CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - Venezuela's two leading associations of bankers support a move by President Hugo Chavez's government to close four banks after authorities uncovered major financial problems.
The National Banking Council and the Venezuelan Banking Association say the decision this week to permanently close two of the banks, Canarias and ProVivienda, and auction off their assets was "adequate and necessary" to protect clients.
In a joint statement issued on Tuesday, both groups also supported the government's decision to take over the management of two other banks, Confederado and Bolivar.
Authorities have said investors were unable to show the origins of the funds used to buy the banks.
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Source: moneycentral.msn.com/
Venezuela Twitter, Venezuela Analysis, News and Views. English language on-line newspaper. Ongoing news and in-depth analysis,List of Venezuela newspapers, magazines and news sites in English at,Venezuela Twitter
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Venezuela condemns countries that endorsed vote in Honduras
The Venezuelan government repudiated on Tuesday the endorsement of Honduras elections by several countries. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs termed it "a serious attack against democracy," and branded the US stance as "shameful."
"Venezuela condemns the fact that a small group of countries have voiced their endorsement, as this represents a serious attack against democracy in the hemisphere," said a communiqué from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The official text describes as "bizarre" the fact that some governments have recognized the elections, since they adopted, in early November, a declaration which called for the reinstatement of ousted President Manuel Zelaya before the elections, in a meeting of the Rio Group.
"The position of the United States is particularly outrageous (…) as the statement endorsing the fraudulent elections organized by the Honduran dictatorship came even before the de facto regime issued the official results," added the Venezuelan Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Source: eluniversal.com/
"Venezuela condemns the fact that a small group of countries have voiced their endorsement, as this represents a serious attack against democracy in the hemisphere," said a communiqué from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The official text describes as "bizarre" the fact that some governments have recognized the elections, since they adopted, in early November, a declaration which called for the reinstatement of ousted President Manuel Zelaya before the elections, in a meeting of the Rio Group.
"The position of the United States is particularly outrageous (…) as the statement endorsing the fraudulent elections organized by the Honduran dictatorship came even before the de facto regime issued the official results," added the Venezuelan Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Source: eluniversal.com/
How long could Venezuela's slump last?
Recession has hit Venezuela, South America's top oil exporter, after declining output and low prices for crude, plus a collapse in manufacturing and imports, brought an end to five years of economic good times. Some questions and answers about the downturn and its impact on President Hugo Chavez's socialist revolution.
Why did GDP fall an unexpected 4.5 per cent in the third quarter?
Oil production nosedived this year, with GDP in the sector down a shocking 9.5 per cent in the third quarter after a drop of 4.2 per cent in the second quarter. Economists and the government underestimated the decline, which reflects lower production more than international prices. The government blames lower output on OPEC cuts but the nationalization of companies in the Lake Maracaibo oil region probably played a part too, with some docks barely working.
Manufacturing and commerce took big blows, in part because Mr. Chavez slashed spending and strictly limited access to foreign exchange when oil prices dropped to about $30 (U.S.) a barrel in January, chilling demand and the supply of imported goods at the same time. Car factories were particularly hard hit, with some production grinding to halt because of a lack of parts.
The public sector actually expanded, reflecting Mr. Chavez's model of state-led growth. Construction and telecoms also grew, the latter due to fast-growing mobile and fixed line networks.
How long could the recession last?
Venezuela has entered recession when many other countries are edging out of it, and many economists say the downturn will last for several months at least. Finance Minster Ali Rodriguez predicts recovery by the first quarter of next year. Mr. Chavez's pro-cyclical cutbacks are at odds with the big stimulus packages that have softened many countries' recessions.
Some economists say Venezuela needs to spend hard to dig itself out of the crisis and after a relatively frugal 2009, Mr. Chavez can be expected to do just that. With many analysts predicting oil prices of around $70 per barrel next year, well above the budget estimate of $40, he will increase off-budget outlays ahead of legislative elections in September.
Venezuela also has healthy foreign reserves and has issued $11-billion in foreign bonds this year.
Mr. Chavez himself argues that traditional GDP methodology under-represents growth in the public sector and his policies of subsidies, price controls and free health services aimed at protecting the poor among Venezuela's 28 million people.
What does this mean for Mr. Chavez's popularity
A decade after first winning power, Mr. Chavez is still a popular president. But it remains to be seen whether a burst of spending now will revive the economy in time to bring back the good-times feeling he has counted on in recent elections.
The sputtering economy, combined with irregular water and electricity supplies, have hurt him, bringing support down to around 50 per cent from a peak of around 60 per cent early this year after he won a referendum allowing him to run for office as often as he likes.
Mr. Chavez could see his massive parliamentary majority heavily shaved in September if the economy stays weak, inflation remains high, and problems with services are compounded by shortages of consumer goods - a perennial problem in heavily regulated Venezuela.
However, few believe he will actually lose control of parliament.
Will Venezuela devalue its overvalued currency?
Mr. Chavez is opposed to devaluing partly because of fears it will stoke already high inflation. Most economists and many in the cabinet agree that it is unavoidable at some point, as the overvalued rate is costly to the government and makes it hard for local industry to compete with imports.
Mr. Chavez reintroduced controls on foreign exchange during political turmoil in 2003 to prevent capital flight. The local bolivar is also fixed against the U.S. dollar.
The restrictions on taking money out of the country helped Venezuela preserve its foreign reserves, but the wide gulf between the official 2.15 rate and the parallel rate - currently around 5.5 to the U.S. dollar - causes many of the distortions and opportunities for corruption that are prevalent in the economy.
Inflation
Another hardy perennial in Venezuela is rampant inflation - double digit price rises have been the norm for as long as most Venezuelans can remember. In Mr. Chavez's boom years, it was not much of an issue - large minimum wage hikes and increases for public workers softened the blow. But recession combined with high inflation - 26.7 per cent was the annualized rate in October - could really upset people next year. Prices are likely to keep rising rapidly. Government spending next year may increase money supply and its usual anti-inflation measures - price controls and regulation - often backfire by reducing supply of goods.
Source: theglobeandmail.com/
Chavez threatens to nationalize Venezuelan banks
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez warned the nation's private bankers on Sunday that they must comply with the law or face nationalization, regardless of their banks' size.
“I'm telling the country's private bankers, ‘he who slips up loses, I'll take over the bank, whatever its size,'” he said.
“You want me to nationalize the banks?” he said in his weekly Sunday television show “Alo Presidente.” “I have no problem with that.”
He said banks wanted to “collect people's money ... to make more money.” He added that the purpose of banks was not to enrich a minority of the populace but rather help the development of the country.
In power for a decade, Chavez has nationalized broad swathes of the economy. In July, the government took control of Spain's Banco Santander unit, Banco de Venezuela, for a purchase price of $1.05 billion.
On Nov. 20, the bank seized four small banks, accounting for about 6 percent of Venezuela's deposits.
Finance Minister Ali Rodriguez then said the takeovers were due to concerns about credit portfolios, problems explaining the source of funds and failure to comply with some obligations.
Chavez spoke Sunday from nationalized farmland in central Lara state, from where he broadcast his multi-hour show.
Addressing the banking theme, he said unnamed bankers “are not complying, they do not want to comply with the function for which a bank should exist (such as) that is in the law.
“This is occurring right now with a group of private banks, that's a demonstration that those private banking sectors don't want to learn, they don't want to accept that there is a constitution ... and that there are laws.”
Venezuela's banking sector is dominated by 10 banks that control 70 percent of the total funds.
The four banks seized on Nov. 20 were Banco Confederado, Banco Canarias, Banco Provivienda and bolivar Banco.
On Friday, a court acting on prosecutors' request banned travel abroad of 16 executives – eight from Confederado, six from Provivienda and two from bolivar Banco.
Chavez said if it were up to him, he would have jailed the 16 executives due to flight risk.
Source: theglobeandmail.com/
Russia to Build Rifle Factory and Sell Helicopters to Venezuela
Mérida, December 1st 2009 (Venezuelanalysis.com) – On Monday, Russia’s Ambassador to Venezuela, Vladimir Zaemskiy, confirmed that Russia will assist Venezuela with the construction of a factory to produce Kalashnikov AK-103 assault rifles and will sell fifty-three Mi-17 military helicopters to Venezuela.
The deal is part of an accord that was signed and announced publicly on August 15th of this year.
The ambassador said Venezuela’s replacement of obsolete military equipment is a “natural process of any country,” and assured that “the military cooperation between Russia and Venezuela is carried out according to the same rules that govern other cases.”
Moreover, “the government of Venezuela is being guided by a new concept of national defense” that “requires different technologies, and that is what [Russia] is offering Venezuela,” said the ambassador.
The United States, which was Venezuela’s top military supplier before Russia, stopped selling military equipment and replacement parts to the government of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, which openly opposes U.S. imperialism and advocates the replacement of capitalism with “21st Century Socialism.”
This year, Venezuela stepped up its efforts to prepare for the defense of its territory and natural resources, in response to Colombia’s attack on a guerrilla encampment in Ecuador in March and its October 30th military pact with the United States, which will allow U.S. military personnel to act with legal immunity on seven Colombian bases and expand military and spy operations across the continent.
Venezuela has purchased $4.4 billion worth of Russian military equipment since 2005, and last September Russia approved a $1 billion loan to Venezuela for future arms purchases.
In addition to military cooperation, Venezuela and Russia have created joint companies to exploit oil and build transportation infrastructure in Venezuela’s Orinoco Oil Belt, and to explore natural gas off the Venezuelan coast.
In June, the two countries created a binational development bank with $4 billion at its disposal. They also discussed the construction of a civilian nuclear power facility in Venezuela with Russian assistance and signed accords to increase Venezuela’s exports of coffee, cacao, rice, fruit, and other agricultural products to Russia.
On Monday, Zaemskiy also confirmed Russia’s intention to construct a Russian Lada brand automobile factory in Venezuela sometime next year
Source: venezuelanalysis.com/
The deal is part of an accord that was signed and announced publicly on August 15th of this year.
The ambassador said Venezuela’s replacement of obsolete military equipment is a “natural process of any country,” and assured that “the military cooperation between Russia and Venezuela is carried out according to the same rules that govern other cases.”
Moreover, “the government of Venezuela is being guided by a new concept of national defense” that “requires different technologies, and that is what [Russia] is offering Venezuela,” said the ambassador.
The United States, which was Venezuela’s top military supplier before Russia, stopped selling military equipment and replacement parts to the government of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, which openly opposes U.S. imperialism and advocates the replacement of capitalism with “21st Century Socialism.”
This year, Venezuela stepped up its efforts to prepare for the defense of its territory and natural resources, in response to Colombia’s attack on a guerrilla encampment in Ecuador in March and its October 30th military pact with the United States, which will allow U.S. military personnel to act with legal immunity on seven Colombian bases and expand military and spy operations across the continent.
Venezuela has purchased $4.4 billion worth of Russian military equipment since 2005, and last September Russia approved a $1 billion loan to Venezuela for future arms purchases.
In addition to military cooperation, Venezuela and Russia have created joint companies to exploit oil and build transportation infrastructure in Venezuela’s Orinoco Oil Belt, and to explore natural gas off the Venezuelan coast.
