work in Chavez's favour.

Also at:
http://www.vheadline.com/0212/14190.asp

World News
Posted: Sunday, December 8, 2002

¤ US preparing for preemptive war
¤ Hypocrisy or democracy
¤ Dirty Money Schemes To Steal Election for Sharon
¤ US Seeks One Excuse For War In 12,000 Pages Of Denial
¤ Lack of Hard Evidence Complicates U.S. Aims
¤ Gulf war stars CNN as itself
¤ Schroeder at risk from US request to NATO over Iraq
¤ Bangladesh Rules Out al-Qaida in Blasts
¤ Unknown Lebanese group attacks Israeli soldiers
¤
¤ Israelis Broaden Settlements on Palestinian land
¤ Israeli president warns Germans against anti-Semitism
¤ As EU, UN Condemn Israel
Tel Aviv Forges Al-Qaeda to Justify Its Policies
¤ Glenda Jackson: 'You need a reason for killing people'
¤ The Voice and Face of God (vis-a-vis U.S. Spook Technology)
¤ Nobel Winner Carter Says Iraq Moves to Avert War
¤ Al Qaeda Claims Kenya Attacks, Vows More ???
¤ We have no weapons of mass destruction. Your move, Mr Bush
27 files, 11,807 pages, 352 appendices, 529 megabytes on CD-Roms
and one message from Iraq ...
¤ Canada: It's not our fault we're morally superior to U.S.
¤ Saddam spills out 'the truth' in megabytes
¤ 'There are times when a nation has to go to war. This is not the time'
¤ The most dangerous dossier is the one marked 'War'
¤ US seeks one excuse for war in 12,000 pages of denial
¤ Weapons chief censors Baghdad arms declaration
¤ Bush in clash with UN over Iraq weapons dossier
¤ UN chief: We can get to the truth
¤ Suspects return to island of terror
¤ Palestinians arrest al-Qaeda 'poseurs'
¤ Moscow furious at Chechen bailout
¤ Israel sets curbs on UN vehicles

Human rights organizations issue communique
Posted: Saturday, December 7, 2002

11 Venezuelan human rights organizations belonging to the Foro por la Vida umbrella have issued a communique outlining their position in the political conflict and crisis of governance. Reiterating its conviction that the main problems of the country are social exclusion, institutional weakness, disassociation between politics and ethics and intolerance, Foro por la Vida says the current debate seems to forget the fact that the problems are age-old structural problems and do not depend on the resignation or permanence of one President.
"What is important now is to reduce the level of political violence and the only way to do this in a democracy is consulting the citizens about the future."

The group asks government and opposition to Reach an agreement quickly about the characteristics of the consultation Collaborate to ensure a trustworthy National Electoral College (CNE) and Electoral Register Recognize each other as valid representatives of diverse and legitimate visions of Venezuela Drop sectorial interests in favor of collective interests.

The absence of agreement between government and opposition about the kind of consultation is a stimulus for violence.

The group praises and supports the efforts of Organization of American States (OAS) general secretary Cesar Gaviria to push dialogue forward and values his patience, mediation and concern for peace.

As for the national stoppage, it is an exercise of the right to protest but calling on the Armed Force (FAN) to take sides in the conflict cannot be justified. "We question Federation of Chambers of Industry & Commerce (Fedecamaras) president and Confederation of Trade Unions (CTV) president for calling on the FAN to intervene.

"Like every right, the right to strike and protest are not unlimited ... as stipulated in International Labor organization (ILO) agreements, essential services must be guaranteed by the State and the private sector ... that implies negotiation between the two sides to guarantee the services in benefit of the community."

The group notes situations of social intolerance against companies or businesses that decided not to join the stoppage ..."incidents such as these involving the use of violence, must be investigated and punished."

The National Guard (GN) without any type of mediation dispersed a pacific protest on December 2-3 in front of Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) Chuao HQ using tear gas and pellets. The government’s argument that the GN acted within the law because of the security zone decree (La Carlota Air Base is in the vicinity) is questioned ... "the decree itself is under question and therefore, using the decree to justify restricting a pacific protest is under question as well ... "the incident must be investigated and punished."

Foro por la Vida calls on the Public Powers to make a speedy decision regarding the investigations and calls on the government and local authorities to take relevant measures to guarantee the exercise of every citizen’s human rights, both those who have joined the stoppage as well as those who decided to go to work.

"We call on all employers not to violate their worker’s rights to receive their salary and working timetables."

