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República Bolivariana de Venezuela   govt 1 2   embassy

Congress gives fast-track status to Chavez powers legislation
10.3.00   AP

Influx Burdens VZ
10.10.00   S.Wilson WashPost ForeignSrv pA28

Well Armed Chaos
rank# 24   Mat Honan US Arms Sales Action Atlas

VZ foreign minister says Castro visit Venezuela
10.7.00   AP

OPEC summit, oil reserves help stabilize oil prices
9.30/00   T.Carl AP

VZ presses Ford, Firestone to compensate victims
9.30.00   A.Olson AP

will seek to impose fines, Ruh said. Ford VZ spokesman Ricardo Tinoco said Casigena has not yet decided how to respond to Indecu's subpoena for the Wednesday meeting. Tread separation, blowouts and rollover crashes involving vehicles with Firestone tires have been linked to 101 deaths in the U.S. and 46 in VZ . Many of the crashes involved the popular Ford Explorer. Both the automaker and the tire manufacturer have been criticized for not immediately reporting problems or taking action at the first signs of trouble. Ford executives have said their first reports of tire failures came in August 1999, when the automaker replaced Firestone tires on 6,800 Explorers and Mercury Mountaineers in Saudi Arabia. Ford did not notify U.S. authorities of the recall in Saudi Arabia or 15 other foreign countries until nearly a year later. Bridgestone/Firestone, under pressure from U.S. regulators, announced a recall of 6.5 million tires there 8/9/00.

10.1.00   commentary

Venezuela's president names 3 women to his Cabinet
8.27.00   C. Toothaker AP

first claims of vendido
Chavez Facing Serious Challenge in Upcoming Election
3.21.00   GLOBAL INTELLIGENCE UPDATE

U.S. aid OK, but no troops in Venezuela, president says
1.13.00   B.Jones AP

Gay life in S.Africa cyberspace
1.3.00   "   M.Nel Daily Mail & Guardian

VZ & Hugo Chávez Frías
10.13.99   M. L. Trigos-Gilbert Go Inside

11/14/99   Col. Hugo Chavez said he wanted to change the national flag if they win the elections. Currently Chavez is president & in the last elections won 120 of 131 Assembly seats. … VZ has new name with constitutional change: República Bolivariana de Venezuela. However, flag will remain same.

2/18/99 "A new way for VZ might not be easy"
Alexander's Oil&Gas Lat.Am rpt   With oil prices at 12-year lows,VZ is mired in its third recession in five years. … nearly 40 % of its budget to service its $ 24 bn foreign debt. … Although financial circles were unsettled by left-wing campaign speeches, Chavez has since calmed fears by announcing reappt of country's respected finance minister, Maritza Izaguirre. Business community welcomed plan to merge govt ministries, cut to 10 or 12. … Chavez inherits $9bn budget deficit, 30% annual inflation & natl oil co. w/ plummeting profits. Last month, co. announced net profits plunged from $4.7bn in 1997 to $1.4bn last year.
Economic diversification essential as oil is one-third GDP & 75% of exports. Govt invested heavily in aluminium, steel & iron industries. To buy votes, however, it padded new factories with so many unnecessary jobs that it created another drain on oil revenues. Attacking pervasive govt corruption high on Chavez's agenda. Last year, German watchdog group Transparency International rated Venezuela 8th most corrupt country in world in survey that measured businessmen's perceptions.

2/2/99 "Former coup leader Chavez takes office in VZ"   L.Newman
Caracas CNN   Almost 7yrs to day after leading a failed coup that won him instant fame, Chavez, 44, raised his hand and immediately broke with wording of traditional oath of office by calling constitution "moribund." "I swear in front of my people, that over this moribund constitution, I will push forward the democratic transformations that are necessary ...," he said, standing before a Congress packed with legislators, supporters, journalists and 16 heads of state. His oath of office was interrupted by applause and cheering from the audience.

12/13/98 "Give VZ 's Chavez a chance"
St Petersburg Times   Democratically elected Chavez is charismatic left-winger & former paratrooper who served prison time for leading failed coup attempt six years ago. Known by supporters as El Comandante, Chavez in past expressed admiration for Fidel Castro's style of leadership & ranted about capitalism. Now governing, Chavez more conciliatory; denied he is authoritarian & says priorities cleaning up waste & corruption that caused decades of unrest and addressing crushing economic problems in oil-rich nation. His victory not so much an endorsement of radical politics as indictment of country's corrupt political class that left deep debt & 70% of people in poverty. Chavez won because he promised change, renegotiate huge foreign debt & crack down on tax evasion by upper classes, Chavez hero to poor, also middle class strong base. Chavez speaks of finding "third way" that combines benefits of socialism with free market economy. Since election, has tried to reassure foreign investors.

VZ per Fed. Amer. Sci. also
Refugees 1 6/14/00
Resistance media:  

forums

United Nations   research links

[ it is also bound, at least in principle, by the UN treaties it is signatory to. ]

6/28/99 "Colombian Refugees in VZ Intimidated to Return, Paramilitary Offensive Endangers Lives"
HRts Watch   VZ & Colombia authorities recently intimidated refugees into returning to areas where they may face death. Letters VZ Pres. H.Chávez & Colombian Pres. Pastrana urging future Colombian refugees be allowed to remain in VZ until claims are thoroughly reviewed. "Families have been intimidated into returning to Colombia despite well-founded fear of paramilitary attacks." said J.M. Vivanco, exec.dir. Americas Div. Human Rights Watch. Forces under Carlos Castaño, leader of United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia, AUC), entered Catatumbo region of Colombia 5/29/99, detaining & killing people whose names appeared on lists. Colombia's Public Advocate reported paramilitaries at single roadblock killed at least twenty people & abducted up to fifteen more. As attacks continued, over 600 refugees, most women & children, left La Pista village for VZ . According to intl observers in VZ , more than 100 sought refugee status.
Instead, VZ govt transferred them to National Guard barracks, denying them access to UN Refugee HighCommission reps & other humanitarian groups. UNHCR was also barred from 6/11/99 meeting between VZ & Colombian authorities, who apparently agreed to repatriate refugees & ignore asylum claims. Also 6/11/99, VZ authorities allowed Colombian army colonel in charge of Catatumbo region to speak to refugees. Witnesses reported his intimidation that anyone who did not return or reported collaboration between army & paramilitaries would be considered guerrilla supporter. Families returned to Colombia despite continuing paramilitary offensive in region.
"A policy of intimidating or forcing refugees to return to Colombia without first guaranteeing their security can have devastating consequences," said Vivanco. He cited 1997 forced return of 300 Colombian refugees from Panamá. Several later appeared on death lists & at least one was murdered. Both Colombia & VZ signed UN Convention on Refugees & its later Protocol, which prohibit refoulement, or forced return, of refugees. Convention also obligates signatories to cooperate fully with UNHCR to assist refugees & ensure well-being & safety.
caseletter to Chavez (spanish)

Derechos Humanos VZ

9/15/00 " VZ Indians topple pylons to halt power line"
CARACAS Reuters Ltd   Indians in VZ 's remote Amazon region knocked down seven electricity pylons in renewed protest against high-voltage power line to Brazil being built through their ancestral homeland, a spokesman for the local Indigenous Federation said yesterday. Indigenous leaders said construction of the 470-mile (750-km) link was ruining their livelihood & affecting a fragile ecosystem across tracts of national parks and Amazonian forests. "A group of Indians opposed to the project knocked down the towers" on Wednesday morning in an area close to the Brazilian border, said the spokesman, who requested anonymity.
The action was confirmed by state power company Edelca, in charge of the delayed project. A spokesman said it was the first such incident since five electricity towers were knocked down a year ago in a similar protest. $400 million project to supply energy to N.E. Brazil & intl gold mining co. in VZ supposed to have been completed in December 1998. Line runs through Canaima National Park, VZ 's top tourist destination and home to Angel Falls, the world's tallest waterfall at over 3,200 feet (975 meters). Canaima was declared a World Heritage Site in 1994. About 24,000 Indians live in the area.

