04-15- 2008

PRESIDENT BUSH CHIDES CONGRESS ON COLOMBIA FREE TRADE PACT  

      WASHINGTON, D.C.  --President Bush stepped up pressure Monday on Congress to approve a controversial free-trade pact with Colombia, saying the deal is ''dead'' unless the leader of the U.S. House of Representatives, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, schedules a vote. After a meeting with his Cabinet, Bush said it is not in America's interest to ''stiff an ally'' like Colombia.

    Bush sent the agreement to Congress earlier this month, but the House, led by Democrats, decided to eliminate a rule forcing a vote on the deal within 60 legislative days. The House's decision probably kills consideration of the Colombia agreement this year, leaving it for the next administration. ''This free trade agreement is in our national interests,'' Bush said. ``Yet that bill is dead unless the speaker schedules a definite vote. This was an unprecedented move. It's not in our country's interests that we stiff an ally like Colombia and that we don't encourage our goods and services to be sold overseas.''

    Pelosi, a Democrat, who initiated the rules change, blames Bush for submitting the agreement before a consensus was reached with congressional leaders on outstanding differences. She has said that whether the agreement is dead for the year depends on the good faith of negotiations between Democrats and the White House. The president, Pelosi said Monday at a news conference, has demonstrated again ''how out of touch he is with the concerns of America's working families.'' Responding to Bush's charges she had stiffed an ally, she said that ''for seven long years the president's economic policies have stiffed'' the American people.

SILVIO BERLUSCONI REGAINS POWER IN ITALY  M

       MILAN, ITALY  --Center-left leader Walter Veltroni has conceded defeat in Italy's national elections. Veltroni, speaking on Italian television, said he called conservative leader Silvio Berlusconi to congratulate him on his victory. Veltroni says the result is clear even if the final results are not in yet. RAI state television projected Berlusconi's bloc with a solid lead in both the house and the Senate. Under Italy's system, premiers must have control of both houses to govern.

   Analysts saw the result as a rebuff of Romano Prodi's government, which fell after just 20 months in office. The voting Sunday and Monday came amid a widespread sense of national decline and an economic downturn. "I think it was a vote against the performance of the Prodi government, high taxation and the feeling that everything was blocked by the interests of the various political parties," said Franco Pavoncello, a political science professor at John Cabot University. "The only way to get rid of the left is with a Berlusconi government.'

    Berlusconi, 71, who has been premier twice before, has blamed the outgoing center-left government for the country's troubles. Veltroni, the former mayor of Rome, is almost 20 years younger and has promised deep reform and an ideology-free approach to tackle the country's problems. Whoever wins will face Italy's perpetual dilemma — improving the economy, the world's seventh largest. It has underperformed the rest of the euro zone for years and the International Monetary Fund forecasts growth of 0.3% this year, compared with a 1.4% average growth for the 15-country euro area.

CUBANS LINE UP FOR CELL PHONE SERVICE

       HAVANA, CUBA  --Lines stretched for blocks outside phone stores Monday as ordinary Cubans were allowed to sign up for cellular phone service for the first time. The contracts cost about US$120 (euro76) to activate - half a year's wages on the average state salary. And that doesn't include a phone or credit to make and receive calls. Still, lines formed before the centers opened, and waits grew to more than an hour. "It's great. It's really great. And everyone wants to be first to sign up," said Usan Astorga, a 19-year-old medical student who stood for about 20 minutes before her line moved at all.

    Getting through the day without a cell phone is unthinkable now in most developed countries, but Cuba's government limited access to cell phones as well as kitchen appliances, hotels and other luxuries in an attempt to preserve the relative economic equality that is a hallmark of social life in communist Cuba. Raul Castro has pledged to do away these small but infuriating restrictions on daily life, and his popularity has surged as a result, defusing questions about whether his relative lack of charisma would make governing Cuba more difficult after his older ailing older brother Fidel formally stepped down in February.

     The new phone contracts allow Cubans to make and receive overseas calls, a key feature because the overwhelming majority of Cubans have relatives and friends in the United States. Outside a phone store in the upscale neighborhood of Miramar, meanwhile, the line split in two and snaked off in different directions. Teenagers and college students with expensive sunglasses and fashionable clothes dominated in the lines. But elderly housewives and an occasional construction worker with dusty boots and threadbare T-shirts also waited for the chance to buy.

04-14- 2008

U.S. PROSECUTORS TARGET SMUGGLING RINGS

      MIAMI, FLORIDA  -- FEDERAL AUTHORITIES, alarmed by a series of migrant deaths at sea and signs of increasing smuggling operations from Cuba in the past three years, have begun cultivating informants to penetrate and shut down loosely organized rings that operate between South Florida and the Caribbean. They are also taking more suspects before grand juries and seeking tougher penalties.

    The new emphasis by the U.S. attorney's office in Miami, with backing from agencies such as U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Coast Guard, comes after years in which immigrant smuggling across the Florida Straits received at best sporadic attention, and then typically only in cases involving deaths.

     By contrast, a 1-year-old federal task force has tackled a series of smuggling operations -- including eight cases announced this month -- that involved no calamities. Those recent indictments accuse 18 Cuban Americans of plotting to sneak more than 200 Cubans into South Florida by boat in separate operations since 2005. Prosecutors say they are also on the verge of taking down a major Miami-based smuggling operation.

HUGO CHAVEZ URGES COLOMBIA'S FARC REBELS TO FREE ALL CIVILIAN HOSTAGES

       CARACAS, VENEZUELA  --  Hugo Chávez urged Colombia's leftist FARC rebels to free all civilian hostages, including former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt. Speaking to a round-table panel that included Betancourt's mother, Chávez directed his comments to the leader of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, saying that holding people who have nothing to do with the rebels' fight against the Colombian government ``doesn't make sense.''

     ''If I were a guerrilla, I wouldn't have the need to hold a woman, a man who aren't soldiers,'' Chávez said in a televised speech Saturday night. ``Free the civilians who don't have anything to do with the war. I don't agree with that.'' Betancourt, a dual French-Colombian citizen, was campaigning for Colombia's presidency when she was kidnapped more than six years ago. The French government sent a humanitarian mission to Colombia last week, to give medical aid and lobby for her release -- only to be turned away by the guerrillas.

