VIO Venezuela Daily News Roundup for Friday, May 25th, 2007

[mmven...@gmail.com]

Workers in Venezuela will be reimbursed in the amount of $652 million
for discrepancies in pension payments dating back to the 1970s.
According to a statement made by President Chavez yesterday, plans are
also in the works for education: university workers will see a pay
raise of up to 34% by the end of this year and student admissions
exams will be reconsidered. Bloomberg reports: "Chavez, who is
seeking to implement a socialist model in Venezuela different from
Cuba's or China's, [announced that] education under the so-called
''Third Motor'' of his Bolivarian revolution should be carried out
beyond classrooms, in factories, workshops, offices and fields."

RCTV's owner Marcel Granier has succeeded in making his channel a
point of political debate abroad. Chairman of the U.S. House
Committee on Foreign Affairs Rep. Tom Lantos, D-Calif., writes in an
op-ed today in the Miami Herald that countries should join together in
rejecting the non-renewal of RCTV. On the other hand, British Member
of Parliament Colin Burgon takes a different viewpoint in the
Guardian, encouraging the EU government to align with President Chavez
and against neoconservative forces that have used the RCTV issue as
part of a campaign against his administration. Burgon states: "the
broadcaster failed to meet basic public-interest standards. The
criterion for this assessment is similar to that used by the US
Federal Communications Commission. RCTV will be free to broadcast via
cable and satellite, which are available across the country."

U.S. Senators Richard Lugar and Christopher Dodd drafted a resolution
that would reject the non-renewal. El Universal reports that the
resolution would encourage the OAS to oppose the non-renewal. In
response, Bernardo Álvarez, Venezuelan Ambassador to the White House,
told lawmakers here that the Venezuelan government's refusal to renew
RCTV's broadcasting license "was not based on the media's editorial
stance," but rather, was an "independent decision" that the
government's telecommunications commission is legally allowed to make
as part of its duty to regulate the national airwaves, just as the FCC
does in the U.S. Álvarez called the resolution submitted by Lugar and
Dodd part of "a campaign of misinformation RCTV has been deploying."

New government legislation in Venezuela requires agricultural
producers to address domestic demand before exporting foodstuffs,
Bloomberg reports today. The measure is meant to address past food
shortages. The Miami Herald reports on how business owners in
Venezuela react to the "threat" of greater government involvement in
industry: "Some businessmen keep going and take advantage of the
bonanza the country is going through and the credits offered by the
government. Others stay in the country but do not invest in their
companies' growth because they don't believe in the future. Others
fold for fear of being punished if they don't comply with government
demands on prices, taxes and production. Yet others keep their stores
open but invest their profits abroad." A deep political divide may
have polarized society, but despite "threats," elites still appear to
have options.

Finally, the Miami Herald reports on Latin America's internal
immigration problem, noting that the route from Colombia across the
eastern border of that country into Venezuela sees the region's
largest flow of migrants. As with immigration to the U.S., labor is
the issue: new arrivals from other countries seek access to
Venezuela's stronger job market. The Herald points out that President
Chavez granted Venezuelan citizenship to about 500,000 undocumented
migrants in 2004.

****************
1)"Venezuela to Pay $652 Million in Overdue Pensions, Chavez Says"
Bloomberg
2)"TV closure sparks Venezuela media freedom fears" Reuters
3)"Chavez Pulls Plug on Venezuela's Favorite Television Network"
Bloomberg
4)"Chavez rejects TV move criticism" Bloomberg
5)"US Senate to ask OAS to take a stance on RCTV case" El Universal
6)"Chávez tries mind control" Miami Herald
7)"Venezuela's press" Guardian
8)"We should back Chávez" Guardian
9)"Venezuela Bars Food Exports Unless Local Demand Met" Bloomberg
10)"Chávez creates state of fear among businesses" Miami Herald
11)"Chávez Names Cousin to Post at PdVSA" Wall Street Journal
12)"Chavez IMF Withdrawal May Give Pimco, MFS Windfall" Bloomberg
13)"Chavez Rooting on Venezuelan Driver Duno" Associated Press
14)"Venezuela's Copa America stadiums in doubt" Reuters
15)"Chavez doc tells of quixotic revolution" Globe and Mail
16)"Latin America is facing its own immigration issues" Miami Herald
****************

1)
Venezuela to Pay $652 Million in Overdue Pensions, Chavez Says
By Guillermo Parra-Bernal
Bloomberg
May 24, 2007
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aRUTJkbOjAlE

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez pledged to pay 1.4 trillion bolivars
($652 million) in overdue pensions dating from the 1970s and raise
wages for state education workers by as much as 34 percent before the
end of 2007.