11/11/99 " VZ 's New Constitution to Include Indigenous" J.R.Leal
ENS   After weeks of negotiations that brought the constitutional process to a halt, a nearly unanimous vote has inclusion of indigenous peoples in VZ 's new constitution now being written. Representatives of each VZ indigenous ethnic group, chiefs & common Indians, elders and women carrying infants congregated for 2wks in Oct.99 & early Nov. in hallways of Congress where Natl Constitutional Assembly is writing new constitution for VZ . They were lobbying to be considered as natural warranters of VZ rainforest protection & preservation by being original inhabitants of the land.
Lawmakers, said granting rights with words "Indigenous Territories" & "Indigenous Peoples" pose future threats for natl sovereignity of VZ . One member brought out some old armed forces intelligence reports that talked about obscure links between indigenous communities & Colombian narco-guerrillas, & supposed existence of subversive Amerindian movement. Govt lawmakers passing from one chamber of Congress to another had to zig-zag between Indians with saddest of faces standing against background of placards attached to the walls, pictures of their lands before & after mining, signs reading "We Say NO to the Electric Line in Gran Sabana," & "For the Right to a Proper Education for Indigenous.

Their lives & cultures under assault as underground minerals of all kinds have attracted miners, from illegal garimpeiros to organized multinational projects such as Las Cristinas complex on Bolivar State. Epidemics of yellow fever decimated their populations brought by miners & others from outside world. Cattle & agricultural industries have destroyed their forest homes. But after 2 weeks of negotiations that brought constitutional process to a halt, on 11/3/99, nearly unanimous vote approved inclusion of indigenous peoples in new constitution. VZ indigenous people have constitutional rights as aboriginal peoples who need clean & pure habitat.
The words "indigenous peoples" and "indigenous habitat "will be in Constitution. "Territory" was changed for "habitat," said Asibulo Isturiz, Constituent member in charge of handling indigenous controversy, "because we can use concept "indigenous peoples" w/o worry in future used to declare Indigenous Free Determination. Habitat instead of territory was chosen also because indigenous people need more than just land, they need land pristine & pure, the forests, mountains & savannahs, the habitat where those Indians live. Isturiz said.

7/30/98 "Pemon Indians blockade intl hwy in fight against power project"
Mining & logging is big business surrounding Canaima Park; critics suspect abundant electricity catalyst for mining & logging inside Park itself. Recent report from UNESCO stated that project could well encourage mining and logging in park, yet the UN agency seems to have done little else to oppose it.
Fiona Watson, Co-ord. Campaigns for Survival, said is yet another so-called development project, which will leave the Pemon people worse, not better, off. It violates just about every national and international law guaranteeing their land rights.

[ it's not like the Pemon are off the grid. They have been doing fine for a long time with highly localized system using 7-8' poles easily replaced when needed according to other reports which are damned hard to translate well from Spanish ]

4/11/99 "FARC to announce the sentence against rebels who murdered US nationals"
Bogota AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE   FARC leader said would announce punishment to be meted out to rebels who killed three US citizens within the next two months, the Colombian Ombudsman has reported. The rebel leader of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, Manuel Marulanda, known as "Sureshot", refused to be drawn on what the sentence might be, Jose Fernando Castro said Saturday. That would have to await the outcome of an internal investigation, Marulanda told him. And although he admitted that the killing of the three US activists was a "grave error," he was steadfast in his refusal to hand the culprits over to Colombian or US authorities.
Marulanda made the pledge in a meeting Friday with Castro in a so-called demilitarized zone designated for peace talks between the FARC, the country's largest and best-equipped insurgency, and President Andres Pastrana's govt. Kidnapped on February 25, found in March just inside Venezuela's border with Colombia. Their bodies were riddled with bullets and bore signs of torture. The leader of the division responsible for the executions, led by Commander Gildardo, murdered the three US citizens without consulting the FARC leadership, according to Marulanda.

3/6/99 "US kidnapping victims dead"
The Guardian   3 bodies found near Venezuela's border with Colombia yesterday were believed to be those of Americans kidnapped in Colombia on Jan.25. The authorities said they had been shot. Seized at reservation 200 miles from Bogota, where they were working with the U'wa Indians, who won a lawsuit against Occidental Petroleum in 1997 that prevented the Los Angeles-based company from exploratory drilling on traditional U'wa territory. United Press reported today that the bodies of three US, two Indian & one young Colombian environmental activist were found bound & blindfolded Thursday in field just across the Arauca river in Venezuela by a farmer who heard a volley of gunshots and went to investigate.

4/26/98 pixotes street kids   VZ youth at risk*
10/29/94 "VZ Crime wave"
The Economist   … sprawling makeshift slums that ring the capital. But the bloodbath acted out every week under the bare light-bulbs of the barrios … Around 60% of Caraquenos live in these slums. Many are people, or their children, who flocked in from the countryside - even from other countries - in the oil-boom days of the 1970s. Then, as a local saying puts it, life was ``easier than a low-hanging mango''. Not now. The economy has shrunk - as has the flow of state handouts. … bloody riots of 1989, when unofficial estimates claim that 2,000 people died in the crackdown.

Development Pgm incl Human development Report
Unrepresented Nations & Peoples Organisation re K
Refugee index   FIDH   regional & national news
U.N. 1999 Refugee midyear report   2000 report pdf
Decolonization UN

House

State Dept   on Venezuela 12/99   US embassy   research links

8/15/00 Albright in S.America

8/9/00 "FOX, CHAVEZ AND FUJIMORI: THREE FACES OF DEMOCRACY"
issue focus Foreign Media Reaction US State Dept WashDC Off. of Research
… Venezuela's "messianic" Hugo Chavez. With few exceptions, editorialists regarded the outcome of the Mexican elections as a step forward for the "consolidation of democracy" and judged the Venezuelan & Peruvian scenarios as a step backward, evoking the days of caudillo-style, populist and authoritarian rule.
"Overthrow Chavez?...A Middle Class Vain Illusion"
Commenting on U.S. Ambassador Maisto's statement on U.S. foreign investment in Venezuela, Rafael Poleo charged in tabloid El Nuevo Pais: "The middle class has expected army &/or US to do it the favor of overthrowing Chavez. This is a vain illusion. The United States is interested in a deteriorating Venezuela to buy cheap assets, particularly PDVSA assets, which is their actual objective. You will see how, at the end of the film, Chavez will have been working for the US, the superpower he seemingly challenges. Nor can we complain about the United States acting based on its own interests … in the absence of Chavez-like naivete. The US does know how to meet its national interests. In any case, tolerance regarding Chavez will go as far as it is convenient for U.S. interests. … Hence U.S. Ambassador John Maisto's warning: Foreign investment in Venezuela depends on a healthy political environment.
[ Chavez has

• written a new constitution & gotten it enthusiastically ratified by plebescite,
• hosted, chaired &' actively participated in the 2nd OPEC summit in its 40yr history
• competently and actively managed the biggest Lat.Am natural disaster, meeting US troops as the helicopter landed but refusing them when no longer needed
• Revamped a judicial system that ground to a halt years ago
• staved off Colombia's revolution without alienating anyone but the US who promotes escalated conflict

3/15/00 "Cong. Budget Justification for Foreign Ops, FY2001"
Western Hemisphere Affairs Bureau (WHA) goal in coming year is maintain U.S. leadership while further building neighbors' capacity to strengthen their democracies, institutionalize economic reforms & address shared concerns. … Despite past accomplishments, recent events indicate the potential for dangerous reversals. In Paraguay, Haiti, Venezuela, & Ecuador where promises of democracy & liberalized economic policies yet to produce tangible improvements in lives of ordinary citizens, cynicism, populist policy prescriptions & even violence threaten to interrupt development of democratic traditions & institutions.