In June, the two countries created a binational development bank with $4 billion at its disposal. They also discussed the construction of a civilian nuclear power facility in Venezuela with Russian assistance and signed accords to increase Venezuela’s exports of coffee, cacao, rice, fruit, and other agricultural products to Russia.
On Monday, Zaemskiy also confirmed Russia’s intention to construct a Russian Lada brand automobile factory in Venezuela sometime next year
Source: venezuelanalysis.com/
Venezuela HIV/AIDS Infection Seen 3 Times Higher Than Diagnosed Cases
The incidence of infection with the HIV/AIDS virus in Venezuela may be at least three times as high as the number of diagnosed cases.
By Jeremy Morgan
Latin American Herald Tribune staff
CARACAS -- The incidence of infection with the HIV/AIDS virus in Venezuela may be at least three times as high as the number of diagnosed cases, according to a non-government organization which warned that insufficient studies had been carried out to establish with any accuracy just how many people in the country might have the disease.
Using data from 2003 and making the appropriate adjustments, Feliciano Reyes of Accion Solidaria estimates that between 110,000 and 150,000 people are infected with the virus in Venezuela. At present, he added, only 32,000 people had been registered as being treated for HIV/AIDS infection.
The worst of it all, perhaps, is that a lot of Reyes' suspected unknown patients may not even be aware that they've been infected. "It's very possible that 100,000 people have it and don't know," he said. "A long time passes from when a person contracts it until the virus starts showing itself."
But, he continued, the lack of "solid and clear" data about the prevalence of the virus worked against efforts to analyze the incidence of the disease across the country, or to establish how the number of cases was increasing. Accion Solidaria was detecting at least 90 new cases a year, Reyes said, but was still in "land of uncertainty" when it came to establishing who was being infected.
The existence of an AIDS epidemic in Venezuela was formally recognized by the authorities in 1982. Between then and 2006, 61,426 cases were diagnosed in the country, according to a Venezuelan government report to a United Nations meeting in June last year.
The age range most at risk of infection is estimated at between 25 and 45 years. However, experts warn of a "tendency towards a sustained increase" in cases of infection in younger sectors of the population.
As is the case in some other Latin American countries, Macho culture is deemed to make if difficult to persuade males to seek medical attention at an early stage of possible infection, according to health sector social workers. Similarly, it's said that women are reluctant to come forward for fear of arousing hostility and suspicions about their personal morality.
Source: laht.com/
By Jeremy Morgan
Latin American Herald Tribune staff
CARACAS -- The incidence of infection with the HIV/AIDS virus in Venezuela may be at least three times as high as the number of diagnosed cases, according to a non-government organization which warned that insufficient studies had been carried out to establish with any accuracy just how many people in the country might have the disease.
Using data from 2003 and making the appropriate adjustments, Feliciano Reyes of Accion Solidaria estimates that between 110,000 and 150,000 people are infected with the virus in Venezuela. At present, he added, only 32,000 people had been registered as being treated for HIV/AIDS infection.
The worst of it all, perhaps, is that a lot of Reyes' suspected unknown patients may not even be aware that they've been infected. "It's very possible that 100,000 people have it and don't know," he said. "A long time passes from when a person contracts it until the virus starts showing itself."
But, he continued, the lack of "solid and clear" data about the prevalence of the virus worked against efforts to analyze the incidence of the disease across the country, or to establish how the number of cases was increasing. Accion Solidaria was detecting at least 90 new cases a year, Reyes said, but was still in "land of uncertainty" when it came to establishing who was being infected.
The existence of an AIDS epidemic in Venezuela was formally recognized by the authorities in 1982. Between then and 2006, 61,426 cases were diagnosed in the country, according to a Venezuelan government report to a United Nations meeting in June last year.
The age range most at risk of infection is estimated at between 25 and 45 years. However, experts warn of a "tendency towards a sustained increase" in cases of infection in younger sectors of the population.
As is the case in some other Latin American countries, Macho culture is deemed to make if difficult to persuade males to seek medical attention at an early stage of possible infection, according to health sector social workers. Similarly, it's said that women are reluctant to come forward for fear of arousing hostility and suspicions about their personal morality.
Source: laht.com/
Venezuelan Oil Upgrader Out Of Service Amid Boiler Problems
CARACAS (Dow Jones)--Venezuela's state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela said Monday its Petroanzoategui upgrader is temporarily out of service because of more problems with boilers.
"A paralyzation has occurred with the boiler "06F201B," which has been sustaining the operations of the upgrader," PdVSA said in a statement. "As a result of this problem, the supply of vapors from the upgrader...has been interrupted."
The 130,000 barrel-a-day Petroanzoategui upgrader, located in the Orinco region, also had issues with a boiler last week. PdVSA reported output had been cut by 15,000 barrels a day due to a leak in one of the boilers.
It wasn't clear if the problems from last week and the ones from Monday were related.
ConocoPhillips (COP) previously had a 50.1% stake in the upgrader, formerly called Petrozuata, until it was nationalized in 2007.
-By Dan Molinski, Dow Jones Newswires; 58-212-284-5651; dan.molinski@dowjones.com
Source: wsj.com/
"A paralyzation has occurred with the boiler "06F201B," which has been sustaining the operations of the upgrader," PdVSA said in a statement. "As a result of this problem, the supply of vapors from the upgrader...has been interrupted."
The 130,000 barrel-a-day Petroanzoategui upgrader, located in the Orinco region, also had issues with a boiler last week. PdVSA reported output had been cut by 15,000 barrels a day due to a leak in one of the boilers.
It wasn't clear if the problems from last week and the ones from Monday were related.
ConocoPhillips (COP) previously had a 50.1% stake in the upgrader, formerly called Petrozuata, until it was nationalized in 2007.
-By Dan Molinski, Dow Jones Newswires; 58-212-284-5651; dan.molinski@dowjones.com
Source: wsj.com/
Venezuela says delivers Carabobo oil auction terms
CARACAS, Dec 1 (Reuters) - Venezuela delivered the final terms for the auction of the 1.2 million barrel-per-day Carabobo extra-heavy crude project late on Monday, a government source said, after long delays to its first tender in more than a decade.
"They were handed over last night close to midnight," the source, who has knowledge of the project, told Reuters.
Worried by lukewarm private sector interest in its first oil auction since the late 1990s, Venezuela recently said it was lowering taxes and extending the production timeline for the project.
The final conditions were softened slightly more to include all the previously announced sweeteners such as lower royalties, along with new incentives such as a longer period to pay starting bonuses for the project, the source said.
Companies including Britain's BP (BP.L: 行情) and U.S.-based Chevron (CVX.N: 行情) have been waiting for weeks for the final version of the terms, the first improvement in conditions for private oil under socialist President Hugo Chavez.
The massive heavy crude project will involve seven areas, each of which is expected to require an investment of between $10 billion and $20 billion. The goal is to raise Venezuela oil output by 1.2 million barrels per day by 2015.
Venezuela is due to accept offers for Carabobo in January, although such deadlines are frequently missed in South America's top oil exporter.
Other companies interested in the auction for minority interests in the three Carabobo joint-ventures include China's state oil company CNPC, France's Total (TOTF.PA: 行情), Italy's ENI (ENI.MI: 行情) and Portugal's Galp Energia (GALP.LS: 行情), as well as consortiums of Russian and Japanese businesses. [ID:nN06184958].
Other conditions offered include allowing the private companies to chose a greater number of executives in the ventures, which are to be controlled by Venezuela's state oil company PDVSA.
Venezuela want to increase output in its Orinoco tar-like crude belt to 2.8 million barrels over the next decade via Carabobo and the development of its Junin fields, to be developed with Chinese, Russian and Vietnamese companies.
Source: reuters.com/
"They were handed over last night close to midnight," the source, who has knowledge of the project, told Reuters.
Worried by lukewarm private sector interest in its first oil auction since the late 1990s, Venezuela recently said it was lowering taxes and extending the production timeline for the project.
The final conditions were softened slightly more to include all the previously announced sweeteners such as lower royalties, along with new incentives such as a longer period to pay starting bonuses for the project, the source said.
Companies including Britain's BP (BP.L: 行情) and U.S.-based Chevron (CVX.N: 行情) have been waiting for weeks for the final version of the terms, the first improvement in conditions for private oil under socialist President Hugo Chavez.
The massive heavy crude project will involve seven areas, each of which is expected to require an investment of between $10 billion and $20 billion. The goal is to raise Venezuela oil output by 1.2 million barrels per day by 2015.
Venezuela is due to accept offers for Carabobo in January, although such deadlines are frequently missed in South America's top oil exporter.
Other companies interested in the auction for minority interests in the three Carabobo joint-ventures include China's state oil company CNPC, France's Total (TOTF.PA: 行情), Italy's ENI (ENI.MI: 行情) and Portugal's Galp Energia (GALP.LS: 行情), as well as consortiums of Russian and Japanese businesses. [ID:nN06184958].
Other conditions offered include allowing the private companies to chose a greater number of executives in the ventures, which are to be controlled by Venezuela's state oil company PDVSA.
Venezuela want to increase output in its Orinoco tar-like crude belt to 2.8 million barrels over the next decade via Carabobo and the development of its Junin fields, to be developed with Chinese, Russian and Vietnamese companies.
Source: reuters.com/
Venezuela's Weak Economy May Advance Long-Delayed Oil Auction
CARACAS (Dow Jones)--Venezuela's economy is tumbling just as the rest of the world begins to recover, which may create the perfect combination needed for the country's long-delayed oil drilling auction to finally get under way.
Industry sources say a contracting local economy alongside stronger global growth, which has pushed up worldwide oil prices, is providing incentive for both sides--the Hugo Chavez-led government and foreign oil firms--to make concessions and find common ground on the terms of the so-called Carabobo oil tender.
Observers still hesitate to assert the Carabobo auction, the most important drilling project in oil-rich Venezuela in more than a decade, will take place by January as scheduled. There is still more tweaking of contract terms to be done, and both parties want to get it right since the deals would last for decades. What is important, though, is the two sides seem to be getting closer to a deal, not farther away.
Private-sector sources confirmed Friday that oil companies are still waiting for the government to deliver the revised contract terms for the auction. Once received, the firms would have until late January to make official bids. The auction is for a handful of heavy and extra-heavy oil blocks in the eastern Orinoco region that together could produce a total 1.2 million barrels of crude a day, and would require investments of around $30 billion.
More than a dozen companies are interested, and at least five consortiums are being set up, whereby companies partner to reduce costs and share benefits.
Observers say higher global oil prices have made the petroleum companies, including heavyweights such as Chevron (CVX), Chinese state oil firm CNPC (0135.HK) and BP PLC (BP, BP.LN), more willing to accommodate some of the government's demands, which could include a down payment of up to $1 billion from winning bidders. Global crude oil prices pierced $80 a barrel recently, putting more cash in oil companies' hands.
At the same time, Venezuela's government also seems ready to make concessions. The South American country's economic cycle has lagged the rest of the world, only recently falling into recession, and that's forcing the socialist government to reluctantly seek foreign investment.