In a message to the media (State and private) the group asks them to foster an environment favorable to understanding, publish diversity of ideas and opinions about the current crisis and condemn any alteration of constitutional order and violence.

http://www.vheadline.com/p1

Patently absurd: It is now the turn of ATTA
Posted: Saturday, December 7, 2002

By Devinder Sharma

At a time when the World Trade Organization (WTO) is forcing developing countries to implement the trade-related intellectual property rights regime, the United States patent on "a method for producing atta flour -- typically used to produce Asian breads such as chapatti and roti " -- exposes the absurdity of the entire patenting regime.

A broad-based US patent (# 6,098,905, dated Aug 8, 2000) was granted to a Nebraska-based private company, ConAgra Inc. Interestingly, the so-called inventers - Ali Salem, Sarath K. Katta and Sambasiva R. Chigurupati - have Asian ancestry. Their 'invention', if at all it can be called an invention, relates to a method for producing wheat flour or atta. The novel method that they have created for making wheat flour and subsequently patented 'covers changes, variations, modifications, and other uses and applications which do not depart from the spirit and scope of the invention'.

And what have they invented - a method to produce atta that includes "passing an amount of wheat through a device designed to crack the wheat so as to produce an amount of cracked wheat, followed by passing the cracked wheat through at least two smooth rolls designed to grind the cracked wheat into flour, with the smooth roll importantly grinding the wheat to a smaller particle size and shearing the wheat to cause starch damage in the finished atta flour." Isn't that a great 'invention' that merits a US patent? Isn't this similar to the manufacturing process being used by thousands of roller flourmills (many of them modernized) that exists throughout South Asia?

Since the 'inventors' have drawn a patent that covers the 'spirit and scope' of the invention, any modification and variation to this 'invention' too is patented. In other words, ConAgra has in one broad sweep ensured that the wheat flourmills throughout Asia (and in several other parts of the world) come under its monopoly control over the technology they have been using. With many big and even multinational food companies (including giants like Cargill) moving into the atta segment, ConAgra can literally make hay while we continue to consume chapattis and rotis. The patent application accepts that the requirement for wheat flour in countries like India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Indonesia will grow in the years to come, and so therefore the company sees a huge market.

The patent application uses all the scientific jargons that are normally used in establishing novelty and its industrial application. Preliminary tests were conducted at the Kansas State University (US) and subsequent tests were carried out by the United Milling Systems of Denmark and of course at the ConAgra Milling Research facility in Omaha, Nebraska. One wonders why the company didn't think it proper to conduct these trials in India and by involving the best judge of the atta technology - the housewives. Their preference for a particular brand of atta is based on the kind and quality of chapattis that it makes. Fundamentally, a housewife will tell you that the best atta is the one, which is not 'hot' when it comes out from the flourmill.

In India, a majority of the big atta mills use the roller processing. Some like Golden Seal, Annapurna and Captain Cook use the stone milling technology. Interestingly, the starch damage percentage in the stone milling technology is much higher than the roller mills - 15 per cent against 5 to 9 per cent in rolling mills. This makes it suitable for the dough making, and at the same time the protein percentage hovers between 10-11 percent, almost equal or higher than the roller mills. Many of the roller mills in India use three rollers to crack wheat grains and grind the atta and therefore find nothing novel in the patent.

This is not the first time that the US or for that matter many other developed countries have granted patents that makes a mockery of the entire IPR regime. And that too at times when the patent system claims to look into three specific criteria - novelty, utility and its non-obviousness - before granting a monopoly control over a technological invention or method. Multinational Nestle has already been granted a European patent on vegetable pulao and parboiled rice. When asked what was novel about the patent, all that the multinational replied was that it has developed a 'unique' method of cooking vegetable pulao. In a country where hundreds of different recipes for making vegetable pulao already exists, one wonders what is the 'uniqueness' that Nestle claims to have developed. Patent examiners should have thrown out such a process patent application at first sight.

More recently, George Williamson Ltd., of England had filed for a patent on the entire manufacturing process of tea, from the plucking of leaves to its final packaging in chests, prompting the Tea Board of India to launch an offensive to counter the monopoly control over a process that has been in vogue throughout the country. So much so that a drug multinational, Burrough Welcome, has drawn a patent on the commonly used Oral Rehydration Therapy (ORT) by health workers. Irrespective of the fact that the therapy has been in vogue for ages in the developing countries but was first reported in an academic research paper in Bangladesh in 1971-72, and since then even the UNDP gives recognition to the Bangladesh researchers for the 'invention'. With a minor tinkering, the drug multinational subsequently got the patent.

