..[[Weekly Updates]]..








The Venezuela news summary is compiled weekly by Daniel Uribe and Marya Murray Díaz. Venezuelan press translated by Daniel Uribe. [Ed. Note: The El Universal newspaper is well known for its anti-Chavez reporting and has published many unsubstantiated reports and allegations, including events surrounding the April 2002 coup and the December to February lock-out.] Venezuela News Summary August 6 - August 12, 2003 Tuesday August 12 Venezuela VP Denies Ordering Plane For Colombian Rebel (Dow Jones Newswires) Caracas - Venezuela's vice president on Monday denied ordering a pilot who allegedly worked for President Hugo Chavez to fly a top Colombian rebel into Venezuela last year. In an article published Sunday in Colombia's El Espectador daily, Venezuelan Army Lt. Moises Boyer said he flew Raul Reyes, the spokesman for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, from a former demilitarized zone in Colombia to Caracas in April 2002. The order to pick up Reyes came from Venezuelan Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel, one of Chavez's most trusted allies, Boyer said. According to Boyer, Reyes was allegedly sick and required special medical treatment. "I neither know this man nor have I made any effort to have Raul Reyes come into Venezuela," Rangel told the state-run television channel. Rangel dismissed the newspaper report as slander. In the article, Boyer said he was both Chavez's personal pilot during his presidential campaign and a confidant. Venezuela's ambassador to Colombia had denied the report, saying Boyer was never close to Chavez. Chavez's political adversaries and some Colombian military officers have accused the leftist former paratrooper of being permissive with rebel incursions into Venezuela. The Venezuelan leader denies the allegations. Although having declared himself neutral in Colombia's 39-year-old civil war, Chavez has repeatedly said he won't allow incursions into Venezuela by any illegal armed group. Trinidad and Venezuela to sign oil deal By Canute James and Andrew Webb-Vidal (The Financial Times) Kingston and Caracas - Trinidad and Venezuela will sign an agreement on Tuesday to allow the shared exploitation of the oil and gas deposits on their maritime border. Hugo Chávez, Venezuela's president, said at the end of a visit to Trinidad and Tobago at the weekend that the agreement would enable the countries to create a "single oil reservoir." "It's a positive step," said Mazhar Al-Shereidah, an analyst at Enfoque Petrolero, a Caracas consultancy. "The global trend is for neighboring countries to jointly exploit energy reserves and make more efficient use of them." The Venezuelan leader sees the agreement as a step towards creating a single multinational energy company out of the state-owned energy producers in Latin America and the Caribbean. Mr Chávez said a planned visit to Caracas in October by Patrick Manning, Trinidad and Tobago's prime minister, would allow more talks on creating the multinational energy company from companies in Trinidad and Tobago, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Brazil and Peru. He said Venezuela and Ecuador had already established a task force to explore this idea. "This is not a far-fetched idea at all," Mr Chávez said. "It is entirely feasible and it can be done, but it is an idea that disturbs some people. It is time for us to return to the Bolivarian vision of unity among Latin American and Caribbean countries." State-owned Petroleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA) has signed co-operation agreements with Petroecuador of Ecuador, Cupet of Cuba and Petrotrin of Trinidad and Tobago. Trinidadian government officials said these pacts could be the foundation of the multinational energy company. Mr Chávez said the company would be called either Petroamerica or Petrosud. "This would be a big step towards uniting the region as a whole since, in this age of globalization, countries need to go beyond the local interest." Monday August 11 Venezuela's Chavez retains state oil company president for now (Associated Press Worldstream) Caracas - President Hugo Chavez did not replace Ali Rodriguez as head of Venezuela's state oil company on Sunday despite widespread reports that he would appoint one of his closest allies to the post. Rodriguez appeared in a television interview pouring cold water on the reports. When asked if he would be leaving the presidency of Petroleos de Venezuela, S.A, Rodriguez said: "That hasn't been proposed." He was speaking during a prerecorded interview on the Televen channel. Separately, Chavez failed to mention the topic during his four-hour TV and radio talk show, which was broadcast from the oil-rich state of Zulia, in western Venezuela. Unnamed government officials suggested last week that Chavez could appoint Infrastructure Minister Diosdado Cabello to replace Rodriguez on Sunday. Rodriguez has said he would stay only as long as necessary as company president. He served as secretary general of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries in Vienna before Chavez called him back to take over PDVSA in April 2002 after a short-lived coup against the president. Cabello, who served as vice president and interior minister before