State university workers will get pay raises of as much as 34 percent,
with the bulk of the increase going to low-ranked employees, Chavez
told a gathering of students at the Caracas- based Teresa Carreno
Theater. Chavez, citing the need to provide Venezuelans with greater
access to university education, ordered the elimination of all kinds
of admission tests at state and non-state colleges.

Chavez, who is seeking to implement a socialist model in Venezuela
different from Cuba's or China's, said tonight that education under
the so-called ``Third Motor'' of his Bolivarian revolution should be
carried out beyond classrooms, in factories, workshops, offices and
fields.

``My commitment is ratified with you, students, professors, with the
education sector, today because we need you to help form the new man
of Venezuela,'' Chavez told hundreds of students from the Central
University of Venezuela, the University of Los Andes and other
universities.

****************

2)
TV closure sparks Venezuela media freedom fears
Reuters
May 25, 2007
http://asia.news.yahoo.com/070524/3/32dxd.html

CARACAS - Venezuela's RCTV television station had viewers roaring with
a spoof of leftist President Hugo Chavez after he misspelled a word
while promoting a nationwide literacy campaign four years ago.

Within months, the government passed anti-defamation laws that forced
the station's slapstick comedy show Radio Rochela, which had ribbed
presidents for more than 40 years, to drop its impressions of his
folksy idiosyncrasies.

Now, Chavez plans to have the last laugh: RCTV goes off the air on
Sunday night.

Opponents say the government's refusal to renew the station's license
is an assault on press freedom and further proof the former soldier's
self-styled socialist revolution is centralising power and trying to
crush opposition.

"Chavez is going to silence the people who support him, he is going to
silence the people who are against him," said Berenice Gomez, a 30-
year veteran reporter, at a tearful gathering of RCTV staff this week.

"The only voice that is going to be left will be his."

Chavez, a staunch ally of communist Cuba, says RCTV is losing its
license for supporting a failed 2002 coup, inciting anti-government
demonstrations, and showing risque soap operas that he calls immoral.

He has also slammed it for pejorative representations of the country's
poor majority that helped him win a landslide re-election in December,
and he is preparing to replace it with a government-backed public
service channel.

"There will be no concession for a coup-supporting channel called
RCTV," Chavez told a military audience in December.

INTIMIDATION

Chavez already has firm control over Venezuela's Congress, courts and
crucial oil sector. Critics say the RCTV move will leave no national
television stations opposed to the government and will intimidate
other media to muzzle their criticism.

RCTV began broadcasts in 1953, and is the country's oldest private
broadcaster.

The decision has drawn sharp criticism abroad and caused an outcry in
Venezuela, where seven in 10 oppose the decision, according to a
leading pollster.

"President Hugo Chavez is misusing the state's regulatory authority to
punish a media outlet for its criticism of the government," said Jose
Miguel Vivanco of the U.S.-based Human Rights Watch.

The U.S. Senate was expected to vote on a resolution backing RCTV this
week.

Venezuelan reporters say they face growing pressure from the state to
minimise criticism, and describe a creeping process of internal
censorship with editors shying away from covering issues like crime
and corruption.

Although newspapers continue to slam Chavez, employees say they have
gradually softened their editorial lines to maintain good graces with
the government as it unleashes a flood of advertising dollars.

But even Chavez's critics say Venezuela's media, in particular RCTV,
has repeatedly violated journalistic ethics by openly backing
opposition politicians.

Chavez was a darling of the media after he led a failed 1992 military
coup, but there was not a long honeymoon after he was elected in 1998.

Television stations supported a bungled April 2002 coup attempt
against him and then turned off news cameras and showed cartoons as
pro-Chavez protests helped return him to power.

They joined an opposition strike later that year by showing only
opposition marches and anti-Chavez propaganda for weeks.

But RCTV was never convicted in court for any crime and its defenders
say the move to shut it down is arbitrary.

RCTV employees ranging from makeup artists to camera crews have vowed
to keep working even after it is off the air.

"This is not just about RCTV," said reporter Iznardo Bravo, a nine-
year veteran of the station. "We are just a small part of what's
happening throughout the country."