Many IPR experts believe that one way to counter such unfair patents is to document the traditional knowledge that already exists and to make that available to the patent offices throughout the globe. What is not being understood is that it is perfectly right to 'educate' the patent lawyers who want to learn of the 'prior art' that exists elsewhere but what about those who refuse to see beyond a patent application. After all, it is difficult to imagine that the patent examiners in the US Patent & Trade Mark Office had never known what wheat flour is and so wasn't even aware of the process of producing it. There is something called 'common sense', and that cannot be built by producing digital libraries on traditional knowledge and commonly used production processes.

(Devinder Sharma is a New Delhi-based food and trade policy analyst)

World News
Posted: Saturday, December 7, 2002

¤ Iraq hands over weapons dossier
¤ Bombs hit cinemas in Bangladesh
¤ Students clash with police in Iran
¤ Bombs hit cinemas in Bangladesh
¤ Iraq unveils 12,000-page weapons dossier
¤ Iraq's weapons declaration to go to U.N.
¤ US ready to raise stakes on Iraq arms
¤ December 7, 1941: A Setup from the Beginning
¤ U.N. to keep tight lid on Iraqi declaration
¤ Bush says war with Iraq last option
¤ Kuwaitis nervous as war games start to look like the real thing
¤ Why did an Israeli soldier shoot UK official in the back?
¤ Israeli helicopter attack on Gaza kills two UN workers
¤ Friend and foe angered by Sharon's peace plan
¤ US, Russia marching on Central Asia
¤ Israel's Mossad blamed Lebanon car bombing
¤ The Israelization of America
¤ Cheney gives O'Neill the boot
¤ Anti-Chavez demonstrations set for weekend
¤ US set to demand UN action
¤ Israel probes bank transfer scandal
¤ Dismay as al-Qaeda issues internet declaration of war on Israel
¤ Nothing to hide: Saddam tables phone book
¤ US anxious to interview scientists

Startling revelations and relevant questions
Posted: Saturday, December 7, 2002

Writing in this week's Quinto Dia Miguel Salazar says, "a foreign intelligence agency has been charged with controlling delivery of money from a powerful international economic community to the axis of subversion encouraged by a strengthened ultra-right ... the agency is responsible for actions aimed at capturing sympathy among the military ... one of its delegations was expelled from the State Political & Security (DISIP) Police as soon as the director appointed by Caldera left ... it's estimated that there are more than an hundred agents on the payroll ... the agency's political action section has recruited top figures in Venezuela giving them considerable financial resources ... opposition leaders, mayors, State Governors, trade unionists, NGOs, human rights activists, church leaders, parliamentarians, oil sector figures and government officials receive money ... the connection to the government is through a lady close to an influential official. More serious: there is a special ops division specialized in psychological warfare, assassinations, sabotage and paramilitary actions ... psychological warfare and infiltration is centered on the media."

Salazar calls for an investigation into malfeasance and swindles in Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) refineries abroad: He asks the following questions: If the latest of PDVSA reports show fraud in outsourcing contracts, why hasn't the board released the amount of damage to national patrimony?

Is it true or false that through violating the Central Bank of Venezuela (BCV)-PDVSA exchange rate agreement $10 billion was sidetracked from fiscal control?

Was there or not over-invoicing in the production of barrels per day not subject to OPEC regulation?

Did or did not PDVSA subtract dividends belonging to shareholders?
True or false that the deficit reached around $9 billion?
Is there a 5% increase above costs and transport (PDV-Marina) favoring clients of the executive payroll (managers and executives)?

The role of NGOs in the latest conspiracy. "In the so-called hidden agenda of the new scheme of conspiracy Queremos Elegir, Cofavic and other NGOs of lesser importance will play a leading role. Their importance lies in the double role of behavior moving between non-violence and active conspiracy ... some paradox!"

Questions on the events of April 11:

Did you know that according to the latest edition of the New York "The Nation" Rear Admiral Carlos Molina Tamayo received $100,000 from a bank in Miami"?

Did you know that General Efrain Vasquez Velasco was vetoed as Pedro Carmona's Defense Minister because he refused the deal of Hummer vans for the Armed Force (FAN)?

Did you know that the Banco Industrial de Venezuela (BIV) had refused Pedro Carmona a millionaire loan?

Did you know that public disorders last Tuesday (December 3) were led by a family member (on motorbike and armed with a shotgun) of Carmona's Miraflores Military Barracks chief?

