Ricardo Bello on Fri, 21 Jun 2002 09:57:32 +0200 (CEST) |
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<nettime> Chavez īs final days, the media and the judgesīrebellion |
Personally, I believed that media is one of the few Venezuelan institutions not receiving the Presidentīs order, but in most of them you can find two competing workers organization: one of them pro-Chavez and another in the opposition. Even MACCSI, Caracasīs contemporary art museum, a public institution, has two workers organizations or had, as most members of the oppositionīs union were fired last month. Last Saturday (June 15th) nearly a million people marched again asking for Chavez dismissal. The day before the President placed seven SAM missiles sites in downtown Caracas near the Presidential Palace, afraid of another military insurrection similar to Aprilīs 11th. The same thing Hussein did, thinking his enemies will not dare to attack him, because of the logical innocent casualties. That day military officers dressed in regalia walked hand in hand with civils and media owners replied to Chavezīs threat not to cover the march, that those officers could marched naked, in bathing suits or with uniforms, they would sent photographers and TV crews. Today very good news---> the Supreme Court questioned yesterday morning the Attorney Generalīs impartiality in the trial of several charges of corruption against Chavez, such as the one mentioned by Strafor bellow. If the Attorney General is ousted, Chavez days are counted and the prospect of civil war will be a bad dream. ...... Venezuela: Scandal Brewing Over Missing Oil Funds 3 June 2002 The government of Venezuela is seeking the authority to borrow $6.5 billion from domestic and foreign lenders in order to shrink its fiscal deficit as the country sinks into stagflation. But a growing furor over unaccounted-for "rainy day" funds is threatening the country's financial future. In the National Assembly, political opponents of President Hugo Chavez are demanding to know the whereabouts of between $2.3 billion and $3.2 billion that the government should have deposited into the macroeconomic exchange stabilization fund, called the FIEM, last year. The FIEM, which predates Chavez's administration, is designed to save a portion of Venezuela's oil revenues when global prices are high for spending during oil price slumps. Both the central government and state-owned Petroleos de Venezuela are required to deposit revenues into the FIEM. Some of Chavez's critics charge that funds were transferred through secret government accounts controlled directly by the Interior and Justice Ministry to numbered bank accounts in the Cayman Islands and other Caribbean offshore banking centers. The opposition's demands for government accountability could impede the passage of a larger fiscal adjustment package that would allow the government to increase taxes on sales and financial transactions. Government officials insist the funds were not stolen; rather they went to boost public-sector wages and salaries and cover other current spending needs of the central government. Nevertheless, these officials have not denied that the failure to deposit the missing funds in the FIEM violated public credit laws and regulations. That potentially could carry criminal repercussions for some current and former government officials. The Chavez regime likely is truthful in saying the missing money was applied to current spending needs. However, charges that some government officials or agencies are transferring huge sums of cash abroad are also likely accurate, according to private economists and military intelligence sources in Caracas. Venezuela's Central Bank reported last week that capital flight totaled $3.7 billion during the first quarter of 2002, the highest quarterly total in 14 years. While some of this capital undoubtedly originated in the private sector, Caracas-based economists like Robert Bottome and Francisco Toro believe the severely weakened private sector lacks sufficient currency reserves to acquire $3.7 billion over a 90-day period -- and to transfer those dollars abroad at a time when the economy is shrinking, unemployment is rising rapidly, incomes are falling and demand is stagnant. These economists theorize that corrupt government officials at numerous federal and state agencies may be skimming cash through over-invoicing and bogus purchase contracts, then moving it out of the country in expectation of an imminent regime change. However, anti-Chavez military sources told STRATFOR May 30 that some military intelligence experts suspect large sums of money also have been transferred from Venezuela's government to Caribbean banking centers for the purpose of funding clandestine activities in Venezuela, Argentina, Brazil and the Andean Ridge region. These sources said investigators are focusing on several key associates of Chavez, including former Interior and Justice Minister Ramon Rodriguez Chacin. # distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission # <nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net criticism, # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets # more info: majordomo@bbs.thing.net and "info nettime-l" in the msg body # archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: nettime@bbs.thing.net