****************

3)
Chavez Pulls Plug on Venezuela's Favorite Television Network
By Alex Kennedy
Bloomberg
May 25, 2007
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=avtEd9leO3eQ

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez plans to put the nation's most
popular TV network off the air this weekend, accusing the broadcaster
of ``coup-mongering'' and causing ``moral damage'' with violent, sex-
filled programming.

Chavez is refusing to renew the license for Radio Caracas Television,
known as RCTV, whose mix of news, soap operas, comedy and reality
programming make Venezuela's oldest private network also its most
watched. At midnight May 27, RCTV stands to become the country's first
network to lose its license.

Opposed by more than two-thirds of Venezuelans in a poll last month,
the decision not to renew RCTV's license is both unpopular at home and
has earned Chavez condemnation abroad from groups such as the European
Parliament as he consolidates his power and silences critics in
Venezuela.

``Chavez controls the judiciary, the congress, the electoral body, and
gradually the TV networks,'' said Alvaro Vargas Llosa, senior fellow
at the Oakland, California-based Independent Institute and the author
of books on Ernesto ``Che'' Guevara and Latin America. ``This is one
more step toward total control.''

The National Assembly in February gave Chavez the power to make law by
decree for 18 months, and the former army lieutenant colonel is
seeking to change the constitution this year to allow for his
indefinite rule.

`Civil Society'

Without a broadcast license, RCTV has the option to continue on cable
or satellite, serving about 20 percent of Venezuela's homes. Eighty
percent of Venezuelans only have access to broadcast television.

While the National Telecommunications Commission, or Conatel, headed
by Telecommunications Minister Jesse Chacon, has authority over
broadcast licenses, Chavez has made clear it was his decision not to
renew the permit RCTV got in 1987.

Since the April 2002 failed coup and a two-month national strike in
2003 that most private media supported, Chavez has sought to increase
the government's presence on television by funding five new stations
to spread his message.

``We were outgunned before,'' Chavez said in a May 18 speech. ``Now
the state is liberating itself from civil society and its media.''

Chavez plans to hand over RCTV's frequency, Channel 2, to a new state-
run station in place of RCTV and hits such as, ``Radio Rochela,''
Latin America's longest-running program.

Organizations critical of the shutdown include London-based Amnesty
International, New York-based Human Rights Watch and New York-based
journalist advocacy group Committee to Protect Journalists.

`Four Horsemen'

During the coup and strike, the four biggest private stations -- RCTV,
Venevision, Televen and Globovision -- ran commercials calling for
Chavez to resign, said Daniel Hellinger, a professor of political
science at Webster University in St. Louis and author of several books
about Chavez.

``All four stations were in on it; the media became an opposition
political party,'' Hellinger said in a phone interview.

Chavez, who had regularly criticized the private television stations
following the 2003 strike, calling them ``the four horsemen of the
apocalypse,'' no longer scolds Venevision and Televen as they have
eased criticism of the government.

``Other channels have negotiated their commitment to the Venezuelan
people,'' said Miguel Angel Rodriguez, host of RCTV's ``The
Interview'' show. ``We don't negotiate our editorial line and that's
what this shutdown is all about.''

Venevision spokesman Jose Ramon de la Cotera and Televen spokesman
Enrique Alvarado didn't return messages left at their offices.

Viewership

RCTV has Venezuela's highest viewer rating, with an average of 30
percent of the audience, according to research firm AGB Nielsen.
France-based Reporters Without Borders suggested Chavez targeted RCTV
for its popularity and criticism of the government.

``Why have you unilaterally decided to rescind the license of
Venezuela's most popular broadcast media?'' the group asked Chavez in
a February letter. ``Would its editorial line, one of open opposition
to the government, bother you so much if it had fewer viewers?''

Venezuela's Supreme Court on May 17 dismissed a suit by RCTV against
Chavez and Chacon for refusing to renew its license.

`Pack Your Bags'

Most Venezuelans oppose the shutdown, according to a poll by research
company Datanalisis. About 69 percent of those surveyed were against
the closure, with 16 percent supporting it, said pollster Luis Vicente
Leon. The April 9-16 survey of 2,000 Venezuelans has a margin of error
of 2.2 percentage points.

``It's unusual for Chavez to do something this unpopular,'' Leon said,
adding that Chavez's approval rating was 65 percent in the company's
last poll in March. ``But we haven't seen this issue hurt this overall
popularity.''