Account ESF (Regional) Intl Mil Ed & Trng Intl Narc Ctl & LawEnf	FY99 Actual 400 700	FY 2000 Estimate 500 400 700	FY 2001 Request 1,000 400 1,200

National Interests:
As leading supplier of foreign oil to the U.S. & one of oldest democracies in Latin America, VZ is strategically important. In wake of profound political & institutional changes in last year, US policy objectives include preserving constitutional democracy, maintaining access to VZ 's extensive petroleum reserves, and protecting U.S. exports & investments. US also seeks closer counter-narcotics cooperation, stable & secure borders, and successful institutional transition to new judicial system.
Objectives and Justification:
U.S. will monitor VZ interest in Colombia's peace talks & border disputes between VZ & neighbors, particularly Guyana, using diplomatic resources to help ameliorate potential disagreements. Intl Military Ed & Training (IMET) will maintain military links & provide important training to military, incl emphasis on human rights. Provision of Excess Defense Articles (EDA) under Section 516 of the Foreign Assistance Act will be used to promote inter-operability and modernization of equipment.
VZ has implemented a far-reaching judicial reform program, but much remains to be done in training law enforcement & judicial authorities on new roles & responsibilities. US will continue support for transition from old judicial system to the new, incl training of judicial personnel and training in natl & intl organized crime investigations. VZ is a major trans-shipment route for illegal drugs destined for the US Intl Narcotics Control & Law Enforcement (INCLE) funds improve GOV's interdiction & eradication efforts, combat intl money laundering activities and improve controls to prevent diversion of essential and precursor chemicals.
New govt took office in Feb.1999. It oversaw two free & fair referenda and one election that culminated in adoption of new Constitution 12/15/99. US will continue to work with the Chavez administration to improve civilian-military relations, strengthen democratic institutions through initiatives funded by Economic Support Funds (ESF), and promote the rule of law and respect for human rights.
Torrential rains hit VZ N. coast 12/99 resulting in mudslides, flooding, tens of thousands of casualties & widespread damage to infrastructure & communities. During FY 2000, US providing $3 million in disaster assistance in emergency supplies, water treatment & storage systems, airlift capability for personnel and supplies, and technical assistance on abatement of serious chemical spill, public health concerns, and reconstruction.

US is VZ 's most important trade partner, but preferential agreements between VZ & other Latin America countries put U.S. exports at disadvantage. US will work to increase access of US goods, services & investments to VZ market through bilateral agreements, planned Free Trade of the Americas Agreement (FTAA) & WTO commitments. VZ is major importer of US products, with a current purchasing level of $5.4 billion dollars (18% lower than previously as result of current VZ recession). US continues active outreach program to inform US companies about opportunities in VZ market, with special emphasis on small & medium sized exporters.
VZ 's economy remained in sharp recession in 1999; temporary dip in oil prices & political uncertainty caused sharp decline in investment. USG encourages broad-based growth through continued economic reform, incl economic diversification and reduced spending on nonproductive activities and negotiation of bilateral investment treaty.

State Dept 1999 Human Rights, Trade, Narcotics< /a> , Terrorism & Intl Religious Freedom reports re VZ

9/21/00 "DIAMONDS: THE ROAD FROM KIMBERLEY" Peter Hain
FCO Minister to Diamonds Conf. Pretoria
As Britain's Minister for Africa … we invite other producing, processing & importing states, such as Brazil & Venezuela, which have not been part of the Kimberley process. And others, such as Australia and India, which have had some or only very recent involvement in Kimberley.
3rd UK/Carib. Forum Georgetown GY 2002

[ In S.Am, guerrillas FARC et al have shown tremendous ethical standards in establishing alternative infrastructure and restraint with individual murders but no massacre or noncombatant terrorism.
In Africa, you have cannibals slaughtering anyone within reach as std operating procedure.
But America wants to go to war in Colombia while in Africa US refuses to commit troops after its corpses dragged down mainstreet. ]

[ corporate welfare never sleeps ]

[ same Harken GWBush crashed & burned for his first insider trading fortune ]

VZ oil report
San Jose Accord, agreement whereby VZ and Mexico supply oil to region on easy terms. 10/2/00 Chávez announced Caracas Energy Pact signed 10/19/00 with dozen Cent.Am & Caribbean countries, among them Cuba, to supply 80,000 barrels a day to the region. Chávez disclosed 10/6/00 Cuba would pay for the oil with "medical services & consultation in sports". It ofers oil at cheaper rates and easier terms but leaves out Guyana

9/30/00 "OPEC summit, oil reserves help stabilize oil prices"   T.Carl
CARACAS AP   OPEC's summit this week, coupled with U.S. decision to release oil from its reserves, stabilized oil prices though producers failed to make commitments to pump more. Pres. Hugo Chavez said OPEC could increase production if necessary, although the oil cartel claims current production is enough. … Light sweet crude price $30.84 a barrel Friday on NYMercEx, up 50 cents from Thursday but well below the 10-year highs of mid-September $36barrel. If OPEC fulfills promise to increase Oct. output by 800k barrels/day. OPEC ended second summit in 40 years pledging to put aside longtime differences among its members and unite to demand "fair" stable oil prices. Only two years ago, OPEC was on deathbed with $10barrel crude.
Underscoring unity theme, foes Iran & Iraq held highest-level meeting since 1997 on Friday to discuss upgrading diplomatic relations frayed since 1980-88 war, another victory from Aug. ME tour incl Iraq for Chavez, who spent much of summit championing developing nations rights & criticizing industrialized world for high oil taxes. Chavez also was driving force behind OPEC production cuts starting last year. He made sure Caracas spruced up for summit. T.Petkoff, editor-in-chief of Tal Cual opposition newspaper frequently critical of Chavez, praised the president's summit efforts.

9/26/00 "Oil boom brings no relief to Venezuelan poor"
LA TAZAJERA VZ Reuters   Most residents of slum in VZ oil heartland have no drinking water, toilet or electricity. So where are the benefits of soaring fuel prices that enraged Western consumers? As heads of OPEC gather in Caracas amid pleas from developed nations to lower oil prices, dirt streets & tumbledown shacks of La Tazajera on the shore of Lake Maracaibo show no signs of bonanza. "This is a forgotten village. It has been here for years and the govt has ignored it," said 35-year-old Nava, part of an army of unemployed in the slums of Maracaibo who scavenge for part-time work in the oil industry.
Dusty village is typical of the South American nation, where more than half the population lives in poverty despite the biggest oil reserves outside Middle East. 1960s heyday, when VZ was world's largest oil exporter & Caracas one of its most expensive cities, is long gone. First sight of Caracas is dirt-poor shanties that spill down mountainside, housing 2 million, a third of capitol's 6 million inhabitants. For oil-rich western state of Zulia, Lake Maracaibo oil has brought its own problems.