Oil accounts for more than one-third of gross domestic product, over half of government revenue and about nine-tenths of exports.
"There's a political will on the part of the Chavez government that hasn't been seen before," said one person in the industry who is familiar with the Carabobo process. "The government is realizing consumption-driven growth won't last forever, and they see that private-sector investment is essential."
Such an environment, this person said, is making the government more flexible to some companies' efforts to ensure they have decision-making power once drilling begins, even though they would be minority stakeholders. The current plans call for Venezuela's state oil company, Petroleos de Venezuela, or PdVSA, to have a 60% stake in all the projects, while the other companies or consortiums would have the other 40%.
The Chavez government provided for similar flexibility on decision-making roles in renegotiated contracts with oil companies a few years ago.
The government's apparent willingness to negotiate comes after Venezuela's central bank announced last week economic growth contracted 4.5% in the third quarter. Not only was that a shock to analysts, who on average forecast a 1% to 2% contraction, but it also surprised Venezuela Finance Minister Ali Rodriguez. A week earlier he had said he thought the quarter would see an improvement from the second quarter's 2.4% contraction.
Among the sectors with the sharpest decline was retail sales, down 11.5%.
The data might also help sway the government into providing tax relief to companies related to a levy on consumption, which the government initially indicated winning bidders would have to pay.
-By Dan Molinski, Dow Jones Newswires; 58-212-284-5651; dan.molinski@dowjones.com
Source; wsj.com/
Industry sources say a contracting local economy alongside stronger global growth, which has pushed up worldwide oil prices, is providing incentive for both sides--the Hugo Chavez-led government and foreign oil firms--to make concessions and find common ground on the terms of the so-called Carabobo oil tender.
Observers still hesitate to assert the Carabobo auction, the most important drilling project in oil-rich Venezuela in more than a decade, will take place by January as scheduled. There is still more tweaking of contract terms to be done, and both parties want to get it right since the deals would last for decades. What is important, though, is the two sides seem to be getting closer to a deal, not farther away.
Private-sector sources confirmed Friday that oil companies are still waiting for the government to deliver the revised contract terms for the auction. Once received, the firms would have until late January to make official bids. The auction is for a handful of heavy and extra-heavy oil blocks in the eastern Orinoco region that together could produce a total 1.2 million barrels of crude a day, and would require investments of around $30 billion.
More than a dozen companies are interested, and at least five consortiums are being set up, whereby companies partner to reduce costs and share benefits.
Observers say higher global oil prices have made the petroleum companies, including heavyweights such as Chevron (CVX), Chinese state oil firm CNPC (0135.HK) and BP PLC (BP, BP.LN), more willing to accommodate some of the government's demands, which could include a down payment of up to $1 billion from winning bidders. Global crude oil prices pierced $80 a barrel recently, putting more cash in oil companies' hands.
At the same time, Venezuela's government also seems ready to make concessions. The South American country's economic cycle has lagged the rest of the world, only recently falling into recession, and that's forcing the socialist government to reluctantly seek foreign investment.
Oil accounts for more than one-third of gross domestic product, over half of government revenue and about nine-tenths of exports.
"There's a political will on the part of the Chavez government that hasn't been seen before," said one person in the industry who is familiar with the Carabobo process. "The government is realizing consumption-driven growth won't last forever, and they see that private-sector investment is essential."
Such an environment, this person said, is making the government more flexible to some companies' efforts to ensure they have decision-making power once drilling begins, even though they would be minority stakeholders. The current plans call for Venezuela's state oil company, Petroleos de Venezuela, or PdVSA, to have a 60% stake in all the projects, while the other companies or consortiums would have the other 40%.
The Chavez government provided for similar flexibility on decision-making roles in renegotiated contracts with oil companies a few years ago.
The government's apparent willingness to negotiate comes after Venezuela's central bank announced last week economic growth contracted 4.5% in the third quarter. Not only was that a shock to analysts, who on average forecast a 1% to 2% contraction, but it also surprised Venezuela Finance Minister Ali Rodriguez. A week earlier he had said he thought the quarter would see an improvement from the second quarter's 2.4% contraction.
Among the sectors with the sharpest decline was retail sales, down 11.5%.
The data might also help sway the government into providing tax relief to companies related to a levy on consumption, which the government initially indicated winning bidders would have to pay.
-By Dan Molinski, Dow Jones Newswires; 58-212-284-5651; dan.molinski@dowjones.com
Source; wsj.com/
Ahmadinejad hails anti-US 'brothers' on Venezuela trip
CARACAS — Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad vowed Wednesday beside firebrand President Hugo Chavez that Iran and Venezuela would "stand together until the end" in the face of US "imperialism."
Ending a tour of Latin American allies, Ahmadinejad praised his "brave brother" Chavez, saying: "Today the people of Venezuela and Iran, friends and brothers in the trench warfare against imperialism, are resisting.
"We'll stand together until the end," he yelled, raising Chavez's hand in front of the television cameras and shouting in Spanish: "Viva Venezuela! Viva Chavez!"
Before arriving in Caracas late Tuesday Ahmadinejad was in Bolivia, where he and President Evo Morales, another close Chavez ally, hailed their own alliance against "imperialism," meaning the United States.
The Iranian leader's three-day regional tour has been seen as a clear affront to Washington, a fact illustrated by an unusual letter sent by US President Barack Obama.
After Ahmadinejad's first stop in Brazil, it emerged that Obama had sent a letter to the regional power urging it to be more critical of the Islamic republic and its suspect nuclear activities.
The letter, written to Brazilian leader Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on the eve of Ahmadinejad's visit, outlined Washington's foreign policy goals and opposition to Iran's nuclear program.
After receiving the letter on Sunday, Lula went ahead Monday and recognized Iran's right to develop nuclear energy, although he urged Tehran to seek a peaceful settlement in talks with Western powers.
US State Department spokesman Ian Kelly confirmed Obama's letter on Wednesday and also urged Venezuela to join world powers in expressing concern over Iran's pursuit of a "nuclear weapons capability, its support of terrorism, and its human rights record."
Chavez, long a thorn in the side of Washington, has publicly backed Iran's right to a peaceful nuclear program and supported the Iranian leader's disputed re-election in June that led to days of violent protests in Tehran.
He said he had made a "lightning" visit to Cuba on Tuesday, where he met for seven hours with ailing former president Fidel Castro, who told him to deliver a big "hug" to Ahmadinejad on his return to Caracas.
"Fidel told me: 'tell Ahmadinejad that reaching Venezuela is like reaching Cuba, because it's the same homeland. So I'm also welcoming you to Cuba, brother,'" Chavez said.
But Ahmadinejad was also greeted with anger from the Jewish community in Venezuela and the Venezuelan opposition, which planned to hold protests later Wednesday.
"Venezuela's democrats repudiate the visit of the undesirable Iranian dictator Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Venezuela," the Table of Unity opposition group said, describing Ahmadinejad's alliance with Chavez as "dangerous."
A statement from Venezuela's Jewish community called Ahmadinejad an "ominous character" who could produce "greater misery for mankind."
Ahmadinejad's arrival in Venezuela came as Germany said there was "broad support" for a resolution at a meeting this week of the UN's atomic watchdog condemning Iran for concealing a second uranium enrichment plant.
Tehran and six world powers known as the P5+1 -- Britain, China, France, Russia, the United States, and Germany -- have been at loggerheads for weeks, failing to reach a nuclear fuel deal aimed at allaying Western concerns.
Iran denies it is seeking to produce an atomic bomb under cover of its civilian nuclear energy program.
On the economic front, Venezuela and Iran, both members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), launched joint projects, including a binational bank, housing programs and bicycle, car and tractor assemblies.
Source: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gA4jWnW6hqZezzc1MryY5WNl09ug
Venezuela Raises Dollar Allotment for Some Travelers
Nov. 30 (Bloomberg) -- Venezuela increased the maximum amount of dollars that individuals can buy for travel to $3,000 from $2,500, and slashed the allotment for travel to neighboring Colombia 72 percent amid a deterioration of relations.
The Foreign Exchange Administration Commission, known as Cadivi, will sell a maximum of $3,000 annually at the official exchange rate of 2.15 bolivars per dollar to individuals for trips of eight days or more to Asia, Africa or Europe. Travelers to Colombia will be allowed to buy no more than $700 per year, according to a resolution published in the Official Gazette.
“They’re trying to tighten the regulations, but in the end people will find ways around it,” said Boris Segura, a Latin America analyst at RBS in Stamford, Connecticut, in a telephone interview. “With Colombia, there’s an added political implication.”
As part of currency controls established by President Hugo Chavez in 2003, Venezuelans must seek approval from the government to buy dollars at the official exchange rate. The government slashed allotments to travelers in half last year after oil revenue plunged from a sharp drop in prices.
Venezuelans who are unable to gain approval to buy dollars from the government, turn to the parallel currency market where the bolivar traded at 5.50 per dollar on Nov. 27.
Chavez “froze” relations with Colombia in July in protest over a deal to allow U.S. troops access to seven military bases for counter-narcotics operations. Chavez says the agreement threatens Venezuelan sovereignty.
Individuals traveling to countries that belong to Chavez’s political bloc, known as ALBA, which includes Cuba, Nicaragua, Bolivia and Ecuador, will be allowed a maximum of $2,500 per year. The $2,500 limit also applies to U.S. travel.
Travelers to Panama and most Caribbean islands will be capped at $1,000 per year, according to the resolution.
The allotment for Internet purchases will remain unchanged at $400 per year.
Source: bloomberg.com/
The Foreign Exchange Administration Commission, known as Cadivi, will sell a maximum of $3,000 annually at the official exchange rate of 2.15 bolivars per dollar to individuals for trips of eight days or more to Asia, Africa or Europe. Travelers to Colombia will be allowed to buy no more than $700 per year, according to a resolution published in the Official Gazette.
“They’re trying to tighten the regulations, but in the end people will find ways around it,” said Boris Segura, a Latin America analyst at RBS in Stamford, Connecticut, in a telephone interview. “With Colombia, there’s an added political implication.”
As part of currency controls established by President Hugo Chavez in 2003, Venezuelans must seek approval from the government to buy dollars at the official exchange rate. The government slashed allotments to travelers in half last year after oil revenue plunged from a sharp drop in prices.
Venezuelans who are unable to gain approval to buy dollars from the government, turn to the parallel currency market where the bolivar traded at 5.50 per dollar on Nov. 27.
Chavez “froze” relations with Colombia in July in protest over a deal to allow U.S. troops access to seven military bases for counter-narcotics operations. Chavez says the agreement threatens Venezuelan sovereignty.
Individuals traveling to countries that belong to Chavez’s political bloc, known as ALBA, which includes Cuba, Nicaragua, Bolivia and Ecuador, will be allowed a maximum of $2,500 per year. The $2,500 limit also applies to U.S. travel.
Travelers to Panama and most Caribbean islands will be capped at $1,000 per year, according to the resolution.
The allotment for Internet purchases will remain unchanged at $400 per year.