Did you know that a well-known radio Christian Socialist commentator is connected to 2 Salvadorians that took part in April 11 and said to be murder squad members specially trained to act in Latin America?
Did you know that on Tuesday foreign-looking motor bikers that had been around for April 11 reappeared?

http://www.vheadline.com/p1

World News
Posted: Friday, December 6, 2002

¤ If we cannot find Osama, bomb Iraq
¤ Abrams Back in Capital Fray at Center of Mideast Battle
¤ The question the White House hasn't asked
¤ Washington won't release evidence of Iraqi weapons
¤ Senior weapons inspector criticises USA
¤ U.S. Aide Urges Indonesia on Terror
¤ Anti-US protests in Seoul
¤ Al Qaeda Web Site Says Israel New Target -Post
¤ Saudi Minister: Jews Behind 9/11 Attacks
¤ UNRWA workers among 10 killed in Israeli Gaza raid
¤ Muslim Feast in Gaza Turns to Massacre
¤ Kofi Ananm a Bigot for criticizing Israel?
¤ UN demands IDF accountability
¤ Hizbollah Rejects Accusation It Works with Al Qaeda
¤ Suffocated, Beaten, Hooded & Shackled
¤ US insists Baghdad has banned weapons but allies cool to possible war
¤ Iraq Arms Report Will Require Analysis
¤ Iran Leader Won't OK Any U.S. War on Iraq
¤ Lebanese cleric lashed out at US for backing Israel
¤ U.N. team sets trap in Baghdad
¤ I won't say sorry to Asia, says Australia PM
¤ Why Bush May Put Baghdad on the Back Burner
¤ Mass Murder and Iraq
¤ Democrat hawk whose ghost guides Bush
¤ Israel accused over Gaza killings
¤ Baghdad Is Arming Citizens for War
¤ Israeli Helicopter Missile Strike Kills 5
¤ Inspectors angered by US claims over Iraqi weapons
¤ With runners and whispers, al-Qa'ida outfoxes US forces
¤ Conciliatory Saddam says let inspectors do their work
¤ The politics of being strong and wrong
¤ US in world of its own
¤ Inspectors angered by US claims over Iraqi weapons
¤ US image tarnished by motives in Iraq

Two dead, twenty injured following gun attack
Posted: Friday, December 6, 2002

BREAKING NEWS:

Two dead and latest reports claim twenty injured after four gunmen started firing indiscriminately into the crowd at Rebel HQ Plaza Altamira at just after 7:00 p.m. local time. Chacao municipal police have arrested two suspects. The drama started with an apparent explosion in a rebel ammunition dump under the Four Seasons Hotel, followed by a second detonation on Avenida San Juan Bosco.

The gunmen are described as opposition hoodlums who used automatic weapons against defenseless passers-by on Avenida Francisco Miranda. Interior & Justice Minister Diosdado Cabello has come out strongly to repudiate what is now being dubbed the Plaza Altamira Massacre and has ordered an immediate and thorough investigation to establish responsibilities.

Government officials are denying opposition claims that the attack was ordered by President Hugo Chavez Frias.

Meanwhile Organization of American States Secretary General Cesar Gaviria has been removed from the Caracas Melia Hotel under heavy security escort and it is believed he is being rushed to a secret location for his own safety.

How Far Away Is The Declaration Of A State Of Emergency?
Posted: Friday, December 6, 2002

Editorial commentary © by VHeadline.com
Business News Editor Robert Rudnicki

Friday, December 6, 2002 -- With the opposition strike moving into its fifth day, the government has ordered the military to take control of several key oil facilities ... the battle for Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) has begun in earnest.

The eventual winner of the battle over the company that generates over 50% of the government's revenue will no doubt win the war, but at what cost?

Let's face it, the situation within PDVSA was hardly peace and harmony before this strike action, but it's getting more and more polarized each day.

On Thursday, President Hugo Chavez Frias announced that he had been in contact with military commanders in states with significant petroleum facilities to step up security and, where necessary, to take control of operations ... but the question is: can the military achieve this, and, if so, do they have the knowledge and skills to be able to keep PDVSA running normally?

My guess is no.

Before the start of the strike, the government announced that it had a contingency plan in place that would act as a back up to operations if it was seen as necessary.

So OK, during the first few days of the strike the government probably failed to take it too seriously, and many labeled it a failure.

However, since Wednesday, it's become clear that the opposition's change in tactics ... to concentrate on bringing the petroleum sector to a standstill ... when the numbers of strikers were beginning to dwindle, has largely paid off.

Assuming the government was caught off guard by this change in direction, I think we can now safely say it has sat up and is definitely beginning to take notice.

That being the case, within the next 24-48 hours we should see how solid the contingency plan really is, but with government representatives calling on Organization of American States (OAS) secretary general, Cesar Gaviria to reinitiate talks (despite previously insisting that negotiations could only resume when the strike had been called off), it seems unlikely that the government is confident it can regain control of production ... unless of course it is just trying to buy some time to reorganize sectors of PDVSA to prevent such strike action in the future.

Assuming that this is not a delaying tactic, one wonders how far the government will go for a compromise ... and how far the opposition's demands will have been raised following their perceived success of forcing the government to a standstill.