    Chávez, who helped secure the release of six rebel-held hostages earlier this year, said he can understand that guerrillas would capture soldiers or police officers as prisoners of war in the decades-long conflict. ''But that isn't the case of Ingrid Betancourt or the rest of the kidnapped civilians,'' he said.

04-13- 2008

VENEZUELA CONGRESS CHAIR, CILIA FLORES, BRANDS BUSH GOVERNMENT AS TERRORIST AND DRUG TRAFFICKER

      CARACAS, VENEZUELA  -- During a ceremony to mark April 2002 events, National Assembly chair Cilia Flores Friday said there are people who "were victims" and almost died and still remain loyal to President Hugo Chávez.

    "The Venezuelan people know that President Chávez's achievements are not part of a media circus, but real achievements. The people have seen them, and that is why the people remain in the streets to defend the process (of Chávez's revolution)," added Flores.


     Regarding the US request to persuade Chávez of fighting drugs and the rebel Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC), she said, "We are unmasking the American empire's double standards: President Bush government is terrorist and drug trafficker, and the world knows that."

CUBAN GOVERNMENT RENTERS GET OK TO BUY HOMES FROM STATE

       HAVANA, CUBA.  --Cuban state workers who have been paying rent to the government for years will get a chance to own their properties, the Cuban housing ministry announced in an official decree Friday. The move came on the heels of a broadcast announcement that salary caps would also be lifted, raising speculation that even broader reforms could be coming.

    Cuba has long boasted that up to 85 percent of its populace owns its own home. But even those who have titles cannot sell their homes or leave them to relatives who don't live there. Many other people live in rental housing projects set aside by their employers, such as the military, and this measure would put them on par with the majority of Cubans who have titles to their properties.

    A March 14 document by the president of Cuba's National Housing Institute posted Friday in the Official Gazette laid out a complicated series of regulations for owning homes for those civil servants who now rent employee housing. The decree said the workers will get to leave property to their heirs, provided 20 years of rent payments were paid. Two officials at Cuba's National Housing Institute told the AP that Friday's published law was likely the first in a series of housing reforms. Both asked not to be named, however, because they were not authorized to speak to foreign media. The officials said ''thousands and thousands'' of Cubans would be affected, but did not give exact figures.

A BOMB EXPLODED IN AN IRANIAN MOSQUE KILLING AT LEAST EIGHT PEOPLE 

       TEHRAN, IRAN  -- A BOMB EXPLOSION IN A MOSQUE in southern Iran has killed at least eight people, government television reported Saturday.

     The report said a number of people were also injured in the bombing. The semi-official Fars news agency gave a lower death toll, saying at least eight people were killed and more than 50 injured. There was no immediate explanation for the discrepancy.

     "As a result of a bomb explosion at Rahpouyan Cultural Center in Shiraz, unfortunately scores of our countrymen were martyred," the state television report said. The television report said the mosque was part of the cultural center. Fars said the mosque is the site of weekly speech about extremist Wahabi beliefs and the outlawed Bahai faith.

04-12- 2008

WASHINGTON ASKS EUROPE TO PERSUADE HUGO CHAVEZ TO FIGHT AGAINST DRUGS AND THE FARC

       WASHINGTON, D.C.  --The White House's anti-drug Czar John Walters Friday asked the European Union member countries to try to influence the Venezuelan government to stop cooperating with drug traffic by the rebel Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC). m"We remain willing to cooperate with Hugo Chávez, but he rejects working with the US administration. I know some nations in the European Union have better relations (with the Venezuelan President) and we are trying to see how they can cooperate with us," said Walters in a news conference in Brussels.

     The director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) warned that while cocaine traffic tends to decrease in the United States, "cocaine traffic from Colombia through Venezuela and sea and air routes to Europe" is increasing. "Recent events suggest an increased traffic of cocaine through Venezuela," and that the FARC are using "the Colombia-Venezuela border, as well as the Venezuelan territory as a safe heaven" for drug traffic activities.

     He claimed that information obtained through "operations in Colombia" against high-ranking FARC leaders -referring to the Colombian Army attack against a FARC camp in Ecuador where guerrilla leader Raúl Reyes was killed- "suggested a greater involvement of Hugo Chávez's government in supporting the FARC." He explained that Chávez's assistance is allegedly mitigating the problems the FARC is facing as a result of Washington-Bogotá joint efforts to curb drug production in Colombia. "Recent intelligence reports suggest that (the guerrilla) has been receiving money from foreign sources to alleviate its financial problems," Walters stressed.

PRELIMINARY PROCEEDINGS ON MERITS REQUESTED AGAINST HUGO CHAVEZ

       CARACAS, VENEZUELA  --  Opposition leader Pablo Medina Friday appeared in the Attorney General Office to call for preliminary proceedings on merits against President Hugo Chávez, in connection with the events of April 11, 2002. Medina claimed such events were induced, planned and masterminded in the presidential palace of Miraflores, under the direction of President Chávez.

    "On January 15, 2003, in the National Assembly, President Chávez said 'the moves in (state-run oil firm) Pdvsa were necessary (...) When blew the whistle in (Chávez's weekly radio and television show) Aló Presidente, I was inducing the crisis. A crisis was necessary,'" Medina quoted Chávez as saying.

     The opposition leader branded Chávez as the major mastermind behind the crisis. Therefore, he added, there are no legal or political allegations to keep Caracas Metropolitan Police chiefs Henry Vivas, Lázaro Forero and Iván Simonovis in jail. "This trial is nonsense. They helped protect us from the gunmen and snipers (in Caracas downtown). It was a scenario where the government had the upper hand."

04-11- 2008

PRESIDENT BUSH BACKS PAUSE IN WITHDRAWALS FROM IRAQ

      WASHINGTON, D.C.  --  Speaking after two days of congressional testimony by the top U.S. officials in Iraq, Bush credited his deployment of nearly 30,000 additional troops last year for a "major strategic shift" in the conflict. The president also announced he will reduce combat tours from 15 to 12 months, citing the heavy strain on troops and their families. The shortened tours would apply only to troops deployed on or after August 1 and would not cut back tours for those currently in Iraq. "Our nation owes a special thanks to the soldiers and families who have supported this extended deployment," Bush said.

    Bush's progress report on Iraq comes after he met with Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, and Ryan Crocker, U.S. ambassador to Iraq. Watch what Bush says about the pause in withdrawals » Petraeus and Crocker spent two days this week on Capitol Hill testifying on the status of the 5-year-old war. The president said there is "much work ahead" in Iraq but noted cooperation from the Iraqis is stronger than ever.