Source: bloomberg.com/
Home News News Colombian Congress to debate Venezuela war threat
Colombia's House of Representatives plans to hold a closed session on Tuesday to debate the possibility of war with neighboring country Venezuela and Colombia's ability to defend itself in a possible attack.
The debate was called by coalition lawmakers who want the country's ministers of defense, foreign relations and trade to attend the session, Caracol Radio reported Tuesday. None of the ministers has either confirmed or denied that they will be present.
In the closed session the lawmakers want to hear from Defense Minister Gabriel Silva what the probability is that Venezuela attacks Colombian soil following President Hugo Chavez's calls to Venezuelan soldiers and civilians to prepare for war and the recent destruction of cross-border footbridges by the Venezuelan armed forces.
The lawmakers also want to know if the Colombian army is able to deter a Venezuelan attack and what precautions are taken to protect the country's airports, seaports and oil refineries.
According to the radio station's report, Foreign Minister Jaime Bermudez will have to clarify what he is doing to show that the "Hugo Chavez's regime is an authoritarian and dangerous government" and what the government plans to do to counter Chavez's "insults, threats and hostile commercial actions."
Of Trade Minister Luis Huillermo Plata the lawmakers want to know if Venezuela's restriction on Colombian imports fit within the regulations of the World Trade Organization and what the possibilities are of finding alternative export markets.
Source: colombiareports.com/
Venezuela’s political blunder on Ahmadinejad’s arrival
Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrived in Venezuela on November 24. A slight error for his arrival: the anthem played as he stepped off the plane was that of Iran... before the Islamic Revolution.
Posted on Dailymotion by "khandaniha".
These images were aired by the Iranian state channel IRIB. Omid Habibinia, one of our Observers for Iran who currently lives in Sweden, alerted us to the video.
The music being played is called 'Sorood Shahanshahi' (the royal hymn). It was the official anthem of the Shah regime, binned after the 1979 Islamic Revolution. The video has caused quite a scandal on the Iranian web. The IRIB played the clip quite a few times, which is completely ridiculous."
Source: france24.com/
Posted on Dailymotion by "khandaniha".
These images were aired by the Iranian state channel IRIB. Omid Habibinia, one of our Observers for Iran who currently lives in Sweden, alerted us to the video.
The music being played is called 'Sorood Shahanshahi' (the royal hymn). It was the official anthem of the Shah regime, binned after the 1979 Islamic Revolution. The video has caused quite a scandal on the Iranian web. The IRIB played the clip quite a few times, which is completely ridiculous."
Source: france24.com/
Leaders of journalist organization visit Venezuela to monitor local situation
El Universal: Aidan White, the Secretary General of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), and Francisco Audije, the Deputy Secretary General, arrived in Venezuela on Sunday for a two-day visit during which they are meeting with representatives of media workers and employers, NGOs advocating freedom of expression, and union leaders.
The IFJ leaders will meet with representatives of the Venezuelan Journalist's Association (CNP) and the National Union of Press Workers (SNTP), and representatives of NGOs Instituto de Prensa y Sociedad (IPYS), Espacio Público, Expresion Libre, among others. Later, they will meet with executives of the Venezuelan Press Bloc and members of the Venezuelan Chamber of Radio and Television.
Source: vheadline.com/
The IFJ leaders will meet with representatives of the Venezuelan Journalist's Association (CNP) and the National Union of Press Workers (SNTP), and representatives of NGOs Instituto de Prensa y Sociedad (IPYS), Espacio Público, Expresion Libre, among others. Later, they will meet with executives of the Venezuelan Press Bloc and members of the Venezuelan Chamber of Radio and Television.
Source: vheadline.com/
Research and Markets: Venezuela Oil Markets Investment Opportunities, Market Analysis and Forecasts to 2020
This profile is the essential source for top-level energy industry data and information. The report provides an overview of the oil industry in Venezuela. It details the market structure, regulatory environment, infrastructure and provides historical and forecasted statistics relating to the supply/demand balance for the industry. It also provides information relating to the oil assets (oil fields, refineries, pipelines and storage terminals) in Venezuela. The report also analyses the fiscal regime relevant to the oil assets in Venezuela and compares the investment environment in Venezuela with other countries in the region. The profiles of the major companies operating in the oil sector in Venezuela together with the latest news and deals are also included in the report.
Scope
Historic and forecast data relating to exploration and production (E&P) production, consumption, imports, exports and reserves are provided for the oil industry for the period 1995-2020.
Historical and forecast data and information for all the major oil fields, refineries, pipelines and storage terminals in Venezuela Oil Markets Investment Opportunities, Market Analysis and Forecasts to 2020 Oil Markets Investment Opportunities, Market Analysis and Forecasts to 2020 for the period 1995-2020.
Operator and equity details for major oil assets in Venezuela Oil Markets Investment Opportunities, Market Analysis and Forecasts to 2020.
Key information relating to market regulations, key energy assets and the key companies operating in the Venezuela Oil Markets Investment Opportunities, Market Analysis and Forecasts to 2020's oil industry.
Detailed information on key fiscal terms (such as rents, bonuses, royalty, cost recovery, profit oil, petroleum and corporate taxes) pertaining the geography is also provided. A sample calculation detailing how fiscal terms apply to a typical asset in the regime is included.
Information on the top companies in the Venezuela Oil Markets Investment Opportunities, Market Analysis and Forecasts to 2020 including business description, strategic analysis, and financial information. Key companies include Petroleos de Venezuela, Chevron Corporation and Conoco Philips.
Product and brand updates, strategy changes, R&D projects, corporate expansions and contractions and regulatory changes.
Key mergers and acquisitions, partnerships, private equity and venture capital investments, and IPOs.
Key Topics Covered:
1 Contents
2 Venezuela Energy Sector
3 Venezuela Petroleum Fiscal Regime
4 Venezuela Oil Upstream Investment Environment Benchmarking
5 Venezuela Exploration and Production Sector
6 Venezuela Pipeline Sector
7 Venezuela Refining Sector
8 Venezuela Oil and Chemicals Storage Sector
9 Profile of Petroleos de Venezuela S.A.
10 Profile of Chevron Corporation
11 Profile of ConocoPhillips
12 Financial Deals Landscape
13 Recent Developments
14 Appendix
Executive Summary
List of Tables
Companies Mentioned:
Petroleos de Venezuela S.A.
Chevron Corporation
ConocoPhillips
Source: businesswire.com/
Scope
Historic and forecast data relating to exploration and production (E&P) production, consumption, imports, exports and reserves are provided for the oil industry for the period 1995-2020.
Historical and forecast data and information for all the major oil fields, refineries, pipelines and storage terminals in Venezuela Oil Markets Investment Opportunities, Market Analysis and Forecasts to 2020 Oil Markets Investment Opportunities, Market Analysis and Forecasts to 2020 for the period 1995-2020.
Operator and equity details for major oil assets in Venezuela Oil Markets Investment Opportunities, Market Analysis and Forecasts to 2020.
Key information relating to market regulations, key energy assets and the key companies operating in the Venezuela Oil Markets Investment Opportunities, Market Analysis and Forecasts to 2020's oil industry.
Detailed information on key fiscal terms (such as rents, bonuses, royalty, cost recovery, profit oil, petroleum and corporate taxes) pertaining the geography is also provided. A sample calculation detailing how fiscal terms apply to a typical asset in the regime is included.
Information on the top companies in the Venezuela Oil Markets Investment Opportunities, Market Analysis and Forecasts to 2020 including business description, strategic analysis, and financial information. Key companies include Petroleos de Venezuela, Chevron Corporation and Conoco Philips.
Product and brand updates, strategy changes, R&D projects, corporate expansions and contractions and regulatory changes.
Key mergers and acquisitions, partnerships, private equity and venture capital investments, and IPOs.
Key Topics Covered:
1 Contents
2 Venezuela Energy Sector
3 Venezuela Petroleum Fiscal Regime
4 Venezuela Oil Upstream Investment Environment Benchmarking
5 Venezuela Exploration and Production Sector
6 Venezuela Pipeline Sector
7 Venezuela Refining Sector
8 Venezuela Oil and Chemicals Storage Sector
9 Profile of Petroleos de Venezuela S.A.
10 Profile of Chevron Corporation
11 Profile of ConocoPhillips
12 Financial Deals Landscape
13 Recent Developments
14 Appendix
Executive Summary
List of Tables
Companies Mentioned:
Petroleos de Venezuela S.A.
Chevron Corporation
ConocoPhillips
Source: businesswire.com/
UPDATE 2-Venezuela softens Carabobo oil bid terms - source
Promised lower taxes, other sweeteners all included
* Also extends payment time for starting bonus (Adds company comment)
CARACAS, Nov 30 (Reuters) - Venezuela has slightly softened conditions for the auction of its Carabobo oil project and is due to deliver the finalized terms to interested companies later on Monday, a government source said.
Worried by lukewarm private sector interest in its first oil auction in more than a decade, Venezuela last month said it was lowering taxes and extending the production timeline for the project.
The revised conditions include all the previously announced sweeteners such as lower royalties, along with new incentives such as a longer period to pay starting bonuses for the project, the source, who has knowledge of the process, told Reuters.
The government may also be willing to soften a tough tax on windfall profits when prices are high.
"There is an intention to soften or remove the windfall tax, but that will not be included in the terms," the source said.
The local manager of one of the companies considering taking part in Carabobo said the windfall tax limited the attractiveness of the project, even with royalties reduced to 20 from 30 percent.
"In some stages of the project the return is minimal, WTI crude is expected to hold between $70 and $100 per barrel during the project's life, meaning the windfall tax is applied," he said.
The windfall tax is activated when oil prices rise above an average of $70 per barrel during one month.
Companies including Britain's BP (BP.L: 行情) and U.S.-based Chevron (CVX.N: 行情) have been waiting for weeks for the final version of the terms, the first improvement in conditions for private oil under socialist President Hugo Chavez.
The massive heavy crude project will involve seven areas, each of which is expected to require an investment of between $10 billion and $20 billion. The goal is to raise Venezuela oil output by 1.2 million barrels per day by 2015.
Other companies interested in the auction for minority interests in the three Carabobo joint-ventures include China's state oil company CNPC, France's Total (TOTF.PA: 行情), Italy's ENI (ENI.MI: 行情) and Portugal's Galp Energia (GALP.LS: 行情), as well as consortiums of Russian and Japanese businesses. [ID:nN06184958].
Source: reuters.com/
* Also extends payment time for starting bonus (Adds company comment)
CARACAS, Nov 30 (Reuters) - Venezuela has slightly softened conditions for the auction of its Carabobo oil project and is due to deliver the finalized terms to interested companies later on Monday, a government source said.
Worried by lukewarm private sector interest in its first oil auction in more than a decade, Venezuela last month said it was lowering taxes and extending the production timeline for the project.
The revised conditions include all the previously announced sweeteners such as lower royalties, along with new incentives such as a longer period to pay starting bonuses for the project, the source, who has knowledge of the process, told Reuters.
The government may also be willing to soften a tough tax on windfall profits when prices are high.
"There is an intention to soften or remove the windfall tax, but that will not be included in the terms," the source said.