1,000 people of La Tazajera are sheltered by 20ft embankment from polluted waters of South America's largest lake, where hundreds of oil rigs stretch to the horizon producing more than a million barrels of crude a day, about half of Venezuela's oil exports. Dike is starting to crack. OPEC founding member VZ embarked on 1960 disastrous nationalization experiment that slashed its oil production and killed off foreign investment nationalization . Billions of dollars from oil exports encouraged a bloated nanny state & lined corrupt politicians' bank accounts. Volatile fuel prices pitched economy from boom to bust for 3 decades, eroding living standards & bringing VZ once- flourishing middle class to its knees.
Nevertheless, petroleum remains a sacred cow. Govt attempt to remove fuel subsidies in 1989 provoked bloody demonstrations; VZ gasoline remains among the cheapest in the world, about 1/10 of price in Europe. Although oil industry employs only about 30,000 people from 24million population, promise of work there still represents an escape from poverty for ordinary Venezuelans.
Rueben Mavarez, a 12-year-old from Maracaibo who pitched his baseball team to the Little League World Series last month, described his dream as either to play for the Atlanta Braves or work in state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA). For Javier Blanco, 53, who joined PDVSA 20yrs ago amid optimism of nationalization, the lure of oil is still a good wage & guarantee of job for life. "Oil has been our past and it will be our future for a long time to come," he said, on the deck of a drilling rig in Lake Maracaibo. Like predecessors, leftist Pres. Chavez pledged to end VZ reliance on oil which accounts for 3/4 of exports. But, after 20 months, his govt is more reliant than ever on high oil prices to fund runaway spending & boost recovery from last year's recession.

Chavez rebutted pressure from Western govts to lower cost of fuel. Chavez billed this week's summit as forum to consolidate support for strong oil prices, which he describes as "fair" for needs of developing nations of OPEC.Despite oil riches, VZ like other Latin American states has fallen victim to demographics. Its population tripled in 40 years amid a wave of immigrants and a baby boom. Urban migration created rambling shanties, home to millions of young families, often dangerously lacking any urban planning or basic infrastructure. One such shantytown was El Larense, which sprang up beside an oil pipeline in the outskirts of Maracaibo. Henrique Colinas, 23, moved there 6 years ago in search of work, abandoning the rural town of Mene Grande, cradle of VZ oil industry. When oil duct outside their homes burst 5mo. ago, villagers had minutes to gather belongings before oil caught fire & razed 24 houses to the ground.
"If it had been night, about 200 people would have died, because that was all houses before," Colinas said, gesturing to a barren patch of land beside his corrugated iron shack. With pressing economic needs, ecological issues have taken back seat in oil development. Defunct wells abandoned in Lake Maracaibo now home to colonies of oil-black cormorant and local boys practicing their diving. El Larense is one of handful of shanties around oil installations of Lake Maracaibo to suffer environmental damage. In some, the state has tried to improve housing & services and limit pollution problems. Mirage of VZ's oil wealth still persists in these sweltering slums. People of La Tazajera & El Larense are waiting for govt to resettle them, encouraged by promises from the populist Chavez. "Venezuela is a rich country, with oil and plenty of land. … They must move us from here, give us dignified homes," said Nava, invoking the oil mantra of VZ poor.

8/15/00 "Chavez drives OPEC & oil higher" A.Touati
Algiers Reuters   As oil price hits highest levels since Gulf War, VZ President Hugo Chavez is still encouraging OPEC leaders to stand together to keep oil prices "fair". Sept. crude oil prices US$31 per barrel in response to lower supply and have risen some 15% in last 2 weeks. At end of tour of member states Chavez said any fall in prices below the present level would be like passing a "death sentence" for producers like VZ . He added that the cartel should never fall on its knees again. "We have made an evaluation of all the scenarios during this tour & we insisted on necessity of keeping just prices." Many OPEC countries suffered budget shortfalls in after the oil price crash of 1998 and 1999. Since March 1999, when change of VZ govt brought OPEC's worst output quota buster into line, cartel enjoying rare period of unity & prosperity with relatively high levels of quota compliance.
After fuelling sky-high oil prices last year with drastic export curbs, Chavez seeking to raise political profile of organisation that fell into obscurity for years as result of political disputes, quota busting and even war. Chavez hopes time is right for tighter integration in fractious cartel as it approaches its 40th birthday by touring world to invite member states of OPEC to cartel's first summit in 25 years in Caracas at the end of Sept.

Jan.00 DOE country report Hugo Chávez won VZ 's presidential election 12/98 with 56% of vote, running on populist agenda against established political order. Chávez has won overwhelming support from VZ 's poor, ½ of population, and hope to benefit from Chávez's promises of higher living standards and ending corruption. VZ endured difficult economic conditions in last few years. 1999 Oil price recovery insufficient to reverse contraction of the economy. Devastating floods & mudslides ravaged VZ 12/99 & added another financial burden to country, killing as many as 50,000, leaving over 100,000 homeless, and destroying businesses and public buildings. Economic conditions are expected to improve this year, especially if oil prices remain strong. Positive GDP growth rate predicted for 2000, after negative rates in 3 of last 5 years.
Pres.Chávez introduced important changes in recent months. 131-member Constituent Assembly rewrote 1961 constitution which passed overwhelmingly in 12/99 public referendum. New constitution increases presidential term from 5 to 6years & allows president to run for re- election. Senate eliminated and opposition-dominated Congress suspended until new elections expected in late winter or early spring 2000). Military's political influence increased, & civilian control over military has decreased. Govt control over economy increased, reducing autonomy of the Central Bank. Military officers' postings now incl head the Central Budget Office & Chief of Staff. In early January 2000, the Infrastructure Minister resigned in the wake of Chávez's decision to appoint an army general as head of a state urban development body.

[ these are populist reforms ? Challenged on staffing govt from military ranks, Chavez replies "I work with those who get the job done." ]

[ that's populist reform ]

[ $3 million FY2001 in MilEd & NarcTrng aid to protect brand new billion dollar loan in a country led by new constitution & sanction busting, OPEC cheerleading populist. Leads to wonder how much of $billion US goods are munitions. ]

1/13/00 "ExportImport Bank $100million to finance Ven. natl oil co. capital equipt. purchase"
Export-Import Bank of US $100 million medium-term credit guarantee facility will finance export of US capital equipment and services to support oil exploration, production, refining and other activities by subsidiaries of Petroleos de VZ , S.A. PDVSA, VZ 's govt-owned oil company.

11/25/99 Daily Mail & Guardian   … oil price rocketing since reiteration of Saudi Arabia, VZ & non-OPEC Mexico commitment to cuts until the end-March expiry. Iraq's announcement it will also suspend crude exports under oil-for-food deal with UN sent crude shooting to $26barrel last week.

6/16/99 "Chavez Frias orders troops to oilfields to protect investments" P.J. O'Donoghue
VHeadline   After picket lines disrupted work at eastern Anzoategui Jose industrial complex, and in major move to protect foreign investments, President Hugo Chavez Frias asked Defense Minister General Raul Salazar to increase the presence of troops at Venezuela's oil installations. … protesters, egged on by trade union officials, blocked entrances to stop workers from entering "commandeering 4 trucks carrying propane … the protesters opened the taps several times, allowing gas to escape to preempt teargas attacks from the National Guard (GN) riot squad." Utilty co. complains a disaster could have occurred if the gas had ignited.

10/26/99 " VZ president denounces public sector strike"
World Socialist Web   Hugo Chavez, VZ 's populist president, denounced thousands of public employees who marched to protest his policies. Set to strike next week, Workers demand almost $4 billion back wages owed since 1997 & 20% raise approved in May yet to take effect. Chavez, on official Singapore visit, threatened public workers, "I am not afraid to fight, so come on. I love a street fight." He claimed that protests are being politically orchestrated by his opponents.

2/16/99 "Iran to Dispatch Delegations to Region Aiming to Boost Oil Prices
Tehran Times … MidEast Economic Survey noted sharp 250,000 bpd reduction in VZ production which it said marked distinct tightening of that country's compliance with output cut program under new regime of President (Hugo) Chavez. VZ produced 2.95 million bpd in January, still above its quota of 2.845 million.