Chavez won a third term in the Dec. 3 presidential election with 63
percent of the vote and declared his intentions regarding RCTV three
weeks later.

``Pack your bags and turn off the lights,'' Chavez, 52, said during a
televised speech on Dec. 28, weeks after winning re-election. ``There
won't be a new concession for a coup- mongering television station
called RCTV.''

****************

4)
Chavez rejects TV move criticism
BBC News
May 25, 2007
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6690541.stm

The US Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the European Parliament
have both voiced concern that the move will undermine freedom of
expression.

Mr Chavez rejects this and accuses the channel of plotting against him
and backing a coup attempt in 2002.

RCTV is due to have its licence revoked at midnight on 27 May.

It is to be replaced by a state-sponsored station.

On Thursday, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in Washington
approved a motion expressing "profound concern" at the decision not to
renew RCTV's licence.

Protesters in favour of revoking RCTV's licence in Venezuela
Caracas has seen demonstration for and against the move

It was "an assault against the freedom of thought and expression that
could not be accepted by democratic countries," the motion said.

Also on Thursday, the European Parliament vote 43 to 22 to approve a
resolution saying the move could set "an alarming precedent".

Mr Chavez said he could not care less about the Senate committee's
motion made him laugh, while the European Parliament's move made him
cry, "but for them".

The motion debated at the European Parliament's meeting in Strasbourg
was voted on by 65 MEPs out of a body that has 784 members.

"This is a gigantic demonstration that the European political class
thinks this is of no interest to them," he said.

Demonstrations

The licence held by RCTV - Venezuela's oldest private broadcaster - is
due to expire at midnight on Sunday and will not be renewed.

Its frequency is set to be taken over by a new government-funded
channel called Televisora Venezolana Social (TVES), which officials
insist will have diverse programming.

There have been demonstrations in Venezuela during the week both for
and against the decision not to renew RCTV's licence.

President Chavez was re-elected by a landslide last year.

His welfare spending programme has won him massive support among the
poor but his opponents accuse him of turning the country into an
increasingly authoritarian socialist state, modelled on Fidel Castro's
Cuba.

*****************

5)
US Senate to ask OAS to take a stance on RCTV case
By Reyes Theis
El Universal
May 24, 2007
http://english.eluniversal.com/2007/05/24/en_pol_art_us-senate-to-ask-oas_24A873577.shtml

The United States Senate on May 25 is likely to endorse a resolution
showing concern about the Venezuelan Government decision not to renew
a broadcast license for private television channel RCTV and urging the
Organization of American States to take a stance on this issue. The
next OAS assembly is scheduled for June.

The draft resolution submitted by Republican Senator Richard Lugar and
Democrat Senator Christopher Dodd voices "profound concern about the
transgression against freedom of thought and expression that is being
attempted and committed in Venezuela by the refusal of the President
of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, to renew the concession of the television
station 'Radio Caracas Televisión' (RCTV) merely because of its
adherence to an editorial and informational stance distinct from the
thinking of the Government of Venezuela."

The document also "strongly encourages the Organization of American
States to respond appropriately, with full consideration of the
necessary institutional instruments, to such transgression."

The draft resolution reminds that "the refusal to renew the concession
of any television or radio broadcasting station that complies with
legal regulations in the matter of telecommunications constitutes a
transgression against the freedom of thought and expression, which is
prohibited by Article 13 of the American Convention on Human Rights,
signed at San Jose, Costa Rica."

The motion also claims that "according to the principles of the
American Convention on Human Rights and the Inter-American Declaration
of Principles on Freedom of Expression, to both of which Venezuela is
a party, the decision not to renew the concession of the television
station RCTV is an assault against freedom of thought and expression
and cannot be accepted by democratic countries, especially by those in
North America who are signatories to the American Convention on Human
Rights."

Venezuela replies
Meanwhile, Venezuelan Ambassador to the United States Bernardo Álvarez
said he met a number of US Senators "to explain to them point by point
the elements of the resolution."

Álvarez told US lawmakers that the Venezuelan government's refusal to
renew RCTV broadcast license "was not based on the media's editorial
stance," but it was an "independent decision" within the Government
scope of fulfilling what is established in the Venezuelan
Constitution, with a view to democratize the radio spectrum in the
country.

Álvarez told official television channel VTV that the draft resolution
submitted by Lugar and Dodd is part of "a campaign of misinformation
RCTV has been deploying."