The most likely outcomes will be either a declaration of a state of exception ... despite insistences by the President that "we are a long way away from taking such action" ... or the less likely taking-up of the proposal from National Assembly vice president Rafael Simon Jimenez, and several other deputies, suggesting constitutional reform towards the possibility of early elections.

Only time will tell.

More News at Vheadline

http://www.vheadline.com/0212/14182.asp
There are rumors in certain press saying that (Brazilian) Mr. Lula da Silva will "support" the application of the "Carta Democratica" in Venezuela. I can confirm that this information does not have any basis whatsoever.

NATIONAL NEWS:

National general strike extended by another 24 hours.
http://www.vheadline.com/0212/14183.asp
Ortega would not be drawn on the possible length of the strike, but opposition leaders have previously stated that the strike would be called off as and when the government returned to the negotiating table ready to discuss early elections.

Pro-government supporters hold mass protest outside PDVSA offices in Caracas.
http://www.vheadline.com/0212/14183.asp
Protestors slammed striking PDVSA workers, insisting the company belongs to the nation and should not be used as a political tool.

Venezuelan Navy takes control of oil tanker.
http://www.vheadline.com/0212/14183.asp
Although reports remain mixed, it appears that five other tankers may be joining the Pilin Leon's work stoppage.

President announces increased militarization of PDVSA to guarantee supplies.
http://www.vheadline.com/0212/14184.asp
It is still uncertain if the military will be able to have a significant enough impact to restore the situation to normality.

Opposition leaders accuse government of stepping up violence.
http://www.vheadline.com/0212/14184.asp
Fedecamaras president Carlos Fernandez accuses the government of placing snipers in PDVSA buildings in Caracas, with the instructions to fire on opposition protestors.

All workers are entitled to pay, insists Fedecamaras president Carlos Fernandez.
http://www.vheadline.com/0212/14184.asp
According to Fernandez, since the strike began it has been clearly stated that employees would have their salaries paid.

Opposition march in support of PDVSA suspended due to security issues.
http://www.vheadline.com/0212/14185.asp
Pro-government supporters had been demonstrating outside the La Campina offices for most of Thursday, and it was decided not to risk confrontation between the two increasingly polarized sides.

CURRENT POLITICS:

National Assembly denounces sabotage at PDVSA.
http://www.vheadline.com/0212/14185.asp
"We call upon the President of the Republic to use a strong hand to deal with the subversive plan being led by Carlos Fernandez president of Fedecamaras, Carlos Ortega of the CTV and Coordinadora de Opposicion."

National Assembly vice president proposes compromise on electoral issue.
http://www.vheadline.com/0212/14185.asp
"Due to the escalation and rigidity of positions, the opposition with its consultative referendum and the government with its revocatory referendum, the most feasible thing is to look for a mechanism that allows for more flexibility."

Government calls for a return to negotiations.
http://www.vheadline.com/0212/14186.asp
The government's decision comes "as the country is clamoring for peace."

INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMACY:

Venezuelan leader to have breakfast with Venezuelan President elect.
http://www.vheadline.com/0212/14186.asp
Ricardo Kotscho, says the meeting will take place at the Presidential property in Granja do Torto, on the outskirts of Brasilia.

PETROLEUM, OIL & GAS:

Oil price continues to spiral as strike continues.
http://www.vheadline.com/0212/14186.asp
Many analysts now forecast oil processing rates will drop substantially in Venezuela, and the effect of a severe loading delays at many export terminals will have an impact on exports.

Government guarantees petroleum production.
http://www.vheadline.com/0212/14187.asp
"Because of the pressure we are facing, we will have to take certain decisions and remove those that are not willing to continue working in these facilities."

http://www.petroleumworld.com/storyT504.htm
Venezuela´s strike: Oil industry in shutdown procedure on strike's fifth day.

http://www.petroleumworld.com/story9901.htm
Government to change pilots on oil tankers.

http://www.petroleumworld.com/story9912.htm
Venezuela oil basket up 44 cents to $23.94/bbl.

http://www.petroleumworld.com/story9913.htm
PDVSA Amuay refinery begins shutdown.

http://www.petroleumworld.com/story9914.htm
Venezuela strike, force majeure endanger debt outlook.

http://www.petroleumworld.com/story9915.htm
Venezuela govt backs down, asks for talks with opposition.

http://www.petroleumworld.com/story9916.htm
WSJ: Strike in Venezuela paralyzes oil exports.

http://www.petroleumworld.com/story9917.htm
Venezuela's strike leaders plan more protests.

http://www.petroleumworld.com/story9918.htm
Curacao refinery feeling impact of strike.

http://www.petroleumworld.com/story9919.htm
LATIN BEAT: Path out of crisis becomes clearer

http://www.petroleumworld.com/storyT501.htm
Venezuela declares force majeure for petroleum products.