  "All our efforts are aimed at a clear goal: a free Iraq that can protect its people, support itself economically and take charge of its own political affairs. No one wants to achieve this goal more than the Iraqis themselves," he said. The president said Iraq is moving forward on the economic front and is expected eventually to shoulder the full burden of its security costs. Petraeus on Tuesday recommended that troop withdrawals from Iraq be paused for 45 days after July when U.S. forces in Iraq will be reduced to 140,000. Watch Petraeus explain the role of U.S. troops in Iraq » Bush accepted this recommendation Thursday, saying Petraeus will "have all the time he needs."
 

HOUSE DEMOCRATS PUSH BACK COLOMBIA TRADE PACT

       WASHINGTON, D.C.  --Democrats in the House handed the White House a stinging defeat Thursday over a free trade agreement with Colombia, rejecting President Bush's bid to force a vote on the deal before the end of the year. A rule change lifted the requirement, known as ''fast track,'' that would have forced Congress to vote on the deal within 90 legislative calendar days. In a mostly partisan vote, the rule change was approved 224-195. Only 10 Democrats joined 185 Republicans in voting against the change.

    The move throws the Colombia free trade agreement into a state of uncertainty. Democrats demanded the administration provide more generous assistance to U.S. workers impacted by free trade before reconsidering the pact. The White House, just before the vote, urged lawmakers to reconsider and warned a rejection would finish the Colombia free trade agreement. ''We do think that if they take this vote today and they pass it, that they are effectively killing the deal,'' White House press secretary Dana Perino said.

    Objections over human rights abuses in Colombia and especially concerns over the killings of union members in the long-running internal conflict in Colombia was brought up during the debate on the rule change less than bread-and-butter economic issues. ''This isn't about ending anything,'' said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. ``It's about having a timetable that respects the concerns, the aspirations, the challenges faced by the American people. We are the people's House, their timetable should be our timetable.'' Republican lawmakers rejected Democratic assertions that the administration was rushing to a vote, noting that the White House waited for 16 months before resorting to the fast-track rule and had held more than 400 meetings with lawmakers.

EVIDENCE IN ANDERSON CASE WAS SET UP BY A FORMER VENEZUELAN ATTORNEY GENERAL

       CARACAS, VENEZUELA  --  Giovanny Vásquez de Armas -the key witness in the investigation into the murder of public prosecutor Danilo Anderson- Tuesday in the Attorney General Office denied his previous attestation, and claimed he did not witness anything related to the planning and perpetration of the November 18, 2004 bomb attack.

    Lawyer Morly Uzcátegui, the legal representative of the key witness, declared, "Giovanny Vásquez came here to tell the truth. He filed evidence showing that the charges against (retired police inspectors Otoniel, Rolando and Juan Bautista) Guevara, (journalist) Patricia Poleo, (businessman) Nelson Mezerhane and the remaining defendants was a set-up."

    Uzcátegui claimed the man behind such a set-up was former Attorney General Isaías Rodríguez and the former public prosecutors investigating the case Gilberto Landaeta, Yoraco Bauza, and Hernando Contreras. When asked why in August 2005 Vásquez told the Attorney General Office and a judge he had witnessed meetings where the murder of Anderson was planned, Uzcátegui replied: "He took part in the set-up for money, and because he came under pressures against him, his relatives (...) Vásquez was given USD 500,000 in cash for taking part in this."

04-10- 2008

ECUADOR'S DEFENSE MINISTER RESIGNS AMID COLOMBIA CRISIS

      QUITO, ECUADOR  --  Ecuador's defense minister has resigned unexpectedly in the midst of a crisis in relations with neighboring Colombia over its cross-border raid on a FARC rebel camp. Deputy Defense Minister Miguel Carvajal on Wednesday confirmed the resignation of Wellington Sandoval, a doctor by training. Officials gave no reason for the resignation. Carvajal said new Defense Minister Javier Ponce probably would be sworn in later Wednesday. Ponce is a journalist who has been serving as leftist President Rafael Correa's personal secretary.

    Sandoval made controversial statements after Colombia's March 1 cross-border raid on a camp of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, that killed a key rebel leader and 24 others. The attack led Ecuador to break diplomatic relations with its neighbor. Sandoval said the army planned to send reinforcements to the border to keep out rebels, a position that appeared to clash with Correa's position that Colombia should be responsible for keeping the rebels from crossing into Ecuador.

    Sandoval's fate most likely was sealed when Correa became outraged that military intelligence had apparently advised Colombian officials -- and not him -- about an Ecuadorean's contacts with the rebels. The man was killed in the raid. Correa said he had to learn about the contacts from media reports and he accused Ecuador's intelligence services of being infiltrated and controlled by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. Correa's attacks apparently provoked discontent in military circles. In a communique Tuesday, the armed forces joint command said it had requested a meeting with Correa to ''maintain a direct and transparent dialogue'' on the issue and “avoid putting at risk the nation's security and stability.''

HUGO CHAVEZ TO NATIONALIZE VENEZUELA'S BIGGEST STEEL MAKER

       CARACAS, VENEZUELA  --The Venezuelan government is nationalizing the country's biggest steel maker, a union official said Wednesday, only six days after the government announced plans to take over the country's biggest cement companies.

    The moves indicate that Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez remains committed to putting key foreign-owned sectors of the economy in government hands, only months after voters rejected proposed changes to the Constitution that would have called for Venezuela to become a socialist state. The nationalization of the steel maker -- whose formal name is Siderúrgica del Orinoco or Sidor -- is likely to be popular with the company's workers. They have been striking for higher wages and improved benefits.

    An Argentine-Italian conglomerate, the Techint Group, owns 60 percent of Sidor. Chávez announced last week that he would nationalize three foreign-owned cement companies. He blamed a housing shortage on them, saying the companies have deliberately minimized production to get higher prices.

FRENCH MISSION TO SAVE INGRID BETANCOURT WILL LEAVE COLOMBIA 

       BOGOTA, COLOMBIA  --  A delegation that tried to meet with Betancourt and her rebel captors is preparing to fly out of Colombia in a French government jet. The rebels said in a statement posted Tuesday on the Internet that they would no longer unilaterally free captives. France's Foreign Ministry later said there was no longer any reason to keep the mission sent by France, Spain and Switzerland in Colombia. The jet had been waiting on a Bogotá airstrip since Thursday with doctors hoping to reach the French-Colombian Betancourt, who was said to be suffering from depression and hepatitis B.