The local manager of one of the companies considering taking part in Carabobo said the windfall tax limited the attractiveness of the project, even with royalties reduced to 20 from 30 percent.
"In some stages of the project the return is minimal, WTI crude is expected to hold between $70 and $100 per barrel during the project's life, meaning the windfall tax is applied," he said.
The windfall tax is activated when oil prices rise above an average of $70 per barrel during one month.
Companies including Britain's BP (BP.L: 行情) and U.S.-based Chevron (CVX.N: 行情) have been waiting for weeks for the final version of the terms, the first improvement in conditions for private oil under socialist President Hugo Chavez.
The massive heavy crude project will involve seven areas, each of which is expected to require an investment of between $10 billion and $20 billion. The goal is to raise Venezuela oil output by 1.2 million barrels per day by 2015.
Other companies interested in the auction for minority interests in the three Carabobo joint-ventures include China's state oil company CNPC, France's Total (TOTF.PA: 行情), Italy's ENI (ENI.MI: 行情) and Portugal's Galp Energia (GALP.LS: 行情), as well as consortiums of Russian and Japanese businesses. [ID:nN06184958].
Source: reuters.com/
Can Edwin Valero revive boxing in Venezuela
When WBC world lightweight champ Edwin Valero makes his first world title defense back home in Venezuela on December 19, it will mark the first time in just over 9 years that any Venezuelan fighter has defended a world boxing title in his home country. That is by far the longest period the nation has gone without hosting a world title defense by a Venezuelan world champion since Carlos Hernandez became the first from his country to hold a world boxing championship in January 1965.
More significantly, since 2001, when the country had 37 live pro boxing shows, the number of fight cards has declined steadily by over 600% to just 6 professional shows in 2008, the lowest number since 1952. Valero’s world title defense this month at the once-legendary Nuevo Circo bullring (capacity 12,000) will headline just the 7th pro fight card the country has seen in 2009. That marks the first time in nearly 60 years that the nation has had 2 consecutive years with less than 10 live boxing shows a year.
How has the pro boxing landscape become so barren in one of the traditional Latin American powerhouse nations in such a short amount of time? Over 30 Venezuelan fighters have held world titles since Hernandez won his in 1965 and 9 have claimed world championships in the new century alone. Alexander Munoz has had 2 separate reigns and 10 world title bouts as WBA super flyweight champion (7 of them title defenses) and not a single one was held back home in Venezuela. After dethroning previously unbeaten Eric Morel in Puerto Rico in December 2003, Lorenzo Parra held the WBA flyweight for over 3 years, but none of his 6 title defenses were held in Venezuela. Parra’s only world title bout on home turf came in June 2008, when he moved up 3 weight classes to unsuccessfully challenge visiting WBA champ Celestino Caballero from Panama. Out of 72 world title bouts that Venezuelan fighters have competed in since the turn of the century, only 3 have been held in Venezuela; of the 36 that were world title defenses, only 2 were held in the country—the most recent being Felix Machado’s successful December 2000 defense of his IBF super flyweight title (which he defended 3 more times outside the country).
Even the 28-year-old Valero (a personal friend of Venezuelan president-for-life Hugo Chavez) came by his homecoming title defense in back-door fashion. After winning the WBA super featherweight crown in Panama in August 2006, Edwin’s 4 successful world title defenses were held in Japan or Mexico. The hard-hitting southpaw then moved up to 135 pounds and after having a long-standing U.S. medical suspension lifted, won the vacant WBC lightweight title in April 2009 on a Golden Boy Promotions show in Austin, Texas. Valero had hoped to make the first defense ofthat title in the U.S. in November, but when his work visa was denied by U.S. officials, a high-profile title defense at the recently restored Nuevo Circo bullring in Caracas became the fallback plan. Valero and his handlers claim the visa denial was politically motivated, because of Edwin’s friendship with the controversial Chavez, whose image is tattooed on the fighter’s chest, embedded in the Venezuelan national flag. U.S. officials have declined to comment on the matter, but Valero was quoted shortly thereafter as saying “I want to live in Venezuela and be part of the recovery of national boxing”…implicitly acknowledging the sport’s drastic decline back home.
The venue for Valero’s much-anticipated homecoming fight, El Nuevo Circo (”new circus’), was once a legendary bullring that was first used in 1919. It became a popular boxing venue from the 1950s until the early 1980s, and hosted such national boxing legends as Betulio Gonzalez, Luis Estaba and Rafael Orono, but was gradually displaced as a major sports venue after the construction of the Polyhedron in 1974 and was closed down completely in 1997. Restoration of Nuevo Circo began in early 2009 and it was reopened in October with a high-profile free concert and much fanfare. Many wonder if Edwin Valero’s first world title defense in Venezuela, held with great fanfare in a legendary venue can revive the country’s faded pro boxing scene, but there is no easy answer.
The massive economic problems the country now faces developed over the past decade and the systemic damage that has been done to the national economy cannot be turned around overnight. According to the internationally respected magazine The Economist, “the underlying cause is the government’s failure to plan, maintain and invest in necessary infrastructure…after 10 years of neglect, there is no simple fix for crumbling infrastructure”. Since the boisterous Chavez nationalized the private power industry in 2007, there have been a half-dozen nationwide electrical blackouts, all this despite being one of the most oil-rich nations in the entire world. The debilitating chill which the collapsing economy has created in the national business climate has essentially turned the country into an economic “basket case”.
For 2010, The Economist has projected for Venezuela a national inflation rate of 31.4% and a minus-3.4% decline in GDP (gross domestic product). The World Bank recently released its annual World Development Indicators, which ranked the country #7 among the world’s “riskiest economies”, along with impoverished nations tragically lacking Venezuela’s rich petroleum reserves or other abundant natural resources. Just months ago, the World Economic Forum released its 2009-10 Global Competitiveness Report, which rates nations based on a wide range of economic factors. Of the 133 nations analyzed, Venezuela consistently ranked in the bottom 1-3% for almost every factor relating to a healthy business climate: http://www.weforum.org/pdf/GCR09/GCR20092010fullreport.pdf (page 338)
Professional boxing is, among other things, a business and although a series of high-profile world title defenses on home turf by Edwin Valero or other Venezuelan world champs can definitely boost the sagging morale of the pro boxing community there, it will most probably take a substantial amount of time and a significant amount of economic investment to help Valero fulfill his lofty goal of bringing about “the recovery of national boxing”. There is always the possibility that the Chavez regime could provide significant government subsidies to restore the vitality of the once-thriving pro boxing scene, similar to what the Soviet Union and Cuba used to do with their amateur boxing programs in days gone by.
Based on a widely publicized incident that transpired in Venezuela earlier this year, some hold out a ray of hope that the Chavez regime could actually back up its bold words with some positive government intervention on behalf of the fight game. When he moved this past summer to close two of the country’s world-class golf courses, he denounced the sport of golf as “a sport of the bourgeoisie” and not a “true people’s sport”. Perhaps someone will point out to the mercurial Venezuelan leader that professional boxing IS a true people’s sport, complete with a rich tradition of lifting impoverished masses of neglected youth into opportunities to make something of their lives, both athletically and economically. Where would wayward street kids like Roberto Duran be today if not for the phenomenal opportunities they have received from the fight game?
Only time will tell, but by subsidizing a national sports infrastructure built on a foundation of boxing gyms, complete with trainers and instructors, and high-profile spokesmen like Edwin Valero, President Chavez has a unique opportunity to lift impoverished youth AND elevate pro boxing from the grass-roots level on up…if he somehow finds it within himself to put his money where his mouth is.
Source: 15rounds.com/
More significantly, since 2001, when the country had 37 live pro boxing shows, the number of fight cards has declined steadily by over 600% to just 6 professional shows in 2008, the lowest number since 1952. Valero’s world title defense this month at the once-legendary Nuevo Circo bullring (capacity 12,000) will headline just the 7th pro fight card the country has seen in 2009. That marks the first time in nearly 60 years that the nation has had 2 consecutive years with less than 10 live boxing shows a year.
How has the pro boxing landscape become so barren in one of the traditional Latin American powerhouse nations in such a short amount of time? Over 30 Venezuelan fighters have held world titles since Hernandez won his in 1965 and 9 have claimed world championships in the new century alone. Alexander Munoz has had 2 separate reigns and 10 world title bouts as WBA super flyweight champion (7 of them title defenses) and not a single one was held back home in Venezuela. After dethroning previously unbeaten Eric Morel in Puerto Rico in December 2003, Lorenzo Parra held the WBA flyweight for over 3 years, but none of his 6 title defenses were held in Venezuela. Parra’s only world title bout on home turf came in June 2008, when he moved up 3 weight classes to unsuccessfully challenge visiting WBA champ Celestino Caballero from Panama. Out of 72 world title bouts that Venezuelan fighters have competed in since the turn of the century, only 3 have been held in Venezuela; of the 36 that were world title defenses, only 2 were held in the country—the most recent being Felix Machado’s successful December 2000 defense of his IBF super flyweight title (which he defended 3 more times outside the country).
Even the 28-year-old Valero (a personal friend of Venezuelan president-for-life Hugo Chavez) came by his homecoming title defense in back-door fashion. After winning the WBA super featherweight crown in Panama in August 2006, Edwin’s 4 successful world title defenses were held in Japan or Mexico. The hard-hitting southpaw then moved up to 135 pounds and after having a long-standing U.S. medical suspension lifted, won the vacant WBC lightweight title in April 2009 on a Golden Boy Promotions show in Austin, Texas. Valero had hoped to make the first defense ofthat title in the U.S. in November, but when his work visa was denied by U.S. officials, a high-profile title defense at the recently restored Nuevo Circo bullring in Caracas became the fallback plan. Valero and his handlers claim the visa denial was politically motivated, because of Edwin’s friendship with the controversial Chavez, whose image is tattooed on the fighter’s chest, embedded in the Venezuelan national flag. U.S. officials have declined to comment on the matter, but Valero was quoted shortly thereafter as saying “I want to live in Venezuela and be part of the recovery of national boxing”…implicitly acknowledging the sport’s drastic decline back home.
The venue for Valero’s much-anticipated homecoming fight, El Nuevo Circo (”new circus’), was once a legendary bullring that was first used in 1919. It became a popular boxing venue from the 1950s until the early 1980s, and hosted such national boxing legends as Betulio Gonzalez, Luis Estaba and Rafael Orono, but was gradually displaced as a major sports venue after the construction of the Polyhedron in 1974 and was closed down completely in 1997. Restoration of Nuevo Circo began in early 2009 and it was reopened in October with a high-profile free concert and much fanfare. Many wonder if Edwin Valero’s first world title defense in Venezuela, held with great fanfare in a legendary venue can revive the country’s faded pro boxing scene, but there is no easy answer.
The massive economic problems the country now faces developed over the past decade and the systemic damage that has been done to the national economy cannot be turned around overnight. According to the internationally respected magazine The Economist, “the underlying cause is the government’s failure to plan, maintain and invest in necessary infrastructure…after 10 years of neglect, there is no simple fix for crumbling infrastructure”. Since the boisterous Chavez nationalized the private power industry in 2007, there have been a half-dozen nationwide electrical blackouts, all this despite being one of the most oil-rich nations in the entire world. The debilitating chill which the collapsing economy has created in the national business climate has essentially turned the country into an economic “basket case”.