3/6/00 "Malaysian Firms Eye Peru's Amazon Jungle"
LIMA IPS   Malaysian logging companies, which already chopped down the forests in their own country & are currently exploiting more than 1.5 million hectares of Brazil forest, have now set their sights on Peru's Amazon jungle. ''With the support of several representatives of Peruvian logging co., the Malaysian group is lobbying Congress and maneuvering to delay and gut the bill on forests and fauna, which was to be enacted last year,'' said Roger Rumrrill, intl consultant on matters involving the Amazon jungle.

VenBusiness Portal de Economía y Finanzas de VZ

7/97 The Rothschilds of the Mafia on Aruba
Transnational Organized Crime v.3 #2   In September 1992 the Cuntreras, top level Sicilian mafioso whose extended clan were the money launders for both US & Europe in effectively equidistant Ariba, were expelled from VZ . 'A failed coup d'état [ Chavez went to prison for his role ] shocked the country & there was widespread unrest. The govt was anxious to show firmness in matters of security,' says Vladimir Gessen, head of VZ Anti-Narcotics Comm. In surprise action, the brothers were apprehended, held incommunicado and were almost secretly smuggled out of the country, as if it concerned one of their own drug transports. It was imperative they could not contact people on the outside who could have used their political connections to stop the expulsion.

In 1983 Italian police summarized investigations in Bono+159 report identifying Cuntrera & Caruana as pivot of well organized network moving heroin up to US & money down. It was the first time the clan was thoroughly examined. In fact, police had uncovered part of supply line for Pizza Connection. But, while US Pizza Connection trial resulted in conviction of significant segment of network, authorities didn't find real link between North-America & Sicily in VZ , where the Cuntrera-Caruana clan had set up their headquarters at the start of the 1970s, buying hotels and founding a string of businesses in Caracas and Valencia. Most intriguing of dozens Cuntrera- Caruana enterprises was cattle-breeding co. on extended ranch in Barinas state, close to Colombian border. It had its own private airstrip. VZ intelligence-service DISIP special task-force looked at farm called Ganaderia Rio Zapa, established in 1971. Shareholders of firm represented creme-de-la-creme of Mafia heroin-movers in those days.
DEA spotted them investigating Napoli brothers of NY Gambino Family. Antonio Napoli had moved to VZ & was partner in Cuntrera business. At time DEA HQ figured the trail irrelevant; nevertheless, special agent Tom Tripodi sent to Caracas. DEA-analyst Mona Ewell told reporter Claire Sterling that Tripodi 'came back with the whole thing'.

"We saw Cuntreras & Caruanas. Security around their homes was incredible. … They had control in VZ like you wouldn't believe. … We saw their businesses, all fronts for paper- shuffling. What these people handled was money. Their names had been coming up for years on the money. Historically, they worked money. They did it for cocaine as well as heroin … It was tremendous operation, and going on a long, long time.

4/12/00 "DEA Congressional Testimony, Michael S. Vigil
Special Agent in Charge, Caribbean Field Division DEA, US DoJ
Before Subcommittee on Criminal Justice, Drug Policy & Human Resources

• from Colombia into Haiti via general aviation conducting airdrops at sea
• from source countries, via Panama or Venezuela, by commercial shipping.
• from source countries, via Panama or Venezuela, in coastal vessels or fishing vessels.

• Development of cohesive/cooperative environment among source & transit countries,
• Disruption of drug trafficking activities,
• consolidation of the counterdrug efforts in the Caribbean transit zone,
• continued development of a comprehensive regional strategy.

Operation Conquistador: 17-day multinational drug enforcement operation involving 26 countries of the Caribbean, Central & South America. Operation was simultaneously launched 3/10/00 in Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, Suriname, Trinidad & Tobago, Montserrat, Dominica, St. Kitts, Nevis, Antigua, Anguila, St. Martin, British Virgin Islands, Barbuda, Grenada, Barbados, St. Vincent, St. Lucia, Aruba, Curacao, Jamaica, Haiti, Dominican Republic, and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. Primary objective of Operation Conquistador was to develop an effective regional strategy intended to disrupt drug trafficking activities & criminal organizations operating throughout the Caribbean. Main objectives

• development of cohesive & cooperative environment between source & transit countries;
• integration within each country of all counterdrug entities;
• continued development of a comprehensive regional strategy;
• Facilitate exchange of information between the participating countries with the use of UNICORN;
• mentoring & training of counter-drug entities in host countries ;
• Impact & disrupt drug trafficking organizations in the Caribbean area & source countries.

3/27/98 "Cop may get new trial in case linking CIA to drug trafficking"
BROWARD DAILY BUSINESS REVIEW pB1   Allegations of CIA involvement in drug trafficking from S.Am could mean new trial for former Miami-Dade police officer

1/5/98 "Contra-Crack Guide: Reading Between the Lines" J.Meldon
Miami Herald   VZ Natl Guard Gen. Ramon Guillen-Davilla was indicted on charges of shipping up to 22 tons of cocaine to US between 1987 & 1991. According to the Miami Herald, Guillen was the CIA's most trusted man in Venezuela and the senior official collaborating with the CIA on narcotics control. Guillen claims CIA knew all along what he was doing. To date he has successfully resisted extradition, but accomplice Adolfo Romero Gomez was convicted in Miami last October on cocaine trafficking charges. Key witness testified that he overheard Romero and Guillen discussing deals with the Cali cartel.

2/16/97 "Drug war often finds CIA at odds with DEA" D.LaGesse Geo.Rodrigue
Dallas Morning News pJ1   Interagency relations reached nadir a few years ago when DEA & CIA clashed over VZ Gen. Ramon Guillen Davila. Drug enforcement officials say CIA counterparts let Gen. Guillen ship at least a ton of cocaine to the United States. CIA spokesmen say two of their agents made regrettable decisions in case. They say the agency does not condone allowing drugs into the country even when it might advance US foreign intelligence goals. But CIA went too far in helping the VZ become a CIA informant, former & current DEA officials have said.
From 1987 to 1991, Gen. Guillen was in charge of National Guard unit partly financed by the CIA. CIA agent wanted it to smuggle cocaine in an effort to infiltrate a Colombian cartel. DEA officials say they warned the CIA the operation violated federal law. Fed. law enforcement agencies are forbidden from letting drugs reach US streets through investigations such as sting operations or working up chain of criminal syndicate. Gen. Guillen went forward anyway with cocaine scheme under supervision of his CIA contacts in Venezuela, DEA officials say. Customs agents later intercepted 1990 shipment of 1,000 lbs [ sic. was kilos, not lbs ] at Miami airport & traced it to Gen. Guillen. Other shipments had already made it to America's streets, according to DEA officials.

Last November, Miami grand jury returned sealed indictment against Gen. Guillen, who remains in Venezuela. One CIA agent resigned after the incident. Another was transferred. The case illustrates the risk of working alongside the CIA, whose agents operate in secret and aren't responsible for enforcing U.S. laws, some former DEA agents say. "It's very dangerous to have intelligence people involved in the drug-smuggling business in any way, shape or form," said Tom Cash, former DEA agent in Miami. But administration of former President George Bush felt CIA had unique assets & abilities for counter-drug effort, and increased the agency's role.
To help bridge the distrust, the CIA in 1989 established its Counter Narcotics and Crime Center, similar to its Counter Terrorism Center that opened in 1986. DEA joined after the interagency clash over Gen. Guillen's case in Venezuela. Program worked well while he was involved in the early 1990s, said Roger Mackin, a former CIA official. "But it is very personality dependent," he said. Colleagues also look suspiciously at participants, said Mr. Wankel, who worked within the interagency effort. "I was not real popular within the DEA." Interagency work led directly to the arrest of leading traffickers in Cali, Colombia, he and and other officials agree. "Five years earlier, there was nobody even dreaming of being able to do something like that," said Mr. Mackin. The agencies agreed to a "linear kingpin" strategy that targeted specificnarcotics organizations. Instead of the DEA making as many cases as it could, or the CIA gathering as much information as it could, they agreed to pursue cartels until they had arrested their leaders. The intelligence community now routinely provides more timely information - tactical intelligence rather than long-term, strategic analysis, participants agree.