    However, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said Paris will not abandon efforts to free Betancourt despite the failed bid and that he planned to travel to the region soon. In a four-paragraph statement, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia reminded the country that they had already unilaterally released six hostages this year, and repeated the same demand they have insisted on since 2005: that the government demilitarize two counties as the first step toward a large swap of hundreds of imprisoned rebels for dozens of hostages held by the guerrillas in jungle camps. Only as part of such an exchange, they said, would Betancourt go free.

    From the beginning, the mission appeared high on hopes and low on planning. It was hastily announced by Sarkozy after unsubstantiated rumors appeared in the Colombia press pronouncing Betancourt to be at death's door. Within days of the mission's arrival, questions arose as to exactly how bad Betancourt's health really was. The FARC appeared to feel that they were being railroaded into freeing Betancourt. ''We don't respond to blackmail nor media campaigns,'' said the statement issued by the FARC's ruling secretariat.

04-09- 2008

mahmoud ahmadinejad announced that iran has tested new advanced centrifuges

      TEHRAN, IRAN  --  President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced Tuesday that the country has started to install 6,000 new centrifuges to enrich uranium and for the first time has tested an improved centrifuge that works five times faster that the current version. If confirmed, the announcement would be a major expansion of Iran's uranium enrichment — a process that can produce either fuel for a nuclear reactor or material for a warhead. Permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, which has already imposed three sets of sanctions against Iran for its refusal to suspend uranium enrichment, were divided on how to respond.

    The United States and Britain quickly condemned the announcement, and France warned Iran could face more sanctions. But Russia, an ally of Iran, dismissed the need for that, saying negotiators were preparing a new package of incentives aimed at persuading Iran to freeze uranium enrichment. Iran rejected one European package of incentives last week. Tehran says its nuclear program is intended only to produce energy, not develop weapons as the U.S. and many of its allies fear.

     Iran already has about 3,000 centrifuges operating at its underground nuclear facility in Natanz. A total of 3,000 centrifuges is the commonly accepted figure for a nuclear enrichment program that is past the experimental stage and can be used as a platform for a full industrial-scale program that could churn out enough enriched material for dozens of nuclear weapons over time.  Ahmadinejad toured the Natanz facility in ceremonies marking the second anniversary of the day Iran first enriched uranium in 2006.

VENEZUELAN GOVERNMENT EXPRESSES SOLIDARITY WITH CHINA'S AGGRESSIVE POLICY ON TIBET

       CARACAS, VENEZUELA  --  The Venezuelan government on Tuesday denounced a smear campaign launched by the United States against China on events in Tibet and said it expects the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games to be a success.

    Venezuela is totally supporting the sports meeting in Beijing, and it is sending the largest delegation ever to the Olympics, said the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry in a press communiqué.

    "The Venezuelan government (...) expresses its total and unrestricted solidarity with the government and the people of the People's Republic of China in the face of the unceasing and systematic smear campaign (...) by large mass communications companies," said the communiqué. The document added that this campaign is launched when the Chinese people and government are getting ready to host the "best organized Games in modern history," reported DPA.

BOLIVIAN SENATE CHAIR DENOUNCES VENEZUELA'S "MEDDLING" 

       LIMA, PERU  --  Bolivian Senate chair, Oscar Ortiz, from opposition Poder Democrático y Social (Podemos) party, on Monday criticized what he branded as "meddling of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, who hits and destabilizes the Bolivian democratic system."

     "All the government departments are practically under control and supervision of Mr. Chávez's Bolivarian project," complained Ortiz in a press conference held in Lima, Peru, reported AFP.

     "Imagine military planes landing without any control on the cargo they unload in the country, and on weekends our own President delivers checks to the mayors in an attempt to buy their political allegiance, and these are checks from the Venezuelan embassy in Bolivia, signed by the Venezuelan Ambassador," said Ortiz.

04-08- 2008

FARC RULES OUT UNILATERAL RELEASE OF INGRID BETANCOURT

      BOGOTA, COLOMBIA  --  Rodrigo Granda, known as the "Foreign Minister" of the rebel Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC) Thursday branded as "inadmissible the request to release former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt" as a new signal the Colombian government deems a prerequisite to release FARC troops from jail and kick off a likely humanitarian swap.

     "It is not admissible to ask us for more signals of peace. After so many incontrovertible demonstrations of our political willingness to find a solution to the conflict, they have responded with infamy and maleficence," said Granda in a letter he wrote jointly with guerrilla commander Jesús Santrich, news agency Agencia de Noticias Nueva Colombia (Anncol) quoted.

     The communiqué entitled "Raúl Reyes, the path of life despite death" seemingly refers to the recent offer President Álvaro Uribe made. He conditioned the release of FARC troops and a likely humanitarian swap to a new unilateral hostage release, specifically that of Betancourt, Venezuelan official news agency ABN reported. In their letter, both Santrich and Granda warned that "only following a swap of prisoners the people who are held in our camps will be released." The communiqué came concomitantly with a medical mission sponsored by the governments of France and Colombia, which is intended to provide assistance to Betancourt, even though the FARC has not confirmed its participation in the operation.

THE US INSISTS IN RESUMING ANTI-DRUG EFFORTS WITH VENEZUELA

       WASHINGTON, D.C. --  The United States Ambassador in Caracas Patrick Duddy Thursday reiterated Washington's interest in resuming anti-drug cooperation efforts with Venezuela.

    "The governments of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and the United States of America may disagree in many things, but we must cooperate in the war against drugs." He argued that "only drug traffickers are favored by the lack of cooperation."

     The diplomat stressed that the drug traffic is such a complex problem "it is impossible for a country to fight against it on its own successfully." "Therefore, we are always stressing our interest in restoring cooperation here in Venezuela." The Venezuelan government on August 7, 2005 terminated a cooperation agreement with the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), arguing that DEA agents were involved in spying.

IRAN URGES OPEC TO STOP OIL SALES IN DOLLARS

       TEHERAN, IRAN-- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is urging OPEC members to form a joint bank and stop pricing oil trades in U.S. dollars.