For 2010, The Economist has projected for Venezuela a national inflation rate of 31.4% and a minus-3.4% decline in GDP (gross domestic product). The World Bank recently released its annual World Development Indicators, which ranked the country #7 among the world’s “riskiest economies”, along with impoverished nations tragically lacking Venezuela’s rich petroleum reserves or other abundant natural resources. Just months ago, the World Economic Forum released its 2009-10 Global Competitiveness Report, which rates nations based on a wide range of economic factors. Of the 133 nations analyzed, Venezuela consistently ranked in the bottom 1-3% for almost every factor relating to a healthy business climate: http://www.weforum.org/pdf/GCR09/GCR20092010fullreport.pdf (page 338)
Professional boxing is, among other things, a business and although a series of high-profile world title defenses on home turf by Edwin Valero or other Venezuelan world champs can definitely boost the sagging morale of the pro boxing community there, it will most probably take a substantial amount of time and a significant amount of economic investment to help Valero fulfill his lofty goal of bringing about “the recovery of national boxing”. There is always the possibility that the Chavez regime could provide significant government subsidies to restore the vitality of the once-thriving pro boxing scene, similar to what the Soviet Union and Cuba used to do with their amateur boxing programs in days gone by.
Based on a widely publicized incident that transpired in Venezuela earlier this year, some hold out a ray of hope that the Chavez regime could actually back up its bold words with some positive government intervention on behalf of the fight game. When he moved this past summer to close two of the country’s world-class golf courses, he denounced the sport of golf as “a sport of the bourgeoisie” and not a “true people’s sport”. Perhaps someone will point out to the mercurial Venezuelan leader that professional boxing IS a true people’s sport, complete with a rich tradition of lifting impoverished masses of neglected youth into opportunities to make something of their lives, both athletically and economically. Where would wayward street kids like Roberto Duran be today if not for the phenomenal opportunities they have received from the fight game?
Only time will tell, but by subsidizing a national sports infrastructure built on a foundation of boxing gyms, complete with trainers and instructors, and high-profile spokesmen like Edwin Valero, President Chavez has a unique opportunity to lift impoverished youth AND elevate pro boxing from the grass-roots level on up…if he somehow finds it within himself to put his money where his mouth is.
Source: 15rounds.com/
Venezuela Adjusts Dollar Quota For Travel Abroad
CARACAS (Dow Jones)--The Venezuelan government adjusted, based on destination and duration of the trip, the legal limit on dollars that Venezuelans can buy at the official exchange rate for travel abroad.
The new scheme will likely make it more difficult for Venezuelans to profit from the gap between the official and parallel exchange rate by buying dollars from the government at the VEF2.15 peg and selling them in the parallel market at a rate which stands at VEF5.6.
Venezuelans who travel to Europe, Asia, Africa or Australia have the highest quota and will be able to use $2,000 for trips lasting one to seven days. For trips lasting longer than eight days the quota is $3,000.
The previous rules established a $2,500 limit regardless of the destination or length of the trip. Now travelers making short trips to countries in the Caribbean or Panama, some of Venezuelans' favorite destinations to profit from their dollar quota, will receive $500. The limit is set at $1,000 for these destinations.
Venezuelans making short trips to Colombia will be able to use $300 and a maximum of $1,000 for trips lasting more than eight days. Other destinations, including the United States and South America, have a minimum quota of $1,000 and maximum of $2,500.
The government has restricted the sale of dollars at the official rate of VEF2.15 to deal with a decline in oil revenue, which accounts for about 50% of state income.
-By Darcy Crowe, Dow Jones Newswires; (58) 414 249 6821; darcy.crowe@dowjones.com
Source: wsj.com/
The new scheme will likely make it more difficult for Venezuelans to profit from the gap between the official and parallel exchange rate by buying dollars from the government at the VEF2.15 peg and selling them in the parallel market at a rate which stands at VEF5.6.
Venezuelans who travel to Europe, Asia, Africa or Australia have the highest quota and will be able to use $2,000 for trips lasting one to seven days. For trips lasting longer than eight days the quota is $3,000.
The previous rules established a $2,500 limit regardless of the destination or length of the trip. Now travelers making short trips to countries in the Caribbean or Panama, some of Venezuelans' favorite destinations to profit from their dollar quota, will receive $500. The limit is set at $1,000 for these destinations.
Venezuelans making short trips to Colombia will be able to use $300 and a maximum of $1,000 for trips lasting more than eight days. Other destinations, including the United States and South America, have a minimum quota of $1,000 and maximum of $2,500.
The government has restricted the sale of dollars at the official rate of VEF2.15 to deal with a decline in oil revenue, which accounts for about 50% of state income.
-By Darcy Crowe, Dow Jones Newswires; (58) 414 249 6821; darcy.crowe@dowjones.com
Source: wsj.com/
Venezuela vs. Colombia: Two leaders seek outside mediation
Members of Venezuela's National Guard patrol the Simon Bolivar bridge in San Antonio, border with Colombia, Saturday. Colombia said on Friday it will not be lured into conflict with Venezuela despite its neighbor's aggressive rhetoric and dynamiting of two border bridges.
Bogotá, Colombia and Mexico City - No two leaders in Latin America mistrust each other more than leftist Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez and conservative Colombian President Alvaro Uribe.
The relationship between the Andean presidents, always tense, has been in a down-spiral since Colombia announced a plan in July to grant US troops expanded access to its bases.
But the two men have always managed to keep their barbs, even the most bellicose, rhetorical. Now, with the most recent spark – Venezuela on Thursday blew up two footbridges on the Táchira River – they might have a harder time backing down.
Colombia said Friday it will not be lured into conflict, but the stakes of a small-scale military confrontation are as high as they've been in recent times.
"Each time the incidents are graver," says Elsa Cardozo, an international relations expert at the Metropolitan University in Venezuela's capital, Caracas. "Something like the destruction of the bridges can make the situation more difficult. … We are very worried."
It was the latest in a string of incidents that led Mr. Chávez last week to tell his military to "prepare for war," to resist a possible US-led attack from Colombia, which last month signed a 10-year military cooperation agreement to give US troops expanded access to seven Colombian bases.
Leftist rebels, drug traffickers
Colombia claims that Venezuela is lax with drug traffickers who increasingly use the country as a transit point and permissive toward leftist rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the National Liberation Army (ELN) who are believed to have established rear-guard camps in the neighboring country.
On Nov. 1, two Venezuelan soldiers were killed at a border checkpoint with Colombia. In September, 10 members of an amateur Colombian soccer team were kidnapped and killed near the border. Venezuela is holding three men – two Colombians and a Venezuelan – accused of spying for Colombia, and last week Colombia's intelligence agency detained four Venezuelan national guardsmen crossing into Colombia in a motorboat.
But the bombing of the bridges ratchets up the long-simmering standoff.
The Venezuelan National Guard confirmed the destruction Thursday of two suspension bridges, claiming they were illegal border crossings used by Colombian drug traffickers and right-wing paramilitaries to cross in and out of its territory.
Alfredo Rangel, an independent security analyst in Bogotá, called the blasting of the bridges an "act of calculated hostility."
The Uribe administration called it a "unilateral and aggressive act against the civilian population" and said it would take the issue before the Organization of American States and the United Nations Security Council.
On Friday the Colombian defense minister ordered an increased presence of patrols on the Arauca River south of where the bridges were destroyed. "What's dangerous is that in a context like this anything either country does is immediately considered an aggression," says Francesca Ramos, director of the Venezuela Studies Center at the Universidad del Rosario in Bogotá.
Chávez sees US military threat
The US use of Colombian bases has been signaled by Chávez as a threat to his leftist government. He has called for a sharp reduction of bilateral trade and has "frozen" diplomatic ties with Colombia. Both Colombia and the US deny that the intention is to launch operations against a third country and say the accord aims only to fight drug trafficking and domestic insurgents.
Chávez warned President Obama last week: "Don't make the mistake of ordering an open aggression against Venezuela using Colombia."
Critics have accused Chávez of using the US-Colombia base plan to distract from problems at home. Power and water shortages have undermined his support. On Tuesday, economic news was worse than expected in the oil-exporting nation, with a 4.5 percent decline in gross domestic production in the third quarter. It was the second consecutive quarterly drop this year.
A survey by Caracas-based pollster Datanalisis, published in the Venezuelan daily El Universal in October, showed that Chávez's approval rating dropped to 46 percent from 53 percent a month earlier. More than 80 percent of those surveyed said they oppose a military conflict with Colombia.
Close business ties
That rejection is due in large part to the close ties the two countries share. Despite the heightened friction, Colombia and Venezuela continue to be each others' second-largest trade partners behind the US in both cases. That alone can act like a deterrent, says Michael Shifter, a Latin America expert at the Inter-American Dialogue in Washington. "The countries are still so deeply connected," he says.
Yet the rhetoric could lead to an accidental confrontation. "I don't think war will break out between the two countries. But one cannot discard the possibility that some border incident could lead to an armed skirmish," says Ms. Ramos.
The border between the two nations, with illegal armed groups, increased military presence, and protests over closures, makes the situation even more precarious, says Ms. Cardozo. "This is not a normal zone," she says.
And backing down for both men will likely require outside help; many observers say that the two leaders will not be able to come to terms without a third party. "If there was any situation that demands outside help and intervention, it's this one," says Mr. Shifter. "The lack of trust is so deep."
Brazil had offered to mediate between the neighboring nations but Chávez rejected any third-party arbitration out of hand. He said, however, that he would debate the issues in a multilateral forum.
On Sunday, Venezuela's Deputy Foreign Minister Francisco Arias Cardenas said the dispute should be mediated by the 12-country Union of South American Nations.
Both Uribe and Chávez are expected at a regional summit meeting on climate change in Manaus, Brazil, on
Source: csmonitor.com/
Venezuela to upgrade Palestinan ties, offers aid
* Venezuela offers medical scholarships for Palestinians
* U.S. aims to make Colombia a new Israel, Chavez says (Updates with Chavez remarks on diplomatic ties, scholarships)
By Walker Simon
CARACAS, Nov 27 (Reuters) - Venezuela plans to open an embassy in Palestinian territories and upgrade its ties to ambassadorial level, President Hugo Chavez said on Friday, to support Palestinians in their struggle against Israel.
"We have decided to designate an ambassador and open an embassy in Palestine," Chavez said after talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
"We now have a charge d'affaires; we will name an ambassador in coming days as part of accords to boost our bilateral relations," he said.
Among aid agreements signed Friday were scholarships for 20 Palestinians to study medicine in Venezuela. Chavez said he saw Venezuela offering many more educational grants.
"We must tell the Palestine people how many scholarships we will give to Palestinian youth so they come and study what they need," he said. "They can be short and long, pre-graduate or post-graduate, technical and training studies."
In January, Venezuela cut diplomatic relations with Israel over the Israeli offensive in Gaza of nearly a year ago, which Chavez then called a Palestinian "holocaust."