****************

6)
Chávez tries mind control
By Rep. Tom Lantos
The Miami Herald - Op-ed
May 25, 2007
http://www.miamiherald.com/851/story/118062.html

Venezuela's Hugo Chávez is nearing the end of his campaign to stifle
independent media -- not due to a change of heart, but because through
the years he has been singularly successful at cutting off dissenting
voices in Venezuela. If he succeeds in his latest ploy, another will
fall silent in the coming days.

Chávez intends to pull the plug on the country's oldest and most
popular station, Radio Caracas TV (RCTV), a source of radio
programming for 76 years and television for 53. Chávez has refused to
let the station renew its license, which expires on Sunday.

The roster of critics of this impending move grows daily. So far, we
have heard from the Secretary General of the OAS, the Inter-American
Press Association, the National Association of Newspapers of Brazil,
Reporters without Borders, The Committee to Protect Journalists and no
less than the Congress of Chile.

The Inter-American Human Rights Commission has objected as well, and
it has been criticizing the gradual collapse of free expression in
Venezuela since 1998.

None of this has deterred Chávez, who plans to whip up a crowd and
lead a march to RCTV's headquarters formally to shut it down.

The facts surrounding the looming closure point to a political
vendetta by Chávez against a band of broadcasters who have
consistently criticized him. So Chávez has decided to close what he
calls a ''fascist channel,'' adding ominously in a recent speech that,
``We won't tolerate here any media outlet that is coup-mongering,
against the people, against the nation, against national independence,
against national dignity.''

No doubt Chávez would want every program on the air to be like the
hours-long broadcast Hello President, which he hosts. And for speaking
out, I'll probably earn a rant on the next show. But the stakes are
too high to keep silent.

If Chávez succeeds, the pain will be felt most immediately by RCTV's
owners and the 3,000 employees who will be put out of work at the end
of the month. But the long-term damage is likely to be much greater.

In the Americas, assaults on free expression are always indicators of
creeping authoritarian behavior, though they seem to get more subtle
with time.

In the 1970s in Nicaragua the owner of La Prensa was gunned down; in
the '90s in Peru, Fujimori shut down Channel 2 claiming that its owner
wasn't really Peruvian -- a surprise to him and his family. The move
in Venezuela now is similarly malicious.

Admittedly, Chávez replaced a discredited political class in Venezuela
that had long outlived any pretense that it was serving the vast
majority of Venezuelans. But this is another in a long line of his
actions that are dismembering that country's democratic tradition and
replacing it with something that appears more Orwellian every day.
Last week, Chávez described his plan to replace RCTV with a ''public
service'' channel: ``One micro-second after what will occur on May 27
we must have on the air programming that is free, recreational,
healthful, educational, moral, where our own values and culture are
disseminated.''

This should send chills down the spine of the Americas, from Canada to
the southern tip of Argentina.

The nations of the Western Hemisphere must raise their voices as one
against this affront. This region has emerged with head held high from
a difficult recent history, building a democratic tradition based on
the rule of law and a set of values we all share. That victory is
being undermined before our eyes.

I urge regional leaders such as Brazil, Mexico, Argentina and others
to galvanize a single voice to echo the sentiments already issued by
Chile's Senate, which expressed its ''strong rejection'' of the plan
to squash RCTV. Keeping quiet on this matter is a vote against
independent thought in Venezuela and throughout the region. It is a
vote against the history of the Americas.

The time for silence is over.

U.S. Rep. Tom Lantos, D-Calif., is the chairman of the House Committee
on Foreign Affairs.

****************

7)
Venezuela's press
The Guardian
May 25, 2007
http://www.guardian.co.uk/venezuela/story/0,,2087721,00.html

The RCTV station did not just back an illegal military coup against
President Chávez in 2002, but was active in orchestrating it (Chávez
silences critical TV station, May 23). RCTV ran adverts encouraging
people to take to the streets and to overthrow the elected president;
spread lies that pro-Chávez supporters were shooting on unarmed
civilians, which were used by some in the military to justify the
coup; and read out a fake resignation letter from President Chávez.

Article continues
The non-renewal of RCTV's licence is not because of its criticism of
the Chávez government but because of its incitement of political
violence. In no country in the world would a station which played a
key role in organising the violent overthrow of a democratically
elected government have its licence renewed.

Despite the claims of opponents of President Chávez, there is no
censorship in Venezuela, where 95% of the media is in virulent
opposition to Chávez. This includes five privately owned TV channels
controlling 90% of the market. All of the country's 118 newspaper
companies, both regional and national, are held in private hands, as
are 706 out of 709 radio stations.