    According to the Iranian government's Web site, Ahmadinejad told OPEC Secretary General Abdalla Salem el-Badri the cartel "should establish a joint bank as well as having joint currency." Oil is priced in U.S. dollars on the world market, and the currency's depreciation has concerned producers because it has contributed to rising crude prices and eroded the value of their dollar reserves.

     Iran has repeatedly urged OPEC members to shift sales away from dollar. But Iran's proposal to trade oil in a basket of currencies is not supported by enough OPEC members, which include staunch U.S. allies such as leading producer Saudi Arabia.

04-07- 2008

belarus military experts to help buid new air defense system in venezuela

      MOSCOW, RUSSIA  --  Belarus will send to Venezuela a number of military experts in order to create a new air defense system, Friday reported Igor Azarionok, Commander of Belarus Air Forces and Air Defense Forces.

     "We are going to provide only know-how and technical assistance for Venezuela to create a new national air defense system. Political issues do not concern the Defense Ministry," said Azarionok in a press conference in Minsk, reported the Russian agency Interfax.

     A Belarus high-ranking military officer, Piotr Tijonovski, said that more than ten military consultants and experts would travel to Venezuela this year, but added that the figure would increase. Tijonovski explained that Belarus would take some six years to help Venezuela to build an air defense system and radio-electronic war.

CUBAN BLOGGER WINS SPANISH MEDIA PRIZE

       MADRID, SPAIN  --  A Cuban blogger who regularly criticizes the island's communist system in her posts has won Spain's prestigious Ortega y Gasset journalism prize in the digital category. Yoani Sánchez, 32, uses Internet cafes in Havana to run her blog, Generacion Y, named after the generation of 30-something Cubans whose names begin with the letter Y as a result of the Soviet influence on the island during the 1980s.

    She recently complained that the government has blocked Cubans from accessing her blog, but hinted that there are easy ways to get around the restrictions.

     The prize's jury on Friday highlighted ``the shrewdness with which her work has dealt with the limitations on freedom that exist in Cuba, her lively information style and the force with which she has incorporated into the global space of citizen journalism.''

LIST OF REFORMS AUTHORIZED BY CUBAN DICTATOR RAUL CASTRO

       HAVANA. CUBA -- Since becoming president on Feb. 24, cuban dictator Raul Castro has dropped some restrictions on daily life. Cubans can now:

1- Legally own cell phones.
2- Stay in luxury hotels or pay to use their gyms, hair salons and other facilities.
3- Visit beaches, which had previously been reserved for tourists.
4- Rent cars.
5- Buy DVD players and other appliances; computers are to go on sale soon.
6- Cultivate unused state land with cash crops such as coffee and tobacco. Farmers will also be permitted to buy supplies at state-run stores without special permission.

      And the government could soon:

1- Let Cubans travel freely nationwide -- and possibly internationally.
2- Increase the buying power of the peso, the currency most Cubans are paid in.
3- Reduce restrictions on free enterprise that would allow more Cubans to start their own small businesses.

04-06- 2008

brazIL battles dengue outbreak

      rio de janeiro, brazil  --  A BRAZILIAN OFFICIAL says he is considering asking Cuba to send doctors to help care for the victims of a burgeoning dengue epidemic that has infected more than 45,000 people, killing at least 67.

    Rio de Janeiro Gov. Sergio Cabral said he would wait until the weekend to decide whether it was necessary to ask for help from abroad. Earlier this week, the government appealed to other Brazilian states to send 154 pediatricians to help out with the epidemic.

    The military has also been called up to help fight the mosquito-borne disease that causes high fever, headaches and joint pains but is not usually fatal. So far, the armed forces have set up three field hospitals, but a shortage of doctors has complicated treatment efforts.

china has provided iaea with intelligence on iran's nuke program

       VIENNA, AUSTRIA  --  CHINA, an opponent of harsh U.N. Security Council sanctions against Iran, has nonetheless recently provided the International Atomic Energy Agency with intelligence linked to Tehran's alleged attempts to make nuclear arms, diplomats have said. Beijing, along with Moscow, has acted as a brake within the council, consistently watering down a U.S.-led push to impose severe penalties on Tehran for its nuclear defiance since the first set of sanctions was passed in late 2006.

    A Chinese decision to provide information for use in the agency's attempts to probe Iran's purported nuclear weapons program would appear to reflect growing international unease about how honest the Islamic republic has been in denying it ever tried to make such arms. The new development was revealed by two senior diplomats who closely follow the IAEA probe of Iran's nuclear program. One commented late last week and the other Wednesday.

    The diplomats said Beijing was the most surprising entry among a fairly substantial list of nations recently forwarding information to the agency that adds to previously provided intelligence, and which could be relevant in attempts to probe Iran for past or present nuclear weapons research. But they said several other countries not normally considered to be in the anti-Iran camp had also done so in recent weeks. A generally increased flow of information to the U.N. nuclear watchdog to concerns sparked by a multimedia presentation to the 35 IAEA board members by the agency in February about intelligence previously forwarded by member states on Iran's alleged clandestine nuclear arms program.

death of rafael del pino SIERO in prison costs $253 million to the cuban government 

       MIAMI, FLORIDA  -- A Miami-Dade County jury on Friday decided the Cuban government is responsible for the death of a Cuban who was a U.S. citizen and died in an island prison, awarding the family almost $253 million.

    Rafael del Pino Siero was once a close friend of Fidel Castro but broke with him before the Cuban revolution triumphed in 1959. Soon after Castro's victory, Del Pino flew a small plane to the island and landed on a highway to rescue a friend who also opposed Castro. A passing patrol arrested Del Pino, who was jailed for several years.

     He died in prison 30 years ago. Jurors said they wanted to send a signal to Cuba's communist government that it is responsible for its human rights violations during the five decades that Castro and his brother Raúl have ruled.

04-05- 2008

russia to sell three submarines to HUGO CHAVEZ

       MOSCOW, RUSSIA  -- Russia expects to sell at least three submarines to HUGO CHAVEZ in a deal to be inked by the Venezuelan president visits next month, Russian news media reported Friday.  The Interfax news agency and the daily Kommersant cited unnamed military-industrial officials as saying that the subs would be diesel-electric models, of the Varshavyanka class.

    ''As of today, work to prepare the contract has practically been completed. The contract's signing will likely be timed with the visit of . . . Chávez to Moscow, which is expected in May,'' the official was quoted by Interfax as saying. A spokesman for state-run arms exporter Rosoboronexport had no comment; no one answered the phones at the Venezuelan Embassy in Moscow. The daily Kommersant, meanwhile, said Venezuela was seeking four submarines in all at a cost of $1 billion.