being appointed as infrastructure minister, is one of Chavez's most trusted political allies. Rodriguez has played a key role in shaping Chavez's oil policy of strong state control over the industry and strict adherence to production quotas set by OPEC. More recently, he has been instrumental in restructuring PDVSA following a two-month strike that paralyzed oil production in Venezuela, the world's fifth largest petroleum exporter. Chávez could abandon IMF (MercoPress - MERCOSUR news) Montevideo - Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez insinuated that Venezuela could abandon the International Monetary Fund (IMF) if multilateralism “doesn’t change” and keeps insisting in the promotion of “neo-liberal” economic policies. “Until the IMF changes its focus, if it ever changes, we don’t need them,” said President Chavez during his Sunday television and radio program “Hello President.” He also said, “We are a member country of the IMF but we might abandon the organization.” President Chávez blames IMF “neo-liberal” economic policies for the impoverishment of developing countries that have resorted to multilateral financial support. The economic advancement of a country can’t depend on the willingness of foreign investors “to locate or not” in Venezuela, although he was quick to add that they are always welcome. “We support productive investments that come to remain in Venezuela, not speculative money that comes for a quick buck and leaves,” underscored Mr. Chávez. During his Sunday morning chat Mr. Chavez also announced the approval of a package of 18.75 billion US dollars to promote “endogenous development” in eight areas of Venezuela with great potential. Among those projects are the building of a dam and an irrigation system next to the Colombian border and a second bridge over the mighty Orinoco River, the country’s main waterway. Both projects were contracted to Odebrech, a strong Brazilian public works contractor. Brazil openly supported the Chávez administration during the recent several months’ long oil workers’ strike that almost paralyzed the country’s economy. Chavez Frias proud to show Bolivarian Constitution translated into Wayuu By Patrick J. O'Donoghue (VenNews) Caracas - Speaking from the town of Rafael del Mojan in Zulia State during his weekly Sunday radio address, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez Frias has sent special greetings to Venezuela's indigenous peoples on occasion of the World Day of Indigenous Peoples. Sporting a copy of the Bolivarian Constitution written in the local Wayuu language, the President boasts that it has been translated into all Venezuela's ethnic languages as a part of the process of returning and respecting the rights of indigenous peoples. La Guajira is a land of poets and fighters, Chavez Frias says, and the Bolivarian struggle incorporates respect and promotion of indigenous rights. Speaking the local language on the radio show, National Assembly (AN) second deputy president Wayuu indian, Noeli Pocaterra has reiterated Venezuelan indigenous peoples' support of the process because she says they are convinced that their rights will be respected. Deputy and Pemon indian, Jose Luis Gonzalez spoke in his language supporting what Pocaterra had said about indigenous support. Indigenous groups have been meeting to assess their situation under the new administration and confirmed that their local political parties represented in Parliament continue to support the government alliance. Sunday August 10 Cuban doctors lend hand in Venezuela; Chavez backs health program in the slums By Brian Ellsworth (Houston Chronicle Foreign Service) Caracas - The leaders of the opposition insist that the Cuban doctors will not stem the overall decline of the country's health care system. But many of Venezuela's poor […] seem grateful to be finally receiving medical attention. The program already has placed 400 Cuban doctors in the slums of Caracas, where they will live and provide free health services for a year. Fernando Santoya, 28, an unemployed computer technician living in the poor neighborhood of Macayapa, says the Cuban doctors have helped make up for the abysmal services provided by Venezuela's deteriorating public hospitals. Santoya's experiences reflect a 30-year decline in the country's public hospital system that has led to interminable lines and shortages of basic medical supplies. Venezuelans now joke that anyone who needs to undergo surgery at a public hospital must provide everything except the surgeon. The Cubans hope to make up for some of the deficiencies by providing basic health care in makeshift clinics or even living rooms of local families. For a stipend of roughly $250 per month paid by the Venezuelan government -- the world's No. 5 exporter of oil -- the doctors mostly help patients with rudimentary health problems, such as outbreaks of diarrhea or respiratory diseases. They also train community volunteers to give workshops on nutrition and preventive medicine. "I worked in Angola in 1992, which suffers abysmal poverty," says Hernandez of the San Pablito slum. "So I'm surprised to see such poor public health in a fairly developed country like Venezuela." But despite the program's popularity among the poor, opposition