TRADE & COMMERCE:

Transmerida starts work on Merida trolley bus network.
http://www.vheadline.com/0212/14187.asp
According to Infrastructure Ministry forecasts, once the system is completed it should transport around 7,000 passengers every hour.

World News
Posted: Wednesday, December 4, 2002

¤ Seven dead as Israeli Forces bomb Gaza
¤ Left and right bashes Sharon electioneering two-state plan
¤ Three houses destroyed by Russian artillery fire in Ingush village
¤ Qaeda hand seen in Karachi blast

US propaganda fuelled the first Gulf war.
It will fuel this one too - and the risks are even greater

¤ O Henry Prelude To Another Cover-Up
¤ Macedonian consulate attack kills three
¤ U.S. Refuses to Hand Over Marine in Japan Rape Case
¤ North Korea could have a nuclear bomb. What will Bush do?
¤ Iraq asks for independent monitors
¤ UN extends oil for food programme
¤ Britain calls for a US-led Middle East peace force
¤ US 'absolutely sure' Iraq has weapons of mass destruction
¥ How about giving this evidence to the UN
¤ White House scornful as UN inspectors claim early results
¤ Washington maligning Saudis, says Riyadh
¥ It's the Saudi Base, Stupid!
¤ Inspectors find only mushrooms amid ruins of bombed reactor
¤ U.S. set to cite Iraq for breach
¤ Saddam: Give inspectors a chance
¤ Israel says al-Qaeda active in Gaza
¤ Settlements must be halted, says US envoy
¤ Israel orders more Palestinians to vacate homes
¤ Messages to al-Qaida Called Fake
¤ Al Qaeda: 'Gift' of terror on its way
¤ Total Poindexter Awareness: essential information
¤ U.S. Official: NATO Supports Iraq Strike
¤ Bush fails to win over sceptical Europeans
¤ Iraq: Inspectors Spying for U.S., Israel
¤ Powerful Explosion Kills Two in Pakistan
¤ Chechen rebels phoned Gulf during siege
¤ Egg Farms Attacked As Cruel to Chickens
¤ HBO Recycling Gulf War Hoax?
¤
¤ Inspectors find only mushrooms amid ruins of bombed reactor
¤ Don't be hasty, UN head tells Bush
¤ Turkey blocks US troop plan
¤ Putin brings offer of nuclear-tipped arms deal to India
¤ Berlusconi implicated in deal with godfathers

World News
Posted: Wednesday, December 4, 2002

¤ N Korea rejects nuclear checks
¤ Material Breach: US Crimes in Iraq
¤ Environmental group Rift Opens Over Stance on Iraq
¤ Lies, Damned Lies And Terror Warnings
¤ Method To His Madness -- Why Bush Is Obsessed With Saddam
¤ Hezbollah calls for global attacks
¤ Why Ivory Coast? Why not Chechnya?
¤ Turkey Won't Commit to Allowing Access
¤ U.N. Teams Search Saddam's Palace
¤ Why war is now on the back burner
¤ Byproduct that blights Caspian life
¤ Oil money threatens to make killing fields of Kazakhstan
¤ Use brains, not brawn
¤ Israelis kill woman, 95, at checkpoint
¤ We are being set up for a war against Saddam
¤ Shoot Citizens, Ask Questions, Then Get A Lawyer (Maybe)
¤ Britain and US step up bombing in Iraq
¤ Russia praises Iraq for weapons co-operation
¤ Israel's role in China's new warplane
¤ UN demands end to Israeli 'killing and beating' of staff
¤ Saudis try to prove war against terror is their fight
¤ Palestinian woman, 95, is shot dead by soldiers
¤ Meacher: US policy on aid is 'wicked'
¤ Bush administration sabotages inspections
¤ UN team inspects Saddam palace
¤ Russia praises Iraq for weapons co-operation
¤ US Links Kenya Missile Launcher to al-Qaeda
¤ Spectre of smallpox attack looms for US

World News
Posted: Wednesday, December 4, 2002

¤ Peru Court Strikes Down Anti-Terror Laws
¤ Bush rallies troops for war
¤ Asia's shifting alliances
¤ Blair's holy war on the home front
¤ Islanders 'survived cyclone in mountain shelters'
¤ Bush gets personal in attack on Pyongyang
¤ Teens die as Israel attacks Gaza refugee camps
¤ 'US forces cannot enter Pakistan'
¤ No American will be safe in Pak: Jehadis
¤ Pro- and anti-Chavez crowds clash in Venezuela
¤ MMA stages anti-US rallies country-wide
¤ Another Humanitarian War
¤ Why al-Qaeda is winning
¤ China: No one has right to interfere in weapons deals with Israel

Bush Administration Pushes "Regime Change" in Venezuela
Posted: Wednesday, December 4, 2002

en español
by Mark Weisbrot
December 03, 2002

It's 10 p.m. -- do you know what your government is up to? It seems that Iraq is not the only "regime change" that the Bush Administration is working on. The US government has apparently decided that President Chavez of Venezuela must go, one way or another.

