The Devil's Excrement

The news in Caracas is being dominated by the heavy rains that have
been falling in the last forty eight hours. In the last day Caracas
registered 3.33 inches of rain, a historical record for the city for
any twenty four hour period.

Three people have died in Caracas, while thousands of vacationers that
went to the beach near Caracas for the long Carnival weekend are
stranded. There are a number of problems there. First, the highways
were already in bad shape as they have never recovered from the
tragedy in 2000 when mores than 40,000 people were estimated to have
died when many days of rain made rocks and mud come down from the
mountains and destroyed buildings and roads.

This time, it is more flash flooding from heavy rains than the
softening of the mountains near by, although one can not rule out a
repeat of that if the rains continue. A second problem is the traffic
from vacationers who did not realize what was happening. Some people
(my brother) are trapped between two overflowed rivers. Others have
been hours in traffic coming up from sea level to Caracas which is
3,000 feet (1,000 meters) above sea level. The highway is reportedly
full of dirt, little rocks and mud which makes progress very slow.
There are a few landslides along its length (about ten miles from the
airport to Caracas)

In Caracas, the Guaire river which cuts right through it lengthwise
has overflowed in various parts. The subway system is not working and
classes have been suspended for tomorrow. Some houses have flodded
near that river.

I am not in Caracas and had planned to return tomorrow but I guess I
will have to wait and see, play it by ear. As I said my brother is
trapped in the coastal region in his car with his family between two
rivers and my mother and another sister are further beyond but they
are in a high building just waiting it out.

The news in Caracas is being dominated by the heavy rains that have
been falling in the last forty eight hours. In the last day Caracas
registered 3.33 inches of rain, a historical record for the city for
any twenty four hour period.

Three people have died in Caracas, while thousands of vacationers that
went to the beach near Caracas for the long Carnival weekend are
stranded. There are a number of problems there. First, the highways
were already in bad shape as they have never recovered from the
tragedy in 2000 when mores than 40,000 people were estimated to have
died when many days of rain made rocks and mud come down from the
mountains and destroyed buildings and roads.

This time, it is more flash flooding from heavy rains than the
softening of the mountains near by, although one can not rule out a
repeat of that if the rains continue. A second problem is the traffic
from vacationers who did not realize what was happening. Some people
(my brother) are trapped between two overflowed rivers. Others have
been hours in traffic coming up from sea level to Caracas which is
3,000 feet (1,000 meters) above sea level. The highway is reportedly
full of dirt, little rocks and mud which makes progress very slow.
There are a few landslides along its length (about ten miles from the
airport to Caracas)

In Caracas, the Guaire river which cuts right through it lengthwise
has overflowed in various parts. The subway system is not working and
classes have been suspended for tomorrow. Some houses have flodded
near that river.

I am not in Caracas and had planned to return tomorrow but I guess I
will have to wait and see, play it by ear. As I said my brother is
trapped in the coastal region in his car with his family between two
rivers and my mother and another sister are further beyond but they
are in a high building just waiting it out.

The news in Caracas is being dominated by the heavy rains that have
been falling in the last forty eight hours. In the last day Caracas
registered 3.33 inches of rain, a historical record for the city for
any twenty four hour period.

Three people have died in Caracas, while thousands of vacationers that
went to the beach near Caracas for the long Carnival weekend are
stranded. There are a number of problems there. First, the highways
were already in bad shape as they have never recovered from the
tragedy in 2000 when mores than 40,000 people were estimated to have
died when many days of rain made rocks and mud come down from the
mountains and destroyed buildings and roads.

This time, it is more flash flooding from heavy rains than the
softening of the mountains near by, although one can not rule out a
repeat of that if the rains continue. A second problem is the traffic
from vacationers who did not realize what was happening. Some people
(my brother) are trapped between two overflowed rivers. Others have
been hours in traffic coming up from sea level to Caracas which is
3,000 feet (1,000 meters) above sea level. The highway is reportedly
full of dirt, little rocks and mud which makes progress very slow.
There are a few landslides along its length (about ten miles from the
airport to Caracas)

In Caracas, the Guaire river which cuts right through it lengthwise
has overflowed in various parts. The subway system is not working and
classes have been suspended for tomorrow. Some houses have flodded
near that river.

I am not in Caracas and had planned to return tomorrow but I guess I
will have to wait and see, play it by ear. As I said my brother is
trapped in the coastal region in his car with his family between two
rivers and my mother and another sister are further beyond but they
are in a high building just waiting it out.

While the President of PDVSA follows up Chavez’s statements about
buying up the properties of Shell in Argentina in today’s El
Universal, Shell is saying in the international press that they are
not leaving Argentina:

http://today.reuters.co.uk/News/newsArticle.aspx?type=businessNews&storyID 05-02-06T143819Z_01_JON652633_RTRUKOC_0_ENERGY-ARGENTINA-SHELL.xml

It seems that all of these negotiations via the media and telling
Chavez things that are being discussed is not a very good strategu for
PDVSA, no?