Gordon Hutchison
Secretary, Venezuela Information Centre

****************

8)
We should back Chávez;
It's not too late for Britain to stand against the Washington
consensus on Latin America
By Colin Burgon
The Guardian
May 25, 2007
http://www.guardian.co.uk/venezuela/story/0,,2087738,00.html

Neoconservative forces, via compliant media outlets and Christian
right groupings within the European parliament, are preparing their
latest attack on Hugo Chávez and the government of Venezuela. The
latest focus of the campaign is the decision of Venezuela's
broadcasting authorities not to renew the licence of the private
television channel RCTV. The anti-Chávez apparatus once again presents
a test for Foreign Office ministers.

Washington's outriders characterise the decision as an affront to
freedom of speech, yet the facts speak in louder tones. Over 80% of
Venezuelan television and radio outlets are privately owned; this
excludes a number of cable and satellite television networks that are
widely available. Of this 80%, significant sections are owned by
corporate groups. According to a recent New York Times editorial, this
has led to a situation in which "even the best news outlets tend to be
openly ideological...so the owners' views can permeate reporting".

Almost all Venezuelan newspapers remain in private hands. The press is
free to report, and express opinions, without government interference.
Most do so with considerable brio on a daily basis. No media outlet
has encountered licensing problems for the expression of political
views. No journalist has been imprisoned or punished for report or
comment.

In RCTV's case, the broadcaster failed to meet basic public-interest
standards. The criterion for this assessment is similar to that used
by the US Federal Communications Commission. RCTV will be free to
broadcast via cable and satellite, which are available across the
country.

In the UK, if Channel 4 aided an attempted coup against the government
that resulted in civil unrest and even death, would anyone be
supporting the renewal of its licence? RCTV has lost its licence
because its wealthy owners slanted news coverage to provide support to
the April 2002 coup against Chávez and the elected government. This
will not be news to those who gathered in parliament last week to view
John Pilger's excellent documentary The War on Democracy, which shows
footage of RCTV involvement.

As the coup failed and Venezuelans questioned Chávez's "resignation",
RCTV prohibited correspondents from airing these developments.

So what hope that our representatives in the EU might withstand
rightwing pressure and argue against a discriminatory move against
Venezuela at a meeting in Strasbourg next week? If the Foreign
Office's public strategy document Latin America to 2020 is anything to
go by, not very much.

Lord Triesman, the document's main author and a Foreign Office
minister, outlines an adherence to free-market liberalism and
singularly defined democracy as the prerequisites for UK engagement in
Latin America. The document shows our government remains committed to
the neoliberal model as a means of tackling the highest levels of
social inequality in the world. However, anyone interested in nations
such as Venezuela or Bolivia can see that the "Washington consensus"
trade and aid packages have failed the most desperate people of those
nations.

In the document, many Latin American leaders are named and
congratulated, yet Chávez receives no such recognition. The Foreign
Office appears to ignore the reasons for the popularity of Chávez, Evo
Morales in Bolivia and Rafael Correa in Ecuador: the failure of
neoliberal policies imposed by Washington and endorsed by the EU.

It is not too late for a Labour government to engage with those who
wish to achieve justice for their peoples. Events in Strasbourg next
week provide an opportunity for the UK government to show reason and
goodwill.

· Colin Burgon is Labour MP for Elmet and chair of Labour Friends of
Venezuela

****************

9)
Venezuela Bars Food Exports Unless Local Demand Met
By Alex Kennedy
Bloomberg
May 24, 2007
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601086&sid=ajPq3Qy3DSIQ

Venezuelan food producers will be barred from exporting basic
foodstuffs until the government certifies they've met domestic demand
as four years of price controls spark shortages of meat, milk and
sugar.

Exporters must get a Certificate of Satisfied Internal Demand every
six months from the Food Ministry before they can sell products
abroad, the government said in its official gazette today in Caracas.

``This is one control leading to another control,'' said Juan Pablo
Fuentes, an economist with research company Moody's Economy.com. in
West Chester, Pennsylvania. ``If you force food companies to produce
at a loss, eventually they will stop producing.''

Prices controls have discouraged investment in agriculture and made
Venezuela more dependent on imported food, Fuentes said. Shortages of
some products helped fuel a surge in the annual inflation rate to 19.4
percent last month from 10.4 percent in May 2006.