    The newspaper also quoted Deputy Finance Minister Dmitry Pankin as confirming talks on an $800 million loan from Russia for the purchase were also under way. The paper said the deal would be signed when Chávez travels to Moscow for the inauguration of incoming President Dmitry Medvedev. The ships, known in NATO terms as Kilo-class, are Russia's most advanced non-nuclear submarines. China, India and Iran, among others, have all purchased the subs in recent years. Caracas already has purchased some $3 billion worth of arms from Russia, including military helicopters, Kalashnikov rifles and Sukhoi fighter jets. Kommersant said Venezuela was also negotiating to buy 12 Il-76 military transport aircraft.

hugo chavez orders cement industry nationalization

       CARACAS, VENEZUELA  --  Hugo Chavez ordered the nationalization of Venezuela's cement industry, saying his government cannot allow businesses to continue exporting raw materials needed to help tackle a domestic housing shortage. Speaking during a nationally televised address Thursday, Chavez said the affected cement companies, which include Mexico's Cemex SAB, France's Lafarge SA and Switzerland's Holcim Ltd, will be paid fair compensation in the state takeover. "We are going to prepare a plan to modernize these cement plants," he said.

     Chavez, who says he is leading Venezuela toward "21st century socialism," said the nationalization would take place in the "short term," but did not provide specific dates. Chavez spent much of 2007 promoting his revolutionary vision of a new Venezuela, and he began by nationalizing the country's electricity, telecommunications, natural gas and oil industries.

     But Chavez began toning down his rhetoric after a stinging electoral defeat in December, when his opponents voted down proposed reforms that would have allowed him to enshrine his socialist agenda in Venezuela's Constitution and push forward with an agenda for revolutionary change. Thursday's takeover order represents his most radical nationalization move since then. Most of the cement market in this South American country, which has suffered from a severe housing shortage for decades, is supplied by foreign companies. In Venezuela, Cemex runs three plants that produce about 2.4 million tons annually. Holcim operates two cement plants in Venezuela with a production capacity of roughly 2.4 million tons a year. Lafarge has two plants that produce 1.5 million tons a year.

VENEZUELAN PARLIAMENT OKAYS TAX ON WINDFALL OIL REVENUES

       CARACAS, VENEZUELA  -- The plenary session of the Venezuelan Assembly gave their first approval to the windfall oil income bill, or the tax law governing revenues from extraordinarily high oil prices in world markets, which was submitted for discussion and approval last Tuesday by Venezuela's Vice-President Ramón Carrizález. Under the eight-section regulation, all the corporations based in and exporting liquid hydrocarbons from Venezuela shall pay the Venezuelan State 50-60 percent of their revenues from oil sales when the benchmark North Sea Brent crude oil price exceeds a ceiling of USD 70 per barrel.

     "It is hereby established a special tax to be levied on those companies that may export or ship to foreign countries liquid hydrocarbons, both natural and upgraded, as well as byproducts. The tax shall be levied whenever, in any month, the benchmark Brent crude oil average price surpasses USD 70 per barrel. The Ministry of Energy and Petroleum (Menpet) shall issue a resolution outlining the technical standards to estimate such average price," reads Article 1 of the bill.

     The tax rates are 50 percent of the difference between the monthly average set by the Menpet and the USD 70 ceiling, and 60 percent of the difference between the monthly average and the USD 100 threshold. Consequently, anytime the Brent monthly average price is above USD 100 per barrel, the oil firms are to pay the two rates, namely 50 percent of the income from sales of oil at USD 70-100 per barrel, and 60 percent of the income from sales of oil above USD 100 per barrel.

04-04- 2008

colombian president alvaro uribe rules out hugo chavez's role in mission to FREE INGRID betancourt

       BOGOTA, COLOMBIA  --  The Colombian government Wednesday said it was not considering the possibility that Hugo Chávez plays a major role in a humanitarian mission France is sending to the jungle in southeast Colombia to provide assistance to Ingrid Betancourt and other hostages held by the Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC).

    Chávez's role "has not been considered. This (mission) has been dealt with directly by the presidents of France (Nicolas Sarkozy) and Colombia (Álvaro Uribe)," replied the Colombian High Commissioner for Peace Luis Carlos Restrepo when asked about the Venezuelan ruler's likely participation in a mission Paris sent to Colombia to provide health assistance to the hostages.

    Restrepo told private radio station Caracol he contacted French authorities "to move forward in the operational phase." However, he added "both governments undertook to keep confidentiality." Restrepo added that the mission, which was kicked off officially on Wednesday, as announced by the French Presidency, comprises "a team of highly-skilled professionals who are carrying cutting-edge equipment." Restrepo asked the FARC to allow the mission to operate, and reminded that Uribe's government has not terminated the mediation of a Swiss delegate and a French delegate to contact the guerrilla group, AFP reported.

MISSION SENT BY THE FRENCH PRESIDENT TO HELP INGRID BETANCOURT LANDS IN COLOMBIA

       BOGOTA, COLOMBIA --A French airplane landed in Colombia's capital Thursday in a mission to help rebel hostage Ingrid Betancourt, who is believed to be gravely ill after more than six years in captivity. Betancourt, a former Colombian presidential candidate who also has French citizenship, is in urgent need of a blood transfusion, according to her son. An official with Colombia's civil aviation authority said the French-led humanitarian mission arrived in Bogota at 1 a.m. (2 a.m. EDT). He asked not to be named because he was not authorized to speak on the subject. A French official also confirmed the arrival.

    Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, in an interview with France-3 television broadcast Thursday, said his government will make "all the possible efforts" to help win her release. "At the moment, the French humanitarian mission informed us about the location where they presume Ingrid Betancourt is in captivity," Uribe said in English. Colombia has agreed to allow the mission - which includes a doctor - to try to access the jungle hideaway where she is being held, and pledged to suspend military operations in any area where the envoys might travel.

     Uribe reiterated that pledge, saying that, "we are ready to stop, suspend our military operations regarding the place" where Betancourt is believed to be. French Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Pascale Andreani declined to provide details about the mission at a regular news briefing, saying: "Discretion is required in this type of case." Betancourt is among hundreds of hostages held by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, but her release has become a cause celebre in France.