critics say it will do little to improve the overall health system. "If the hospital system is in decline, the logical thing to do is improve it," says Dr. Armando Perez, a critic of the project. "Importing doctors from Cuba simply creates a parallel health system without investing in the existing one." Possibly in response to the criticisms, Chavez has promised to invest $90 million in hospitals this year. Inmer Ruiz, a Caracas municipal official who helps coordinate the Into the Slums program, says Venezuela's unemployed doctors - some estimates peg the number at 10,000 - were told about the opportunity to serve in the slums but did not respond. "They don't like to work with the poor," Ruiz says, "so we had to bring the Cubans." Venezuela's medical organizations deny his assertion, saying Ruiz intentionally bypassed them because they have criticized the government's health program. The presence of the Cubans has infuriated the opposition, which alleges that the doctors are also spreading communist ideology while treating the poor. There is little evidence to back up the charge, but public opinion experts say the campaign may in fact be increasing support for Chavez in the capital's slums. Humberto Berrocal, 54, a community organizer in the poor neighborhood of Altavista, has become one of the program's vocal supporters. "This is the first time I've had a doctor in my neighborhood," Berrocal says. Saturday August 9 Venezuela fears kidnapping of politician could be start of terrible trend By Frances Robles (The Miami Herald) Caracas - The recent abduction of a former state governor opposed to President Hugo Chavez has sparked a controversy amid fears that it could be the first political kidnapping in Venezuelan history. Sergio Calderon, the former secretary general of the COPEI party, has not been heard from since he was abducted July 25 by five gunmen who wore hoods covering their heads but not their faces. The snatching of the popular opposition leader known as "El Cura" (the priest) has sparked fears that it signals a critical turn in Venezuela's 16-month political crisis. "I don't dare say that this is the start of a chain of kidnappings, but it could be a dangerous detonator in Venezuela's political situation," local assemblyman Alexis Balza, a friend of Calderon's, told The Miami Herald. "The government should be more interested in solving this." Calderon was the governor of Tachira, the western state that borders Colombia, from 1998 to 2000. His state suffers from influences of Colombian guerrillas believed to operate on both sides of the border. Kidnappings of ranchers have become commonplace -- 29 this year and six in July alone. But what makes Calderon's case significant is that people in the region knew that the outspoken critic of Chavez was saddled with medical bills from a daughter's recent battle with leukemia. "He wasn't 'kidnappable,' " Balza said, using the Latin American term for a wealthy person deemed worth abducting and extorting. "This is a man who dedicated his life to gathering riches not for himself, but for Tachira." Bombs went off near the Spanish embassy and Colombian consulate in Caracas on Feb. 25, causing significant damage. In April, a bomb ripped apart the building used to house negotiations brokered by the Organization of American States just hours after the government and its opposition announced an agreement aimed at ending the crisis. "There have been overt, outright attacks on senior political figures, but this is the first kidnapping of a senior political figure," said political consultant Eric Ekvall. "To me, it's very, very significant. It's a signal of an escalation on the part of guerrillas -- and I don't just mean Colombian. I'm worried this will become a trend." In a phone interview with The Miami Herald, the victim's wife stressed that she doesn't know whether the kidnapping was politically motivated. "It would be painful for Venezuela to be like Colombia and those other countries that have political terrorism," Calderon's wife, Arelys de Calderon, said. "I prefer to wait to find out what happened. For the good of Venezuela, I want things to be another way." [Ed. Note: According to various Venezuelan press agencies, including Venpres, Ultimas Noticias, El Nacional, and Panorama, Pedro Sifontes Nuñez and Luis Chacín Sanguines confessed to the bombings outside the embassies and at the site of the negotiations; they claimed to have received orders from Felipe Rodríguez, Yucepe Pilieri, and Fernando Da Costa, individuals linked to the opposition and identified in the Venezuelan press as the intellectual and material authors of the explosions. (Venpres May 14) (Ultimas Noticias May 15)] CSFB aids Venezuela with 2-part debt deal By Elliot Blair Smith (USA Today) Latin American revolutionaries are celebrated more by Hollywood than by Wall Street. But Venezuela's populist president, Hugo Chavez, is winning investor cheers just ahead of a potential referendum on his rule. That's thanks to a script written for him by investment bankers at Credit Suisse First Boston. Last week, CSFB bankers completed an unusual two-part debt restructuring for Venezuela, which until recently was burning through cash reserves due to a severe contraction of its economy. The