PDVSA announced it has named Boris Marchegani as the new Head of International Commercialization. Who is he? Easy, Mr. Marchegani is the CEO and co-founder of Pepex the same company that PDVSA handed all of its commercialization to last February. Unfortunately for PDVSA, Pepex and Venezuela, the results were a fiasco as other oil traders began arbitraging PDVSA and its customers. At that time, PDVSA had to stop working with Pepex due to the poor results. Now, the “genious” and CEO behind that company is brought in by the same man, Aires Barreto, who originally hired Pepex. Barreto, who had retired from PDVSA where he was a Director for Hector Ciavaldini, a jump well-above his previous managerial level at the company, was recently named Vice-President of the company and more recently Head of Commerce and Supply. Indian-born Barreto has more lives than a cat, the only question is why he keeps involving Mr. Machegani in PDVSA’s dealing or why Mr. Marchegani would even be interested in the position after being CEO of Pepex. Somehow, I can’t help but think that some interesting business deals are involved and not precisely in PDVSA’s or Venezuela’s interests.
Chavez’ slip of the tongue
August 21, 2003For months, both local and foreign experts have been saying that Venezuela was producing no more than 2.5 million barrels of oil while the Venezuelan Government and the Minsitry of Energy and Mines was assuring everyone that the amount was 3.2 million barrels a day. Well, today President Chavez himslef said the country was producing 2.3 million barrels of oil. Innocent mistake or slip of the tongue?
Court orders Foreign Doctors replaced
August 21, 2003The First Circuit Court on Administrative matters admitted the injunction introduced by the Venezuelan Medical Federation and suspended the permit given by the Medical College of Caracas (This is not a school, it is a union and the Federation is the union that encompasses all unions) to the Cuban doctors working in the program within the barrios. The Court ordered that any foreign Doctors that are in violation of the Law of Medical Practice to be replaced immediately replaced by Venezuelan ones. Here is the decision.
Can our leaders be so irresponsible?
August 21, 2003This country is in trouble, the Venezuelan Supreme Court rules that the National Assembly incurred in omission because it did not name the members of the Electoral Board before the legal deadline for it. The Court gave the Assembly ten days to do it and set a deadline of an additional ten days to name a provisional Board. Well, there are now widespread rumors that the Court itself can not find one person considered to be “impartial” to both sides. If the rumor is true, this country is in more trouble that I thought it was, all our leaders are simply irresponsible!
The march from a high rise
August 21, 2003
This time around the Government not only forbade helicopter flights over the march, but it shut down the Caracas airport to make sure nobody took pictures of the six marches. A friend sends in this one taken from a high rise, showing the endpoint of the march. When I left the rally at 2 PM, I had troubles crossing a street beyond where you can see people in this image due to the density of people still marching.
Two Posters from trhe recall march
August 20, 2003
A bit beyond good taste, so I will not translate it Chgavez, chicken what are you doing in Argentina?
Always beautiful women at the marches
August 20, 2003
Busy on the phone Great smile!!
No words for this Forceful!
As usual, interesting people
August 20, 2003
A bit exxagerated Old lady waves at the march MM (a friend) at the march
Lady with a puppet He brought his pencil to mark his YES
Spectacular march today in support of referendum
August 20, 2003 Fantastic, march/rally/demonstration, whatever you want to call it. Hundreds of thousands took to the streets in six separate marches from all sections of Caracas to a location near the National Electoral Council. While it had been expected that we would accompany the petition with the signatures to ask for a recall referendum, this was not to be as the signatures were handed in very early in the morning. This had an incredible effect as it dissipated many fears of violence among those that later went to the rally. The fear was that Chavez’ supporters would interfere with the march as happened last November when tear gas and shots were used by the police as the Chavistas attempted to hijack and stop the truck carrying the signatures. But it was not to be as a non-descript refrigerated truck was used at 6:30 AM to take the petitions to the CNE. Chavista thug Lina Ron was outraged by the deception, calling on live TV for the Chavistas to take to the streets as they were cheated by the opposition. She even accused the opposition of handing in the signatures last night, which would make them illegal. Meanwhile, Vice-President Rangel actually went on TV and praised the peaceful day while Hugo Chavez who was in Argentina, said the signatures were fake as if the Feb. 2nd. massive petition drive never took place. Chavez even said that it was just the oligarchs using signatures from their banks to fraudulently fill in the petition. Chavez even said at the end that the opposition would be defeated anyway if they managed to get the referendum to take place. If he is so sure, why does he oppose the referendum so much? After all, if he won, it would give his “revolution” a mandate that he never had, since he never said that he would do what he is doing right now as President.
Above left, as close to the front of the rally as I was able to get, I took similar pictures looking the other way. On the right is a picture taken of one of the marches from the builiding where I work. I waited for over fifty minutes before joining the march and you can see how dense it is. More pictures in Pictures, Posters and Venezuelan Beauty inside.
Another shoddy job by Forero and the NYT on Venezuela
August 20, 2003As usual, Juan Forero of the New York Times, does his shoddy job in reporting about Venezuela and the referendum. (One can not talk about Forero reporting from Venezuela, he seldom has a byline from Caracas, is an unknown to the international press circles and some people even question that he really exists). Let’s look at today’s article on the opposition mobilizing to ask for a recall referendum:
-“Tens of thousands of antigovernment demonstrators clogged streets in Caracas”. Well, the question is not tens of thousands, it is whether there were enough hundreds of thousands to make the million or not.
-“For an opposition led by a haphazard coalition of big businessmen, labor groups and media owners”. Curiously, Forero leaves out political parties, ignoring the fact that starting at the far left (Bandera Roja, Causa R, Socialists) to the middle (socialchristians, socialdemocrats) all political parties except Chavez’ MVR and miniscule party Patria Para Todos are part of the opposition. (There are no significant political parties in Venezuela that can be considered to be part of the “right”)
-“The most immediate obstacle is that a new electoral board must be chosen to oversee the recall. Venezuela’s Supreme Court has said it would pick the board, possibly by early next week”. This is not considered to be an obstacle except by Forero’s ignorance. The Supreme Court said it would pick a Board ten days after the omission by the National Assembly was declared. This means there will be a Board by August 24th.
-“Some government officials have also raised deep concerns about the way the signatures were collected. They say the process is illegitimate, arguing that the signatures could only be collected after the half-way point of the president’s rule”. Interesting, the Venezuelan Supreme Court ruled that this was not an issue, it seems only Chavez’ lawyer and Forero have not heard about this important decision.
-Polling companies in Caracas have said that if there were a referendum on Mr. Chávez’s rule, two of every three Venezuelans would vote to remove him”. Well, all polls, including those that Chavez used when he was a candidate give numbers of 70% or more, none say or have said two-thirds for quite a while. Picky? Maybe, but the article does try to give the impression that Chavez has more popularity than he does.
I have never understood why Forero remains at the New York Times, he has always been sloppy, ill-informed and biased. In my book that is three strikes and you are out, for a reporter from a newspaper as important as the New York Times.
The Devil's Excrement 