11/24/96 "U.S. reportedly indicts Venezuelan general"
St. Petersburg Times   The smuggling took place while he was chief of Venezuela's National Guard anti-drug bureau between 1987 and 1991, according to the newspaper. Guillen is living in Venezuela. The sealed indictment in Miami did not implicate the CIA in the drug-trafficking, the Herald said. In 1992 Guillen was arrested in Venezuela on charges of drug trafficking, and was released several months later when the charges were revoked by a Venezuelan judge.

"CIA, COCAINE AND DEATH SQUADS" According to Annabelle Grimm, official of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency interviewed by CBS "60 Minutes." ( 11/20 NY Times first broke story), "I really take great exception to fact that 1,000 kilos came in funded by US taxpayer money," said Grimm. A thousand kilos is over a ton of pure cocaine. 1990 shipment arranged by Mark McFarlin of CIA, previously in El Salvador where he worked with "anti-guerrilla forces" in the early 1980s. What possible reason could CIA give for arranging to ship a ton of cocaine into the U.S., where it was then sold on the streets? It was done to "gain the confidence" of Colombian drug traffickers, explained the agency. 1991 CIA drug-smuggling event Ms. Grimm described was later found to be much larger. Florida grand jury & Wall St Journal reported it to involve as much as 22 tons.
Gen. R. Guillen-Davilla indicted just days after CIA Director John Deutch left Los Angeles in 1996. Guillen is an acknowledged CIA asset/agent & was storing the cocaine in a CIA warehouse.

Pentagon

U.S. 'Contractors' Fight Colombia Drug War
3.2.01   Jared Kotle AP
via Bush Drug War / Corruption Awareness Project

Defense Dept support to VZ relief
12.21.99 DoD News Briefing K.H.Bacon

Also delivered a lot of bottled water, chlorine & iodine. 2nd, delivered fwd air refuel pkg FARP to refuel copters from air & ground. Already hundreds of sorties evacuated 4,000 people & delivering supplies. 2 teams, Engineering & Medical Assessment. Tragically, supplying body bags by thousands. Humanitarian goods from OFDA, State Dept office of foreign disaster relief, pledged $3million of blankets, medicines, body bags coming in 727s from Miami have been taking that material in.
6/22/99   "US SouthCom Gen. Wilhelm outlines Counterdrug strategy"
WASHDC USIS   WashDC   Transnational threats associated with illegal drug trafficking are greatest menace to peace & prosperity in the Western Hemisphere, General Charles Wilhelm, commander-in-chief of U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM), told a Senate Foreign Relations Committee panel 6/22/00. "In region that fears no external power, essentially at peace with itself, and on per-capita basis, spends less on arms than any other region of the world, transnational threats are greatest dangers to regional stability. Corrupting influences of drug trafficking, money laundering & organized crime are undermining the foundations of democracy & impeding economic development," he said. U.S. counterdrug strategies in region against these transnational threats based on conviction that drug trafficking organizations "are not invulnerable," Wilhelm said. "With right amount of effort, drug trafficking profit reduced."
Gen.Wilhelm plans for supporting ongoing counterdrug activities & all U.S. forces' withdrawal from Panama by year end. Initiatives for greater coordination within region. Colombia "is headed in the right direction." Now produces 75% of world's cocaine & its govt lacks control over nearly 40% of countryside. Wilhelm "cautiously optimistic" military restructuring & govt efforts to negotiate settlement with insurgent groups will make Colombia's security forces "more competitive" in the anti-drug war. Cent.Amer countries more aggressive stance against narcotics trafficking & increasing US support incl maritime agreements with several countries for drug interdiction efforts and has provided tactical airlift support for host nations, "enabling them to respond instantly to intelligence cues," Wilhelm said.

Joint Task Force Bravo located at Soto Cano Air Base in Republic of Honduras, represents main presence in Cent.Am for US military. JTF-Bravo is primary agent for Commander in Chief, U.S. S.Command to promote multinational cooperation in Joint Area of Operations. The JAO includes Honduras, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala, & Belize.
SecDef Cohen in
In 1998 28 U.S. troops in VZ .
VZ armed forces

NGOs

Youth orchestra in VZ targets troubled kids
8/1/00   AP

NGOs & PVOs Providing Disaster Relief in Venezuela

links for S.America & Latin American

Environment & Latin America Network

Council on Foreign Relations   Ctr for Strategic & Intl Studies
NED   ICG   Corp
WorldBank

"Co-operative Republic of Guyana"   govt   D.C. embassy   practical timeline

In June 1997 the Clinton administration prepared to send a new ambassador to the GY apparently unaware that the prospective nominee had helped to undermine the restored leader. … After Jagan left Washington 10/25/61, Kennedy met in secret with his top national security officers. Still-classified documents depict in unusual detail a direct order from the president to unseat Jagan, say govt officials familiar with the secret papers. Though many presidents have ordered the CIA to undermine foreign leaders, they say, the Jagan papers are a rare smoking gun: a clear written record, without veiled words or plausible denials, of a president's command to depose a prime minister. In short order, things started going badly for British Guiana.

Deal was arranged in the early to mid- '80s between VP George Bush, Panama's Manuel Noriega & the Iranian leadership: US$8 billion deposited in Banco Nacional de Panama on behalf of Colombian cocaine king Pablo Escobar was "lent" to George Bush. Of this, US$4 billion was shipped by plane to Iran where it was exchanged at a ratio of one good bill for two counterfeit bills. On the return trip, the 707 aircraft's cargo container carried two shrink-wrapped pallets containing $4 billion each. The 707 arrived at Howard/Albrook Air Force Base in Panama where the pallets were offloaded under armed guard of the Panamanian military. The counterfeit notes were re-deposited into Escobar's account at the Panama central bank. Under no circumstances could the counterfeit bills be permitted to leave the bank vault for fear of devaluing the US currency with forged notes. The other half of Escobar's "good" money was placed into the hands of Nana DeBusia, grandson of Guyana's first democratic leader & owner of many U.S. and foreign banks. DeBusia was chosen by the CIA's William Casey to launder the massive sum into numerous bank accounts under the joint signatures of VP George Bush & Director Casey. Debusia was indicted by the U.S. on 32 counts incl bank fraud. The CIA stepped up in his behalf and stated that it would not be in US' best interest to prosecute Debusia. He was facing several hundred years in prison if convicted. He was subsequently acquitted on all counts.