Fuentes said he expects inflation to quicken to 20 percent by the end
of the year and 24 percent next year.

President Hugo Chavez, in a bid to address the food shortages, issued
a decree in March that set jail terms of up to six years for store
owners and producers found guilty of ``price speculation or
hoarding.''

****************

10)
Chávez creates state of fear among businesses
By Gerardo Reyes
El Nuevo Herald
http://www.miamiherald.com/152/story/117973.html

CARACAS -- When the company president showed up to sign a loan from
the government of Venezuela, an official told him, without a greeting:
``To be rich is to be bad. Come in.''

Days later, the executive had to sign a form asking if he would
support the government's social missions and share with workers the
management of, and profits from, his business.

The businessman, who asked not to be identified, rejected the loan a
few days later, saying he had received it too late. The real reason,
he said: ``It was too much of a commitment for $200,000.''

Such experiences are part of what business people call ''the siege of
private industry'' -- government measures and threats that are
depressing the country's production capacity to an alarming degree,
they say.

''The industrialist lives in a constant state of fear,'' Agustín Díaz,
manager of the Center for Economic and Legal Studies of the Venezuelan
Industrial Federation, Conindustria, said. ``No growth can take place
in a country where the government's concept of private property is
different from that of the entrepreneur's.''

Yet the uncertainty and malaise come at a time when few can complain
about sales. In a survey by Conindustria in the second quarter of
2006, all forms of industry -- major, midsize and light -- responded
that their situation is good. The levels of satisfaction do not seem
to have changed this year.

''What's produced is sold,'' explained Diaz, who acknowledges the
irony of the economic picture. Another businessman, who asked for
anonymity, said the constant clashes between the good news of
prosperity and the bad news from the government are creating a dual
personality among producers.

''One minute we celebrate an increase in sales or a big order just
received, and the next minute we're struck by the feeling that
everything is going to burst and we'll have to drop everything, lose
everything,'' he said.

Some businessmen keep going and take advantage of the bonanza the
country is going through and the credits offered by the government.
Others stay in the country but do not invest in their companies'
growth because they don't believe in the future.

Others fold for fear of being punished if they don't comply with
government demands on prices, taxes and production. Yet others keep
their stores open but invest their profits abroad.

CHAVEZ SUPPORTERS

Two weeks ago, the Federation of Socialist Entrepreneurs, Conseven,
launched to shouts of ''Oooo-hey, Chávez is here to stay.'' As
reported in the daily El Nacional, director Marcos Zarikian proposed
that tax savings be invested in social works.

''I have a dream,'' Zarikian intoned. ``I would like to go someday
through the barrios of Petare [a marginal zone east of Caracas] and
dine in a fancy restaurant with the people who live there. I would
like to share a table with a rich man and a poor man, so we might talk
about a possible Venezuela.''

The federation claims it has 500,000 member companies, an exorbitant
figure it has not documented.

Venezuela's productive capacity is at its highest, yet the industrial
sector is not expanding. The 11,117 industrial establishments
officially registered in 1998 shrank to 6,756 in 2005, according to
figures by the National Institute of Statistics quoted by
Conindustria.

In the past two years, Venezuela has been the country with the lowest
level of competitiveness worldwide, according to the IMD business
management school in Lausanne, Switzerland.

The government attributes the reduction in industrial capacity to
sabotage and the unease created by groups that oppose Chávez. But
businessmen say other factors discourage growth, such as:

? Threats to the guarantees of private property.

? Minimum-salary adjustments without consultation.

? Price controls.

? Massive importations and the waiving of tariffs for products the
government is interested in.

? The direct adjudication of government contracts.

`LIVING IN LIMBO'

''We're living in limbo,'' said Marinella Mata, legal advisor to the
Federation of Chambers and Associations of Commerce of Venezuela,
Fedecámaras. ``We used to have greater legal security. Now we work on
a day-to-day basis.''

Businessmen also are nervous about bills such as one that orders them
to grant employees four hours a week to attend ''ideological
training'' in socialism. Chávez's announcement that the work week will
be reduced to 36 hours also disturbs them.

Businessmen say the government is forcing the entrepreneurial sector
to shrink and cutting the production even of basics such as meat,
milk, cheese and sugar. The government claims the scarcities are due
to hoarding by merchants.

The government ''threat'' that has most recently troubled
entrepreneurs is so-called ''co-management,'' a system whereby the
employees have the right to manage the company or share in profits --
or both.

