Cuban President Fidel Castro delivers a speech after he voted Sunday Jan.19, 2003 in Santiago De Cuba, Cuba. Cubans vote Sunday to elect the 609 National Assembly members that make up the country's parliament. (AP Photo/Jose Goitia)
Posted on 01/20/2003 1:18:33 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Sunday named two loyal generals to top security jobs and said he was "winning the war" against opposition strikers who have crippled the country's vital oil industry for seven weeks.
The left-wing president, who has used troops to counter the strike, ruled out talks with opposition leaders who are trying to force him to resign and hold early elections.
Hardening his stance against the strikers, he repeated a threat to withdraw from peace talks with his foes being brokered by the Organization of American States. The talks have made little progress in more than two months.
"We are winning this oil war," Chavez said, speaking on his weekly "Hello President" television and radio show.
The strike has slashed output in the world's No. 5 petroleum exporter. It has also caused serious shortages of gasoline, cooking gas and some food items, sparking looting in some provincial towns and villages.
But Chavez, a former paratrooper who was elected in 1998 and survived a coup last year, said his government was making progress in restarting strike-bound oil fields and refineries.
Chavez named Gen. Lucas Rincon, a former defense minister and ex-armed forces chief, as interior and justice minister and Gen. Jorge Garcia Carneiro, as the new chief of the army -- the most powerful branch of the armed forces.
Both generals are close allies of Chavez, who has used the armed forces to take over strike-hit oil installations and, more recently, to raid food plants he accuses of deliberately hoarding goods to support the strike.
Since a short-lived coup against him in April, the president has purged his opponents from the military and is now doing the same in the strategic oil industry. Some 2,000 striking oil executives and employees have been fired.
In a move that drew howls of outrage from Chavez's foes, National Guard troops on Friday broke into two private drinks manufacturing facilities. One was a local bottling affiliate of Coca-Cola Co. and the other a storage plant belonging to Venezuela's biggest private company, Empresas Polar.
CUBA'S CASTRO PRAISES CHAVEZ
Chavez on Sunday accused a U.S.-controlled technology company, Intesa, of joining what he called a campaign of sabotage by the opposition strikers in the state oil giant PDVSA.
Intesa, 60 percent of which was owned by the U.S. company Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), had been responsible for running PDVSA's computer systems which Chavez said were deliberately blocked and disrupted in the strike.
"The Intesa executives didn't want to cooperate ... We'll have to rescind that contract ... We're nationalizing the brains of our oil industry," the president said.
Opposition leaders said Friday's raids against the drinks firms were an attack on private property. They accuse Chavez of trying to introduce Cuba-style communism in Venezuela.
Cuban President Fidel Castro on Sunday defended his friend and political ally Chavez, praising him as a "firm, good and intelligent man who is not going to abandon his people."
Cuban President Fidel Castro delivers a speech after he voted Sunday Jan.19, 2003 in Santiago De Cuba, Cuba. Cubans vote Sunday to elect the 609 National Assembly members that make up the country's parliament. (AP Photo/Jose Goitia)
Speaking in the eastern Cuban city of Santiago de Cuba, Castro said Chavez's striking opponents were being defeated.
But the Venezuelan strikers on Sunday vowed to continue their protest shutdown, extending it into an eighth week.
The strike at PDVSA has jolted world oil markets and cut off exports to the United States, which normally imports over 13 percent of its oil from Venezuela.
Rejecting opposition reports that the strike-hit oil industry was still in the doldrums, Chavez predicted that output could reach 2 million barrels per day (bpd) -- two thirds of pre-strike levels -- by the end of January.
He put current production at close to 1.2 million bpd. Striking PDVSA executives say output is around half of that.
Chavez acknowledged that availability of gasoline was still "critical," although he promised this would improve. Long lines formed outside gas stations across the country.
"We can't dialogue with terrorists," Chavez said, adding his government was considering quitting the talks with opposition negotiators chaired by OAS Secretary General Cesar Gaviria. The negotiations had been due to resume Monday.
Latin American leaders this week created a six-nation "group of friends" to support Gaviria's efforts to solve Venezuela's political crisis. The group comprised the United States, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Spain and Portugal.
But Chavez has said the group should be expanded to include nations such as China, Russia, Cuba and France.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez does a pull up in a renovated gymnasium at an elementary school where Chavez transmitted his weekly radio show 'Hello President' from, in Caracas, Venezuela, Sunday, Jan. 19, 2003. (AP Photo/Howard Yanes)
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***"Narco-Terrorism fuels radical Islamic groups associated with Hamas, Hezbollah, Algamat, and, yes, Al Qaeda. These groups operating out of the tri-border area of Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil, and other locales, like Margarita Island off Venezuela, generate hundreds of millions, if not billions, of dollars through drugs and arms trafficking with Narco-Terrorists. Simply put, direct drug sales and money laundering fund world-wide terrorist operations.