FARC-RELATED NEWS AGENCY BRANDS french president nicolas SARKOZY AS  "NAIVE"

      BOGOTA, COLOMBIAY  -- News agency Anncol, closely linked to the rebel Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC), branded as naïve French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who on Thursday sent a medical mission to Colombia to provide assistance to Ingrid Betancourt.

    "Even for an unilateral hostage release you need the parties to agree upon some sort of mechanism, to ensure security at least. It is strange that President Nicolas Sarkozy is so naïve an that the International Committee of the Red Cross is accompanying him in such a dangerous adventure," Anncol said in a document published on the Internet.

     A plane carrying the medical mission sent by Sarkozy arrived early Thursday in Bogota, as part of a plan to provide assistance to the French-Colombian politician, who is facing a serious health condition as well as other hostages held by the FARC, AFP reported. Anncol also stressed that France's proposal should be distrusted. People should not forget "that France is a capitalist country, with a rightwing president, and is a member of NATO, and that we do not know how sincere it is. We have to remember that countries have interests rather than friends," said Anncol.

04-03- 2008

COLOMBIA AGREES TO FRENCH HOSTAGE MISSION

       PARIS, FRANCE  --  Colombia's president said Tuesday that he had approved a French mission to try to meet with hostages held by leftist rebels, including gravely ill politician Ingrid Betancourt. The mission would be ''to protect the deteriorating health of the hostages,'' President Alvaro Uribe said. Betancourt, who holds both French and Colombian nationality, is being held along with dozens of other hostages by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia or FARC.

    In Paris, President Nicolas Sarkozy said he had called Uribe to inform him France was sending a humanitarian mission ''without delay to contact the FARC and obtain access to our compatriot,'' his office said. Uribe said once Colombia's military has the coordinates of the location for any meeting between the French delegation and the rebels, it will temporarily suspend military operations in the zone.

     Earlier Tuesday, Sarkozy implored the rebels in a televised message to free Betancourt, whom he said was in danger of dying. Betancourt, who has spent six years in captivity, is said to be suffering from Hepatitis B and a skin disease. In a televised message to rebel leader Manuel Marulanda, Sarkozy said the latest information about the health of Betancourt is ``profoundly alarming.'' ''Ingrid is in danger of imminent death,'' Sarkozy said. ``Since only a decision from you to save this woman from death is needed . . . take this decision. Free Ingrid Betancourt.''

WASHINGTON CONCERNED ABOUT VENEZUELA'S ARMS PURCHASES

       SANTIAGO DE CHILE, CHILE -- The United States administration is concerned about the large amount of weapons Venezuela has purchased recently, said in Santiago the Deputy Commander of the US Southern Command, General Glenn F. Spears.

    "We are seriously concerned about this large amount of purchases and the kind of purchases Venezuela is making," Spears said in a news conference. According to the US official, who is in Chile attending the International Air and Space Fair, "Venezuela has gone far beyond what the defense forces are."

     "I would ask what is the threat against their sovereignty they are envisaging, what makes them require this kind of purchases, and why do they need a reinforced military capacity," he stressed. Spears said he personally did not understand what was the threat laying behind Venezuela's arms purchases, adding that in his view they seemed "a purely defensive formula for this nation."

VENEZUELA DEFENSE MINISTER, GUSTAVO RANGEL BRICEÑO, SAID THE US IS BLOCKING SHIPMENT OF WEAPON PARTS TO VENEZUELA 

      MONTEVIDEO, URUGUAY  -- Venezuela needs to purchase weapons because some equipment are obsolete due to wear and tear, and because there is "a sort of US blockade" preventing the shipment of spare parts to Venezuela, Tuesday said Defense minister General Gustavo Rangel Briceño in Montevideo.

    "Right now, we have a large amount of obsolete equipment, partly because of wear and tear," such as the Belgian-made light automatic rifles, or FAL, "which are more than 50 years old." Other equipment are obsolete "because there is a sort of blockade that is being imposed upon us," said Rangel in a press conference.

     "We are not receiving spare parts for F-16 aircraft from the US; we cannot carry out training schedules; and even existing contracts for supply of equipment have been breached," said Rangel, as quoted by AFP. "Thus, we have had to turn to other weapon systems (…) We have already purchased (…) Russian-made Sukhoi planes," he added.

04-02- 2008

THE NEW YORK TIMES SAID THAT FILES PROVIDED BY THE COLOMBIAN GOVERNMENT SUGGEST HUGO CHAVEZ BID TO AID THE FARC

       NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK --Files provided by Colombian officials from computers they say were captured in a cross-border raid in Ecuador this month appear to tie Venezuela’s government to efforts to secure arms for Colombia’s largest insurgency. Officials taking part in Colombia’s investigation of the computers provided The New York Times with copies of more than 20 files, some of which also showed contributions from the rebels to the 2006 campaign of Ecuador’s leftist president, Rafael Correa.

     If verified, the files would offer rare insight into the cloak-and-dagger nature of Latin America’s longest-running guerrilla conflict, including what appeared to be the killing of a Colombian government spy with microchips implanted in her body, a crime apparently carried out by the rebels in their jungle redoubt. The files would also potentially link the governments of Venezuela and Ecuador to the leftist guerrillas of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, which the United States says is a terrorist group and has fought to overthrow Colombia’s government for four decades. Though it was impossible to authenticate the files independently, the Colombian officials said their government had invited Interpol to verify the files. The officials did not want to be identified while any Interpol inquiry was under way.

    Both the United States and Colombia, Washington’s staunchest ally in the region, have a strong interest in undercutting President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela, who has sought to counter United States influence by forming his own leftist bloc in the region. But the Colombian officials who provided the computer files adamantly vouched for them. The files contained touches that suggested authenticity: they were filled with revolutionary jargon, passages in numerical code, missives about American policy in Latin America and even brief personal reflections like one by a senior rebel commander on the joy of becoming a grandfather. Other senior Colombian officials said the files made public so far only scratched the surface of the captured archives, risking new friction with Venezuela and Ecuador, both of whom have dismissed the files as fakes.