On Friday, he again cast the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in near-apocalyptic terms. He said:
"We ... are on the side of the Palestinian people's memorable struggle ... against the genocidal state of Israel that knocks down, kills and aims to terminate the Palestinian people."
Chavez ordered his education minister to circulate maps Abbas gave him to illustrate the small dimensions of the Gaza Strip, where he said 1.5 million people lived in "concentration camp" like conditions, their movements to the outside world virtually blocked by Israel.
"We (Venezuelans) should devote the entire force of our hearts and souls towards the creation of a Palestinian state," he said. "Venezuela is Palestine; Palestine is Venezuela, we have a common struggle."
COLOMBIA - 'THE ISRAEL OF SOUTH AMERICA'
Chavez charged the United States, using a recent agreement to expand U.S. troops' access to Colombian military bases, aimed to turn Colombia into "the Israel of South America."
The U.S. presence in Colombia endangered Venezuela due to the doctrine of "pre-emptive security," he said. "They assume the right to attack any country with whatever excuse."
"Colombia, the Israel of South America -- this is an aim of the United States," he said. The United States could spy from Colombia on other South American countries, he added.
Last month, Colombia and the United States signed a pact increasing U.S. access to military bases in Colombia. Washington is relocating its regional anti-narcotics hub to Colombia from Ecuador.
Colombia, the most reliable U.S. ally in South America, has drawn about $6 billion in mostly U.S. military aid since 2000.
Chavez said that he told U.S. President Barack Obama at a regional summit in Trinidad in April that they could work together to help resolve Colombia's internal conflict, apparently referring to the fight between leftist rebels there and the government.
Source: reuters.com/
* U.S. aims to make Colombia a new Israel, Chavez says (Updates with Chavez remarks on diplomatic ties, scholarships)
By Walker Simon
CARACAS, Nov 27 (Reuters) - Venezuela plans to open an embassy in Palestinian territories and upgrade its ties to ambassadorial level, President Hugo Chavez said on Friday, to support Palestinians in their struggle against Israel.
"We have decided to designate an ambassador and open an embassy in Palestine," Chavez said after talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
"We now have a charge d'affaires; we will name an ambassador in coming days as part of accords to boost our bilateral relations," he said.
Among aid agreements signed Friday were scholarships for 20 Palestinians to study medicine in Venezuela. Chavez said he saw Venezuela offering many more educational grants.
"We must tell the Palestine people how many scholarships we will give to Palestinian youth so they come and study what they need," he said. "They can be short and long, pre-graduate or post-graduate, technical and training studies."
In January, Venezuela cut diplomatic relations with Israel over the Israeli offensive in Gaza of nearly a year ago, which Chavez then called a Palestinian "holocaust."
On Friday, he again cast the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in near-apocalyptic terms. He said:
"We ... are on the side of the Palestinian people's memorable struggle ... against the genocidal state of Israel that knocks down, kills and aims to terminate the Palestinian people."
Chavez ordered his education minister to circulate maps Abbas gave him to illustrate the small dimensions of the Gaza Strip, where he said 1.5 million people lived in "concentration camp" like conditions, their movements to the outside world virtually blocked by Israel.
"We (Venezuelans) should devote the entire force of our hearts and souls towards the creation of a Palestinian state," he said. "Venezuela is Palestine; Palestine is Venezuela, we have a common struggle."
COLOMBIA - 'THE ISRAEL OF SOUTH AMERICA'
Chavez charged the United States, using a recent agreement to expand U.S. troops' access to Colombian military bases, aimed to turn Colombia into "the Israel of South America."
The U.S. presence in Colombia endangered Venezuela due to the doctrine of "pre-emptive security," he said. "They assume the right to attack any country with whatever excuse."
"Colombia, the Israel of South America -- this is an aim of the United States," he said. The United States could spy from Colombia on other South American countries, he added.
Last month, Colombia and the United States signed a pact increasing U.S. access to military bases in Colombia. Washington is relocating its regional anti-narcotics hub to Colombia from Ecuador.
Colombia, the most reliable U.S. ally in South America, has drawn about $6 billion in mostly U.S. military aid since 2000.
Chavez said that he told U.S. President Barack Obama at a regional summit in Trinidad in April that they could work together to help resolve Colombia's internal conflict, apparently referring to the fight between leftist rebels there and the government.
Source: reuters.com/
Venezuela sets maximum quota for travelers at USD 3,000
According to the Official Gazette No. 39,316 published on Monday, November 30, the Foreign Exchange Administration Commission (Cadivi) issued resolution No. 099 which allocates USD 3,000 annually as a maximum quota for travelers, depending on the destination and duration of the trip.
Under the resolution, the dollar quota for travels to almost all the countries in the hemisphere will be USD 2,500 per trip. For short trips, the quota will vary from USD 1,000 and USD 500 to USD 300. According to the resolution, Cadivi will allot USD 2,000 at the official exchange rate to people traveling to Europe, Asia, Africa and Oceania for seven days as a maximum, while Cadivi will allocate USD 3,000 in the case of trips for more than eight days to those destinations.
Travelers will be able to use up to three credit cards of which he/she is the cardholder, provided that these cards have been issued by the same foreign exchange operator.
Source:eluniversal.com
Chavez says Venezuela in recession, by US yardstick
CARACAS, Nov 22 (Reuters) - Oil-exporting Venezuela is in recession, its socialist President Hugo Chavez said on Saturday, adding that the capitalist system of measuring economic growth was established in the United States.
"When an economy shrinks instead of grows, according to the norms established by international capitalism, then it enters into recession," he said during a five-hour speech to inaugurate a party congress.
"GDP fell in the third quarter, and so we entered a recession, according to the patterns elaborated in the United States," he said.
Venezuela's economy contracted an unexpected 4.5 percent in the third quarter, a second consecutive three-month contraction that most economists' define as a recession.
Until now, the government avoided using the word.
Chavez says the normal method of measuring a country's gross domestic product does not sufficiently weigh social services and publicly owned enterprises. He has called for the measurement to be revised in Venezuela.
Chavez has nationalized many of Venezuela's major industries, along with some food production, telecommunications and electricity.
Many in the private sector say his policies have a chilling effect on manufacturing, which fell by nine percent in the quarter.
Venezuela enjoyed a five-year boom of fast growth fed by soaring oil prices and lavish social spending but it came to an abrupt halt this year when global oil prices crashed. Prices have recovered somewhat but the economy has yet to follow suit.
(Reporting by Eyanir Chinea and Julio Uribarry; Writing by Frank Jack Daniel, editing by Philip Barbara) ((frank.daniel@thomsonreuters.com; Tel: +58 212 263 7415; Reuters Messaging: frank.daniel.reuters.com@reuters.net))
Source: reuters.com/
"When an economy shrinks instead of grows, according to the norms established by international capitalism, then it enters into recession," he said during a five-hour speech to inaugurate a party congress.
"GDP fell in the third quarter, and so we entered a recession, according to the patterns elaborated in the United States," he said.
Venezuela's economy contracted an unexpected 4.5 percent in the third quarter, a second consecutive three-month contraction that most economists' define as a recession.
Until now, the government avoided using the word.
Chavez says the normal method of measuring a country's gross domestic product does not sufficiently weigh social services and publicly owned enterprises. He has called for the measurement to be revised in Venezuela.
Chavez has nationalized many of Venezuela's major industries, along with some food production, telecommunications and electricity.
Many in the private sector say his policies have a chilling effect on manufacturing, which fell by nine percent in the quarter.
Venezuela enjoyed a five-year boom of fast growth fed by soaring oil prices and lavish social spending but it came to an abrupt halt this year when global oil prices crashed. Prices have recovered somewhat but the economy has yet to follow suit.
(Reporting by Eyanir Chinea and Julio Uribarry; Writing by Frank Jack Daniel, editing by Philip Barbara) ((frank.daniel@thomsonreuters.com; Tel: +58 212 263 7415; Reuters Messaging: frank.daniel.reuters.com@reuters.net))
Source: reuters.com/
Venezuela prosecutors target bank executives
A Venezuelan court has barred 16 bank executives from leaving the country after a scandal that led the government to take over management of four banks.
Prosecutors say those prohibited from traveling include six directors of Banco ProVivienda (BanPro), eight of Banco Confederado, and two of Bolivar Banco. Prosecutors say they also questioned the ex-president of Banco Canarias, Alvaro Gorrin, on Friday as part of their investigation.
The government intervened in the four banks last week, citing various irregularities. Major shareholder Ricardo Fernandez and his lawyer Jose Camacho have been arrested on charges of misappropriating deposits and providing loans to other businesses in which they were investors.
Source: businessweek.com/
Prosecutors say those prohibited from traveling include six directors of Banco ProVivienda (BanPro), eight of Banco Confederado, and two of Bolivar Banco. Prosecutors say they also questioned the ex-president of Banco Canarias, Alvaro Gorrin, on Friday as part of their investigation.
The government intervened in the four banks last week, citing various irregularities. Major shareholder Ricardo Fernandez and his lawyer Jose Camacho have been arrested on charges of misappropriating deposits and providing loans to other businesses in which they were investors.
Source: businessweek.com/
Venezuela plans video game ban in early 2010
According to a recent article on the GlobalPost, Venezuela has passed a law that will impose a strict ban on violent video games and toys next spring. The ban however is not just for children; even adults will not be allowed to play games the government deems to violent for the general public. The law hopes to help curb the country’s sky-rocketing murder rate, which apparently has something to do with violence and the murder-rate in Venezuela. It doesn’t have anything to do with Hugo Chavez’ dislike for free speech, free trade, or freedom in general though, of course. The law uses data from American and Japanese studies that have concluded that video game playing and violence have a direct correlation; of course which specific studies they are referring to were not disclosed.
But beyond the ramifications of this law on the import of video games into Venezuela, are the serious legal ramifications businesses could face for selling games that have effectively been banned: 3-5 years in prison. As the Global Post article points out, this punishment is harsher than the punishment fotr selling guns to children: 1 - 5 years.
Venezuela’s supply of games comes from the United States and Japan, though most of its citizens are still enjoying GameCube games like Super Smash Bros. Melee and Zelda, and PC games like Counter-Strike and World of Warcraft. There are very few game developers actually in Venezuela, so at least the law won’t affect and creative types that live in the country. It will, however affect Internet Cafe and arcade owners as well as those who sell video games for a living.
We’ll have more on this story as it develops.
Source: crispygamer.com/
Paraguayan Senate “freezes” Venezuela’s Mercosur incorporation
The Paraguayan Executive withdrew the bill that included Venezuela’s Adhesion Protocol last August 13 because there were insufficient votes to approve it.
So far only the legislative branches of Argentina and Uruguay have approved Venezuela’s incorporation.
The Brazilian senate after months of negotiations and arm twisting by President Lula da Silva’s administration was this month on the verge of the crucial vote when President Chavez begun calling on the military and the Venezuelan people to “prepare for war” with Colombia over the US bases; since then, the situation remains frozen and with no vote schedule.
“There are no conditions for the Senate to consider and approve the incorporation of the Bolivarian republic of Venezuela to Mercosur”, said Senator Alberto Grillon vice president of the Foreign Affairs Upper House committee.