That is not speculation, that is fact. These groups operate in and out of Southern Panama, Northern Ecuador, Northern Peru, Bolivia, portions of Venezuela and the tri-border area. They are involved in kidnappings in Venezuela, Ecuador and Paraguay." ...and... "There is a huge and growing market for forged and illicit immigration documents. Narco-Terrorists and radical Islamic groups are feeding this market."***--- General James T. Hill, Commander of United States Southern Command, on Thursday, January 9th, 2003 at 'The Americas Society' and 'Council of the Americas' in New York City.
Striking oil worker Carolina Blanco shows her pispleasure at the mention of the President of Petroleos de Venezuela, SA (PDVSA), Ali Rodriguez, at a meeting of striking oil workers in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, Jan. 16, 2003. The strike began Dec. 2 and has slowed oil exports to a trickle, depriving the government of half its income.(AP Photo/Leslie Mazoch)
Venezuela PdVSA Loses Chartered Tanker For Nonpayment - Mon Jan 13, 2003 [Full Story] CARACAS -(Dow Jones)- Venezuelan state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela SA , or PdVSA, on Monday lost the services of oil tanker Astro Canopus because it didn't pay its bill, an executive at an international crude oil charter company said. The
Astro Canopus had been on a three-year time charter to PdVSA, the executive told Dow Jones Newswires on the condition of anonymity.
PdVSA officials didn't return calls with requests for comment.
The loss comes as PdVSA scrambles to find tankers to move crude oil so it can uncap more wells it was forced to shut because of an ongoing 43-day-old general strike against President Hugo Chavez's leadership.
International shipping agencies will boycott Venezuelan ports because their insurance carriers have refused to guarantee coverage as long as the strike continues, said the executive, whose agency loaded "one or two ships a week" in Venezuela.
"We've been told there are no qualified pilots, and we're not sure if there are people to moor the ships. The insurance companies have said they're not sure the ports are safe," he said.
The government has tried to replace harbor pilots and tug boat captains but industry insiders have said they don't have the licenses required to operate at the country's terminals.
"Currently, we could get to Venezuela and be told (by insurance companies) we can't load because it's too risky...so we won't be going there until the strike's over and everything settles down," he said.
Without chartered tankers, PdVSA is restricted mostly to using its own eight tankers, which limits exports to about 9 million barrels per month versus almost 10 times that in November before the strike began, according to Ciro Izarra, who was the international crude trading manager at PDVSA before the strike began.
And that's seen continuing to limit PdVSA's ability to uncap wells because there's simply nowhere for the oil to go once it comes out of the ground. [End]
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In one of Miami's largest political rallies, tens of thousands of Venezuelans and other marchers transformed Calle Ocho into a torrent of outrage Saturday over President Hugo Chávez's controversial and embattled reign.
The ''Mega March'' -- largely the initiative of Cuban-American activists -- peacefully galvanized South Florida's Venezuelan community in numbers that rival those of protesters following the repatriation in 2000 of child rafter Elián González.
Banging on pots and pans, waving flags and shouting Ni un paso atras -- ''Not one step backward'' -- a crowd estimated by police to be 60,000 emulated the rallying cry of Venezuelans at home. A national labor stoppage there has paralyzed the economy and ratcheted political tensions to the point, observers predict, of civil war.
''Now we know we're not alone in this struggle,'' said Antonio Ledesma, a key opposition leader and former mayor of Caracas who traveled to Miami for the event. ``This is significant because it represents the internationalization of the protest in Venezuela.''
Thousands of Cubans closed ranks with Venezuelan protesters in a show of solidarity, with exile leaders arguing Venezuela now closely mirrors post-revolutionary Cuba, when Fidel Castro strongarmed the country into communistic rule.
''If we don't read history we're condemned to repeat it,'' said Cuban-American George Espinoza, 42. ``That's what's happening in Venezuela right now. If we don't pay attention we may have another Cuban situation like in the 1960s.''
For many exiles, the resemblance to Cuba intensified Friday when Chávez made headlines by sending soldiers into soda and beer bottling plants to seize truckloads of beverages and distribute them ``to the people.''
Originally elected to a five-year term in 1998, Chávez is seeking to extend his term in office until 2007 by way of revisions made to the country's constitution.
Chávez' refusal to allow a Feb. 2 referendum calling for open elections spurred the nationwide strikes that began Dec. 2. He has agreed to a referendum in August but the opposition has displayed little patience.
A stream of red, yellow and blue -- the colors of the Venezuelan flag -- flowed east on Southwest Eighth Street, etched on painted faces, flags, banners, and T-shirts. As the 1 p.m. march wore on, the crowd thickened and clogged surrounding streets with cars, flags and honking horns.
Banging two frying pans together like cymbals, Caracas native Delfina Dominguez, here on vacation, said she was importing the tradition of the caserola protest to Miami. She said such protests were a nightly event at home.
''The pots and pans represent the people's hunger and the people's protest,'' Dominguez said. ``These are our weapons.''
Creativity flourished on hand-held placards and protest banners. Masks of the Venezuelan ruler with jackass ears sold for $15 a piece.
One woman held a sign of Chávez in an ape suit with the words: ''Wanted by Miami Metro Zoo, Beware: Dangerous Animal.'' Another woman bobbed a pole with a rope hung around a rubber imitation of Chávez' red-capped head. Several people held signs that read: ``Chávez: Fidel's First Lady.''