energy-rich nation sends three-quarters of its oil to the USA. Until now, CSFB closely guarded the details of the investment deal, in part because the bank planned to target Chavez's primary opponents -- the country's bankers and business executives -- to buy new securities it underwrote for the Chavez regime. This approximately $1.5 billion in new debt, marketed only to Venezuelans, was sold last week to pay off older, high-yielding foreign debt known as Brady Bonds. CSFB might also have wanted to keep the terms quiet because of how the bank benefited. Some Wall Street competitors who asked not to be identified criticized CSFB for what they described as a conflict of interest. But CSFB bankers denied a conflict, noting they disclosed the holding in the prospectus. Michael Schoen, CSFB's managing director of Latin American debt capital, said Thursday, "The reality is Venezuela has borrowed 7-year money at 53/8% with cash flow savings of $1.4 billion over four years. It doesn't get much better than that." Venezuela's total foreign and domestic debt is about $30 billion. Even if Venezuela's currency were to be devalued, the bondholders would be protected. That doesn't provide Chavez's predominantly poor supporters with much succor. But it does give Chavez time to consolidate his political position before the referendum and continue his populist reforms. Fred Jaspersen, director of the Institute of International Finance's Latin American Department in Washington, says, "The fact the deal was done strengthens his position." Friday August 8 Powell backs Venezuela recall vote on Chavez (Agence France Presse) Washington - Secretary of State Colin Powell said Thursday that putting Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to a recall vote is an important step toward preserving democracy. "We are pleased that a mechanism was found where the government of President Chavez and the opposition could have this referendum to allow a lot of people in Venezuela to speak and to be heard with respect of the nature of their government," Powell told foreign journalists. "It's up to the people of Venezuela to determine how they will be governed and as long as it's done in a free, open democratic and constitutional way the US will be supportive." "We support democracy in Venezuela, we support the constitutional process in Venezuela." A recall vote could be held after August 19 with the petition of 20 percent of the electorate, some 12 million signatures. Venezuela's Chavez ends "whirlwind" visit to Trinidad and Tobago (Caribbean Media Corporation, BBC) Port of Spain, Trinidad - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has ended a 20 hour "whirlwind" working visit here, describing his discussions with Prime Minister Patrick Manning as "extremely fruitful." Chavez, who arrived here late on Friday 8 August night at the invitation of Manning for talks on a number of energy related issues, told reporters that the meeting marks "the beginning of a new era in relations between Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela". The Venezuelan leader said that the meeting had also allowed the two leaders to discuss and "share a common vision as to what's going on in the world today," adding that a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) would be signed between the two sides on Tuesday in Caracas. The MOU is expected to cover cross-border oil and gas reserves. "We reviewed a number of issues and made plans to meet again in two months in Venezuela," Chavez told reporters through an interpreter. Prior to his arrival here, Manning had told reporters that Trinidad and Tobago would be proposing the possibility of producing Venezuelan gas here. Manning had also indicated that a crisis in natural gas might be emerging in the United States and that the meeting with Chavez would provide an opportunity for an improvement in the security of supplies of energy to the US. Chavez told reporters that Caracas was willing to allow its gas to come to Trinidad to be eventually supplied to the United States. He said his talks with Manning had also discussed the need for an integrated Caribbean, adding "this is just the first step since we are expecting to work together on issues like transportation, production of gas." Chavez, flanked by senior members of his administration, said that he had also discussed with Manning "a model idea" of working with Port of Spain in oil field refinery to assist poor nations of the Caribbean. Chavez said Venezuela was also considering constructing a similar pipeline to provide gas to Cuba as well as Central American states and that the World Bank had conducted a study on that initiative a few years ago. Editorial: The reluctant Hugo Chavez (The Miami Herald) Caracas - President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela is still dragging his feet on holding a recall referendum on his presidency -- though it remains the best hope for healing his country's bitter divisions. The referendum was part of an agreement signed in May between Mr. Chavez and his opponents. It was brokered over a period of months by Organization of American States Secretary-General Cesar Gaviria with the encouragement of the international community. And it is a constitutional