9/26/00 "Guyana's territorial disputes mean more military demand"
Caribbean & Cent.Am Rpt   GY's difficult relations with VZ & Suriname, despite high-level diplomacy at S.Am summit in Brasília at end of August most alarming recent development came on 9/11/00 when Surinamese gunboat crossed Corentyne river to GY territory & allegedly fired on GY boat 3 months after Surinamese vessel expelled Canadian offshore oil drill licenced from GY waters claimed by both countries. G.Pres. Bharrat Jagdeo & S.Pres. Ronald Venetiaan meeting in Brasília & Jamaica in weeks.
Pres. Jagdeo face-to-face meeting with Pres. H.Chávez in Brasília to reassure accord with Beal Aerospace Technologies on commercial satellite-launch facility in Essequibo implied no military threat to VZ . Handed Chávez copy of agreement with Beal, even though yet to be laid before parliament or debated in GY. VZ 's expressed suspicion launch site was nothing more than cover for full-scale US military base on VZ doorstep. Jagdeo assured Chávez no question of allowing US troops to set up a base. VZ not reassured. Weak GY military is open invitation to Washington to provide security for US assets. Suriname request for copy of oil contract turned down though Jagdeo later said he willing to hand over. Both disputes strengthened GY oppositon who argue country's military capability should be boosted immediately. Suriname acquired eight gunboats and several patrol aircraft in recent years and used them effect.GYreduced to borrowing a commercial fishing boat belonging to US co. to patrol its territorial waters.

3/21/00 "Chavez rejects plan for U.S. space port in neighboring Guyana"
CARACAS AP   Pres. Chavez said VZ could not accept a plan by a U.S.-based company to build a satellite launching site in neighboring Guyana. During his weekly radio program on Sunday, Chavez said the project by Beal Aerospace Technologies of Frisco TX, which would be built in a section of Guyana claimed by Venezuela, must not go forward. "We cannot accept it because that territory is in reclamation," Chavez said, adding Venezuela planned to bring up the issue with U.S. authorities. Guyana's Cabinet, led by Premier Samuel Hinds, last week gave its preliminary approval to Beal's proposal for the space port in the remote northern Waini District of disputed Essequibo County. Hinds said he expects final approval by the end of the month.
Chavez said Sunday that Venezuela is willing to reach "a peaceful accord" with Guyana over Essequibo, a mineral-rich area claimed by Venezuela since the 1940s. Since taking office a year ago, Chavez has brought the Essequibo issue to forefront, saying Sunday "we were stripped of the territory", 83k sq.mi w/ gold, diamond & timber investments by US & Asian companies by 1899 intl arbitration court in Paris. UN been mediating boundary dispute between Venezuela & Guyana during the last decade.

7/7/00 "BEAL CANCELS PLANS FOR ST. CROIX FACILITY"
Beal Aerospace announced it is canceling plans to build rocket-assembly facility on St. Croix U.S. Virgin Islands. The company is evaluating its long-term options. Neither of the Company's other development sites, Sombrero Island, Anguilla nor Guyana, South America, are affected by this decision.

12/15/99 CONCERNS MOUNT OVER AEROSPACE SATELLITE PORT
Guyanese govt is looking to sell 26k acres of land to Beal Aerospace Technologies for a satellite space port in Guyana. Amerindian Peoples Association (APA) opposes the project, concerned about potential impacts it might have for the Amerindian communities of Santa Rosa, Assakata, Kwebanna, Barama Mouth (Kanuballi), Warapoka, Waramuri, Hobo, Hotoquai, Koriabo and the lower Aruka. These communities hunt, fish and collect raw materials from the area being considered and their rights to the land and resources upon which they depend may be threatened. Since a brief meeting with Beal officials some time ago, the residents have not been informed of the negotiations or consulted. The govt plans to sign contract 12/31/99.
per Beale, "…sale, not giveaway, of 25k acres of completely unproductive land where the spaceport will be built and rental of another 75k acres as Buffer Zone. 1st multimillion dollar privately owned spaceport in world. There are two other spaceports in South America, both state-owned. French Guiana has Kourou which cost the French govt billions of dollars. Brazil has just built Alcantara, costing Brazil some US$5M. The Beal spaceport is intended to launch as many as 20 space rockets with their satellites on board each year. When that happens, Guyana will receive more than US$2M a year in direct revenue and without having spent a single dollar. If project fails. Guyana loses nothing. The land, drained, cleared and developed, returns to for the US$75,000 paid for it."
5/10/99 "Our project is based on a very simple premise," Mr. Beal told the audience. "We believe that private- sector, non-governmental launch vehicle based on simplicity, robustness and minimum cost designs will be the least expensive and most reliable on the market." Beal's general concept, other than changing oxidizer from LOX to H2O2, remains the design concept today. In fact, Beal Aerospace is leading the rediscovery of hydrogen peroxide, one of the most environmentally friendly rocket propellants. When released to the atmosphere, hydrogen peroxide H2O2 degrades rapidly into water H2O & oxygen O2. Hydrogen peroxide was used extensively in rockets through 1950s but was eventually replaced by more exotic, more toxic alternatives.

[ Chavez needs to do his homework. A less imperialistic foreign development opportunity than this project is not possible. He should be falling all over himself to make certain he is included as signatory in the next contract. ]

9.25.00   DefSec Cohen & Dutch DefMin haggle price for Aruba as Colombia/VZ invasion base

Colombia   govt   D.C. embassy   practical timeline

kid soldier slaves in Plan Colombia
Gunmen Take Kids From Center
7.18.01   AP

Drug War Seeps Into Colombia's Neighbors
10.8.00   A.Faiola WashPost

Lawmakers Criticize Anti-Drug Plan in Colombia
3.2.01   Sue Pleming Reuters

Rep. Benjamin Gilman, R-NY, called Colombia, world's biggest coca producer, a "basket case,'' adding that U.S. policy reflected hopeless confusion on the role of the police versus the Colombian army in fighting the drugs war. "This is not a pretty picture & our nation's policy lacks any clarity that is sadly needed. As we learned in Vietnam, that can mean real trouble,'' Gilman told the Govt Reform Committee's subcommittee on criminal justice. Gilman said resources were being diverted to the Colombian Army and away from the anti-drug police meant to do the job. Gilman was backed up by fellow Republican Rep. John Mica of Florida, who called U.S. policy on Colombia a "shambles. If we don't have this together, I will not support another penny (for the plan),'' Mica said.''
Gilman charged that cheap, Korean War-era ammunition ''forced by the U.S. embassy'' onto the Colombian police was ''jamming'' guns, an allegation Beers said was not true. In addition, he said three of the six new Black Hawk helicopters given so far by the United States to the Colombian police were grounded for lack of spare parts while a fourth was being stripped to repair others. Gilman said he was told by the military during a recent visit to Colombia that the problem of getting proper supply aircraft was the "Achilles heel'' of "Plan Colombia.'' "If the Defense Dept & State Dept witnesses here can't tell us today that they will make it a priority to get the … police the kind of supply aircraft they need then I will not support one more dollar for the Colombian Army,'' Gilman said.
Giving details of U.S. military involvement in the plan, U.S. Gen. Peter Pace, commander in chief of the U.S. Southern Command, said his forces had trained up two Colombian anti-drug battalions and a third would be trained by late May. He said all 14 Black Hawk helicopters, essential for anti- drugs operations, promised by the United States should arrive by the end of the year.

Plan Colombia: U.S. 'Meddling' or necessary support ?"
9.14.00   issue focus Foreign Media Reaction US State Dept Off. of Research

8/29/00 Sunshine Project   UN Drug Control Program UNDCP administers US-funded work in Uzbekistan & promoting Fusarium testing in Colombia. … With aid no longer conditional on acceptance of Agent Green and with US publicly admitting that it is uncertain about bioweapons links, is no reason why the Colombia Govt has to proceed with US- inspired biological eradication idea. Colombia may now heal regional unease with plan & publicly withdraw from negotiations with UNDCP, halting any planned research on Fusarium and other biological agents.

7/27/00 State Dept 1999 Military Expenditures annual report re Colombia
7/26/99 " 'a couple hundred' US troops in Colombia training elite battalions to sever ties between coca & opium farmers and revolutionary forces."