From the interview with the President of PDVSA, I can only say one
thing, when asked by the reporter why PDVSA’s training institute was
shut down the answer is that it was too big. Well, if it was too big,
you scale it down, not shut it down. A company like PDVSA needs to
have internal training for its personnel every single day, it is
cheaper to do it in house than to send people outisde. There can be no
justification for shutting it down. It’s just political, as usual.

While the President of PDVSA follows up Chavez’s statements about
buying up the properties of Shell in Argentina in today’s El
Universal, Shell is saying in the international press that they are
not leaving Argentina:

http://today.reuters.co.uk/News/newsArticle.aspx?type=businessNews&storyID 05-02-06T143819Z_01_JON652633_RTRUKOC_0_ENERGY-ARGENTINA-SHELL.xml

It seems that all of these negotiations via the media and telling
Chavez things that are being discussed is not a very good strategu for
PDVSA, no?

From the interview with the President of PDVSA, I can only say one
thing, when asked by the reporter why PDVSA’s training institute was
shut down the answer is that it was too big. Well, if it was too big,
you scale it down, not shut it down. A company like PDVSA needs to
have internal training for its personnel every single day, it is
cheaper to do it in house than to send people outisde. There can be no
justification for shutting it down. It’s just political, as usual.

While the President of PDVSA follows up Chavez’s statements about
buying up the properties of Shell in Argentina in today’s El
Universal, Shell is saying in the international press that they are
not leaving Argentina:

http://today.reuters.co.uk/News/newsArticle.aspx?type=businessNews&storyID 05-02-06T143819Z_01_JON652633_RTRUKOC_0_ENERGY-ARGENTINA-SHELL.xml

It seems that all of these negotiations via the media and telling
Chavez things that are being discussed is not a very good strategu for
PDVSA, no?

From the interview with the President of PDVSA, I can only say one
thing, when asked by the reporter why PDVSA’s training institute was
shut down the answer is that it was too big. Well, if it was too big,
you scale it down, not shut it down. A company like PDVSA needs to
have internal training for its personnel every single day, it is
cheaper to do it in house than to send people outisde. There can be no
justification for shutting it down. It’s just political, as usual.

About a month ago, our dog suddenly died. She was only four, a
delightful, loving and slightly crazy Doberman. I did not mention it
in the blog, because it was quite tough to say much about it,
something anyone that has had pets will surely understand.

It was not clear why she died so suddenly, her liver was inflamed, she
had lost her appetite and within twenty four hours she was dead of
something that appeared to be akin to poisoning, but it was hard to
imagine how it could have happened.

Two weeks go we heard from our vet that more cases similar to her had
been happening in Caracas and cities nearby. On Friday, they called us
to find out what we fed the dog and whether we still had some of her
food.

Today, Purina of Venezuela carried full page ads in Caracas
newspapers, saying that as a precautionary measure they were removing
their Dog Chow line of dog food from the market, saying:

“We are taking this action after receiving veterinary reports that
indicate that some pets may have presented health problems due to
their feeding…Despite not having evidence that these reports originate
by the consumption of dog food, we believe that there is some problem
and we want to take precautions to insure the health of the pets and
the confidence of the owners”

I had never heard of this happening anywhere in the world and still
have a hard time imagining what could have caused it. It surprises me
that they are so forthcoming with the problem as it will be very hard
for the company to overcome the news that will surround it.

It does sadden me that by picking the wrong food, I unwittingly had
something to do with her death. I write this, so that anyone with a
dog being fed with Purina products in Venezuela, immediately stop
doing it until the matter is understood.

About a month ago, our dog suddenly died. She was only four, a
delightful, loving and slightly crazy Doberman. I did not mention it
in the blog, because it was quite tough to say much about it,
something anyone that has had pets will surely understand.

It was not clear why she died so suddenly, her liver was inflamed, she
had lost her appetite and within twenty four hours she was dead of
something that appeared to be akin to poisoning, but it was hard to
imagine how it could have happened.

Two weeks go we heard from our vet that more cases similar to her had
been happening in Caracas and cities nearby. On Friday, they called us
to find out what we fed the dog and whether we still had some of her
food.

Today, Purina of Venezuela carried full page ads in Caracas
newspapers, saying that as a precautionary measure they were removing
their Dog Chow line of dog food from the market, saying:

“We are taking this action after receiving veterinary reports that
indicate that some pets may have presented health problems due to
their feeding…Despite not having evidence that these reports originate
by the consumption of dog food, we believe that there is some problem
and we want to take precautions to insure the health of the pets and
the confidence of the owners”

I had never heard of this happening anywhere in the world and still
have a hard time imagining what could have caused it. It surprises me
that they are so forthcoming with the problem as it will be very hard
for the company to overcome the news that will surround it.

It does sadden me that by picking the wrong food, I unwittingly had
something to do with her death. I write this, so that anyone with a
dog being fed with Purina products in Venezuela, immediately stop
doing it until the matter is understood.