NORTH KOREA THREATENS SOUTH KOREA WITH DESTRUCTION OVER COMMENTS 

       SEOUL, SOUTH KOREAA  -- North Korea threatened South Korea with destruction Sunday after Seoul's top military officer said it would consider attacking the communist nation if it tried to carry out a nuclear attack. "Our military will not sit idle until warmongers launch a pre-emptive strike," the North's official Korean Central News agency said. "Everything will be in ashes, not just a sea of fire, if our advanced pre-emptive strike once begins." The statement, issued by an unidentified military commentator, marked the third straight day of bellicose rhetoric from North Korea, which is angry over the harsher line South Korea's new president has taken against Pyongyang since assuming office last month.

    On Friday North Korea test-fired a barrage of missiles into the sea and warned that it would "mercilessly wipe out" any South Korean warships that violate its waters near their disputed sea border. Such rhetoric from North Korea is not rare during times of increased tensions. The latest came just two days before a scheduled visit to South Korea by the chief U.S. negotiator in North Korean nuclear disarmament talks.

    The statement Sunday also warned that the North would suspend all scheduled inter-Korean dialogue unless Seoul retracts and apologizes for a remark by its new top military leader. Kim Tae-young, chairman of the South's Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a parliamentary hearing Wednesday that the military would strike a suspected North Korean nuclear weapons site if Pyongyang attempted to attack the South with atomic bombs. His office later said he was talking about a general military principle dealing with outside threats — not about launching an unprovoked pre-emptive attack on the North.

AL-SADR CALLS OFF FIGHTING, ORDERS COMPLIANCE WITH IRAQI SECURITY

      BAGHDAD, IRAQ  --  Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr called on followers to stop shooting and cooperate with Iraqi security forces Sunday, a move Iraq's government praised as a step toward ending six days of fighting that has left hundreds dead. "We announce our disavowal from anyone who carries weapons and targets government institutions, charities and political party offices," al-Sadr said in a nine-point statement issued by his headquarters in Najaf.

    The statement was accompanied by demands that the Iraqi government issue a general amnesty to his followers and release any being held. The statement was distributed across Iraq and posted on the Internet. The move was welcomed by Iraq's government, whose forces have been fighting al-Sadr's militia, the Mehdi Army, in six days of clashes with so-called "outlaws" who had taken control of much of the southern city of Basra. U.S. and coalition troops have been supporting the Iraqi offensive.

    Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, who had vowed not to leave Basra until his government reclaimed control of the city, called al-Sadr's statement a "step in the right direction" and said he hoped it would help to stabilize the region. "We renew our assurance that the process of enforcement [of] the law in Basra does not target any political or religious group, including the Sadr movement," al-Maliki said in a prepared statement.

04-01- 2008

COLOMBIA DELIVERED FILES FROM RAUL REYES' COMPUTER TO HUGO CHAVEZ

       BOGOTA, COLOMBIA --The Colombian government last Saturday delivered to the Venezuelan government the documents found in the computers belonging to Raúl Reyes, the late number two man of the rebel Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC), disclosing  alledged links between the rebels and Venezuela, Monday said Colombian Foreign Minister Fernando Araújo.

    "Pursuant to the commitments President (Álvaro) Uribe undertook, last Saturday the Colombian government delivered to the Venezuelan Embassy in Bogotá the documents that were extracted from Raúl Reyes' computer where reference is made to any kind of ties between the Venezuelan government and the FARC," he stressed. Araújo told private radio station Caracol that there were files left to be found. "We have delivered to Venezuela what we have found so far," said Araújo, who added that there were over 16,000 files.

    A team of Interpol experts is in Colombia analyzing the contents of three computers found at the camp where Reyes was killed last March 1 during an attack the Colombian Army launched against Ecuadorian territory. The taskforce, comprising experts from Australia, Korea and Singapore, is to establish whether the contents of the computers were manipulated by the Colombian government, as suggested by Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez after his supposed links to the FARC were unveiled.

FORMER MEXICAN PRESIDENT VICENTE FOX SAID THAT HUGO CHAVEZ IS PUTTING MONEY IN THE FARC

       BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA  --  Former Mexican President Vicente Fox said that "there are important and clear signals" that Hugo Chávez "is putting money from Venezuelan oil" in the Colombian guerrilla FARC, an Argentinean press report claimed on Monday.

    In an interview with La Nación newspaper in Argentina, where last week Fox took part in a meeting of former Ibero-American conservative rulers, he warned that "democracy in Latin America is threatened by populism and demagogy." "I think the signals that Chávez is putting money from Venezuelan oil -the money that belongs to Venezuelans in this (the FARC) are more than important and clear," he replied when asked if he believed that the Venezuelan ruler was funding the Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces.

    According to Fox, Chávez "is supporting electoral campaigns, sponsoring eye surgeries (...) All of this with a view to win those countries in order to continue to encourage the axis with which he aspires to become the heir (of Cuban leader) Fidel Castro, and become the 21st-century Fidel Castro."

VENEZUELAN PDVSA'S DEBT COMPROMISES 28.5 PERCENT OF ITS ASSETS

      CARACAS, VENEZUELA  --  The sharpening indebtedness of Venezuelan state-run oil firm Pdvsa over the last 12 months has drastically changed the company's accounts to the extent that its debt to net worth ratio at the end of 2007 was 28.5 percent, the highest in the last decade. Pdvsa's consolidated debt totaled USD 16 billion in 2007, comprising USD 13.12 billion in long-term debt and USD 2.87 billion in current debt. Most of the long-term debt -USD 11.84 billion- was contracted by the holding in Venezuela, where it issued USD 7.5 billion in debt bonds in April last year.

     Following an oil strike in 2003, and particularly in 2006, Pdvsa implemented a strategy of debt buyback and amortization. This allowed reduction of the consolidated debt to USD 2.91 billion at the end of 2006, thus taking the firm's debt to net worth ratio to 5.4 percent in 2006. However, in 2007, Pdvsa's indebtedness soared USD 13.09 billion, or 449 percent. Consequently, the corporation exceeded its debt to net worth ratio in 1999, when the consolidated debt was USD 8.51 billion versus a net worth at USD 32.89 billion.

     Pdvsa CEO and Minister of Energy and Petroleum Rafael Ramírez dismissed the subject last March 28 in a news conference intended to disclose the corporation's audited financial statements. This is the first time Pdvsa delivers the audited financial statements on time over the last five years. Ramírez underscored that Pdvsa's net worth jumped from USD 53.10 billion in 2006 to USD 56.06 billion last year. However, this 5.5 percent increase was significantly below the expansion of debt in the same period.