Marxist revolutionaries FARC Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia & ELN Ejercito de Liberacion Nacional)

10/19/99 "Phoney War"   J.Pilger
Guardian   … Colombia receives more US arms and equipment than any country in the world, apart from Israel and Egypt.

8/99 "War Clouds Over Colombia" M.C.Ruppert
FTW   Colombia is 3rd most populous country in all Lat.Am & almost directly due south of NYC. It has sole land border of S.Am with Panama hence N.Am. Line from capitol Bogota north to NY passes through a mid point (convenient for refueling and cargo sorting) which can be roughly defined as the Bahamas and The Dominican Republic/Haiti. … Largest of leftist rebels groups FARC holds an area roughly the size of Switzerland. … Conservatively, drug money laundered through US economy, banking system &Wall Street as result of Colombian controlled operations is more than $50 billion a year. Last month, as reported by Catherine Austin Fitts, Richard Grasso, chief of the N.Y. Stock Exchange, made a cold call on the FARC leadership in the Colombian mountains seeking to guarantee drug cash flow into U.S. the markets as the rebels grew in strength.
… After Israel & Egypt, Colombia is 3rd largest recipient of US aid , currently $289million/yr. US anti-drug aid in Lat.Am primarily "anti-drug" training, advisers & equipt get used to kill civilians opposing military dictatorships instead.
Venezuela has denied US overflight privileges for military & "anti-drug" flights. US military in Colombia staged in Pto Rico. Direct line flight from Pto Rico into Colombia passes right over Venezuela.

7/30/99 "Ankle Deep in the Big Muddy"   R.Jacobs
on McCafferty's $billion aid for war on drugs & leftist rebels   Peasants have 2 basic choices in today's Colombia, go to big cities & become beggars & prostitutes or farm land. They till the land & plant crops such as corn or plantains. These areas were never developed, there are no transportation routes. Only rivers & crossing hundreds of miles overland can crop reach Bogota or other markets. By time it gets there, crop is unsaleable or become so costly profit is lost. Only one alternative open to peasant farmer who wishes to subsist : growing coca leaves and, more recently, opium plants. Transportation costs for these provided by drug lords, who move incredible amounts of these products with consent of high placed govt leaders & armed protection of Colombian military & paramilitary forces funded by large landowners & drug lords.
FARC & ELN guerrilla forces operate in the coca and opium growing regions. Indeed, they literally administer these regions. Like NLF controlled parts of S.Vietnam, region residents consider revolutionary forces as their govt & support their administration. To pay cost of running schools, health care centers, police forces, & infrastructure, FARC & ELN tax drug trafficking operations: farmers & those involved in transportation & refinement. Although their preference is not to support farmer dependency on drug production, reality is money in rural Colombia. Most drugs shipped to US.

Oil is most important Colombia commodity, representing over 1/4 of country's 1996 exports & 5% of GNP. In comparison, coffee represented 15% & 3.4%. Few private Colombian citizens have any significant investment in the oil industry. Instead, majority of exploration & refinement interests controlled by state co. Ecopetrol serving as conduit for foreign oil companies, primarily British Petroleum, recently merged with Amoco to form the world largest oil co.
During 30yr war, revolutionary support expanded into cities due to ever-widening disparity between wealthy & rest of population and harsh military repression of those who organize the workers & unemployed. Literally hundreds of labor organizers, social justice workers (clerics and laypersons) & student activists murdered since late 1980s which pushes supporters to conclusion armed struggle is only workable strategy social change.
Recent election & popular mandate for VZ Pres. H.Chavez makes US nervous.

2/15/99 Chavez Bittersweet on Guerrillas   J.Zambrano
CARACAS IPS & VZ hosted 2ndeeting between Colombia's second largest rebel group & govt representatives, while President Hugo Chavez, decked out in campaign uniform, warned that he would not tolerate one more incursion across the border. ''We do not want to meddle in Colombia's internal war - or rather, we do want to contribute our two cents' worth toward peace. We are neutral, and we respect the principle of self- determination of peoples,'' said Chavez in a military ceremony on the border. The president showed up at the military Theatre of Operations One, in Guasdualito, 700 kms southwest of Caracas, dressed in the camouflage fatigues of an army lieutenant-colonel, the rank he held at the time of his retirement in 1994, after spending two years in jail for heading an aborted uprising in 1992.

In a vigorous tone, Chavez warned that ''the president of the republic of Venezuela and the commander-in-chief of the armed forces demands that the Colombian guerrillas do not make one more single operation in our territory.'' The rebels are to stop ''charging 'vaccine' (a payment demanded of members of the business community) or carrying out kidnappings, not to mention armed actions, because we are obligated to respond.'' The warning coincided with a new meeting, hosted by Caracas, between Antonio Garcia, the National Liberation Army (ELN) of Colombia's second in command, and Colombian President Andres Pastrana's peace commissioner, Victor Ricardo. Garcia and Ricardo met here last Tuesday and Wednesday in what was described by ELN chief Nicolas Rodriguez, alias Gabino, as a ''total failure.'' The only agreement to come out of the first Garcia-Ricardo meeting was that the talks were to continue in Venezuela.
During presidencies of Rafael Caldera (1994-99) in Venezuela and Ernesto Samper in Colombia (1994-98), two countries' foreign & defence ministers signed several documents declaring Colombia's guerrillas the ''common enemy'' of Bogota and Caracas. Venezuela has been targetted in attacks, mainly by the ELN. The most painful was a Feb 26, 1995 incursion into a river surveillance post, in which Colombian insurgents killed eight marines. After a sort of ''hot pursuit'' of rebels in Colombian territory, Caracas opted for deploying troops along the border, based in two Theatres of Operations. Chavez, on the other hand, shortly after his election on Dec 6, visited Bogota, where he offered ''to go whereever I have to go and speak with whoever I have to'' in order to contribute to peace in Colombia.

The then-president-elect sent two commissioners to San Vicente del Caguan in southern Colombia for the Jan. 7 launch of the peace talks between the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) - that country's main rebel organisation - and President Andres Pastrana. A few days later, Chavez met with Pastrana and Cuban President Fidel Castro in Havana, where all 3 promised to foster the peace process in Colombia. Pastrana responded to those gestures by making a pause in his work in the disaster area caused by an earthquake that hit the country's coffee-growing region, to attend Chavez' Feb 2 inauguration ceremony. Francisco Arias, one of the lieutenant- colonels who accompanied Chavez in the bloody 1992 attempted coup, and now governor of the western state of Zulia (along the border with Colombia), facilitated the Garcia-Ricardo meeting in Venezuela. But the most substantial contribution to the detente with the guerrillas was Chavez' declaration of Venezuela's ''neutrality'' - a major modification of the previous stance that Caracas was only a friend of the Colombian govt, and an enemy of the insurgent groups.
That neutrality could constitute the first step toward extending the status of ''belligerent force'' to Colombia's guerrillas, according to analysts like Fernando Ochoa, a former foreign and defence minister of Venezuela, and Enrique Santos, an editor of the Colombian daily 'El Tiempo'. Chavez' neutrality breaks with what could be, in Santos' view, the first step toward a continent-wide strategy of contention - the militarisation of the borders by Colombia's neighbours. ''The US is not going to sit with its arms crossed indefinitely'' to watch the Colombian conflict, which is disturbing the entire region, he maintained. Ochoa, today a senator of the opposition Proyecto Venezuela party, said the policy of neutrality was ''the right approach.'' But he criticised Chavez for declaring neutrality, ''rather than previously negotiating with the guerrillas a commitment to respect our territory as a sanctuary.''

Colombia per State Dept
Press Review
Time

Brazil   govt   D.C. embassy   practical timeline

[ technology meaning tractors, fertilizer, slash & burn planting prep or GMO seeds ? ]