right. Since then, President Chavez and his backers have put up one pretext after another to avoid setting a date. The latest involves a threat by pro-Chavez lawmakers to deny standing to any election authority named by the nation's Supreme Court. The judiciary was forced to step in after the National Assembly failed to muster the two-thirds majority necessary to appoint the council. The objection is every bit as petty as it sounds. It's plain stonewalling. Mr. Chavez's opponents had hoped that the referendum would be held this month, on the earliest date complying with the constitutional provision subjecting all elected officials to recall after their terms' mid-point. In Mr. Chavez's case, that would be August 19, which is now unrealistic. If Mr. Chavez has his way, the recall vote will never happen. When last asked about it, he vowed that a referendum would surely be held soon -- in California! He claims power-mongers are eager to topple his presidency because he represents the poor. Perhaps what really concerns him are the polls, such as one published earlier this week, showing that 65 percent of those surveyed would vote Mr. Chavez out of office. It's time for the OAS, the United Nations and former President Jimmy Carter -- all of whom have been involved in efforts to create a peaceful solution in Venezuela -- to denounce Mr. Chavez's charade and to pressure him to hew to the constitution and to the deal that he made with the Venezuelan people. Thursday August 7 Summary News (El Universal) Caracas - Political parties and civil organizations comprising the opposition umbrella group Democratic Coordinator are to sign an "Agreement for Unity and Democracy" on Thursday. Leaders of the Venezuelan Workers Confederation (CTV), the Federation of Trade and Industry Chambers (Fedecámaras), opposition political parties such as Acción Democrática, Copei, Primero Justicia, and Proyecto Venezuela, and organizations that do not belong to the Democratic Coordinator, such as Cesap, Alianza Militar, Construyendo País, and Un Solo Pueblo, are to sign the document. The Catholic Church is not going to sign the agreement because it is going to act as an observer. According to deputy Alejandro Armas, one of the most important items in the agreement is the determination of all sector to foster a peaceful and electoral solution to the crisis facing Venezuela by means of a recall referendum to terminate President Hugo Chávez' mandate. Accion Democratica (AD) boasts 89,000 activists to collect 3 million signatures in 15 days By Patrick J. O'Donoghue (Vheadline) Caracas - Accion Democratica (AD) boasts that it can collect 3 million signatures to demand a recall referendum against President Hugo Chavez Frias. AD general secretary, Henry Ramos Allup says it will take 83,000 activists visiting 3 houses a day between August 20 and September 3 to ensure the quota. Whether the will is there is another matter because Coordinadora Democratica (CD) is still plugging for acceptance of the January signature collection campaign by the Supreme Tribunal of Justice (TSJ) and/or the National Electoral College (CNE). However, Ramos says the re-signature campaign will be based on people on the Electoral Register updated on June 2003. This time around the AD leader says constitutional lawyers have been consulted regarding the correct heading of each page of signatures to avoid legal problems. According to AD, the party still has 22,854 local committees throughout Venezuela. Political observers see the move as an attempt of comeuppance on the part of AD to ensure its dominance in the CD and ward off leadership challenges from Proyecto Venezuela's Henrique Salas Romer, considered Washington's choice, Primero Justicia's Julio Borges and Union's Francisco Arias Cardenas. Wednesday August 6 U.S. Pollsters: 65 percent of Venezuelans would vote Chavez out (Associated Press) Caracas - A poll has found that the majority of Venezuelans would vote President Hugo Chavez out office. The latest survey by U.S. pollsters found 65 percent of those questioned would vote for Chavez to quit, while 32 percent said the president should stay, according to a joint poll by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research and Public Opinion Strategies, sent Tuesday to The Associated Press. The door-to-door poll of 1,000 adults was conducted nationwide between July 14-20. It had a margin of error of 3.1 percent. The results come less than two weeks after a local poll found more than two-thirds of those surveyed would oust the embattled president if given the chance. Both polls have raised the hopes of opposition leaders who are trying to organize a recall referendum. Most Venezuelans fear more turmoil could erupt if the referendum is not held, the Greenberg poll suggested. About 68 percent of people surveyed thought not holding the referendum would lead to "serious consequences, such as social unrest, political instability and violence." Chavez counters that he is trying to free the country from a corrupt political system that ignored the needs of the country's impoverished majority. He also blames the country's severe economic recession and the upheaval on a resentful and discredited political class that would do anything to regain power. Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research and Public Opinion Strategies have been employed by the U.S. Democratic and Republican parties. They conducted the Venezuela poll for local television station Radio Caracas Television, Greenberg spokesman Mark Feierstein said. Venezuela president to visit Trinidad to discuss oil exploration By Michael Smith (Associated Press) Port-of-Spain, Trinidad - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez will visit neighboring Trinidad on Friday to discuss cooperation on oil-and-gas exploration, officials said. During the one-day visit, Chavez is expected to discuss an agreement the two countries have been negotiating to govern oil-and-gas exploration along their maritime border, Foreign Minister Knowlson Gift said Tuesday. Details were still being finalized, but Chavez and Trinidadian Prime Minister Patrick Manning were also likely to discuss fishing agreements, a possible extradition treaty for criminals and border security. Manning recently claimed the strike and protests in Venezuela may have helped more guns reach Trinidad. Without providing evidence, Manning said there may have been an increase in guns passing through Venezuela while authorities were occupied by domestic security issues. But Manning has also defended the Chavez government throughout the strike and protests, saying the democratically-elected leader should remain in office until voted out. Trinidad provided Venezuela with fuel when protests shut down the country's energy industry. Chavez maintained widespread support among the country's poor during the protests. Venezuela News Summary July 30 - August 5, 2003 Tuesday August 5 World in brief (The Washington Post) Caracas - The nation's Supreme Court said it would designate an electoral authority to organize a referendum on President Hugo Chavez's rule if the National Assembly failed to make the appointment within 10 days, chief judge Ivan Rincon said. The country's top tribunal moved to break the long-running political deadlock between supporters and opponents of Chavez, which has raised doubts about when, or even if, the referendum will be held. The Organization of American States and foreign governments have been pressing Chavez and his opponents to accept a referendum as the best way to resolve the often-violent political crisis that has shaken Venezuela for more than a year. Poll finds majority rejects Chavez mandate By Andy Webb-Vidal (The Financial Times) Caracas - Sixty-five percent of Venezuelans would oppose President Hugo Chavez if a referendum on his rule were held, according to a new poll. The survey, conducted by the US consultants Greenberg, Quinlan, Rosner Research for a group of local business executives, also found that 42 per cent of Venezuelans expected such a vote to take place this month - an expectation that analysts say will almost certainly be dashed, increasing the risk of political violence. Senior government officials have said that no poll will take place, while pro-Chavez and opposition deputies in the legislature are unable to agree on appointing a national electoral council - the body that would organize a ballot. But analysts say Mr. Chavez has few ways of avoiding a referendum, which until recently he has said he would welcome. Venezuela's Supreme Court is expected to name an electoral council in the coming weeks if the legislature is unable to do so. "Chavez has few options. He could wait to see if the opposition makes another blunder, but he is too impatient for that," said Anibal Romero, a political analyst. "August and September are going to be very dynamic months in Venezuela." Opposition groups are planning to collect signatures by the end of the month to demand a recall referendum. Such an exercise, as well as an eventual vote itself, could be marred by attempts by hardline Chavez supporters to disrupt it through violence. Dissident military officers have appealed to their colleagues not to be used by their commander-in-chief to block a ballot forcibly. A referendum could take place in November, analysts say, rather than this month. If Mr. Chavez's mandate is revoked before August next year, fresh elections must be held within 30 days. Polls have indicated a likely winner would be Henrique Salas Romer, defeated by Mr. Chavez in 1998. Monday August 4 Recall vote in Venezuela stalls By Frances Robles (The Miami Herald) Caracas - The 64 boxes, in four-foot stacks, are packed with the signatures of nearly four million Venezuelans who want a recall referendum on President Hugo Chavez. But they sit in storage, waiting for the end of a political stalemate blocking any prospect that Venezuelans will vote soon on their president and resolve a crisis that has polarized and all but paralyzed their nation for 16 months. Analysts say the vote is the last hope to push the South American nation out of the political crisis, which is expected to shrink the economy by at least 10 percent this year. But as the stalling continues, Chavez gains ground. He has tightened his grip on the National Assembly, the courts, the state oil company and the military as the opposition runs out of steam. By law, the recall drive can begin Aug. 19, half way through Chavez's six-year term. But Chavez loyalists argue that