Grillon also recalled that a similar situation has occurred with the Brazilian Senate.
“President Chavez with his statements is not helping; sometimes it seems he is not interested in Venezuela’s integration to Mercosur given his repeated contentious attitude”, added Grillon.
The Paraguayan executive approved Venezuela’s incorporation to Mercosur last August and had the intention of immediately sending the initiative to Congress but desisted when the necessary votes were not anticipated.
Foreign Affairs minister Hector Lacognata said the initiative would be sent to the Paraguayan senate next year.
Source: mercopress.com
Colombia accuses Venezuela of blowing up border bridges
Colombian Defence Minister Gabriel Silva said eyewitnesses had seen men who appeared to be from the Venezuelan army blow up the bridges with dynamite.
He described the incident, on the border of Colombia's Norte de Santander region, as violating international law.
A Venezuelan official was quoted as saying that the army had blown up an illegal, improvised bridge.
It was the latest in a series of incidents to cause tension between the two neighbours.
'Walkway'
"Uniformed men, apparently from the Venezuelan army, arrived in trucks on the Venezuelan side at two pedestrian bridges that link communities on both sides... and then proceeded to dynamite them," Mr Silva said.
But Alexis Balza, frontier director for Tachira State governor's office, was quoted by Reuters news agency as saying an illegal bridge had been removed.
"The Venezuelan army took down a sort of walkway, put up by the people who pass from Venezuela to Colombia," he said.
Tensions have recently focussed on Colombia's decision to allow the US full access to its military bases.
Venezuela has accused the United States of planning attacks on its territory through the new military agreement - though Bogota says the pact is aimed at fighting drug-traffickers and Marxist rebels within Colombia's own borders.
Earlier this month, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez urged his armed forces to be prepared for possible war.
Source:bbc.co.uk
Venezuela shaken by 5.6-magnitude quake
CARACAS, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- An earthquake measuring 5.6 on the Richter scale shook western Venezuela early Friday morning. No damage or casualties were reported, confirmed the Venezuelan Foundation of Seismological Research (FUNVISIS).
The quake struck at 3:45 am (local time) in northern Lara, one of the 23 states of the country, but the epicenter was 45 kilometers southwest of Churuguara, Falcon state in western Venezuela.
The initial quake was followed by eight aftershocks with intensities varying between 3.5 and 2.5 degrees on the Richter scale and was felt in neighboring states including Carabobo, reported the Funvisis.
The quake struck the western population of the country that was sleeping at that time. Although no damage or casualties have been reported, thousands of people have left their homes frightened.
Local authorities later informed that life has returned to normal in the quake area.
Source: xinhuanet.com
The quake struck at 3:45 am (local time) in northern Lara, one of the 23 states of the country, but the epicenter was 45 kilometers southwest of Churuguara, Falcon state in western Venezuela.
The initial quake was followed by eight aftershocks with intensities varying between 3.5 and 2.5 degrees on the Richter scale and was felt in neighboring states including Carabobo, reported the Funvisis.
The quake struck the western population of the country that was sleeping at that time. Although no damage or casualties have been reported, thousands of people have left their homes frightened.
Local authorities later informed that life has returned to normal in the quake area.
Source: xinhuanet.com
Venezuela Battles Drought With Cloud Seeding
In an effort to alleviate the effects of a severe drought, Cuba had provided Venezuela with cloud seeding help.
Hugo Chavez said Fidel Castro and Cuban president Raul Castro sent specialized equipment to the people of Venezuela to be used to seed clouds from planes.
Chavez says, "We're bombarding clouds. We have some planes there, and some equipment that Fidel and Raul sent us."
As his country heads into its dry season, Chavez is trying to squeeze more rain from the clouds. Reservoirs are at their lowest levels in decades and the lack of water behind hydroelectric dams is threatening to worsen blackouts.
Chavez said, "Any cloud that comes in my way, I'll hurl a lightning bolt at it. Tonight I'm going out to bombard."
He suggested he wants to witness the cloud-seeding effort.
Cloud-seeding has been tried in various countries — including China, Australia and parts of the United States — in attempts to draw more moisture from storms, usually by releasing silver iodide particles into clouds.
Chavez did not say what method Venezuela is using.
Critics question the effectiveness of cloud-seeding but it is still viewed as an option in some areas.
El Nino is to blame for the dry weather in Venezuela and other parts of South America. Parts of Bolivia, Ecuador, Guyana and Argentina have also been coping with drought.
Chavez says, "That's occurring not only in Venezuela. Problems, climate change — it now stops raining for long periods and all of a sudden a downpour comes and there are floods."
The cloud-seeding plan was announced two weeks ago and it would begin over the Orinoco and Caroni river basins, near the country's largest hydro electronic dam.
Water has increasingly become a political issue in Venezuela, with Chavez opponents blaming the government for not planning ahead or building sufficient infrastructure. Widespread water rationing began in Caracas earlier this month.
Source: redorbit.com/
Colombia to return Venezuela national guard troops
BOGOTA — Four soldiers from Venezuela's National Guard captured in Colombian territory will be repatriated in a bid to ease tensions between the South American neighbors, President Alvaro Uribe's government said Saturday.
The Colombian navy intercepted the men Friday in El Aceitico along the border, according to a statement by Colombia's DAS intelligence agency. It said they were traveling in a boat, inside which Venezuelan military uniforms were found.
Long-standing tensions have worsened in recent months over Colombia's agreement to give the U.S. military more access to its bases — a deal that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez calls a threat to his country.
Chavez ordered his military last weekend to prepare for possible war with Colombia in case the U.S. attempts to provoke one.
There also have been several shootings and slayings the past few weeks along the Venezuela-Colombia border.
Uribe said Saturday that the detained Venezuelan soldiers will be sent home.
"They should carry a message. And the message is that here, there is affection for the brother people of Venezuela," Uribe said.
The DAS statement said Colombia hopes Venezuela will respond in kind by promptly returning a detective who was detained by Venezuelan authorities while on vacation.
Source: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hCIKDzMk3thB2iiP8uhH7lXThSCQD9BVM81G0
The Colombian navy intercepted the men Friday in El Aceitico along the border, according to a statement by Colombia's DAS intelligence agency. It said they were traveling in a boat, inside which Venezuelan military uniforms were found.
Long-standing tensions have worsened in recent months over Colombia's agreement to give the U.S. military more access to its bases — a deal that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez calls a threat to his country.
Chavez ordered his military last weekend to prepare for possible war with Colombia in case the U.S. attempts to provoke one.
There also have been several shootings and slayings the past few weeks along the Venezuela-Colombia border.
Uribe said Saturday that the detained Venezuelan soldiers will be sent home.
"They should carry a message. And the message is that here, there is affection for the brother people of Venezuela," Uribe said.
The DAS statement said Colombia hopes Venezuela will respond in kind by promptly returning a detective who was detained by Venezuelan authorities while on vacation.
Source: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hCIKDzMk3thB2iiP8uhH7lXThSCQD9BVM81G0
70 percent of agricultural products consumed in Venezuela are imported
The goal of producing 21 million tons of food this year has not been secured so far, as the domestic agricultural sector has been affected by one of the worst droughts in history. This has undermined a vast number of crops.
The directors of the National Confederation of Agricultural Producers (Fedeagro) rejected on Thursday the "arbitrary actions" of the State against agricultural productive activity. The farmers association emphasized that Venezuela's agricultural policies rather than fostering domestic production have favored food imports.
In fact, 70 percent of agricultural products consumed in Venezuela are imported, inclu: rice, corn, coffee, sunflower, soy beans, legumes and grains, vegetables, oilseeds and sorghum. This represents a 25 percentage point increase compared to 2008, when imports amounted to 45 percent, Pedro Rivas, the president of Fedeagro, reported.
For example, government authorities decided for first time in several years to import coffee, sugar, rice and corn in order to meet the deficiencies of raw materials.
In the case of sugar, rice and corn, agricultural authorities decided to purchase those products abroad to compensate for declining production in last harvests due to bad weather conditions.
The negative effects of the "war against large estates," in which State authorities have seized highly productive lands, have also been reported in agricultural production.
According to Fedeagro, the outlook in 2010 will be similar to current situation since the government will have to import products such as white corn, rice and coffee to meet demand.
The producers association considers that Venezuela "urgently needs to add new lands to produce food". It says that "there are enough underutilized lands waiting to be developed."
They added that in the area nearby the Tiznado River (Guárico state) there are about 172,974 acres uncultivated. The producers also have reservations on lot divisions.
More lands, less production
According to official data disseminated by Fedeagro, the government of President Hugo Chávez has "recovered" 4,942.108 acres in 11 years and has "regularized" 12,355,269 acres. This means that in this period "17,297,377 acres would be developed by the state, and this has benefited 110,000 new agricultural producers." In this sense, the members of Fedeagro have asked: what has been the impact of these seizures and their contribution to domestic agricultural production.
Rivas highlighted that the private agricultural sector is mainly comprised of small and medium producers and it accounts more than 90 percent of the value of agricultural production, while seized lands do not make an important contribution to the agricultural GDP.
Source: freshplaza.com/
The directors of the National Confederation of Agricultural Producers (Fedeagro) rejected on Thursday the "arbitrary actions" of the State against agricultural productive activity. The farmers association emphasized that Venezuela's agricultural policies rather than fostering domestic production have favored food imports.
In fact, 70 percent of agricultural products consumed in Venezuela are imported, inclu: rice, corn, coffee, sunflower, soy beans, legumes and grains, vegetables, oilseeds and sorghum. This represents a 25 percentage point increase compared to 2008, when imports amounted to 45 percent, Pedro Rivas, the president of Fedeagro, reported.
For example, government authorities decided for first time in several years to import coffee, sugar, rice and corn in order to meet the deficiencies of raw materials.
In the case of sugar, rice and corn, agricultural authorities decided to purchase those products abroad to compensate for declining production in last harvests due to bad weather conditions.
The negative effects of the "war against large estates," in which State authorities have seized highly productive lands, have also been reported in agricultural production.
According to Fedeagro, the outlook in 2010 will be similar to current situation since the government will have to import products such as white corn, rice and coffee to meet demand.
The producers association considers that Venezuela "urgently needs to add new lands to produce food". It says that "there are enough underutilized lands waiting to be developed."
They added that in the area nearby the Tiznado River (Guárico state) there are about 172,974 acres uncultivated. The producers also have reservations on lot divisions.
More lands, less production
According to official data disseminated by Fedeagro, the government of President Hugo Chávez has "recovered" 4,942.108 acres in 11 years and has "regularized" 12,355,269 acres. This means that in this period "17,297,377 acres would be developed by the state, and this has benefited 110,000 new agricultural producers." In this sense, the members of Fedeagro have asked: what has been the impact of these seizures and their contribution to domestic agricultural production.
Rivas highlighted that the private agricultural sector is mainly comprised of small and medium producers and it accounts more than 90 percent of the value of agricultural production, while seized lands do not make an important contribution to the agricultural GDP.
Source: freshplaza.com/
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)