True, Saddam Hussein is a brutal tyrant who has invaded and threatened neighboring countries -- whereas Hugo Chavez was democratically elected, has shown no ill will toward any of his neighbors, and tolerates a steady barrage of virulent, hate-filled propaganda against his presidency from the major Venezuelan media.

But these distinctions can be blurred, because both have offended the US government, and both are sitting on a lot of oil. So most Americans can be forgiven for having similar impressions of the two leaders, given what they hear from the US media. A recent op-ed in the Washington Post referred to the Chavez government as a "dictatorship."

This week the country's main business federation, supported by some union leaders, called once again for a general strike against the Chavez government. They are apparently following the same scenario that led to the military coup on April 11.

In our amnesiac political culture, half a year can be an eternity, more than enough time for history to be rewritten and slates wiped clean. But it was barely more than six months ago, on April 11, that opposition forces overthrew the democratically elected government of Venezuela. They installed the head of the business federation as president and dissolved the legislature and the Supreme Court.

The Bush administration at first welcomed the coup, retreating the next day after it became clear that other countries in the Americas were not going to recognize the illegal government. And of course administration officials denied having anything to do with the coup.

There is a pile of evidence to the contrary, indicating that they had a lot to do with it. There were numerous meetings between Bush administration officials and coup leaders in the months preceding the coup. We also know that the opposition received money from the United States government.

But even more important is the political support and encouragement that Washington provides. Those who are trying to overthrow the government of Venezuela at this very moment know that the United States will do its best to recognize and support any resulting dictatorship. They know this because neither the White House nor the State Department has indicated that a coup would result in any diplomatic or commercial sanctions against an illegal government.

It would be a simple matter for the Bush Administration to make such a statement. But even in the recent mobilizations of October 21 and December 2, with rumors of coup attempts flying everywhere, our top officials have maintained a telling silence, and carefully avoided saying anything that would discourage the violent opposition.

The US also supports the opposition's call for early elections. Although the Venezuelan constitution provides for a recall election halfway through the President's term, the opposition does not want to wait until August.

There are two reasons for their impatience: first, the economy is in a deep recession right now, and it could very well recover by August. Venezuela's economy would get a tremendous boost from an increase in oil prices that would likely result from a war with Iraq. Second, the recession is prolonged and deepened because investors are essentially on strike against the government, taking money out of the country and withholding investment in hope of getting a new President. Like any strike, it cannot continue indefinitely.

Of course it does not make any more sense for Chavez to hold early elections than it would have for President Reagan to have done so in 1983, when -- due to a recession and high unemployment -- his approval rating bottomed at 35 percent.

But the US press -- together with the Bush administration -- pretends that this is a perfectly reasonable demand.

A little noticed retraction published in the Chicago Tribune on April 20 summed up the extreme prejudice of our major news organizations against the president of Venezuela: "An editorial on Sunday mistakenly said that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez had praised Osama bin Laden. The Tribune regrets the error."

Oops.

Mark Weisbrot is Co-Director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, in Washington D.C.

Reproduced from:
http://www.cepr.net/columns/weisbrot/Venezuelan%20regime%20change.htm

World News
Posted: Tuesday, December 3, 2002

¤ Six die in clashes in West Bank and Gaza Strip
¤ Creation of GM potato to fight hunger sets India's scientists against green groups
¤ US pilots in friendly fire case 'were given amphetamines'
¤ Not a Just or Moral War
¤ Flaws in anti-missile shield 'covered up'
¤ Physicist blows whistle on US missile defence
¤ Pakistani surprised to learn he is in the US
¤ US wonders why Pak jeweller needed fake passport: Bush
¤ Thousands join Fatah march as death toll rises
¤ Musharraf plays down border shooting as rift with US grows
¤ Saddam's 'day of reckoning' near
¤ Bid to stop Korean nuke crisis
¤ Bush criticises N Korean leader, seeks peaceful end to nuke crisis
¤ UN arms chief to visit Baghdad as Iraq blasts US war preparations
¤ New crusades
¤ Another wasted year