the millions of signatures already collected in February are invalid: They were collected too soon. Chavez last week also insisted that only people who voted in the 2000 election can cast ballots for the referendum, a key issue because it was widespread absenteeism three years ago that allowed Chavez to sweep into power. The National Elections Council will eventually decide both matters, but the National Assembly, responsible for naming members of the council, has deadlocked on the board's fifth member. Two of the members are pro-Chavez and the other two came from the opposition ranks. The Supreme Court has given the assembly a 10-day deadline, saying it will pick the fifth member if the legislature can't. The government insists that opposition leaders are deliberately creating controversy. Delays work in Chavez's favor. If the vote to oust him is stalled until August 2004, then the vice president takes over the remainder of Chavez's term, and that's not what the Venezuelan opposition has in mind. If the recall takes place before then, a new election would be held within 90 days, but it's still unclear whether, if Chavez lost, he'd be allowed to run to win his job back. "Any government from here to the end of the Earth, facing the idea of having its mandate revoked, would do anything to keep that from happening," said Abdul, a board member of Sumate, the organization coordinating the signature drive. "The government is within its right. We want to show our willingness to resolve things peacefully. A year from now, I hope we'll still be here, but talking about reconstruction and reconciliation. Sunday August 3 Venezuela's Chavez announces midterm boost in spending on social programs By: Stephen Ixer (Associated Press) Caracas - President Hugo Chavez announced plans to spend over US$280 million on social programs and infrastructure projects in addition to funds already set aside for such purposes in the national budget. Most of the money is earmarked for upgrading ailing public hospitals, accelerating reforms of the education system and boosting the government's housing construction plan. Chavez said an additional sum of 450 billion bolivars, or US$281 million, would be spent before the end of this year on education, health care, housing, roads, small-scale industry and regional development. Construction will begin on 30,000 houses for the poor, large public hospitals will be re-equipped and central Caracas will be given a makeover, Chavez promised. The state television channel will also get a grant of 50 billion bolivars (US$32 million), he added. "We've already got the cash," Chavez said during his weekly TV show. Chavez said the government had overcome its cash crunch from earlier this year resulting from a two-month opposition strike. He said the extra money had come from "extraordinary resources - exchange earnings from the Central Bank of Venezuela." Finance Minister Tobias Nobrega predicted over the weekend that economic growth should perk up to between 5 percent and 6 percent in 2004 after this year's dismal forecast of an 11 percent contraction. The economy shrank 29 percent in the first quarter of this year compared with the same period in 2002, due in large part to the opposition strike. Oil production was virtually halted in the world's fifth-largest supplier and thousands of businesses shut down to pressure Chavez to resign. Nobrega said a debt refinancing plan executed last week had helped reduce payments by US$545 million over this year and next and improved investors' perceptions of Venezuela. While Chavez claims his revolution is making amends for decades of social injustice, his opponents say his policies are misguided and poorly managed. Saturday August 2 Venezuela's annualized inflation 31.9 pct in July (Reuters) Caracas - Venezuela's annualized inflation reached 31.9 percent in July compared with 22 percent a year earlier, the Central Bank said Friday. Monthly inflation was 1.8 percent compared with 3.6 percent registered a year earlier, 1.4 percent in June 2003 and 2.3 percent in May this year. Accumulated inflation from January to July was 17.4 percent compared with 16.9 percent a year ago. Hugo Chavez "one of the people I most admire" -- Castro (Agence France Presse) Havana - Cuban President Fidel Castro on Friday described Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez as "an exceptional man" and "one of the people I most admire" among those he has met in his decades in power. Castro spoke for three and a half hours at a graduation ceremony at a nursing school in Havana, devoting most of his speech to Cuba's health and education systems. Among other points, he defended the deployment of hundreds of Cuban health professionals to poor neighborhoods of Caracas, a move controversial in Venezuela. The initiative brought Chavez fresh criticism from his many opponents, who said he was trying to "Cubanize" Venezuela. Castro called Chavez one of "the most sane, the most revolutionary" of his acquaintances. "I've known many people, all these years," said Castro, who at age 76 has been head of the Cuban state for 44. "I would say that one of the people I most admire among all the people I've known in more than 40 years is President Hugo Chavez," Castro said of the