But Enrique Mercado's more earnest sign likely captured the central feeling running through the crowd: ``We elected a president. We got a dictator.''
''The lack of safety in Venezuela today is unbearable,'' said Mercado, 39, a financial consultant who lives in Miami with his wife and two children. ``How can a president tell the world there is law and order when he cannot even guarantee us personal safety? The law is for them. It's what they say is the law. That's not the law.''
Toting hand-sized Cuban and American flags, Roberto Behar is among thousands of Cubans whose bond with Venezuela runs deep as a result of exile years spent there.
''I'm here because I love freedom and the democratic system,'' said Behar, 79. ``When I left Cuba I lived in Venezuela for seven years, and I lived very well. Chávez is trying to imitate Fidel Castro -- that's why we have to defend the Venezuelan people.''
Standing at the final rallying point on Southwest Eighth Avenue and Calle Ocho -- where opposition leaders made speeches from a small bandstand -- Miami police Maj. Mario Garcia estimated the number of protesters at more than 60,000. He said no arrests were made.
''We have crowds all the way to 32nd Avenue,'' Garcia said. ``This has been one of the most orderly demonstrations I've ever witnessed in 22 years with the Miami Police Department. And also one of the largest.''
Miami City Manager Carlos Gimenez confirmed the 60,000 figure.
The air-tight crowd congregated at the stage on the 800 block of Southwest Eighth Street to hear local and Venezuelan leaders speak.
Among those addressing the crowd: Congressmen Mario and Lincoln Díaz-Balart, Venezuelan opposition leader Ledesma and labor union leader Carlos Ortega, who was lovingly mobbed by the crowd as he approached the stage.
''Stay on the foot of the battle, Venezuela,'' Ortega chanted out to the crowd. ``Chávez, you lost your noble country.''
Soap opera star Franklin Virguez was also cheered as he marched east, signing autographs and accepting the lunging hugs of fans.
''I am convinced that if there is not a public movement, Venezuela will live a reality like Cuba's,'' Virguez said. ``We are not going to accept that.''
Miami radio personalities Enrique Santos and Joe Ferrero also drew loud cheers as they were introduced to the crowd. The pair became heros to many local Venezuelans when they cursed out Chávez earlier this month during a prank call to the presidential palace.
One bystander, María Luisa Abreu, a native of the Dominican Republic, watched the protest from the confines of a Calle Ocho fabric store.
''Look at all these people and how mad they are,'' Abreu said. ``Imagine what it must be like in Venezuela.''
Staff Writer Charles Rabin contributed to this article.
Bump!
| The following is a translated transcript of an audiotape made of a prank phone call placed by Miami radio announcers Enrique Santos and Joe Ferrero. They say the call was made to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez using snippets of a recording of Cuban President Fidel Castro: Castro: ``Go ahead.''
Castro: ``Yes.'' Chavez: ``Hello Fidel?'' Castro: ``Go ahead.'' Chavez: ``Hello.'' Castro: ``Yes. Did you receive my letter?'' Chavez: ``Good morning, brother. Do you hear me?'' Castro: ``Yes.'' Chavez: ``Yes, I received everything, of course, of course.'' Castro: ``Very good, very good, thank you very much.'' Chavez: ``No, thank you. I spoke with German yesterday.'' Castro: ``I am ready to cooperate with you.'' The people pretending to be operators then interrupt, saying Castro is having problems hearing the call because of technical glitches. Castro's voice then comes back. Castro: ``Yes. Yes. Go ahead.'' Chavez: ``Hello?'' Castro: ``What day is it?'' The operators again pretend there are problems on the line. Castro: ``Let me see the schedule, the time.'' Chavez: ``We are hearing him.'' Castro: ``What day is it?'' Chavez: ``Hello, Fidel?'' Castro: ``Yes.'' Chavez: Yes, brother, how are you?'' Castro: ``Yes. Go ahead. Did you receive my letter?'' Chavez: ``Yes, I received it, correct, I received it, brother.'' Castro: ``I am ready to cooperate with you.'' Chavez: ``A-ha.'' Castro: ``I am ready to cooperate with you and do what you are asking.'' Chavez: ``Ah, right.'' Castro: ``But I ended up hurt because it was at the last minute and I confess it to you.'' Chavez: ``What? I don't understand.'' Castro: ``What day is it?'' Chavez: ``Everything is?'' Castro: ``What day is it? Tuesday. Wednesday. Go ahead. Go ahead.'' Chavez: ``Yes.'' Castro: ``What day is it?'' Chavez: ``Everything is, Tuesday? I don't...'' Castro: ``Yes. He doesn't want me to ruin his Friday.'' Then Santos breaks in Santos: ``Hugo Chavez.'' Chavez: ``Yes.'' Santos: ``Enrique Santos and Joe Ferrero from Miami. Get out of Venezuela, (expletive), terrorist! You're finishing off your people. Animal, assassin, (expletive)!'' |
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Obscene!
LOL
6. Senator Daschel
After this last weeks' performance, I think he's hiding behind Hildebeast.
I believe the US military is overlooking real weapon in Psy Ops - American D.J.s !
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