World News
Posted: Tuesday, December 3, 2002

¤ Beyond Regime Change
¤ U.S. does not need U.N. approval for war
¤ American al-Qaida operatives can be killed
¤ 'Taleban' purists gain new hold on Pakistan borders
¤ Britain accused of providing Saddam torture instruments
¤ Raids will mean war, Australia is warned
¤ Family tells how Israelis buried deaf father alive
¤ Four Palestinians killed in territories
¤ Asian anger grows at defiant PM
¤ Alabama braces for the burning of its chemical stockpile
¤ Bush: signs from Iraq 'not good'
¤ Blair attacked for 'terrifying' dossier on Saddam
¤ If Saddam is such a monster, why did we arm him and trade with him?
¤ Anger over Straw's dossier on Iraqi human rights
¤ Straw has not thought it through
¤ Wolfowitz lost the UN battle - the war is another matter
¤ Israel accused of Hebron land grab
¤ Warlords clash as Afghans plan army
¤ US hawk wants Turkey in EU
¤ Opposition tries to shut down Venezuela
¤ Robert Redford urges a different kind of patriotism
¤ Vaccination for 1 million in US
¤ Israeli Army chief calls for evacuation of most settlements
¤ UN accused over Jenin shooting death
¤ Missile attack on plane linked to earlier bid
¤ British report says Iraqi regime guilty of human rights abuses
¤
¤ Right to hold Guantanamo detainees in terror war challenged
¤ Afghans battle at home as summit hails progress
¥ Aid promised but Afghans must beg for it
¤ Author's debunking of NY fallen heroes causes outcry

World News
Posted: Monday, December 2, 2002

¤ New US-EU trade war looms over GM foods
¤ Growing Peace Movement's Ranks Include Some Unlikely Allies
¤ America twitchy as Israel weighs response to attacks
> The US can buy assurances; Give Israel $20 billion more in US aid
¤ Wars Change History
¤ U.S. Warplanes Bomb Northern Iraqi Site, AGAIN
¤ Deadly raid on Basra overshadows arms inspections
> The US and UK are continually bombing Iraq, UN silent
¤ India Voices Pakistan Nuke Fear
¤ Sharon dismisses 'two states' remark
¤ Amnesty attacks UK dossier on Iraq torture
¤ Anti-Saddam militia 'in action'
¤ Businesses are closing every day as Iraq prepares for war
¤ Kenyan leader heads for terror talks
¤
¤ Palestinian killed, 20 hurt in Jenin; gunman killed in Gaza
¤ Fiji coup plotters armed by Israeli ambassador
¤ Bali attacks' 'mastermind' welcomes death penalty
¤ Indonesia blasts Aussie PM over preemptive strikes idea
¤ EU adopts tobacco ad ban
¤ U.S. Muslims Split Over Saudi Donations
¤ US rehearsal for Iraq war will be staged in Qatar
¤ Kenya says it won't give Israel evidence from Mombasa attacks
¤ America twitchy as Israel weighs response to attacks
¤ Inspectors search crop-spraying base
¤ Australian 'first strike' talk upsets region
¤ Deadly raid on Basra overshadows arms inspections
¤ Two Palestinians killed in Gaza raid, criticism of Mossad "failure"
¤ Israeli forces fail to kill Jihad leader after raids on Gaza
¤ Germany plans to cut defence spending
¤ Pakistan rejects Putin's remarks over N-arms safety

World News
Posted: Sunday, December 1, 2002

¤ U.S. attacks Iraqi air defense sites
¤ Pentagon's high-tech snooping plan casts long shadows
¤ Al Qaeda elusive quarry in East Africa
¤ 2 Palestinians Killed During Israeli Raid in Gaza Strip
¤ Outside View: The Key to Mideast Peace
¤ Fire in Venezuelan Nightclub Kills 47
¤ B-52 Bombers Aid Besieged Special Forces in Afghanistan
¤ US establishes high-tech military command center in Gulf
¤ Gore's TV War: He Lobs Salvo At Fox News
¤ UK warning of attack on plane
¤ Cleric denies link to Kenyan bomb
¤ Imam warns of 'undeclared war' between US, Israel and Islam
¤ UN admits 'early warning' gaffe
¤ Sneak terror bill clause saves drugs giant
¤ Israelis kill 1 Palestinian boy, wound other in Gaza
¤ Actors leads huge supporting cast in protest
¤ Bush pledges billions in battle against AIDS
¤ Bin Laden terror tape a fake, say experts
¤ 'No al Qaeda link' to Kenyan detainees
¤ 37 killed in held Kashmir bus accident
¤ 15 killed in held Kashmir violence

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