leftist-populist leader. Opponents are calling for a referendum on Chavez's presidency after failing to oust him in an April 2002 coup or force him to resign with a general strike earlier this year. Castro and Chavez made a deal in 2000 under which Venezuela sends Cuba 53,000 barrels of oil daily. Cuba pays in part by providing Cuban experts in education, health and sports. [Editor’s note: the oil industry stoppage in Dec. 2002 - Feb. 2003 has been mischaracterized throughout the international press as a general strike. In fact, it was more of a lock-out than a workers’ led strike.] Friday August 1 Chavez's battle to keep the oil flowing (The Economist) Caracas Ali Rodriguez has been many things in his life: guerrilla fighter, economist, oil minister and secretary-general of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. As one of the more capable of President Hugo Chavez's aides, since April 2002 he has been charged with running Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), the state oil company and the source of most government revenue. But critics, to both left and right, suggest that his performance there has been more destructive than anything he achieved as a guerrilla demolition expert back in the 1960s. If so, that shows just how precarious is the economic platform underpinning Mr. Chavez's controversial "Bolivarian revolution". That is thanks in part to Venezuela's opposition, which accuses Mr. Chavez of governing as an elected dictator. In a vain attempt to force the president to step down, the opposition brought the oil industry to a halt, with a two-month general strike in December and January. Venezuela's oil output, the world's fifth largest, fell from 3.2m barrels per day to a low point of under 40,000 b/d. The government rode out the strike and sacked almost half of PDVSA's 40,000 workers. At least 400,000 b/d in production capacity was permanently lost. Nevertheless, to the surprise of many, oil output has recovered quickly. The company insists it is now producing 3.3m b/d, more than it did before the strike. Mr. Chavez argues that PDVSA, which was created in the nationalization of Venezuela's oil industry in the 1970s and is Latin America's largest company, had become the private fief of a technocratic elite, who ran it, opaquely, in their own interests. The company has been reclaimed "for the people", he says. His energy minister, Rafael Ramirez, claims that costs have been cut by 40% and payments to the government will rise. Mr. Ramirez touts an expansion plan to boost the industry's output to 5m b/d by the end of next year. Rumors abound that Mr. Rodriguez may be replaced. Such rumors reflect infighting between half-a-dozen different Chavista factions who, for ideological or opportunistic reasons, each want to get their hands on the oil company. At one extreme, the radicals want to run it under workers' control; they have already achieved the sacking of senior managers who were deemed insufficiently revolutionary. At the other extreme, some senior generals are worried that the rival Chavista clans may tear the industry apart. Which faction, if any, has the president's ear is not clear. Having gone through five PDVSA chairmen in less than five years, Mr. Chavez may be reluctant to axe another one. On the other hand, the oil industry remains vital to the president's survival. Venezuelan foreign minister says his country seeks South American integration (Telam, BBC) Buenos Aires - Venezuelan Foreign Minister Roy Chaderton has said the "Latin Americanist" foreign policy of President Hugo Chavez is in favor of the political and not just the commercial integration of South America, and that it goes beyond Venezuela's inclusion in Mercosur, as was proposed by Argentine President Ernesto Kirchner in the Mercosur presidential summit held in Asuncion. Chaderton said that the Venezuelan position is not simply one of its individual inclusion in Mercosur but rather the integration into that bloc of the entire Andean Community, which would unify the whole of South America with a strong political priority. "We would prefer to join Mercosur as part of the Andean Community," Chaderton told Telam. He added that, in order not to weaken this regional market, made up also of Colombia, Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador, "it is desirable that these countries should assume the responsibility of achieving this strengthened position by joining Mercosur." In this context, Chaderton announced that, next Monday 7 July he will take part in the meeting of foreign and economic ministers in Montevideo, "because there is political interest (in the integration) stemming from political will." The Venezuelan foreign minister was emphatic in stating that the debate and decision in this respect "must be political and must not remain in the hands of the technicians," an objective for which he showed great optimism. "There is a sort of re-energizing going on in the picture of Andean integration and a bolstering aimed at taking advantage of the political will, which did not exist before," remarked Chaderton, while commenting on the conclusions of the Andean summit - to which Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was invited - held last month in Rio Negro, Colombia.