As part of the official campaign to promote co-management, a National
Encounter of Workers for the Recovery of Businesses was held in
Caracas in October 2005. Summoned by the National Workers Union of
Venezuela (UNT), the conference analyzed forms of ''occupation by
workers,'' the final report said.

''In Venezuela, co-management is an alternative to capitalism,'' said
Canadian economics professor Michael A. Lebowitz at the conference.
Lebowitz is a foreign scholar often quoted by Chávez sympathizers.

The businessmen interviewed by El Nuevo Herald say they have no
objection to discussing co-management. But they worry that someday,
without warning or discussion,the practice will be imposed.

''In industry, fear is never a good raw material,'' a businessman
said.

****************

11)
Chávez Names Cousin to Post at PdVSA
By Raul Gallegos
The Wall Street Journal
May 25, 2007
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118006356481314438-search.html?KEYWORDS=venezuela&COLLECTION=wsjie/6month

CARACAS, Venezuela -- Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez named Asdrúbal
Chávez, his cousin and a longtime oil-industry executive, vice
president of state oil company Petróleos de Venezuela SA.

Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez will keep the post of PdVSA president,
according to an announcement. A PdVSA spokesman couldn't comment on
the appointments. Asdrúbal Chávez couldn't be reached to comment.

The appointment of Asdrúbal Chávez comes just days after Alejandro
Granado, a PdVSA vice president in charge of refining operations, was
named chairman of Citgo Petroleum Corp. Citgo, based in Houston, is
owned by PdVSA.

Asdrúbal Chávez, a chemical engineer by training, served as a PdVSA
director responsible for trade and supply and president of
transportation company PDV Marina, as well as a Citgo director. It
remains unclear who will fill his spot on the PdVSA board. In 1979, he
began working in the oil industry as a start-up engineer for a unit of
the El Palito refinery.

Asdrúbal Chávez first began to work as an assistant to the PdVSA board
in 2002 and took the post of manager of El Palito in January 2003. He
joined the PdVSA board in August 2003 as the director responsible for
human resources.

****************

12)
Chavez IMF Withdrawal May Give Pimco, MFS Windfall
By Lester Pimentel
Bloomberg
May 25, 2007
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=a09Y..izas_s

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's pledge to withdraw from the
International Monetary Fund may violate terms of the country's foreign
bonds, allowing investors to demand their money back.

Pacific Investment Management Co. and Alliance Capital Management, the
biggest holders of Venezuela's debt, are the biggest among dozens of
investors who would get a $404 million windfall if the securities are
redeemed because they own bonds that trade below face value, according
to data compiled by Bloomberg. The country has $6.5 billion of notes
that trade at a discount among its $20 billion in foreign bonds.

Chavez's decision to take over telecommunications and energy companies
this year has made Venezuelan bonds the second- worst performers in
emerging markets. The country has promised to remain in the IMF, so
exiting the Washington-based organization would trigger a so-called
technical default.

Venezuela's leader ``continues to implement a radical agenda,'' said
Matthew Ryan, who oversees $2.6 billion in emerging-markets debt,
including $30 million of the bonds that trade below face value, at MFS
Investment Management in Boston.

Chavez may back down because a default would curb Venezuela's ability
to borrow in international markets and eliminate the IMF as a
potential source of funds.

``It makes perfect sense for Chavez to back down, but it's difficult
for me to picture him saying he screwed up,'' said Alberto Bernal, an
emerging-markets fixed-income analyst at Bear Stearns Cos. in New
York.

Decline in Bonds

The prospect of the default and investor demands for immediate
repayment has held up prices on five series of bonds denominated in
dollars that trade below face value, according to prices from JPMorgan
Chase & Co. Securities that trade above $1,000 have fallen more.

Venezuela's 6 percent bonds due in 2020 are little changed at 88.75
cents on the dollar since Chavez said on April 30 that he planned to
withdraw from the IMF because it limited ``economic sovereignty.'' The
9 1/4 percent bonds due in 2027 have lost 6.55 cents on the dollar to
116.75 cents in the same period, JPMorgan Chase & Co. data show.

Venezuela's bonds have fallen an average 2.8 percent this year,
JPMorgan indexes show. Only Argentine bonds have done worse, falling
5.6 percent.

Investors can demand repayment because sales documents for the bonds
contain a 21-word provision standard in emerging- market contracts
since the mid-1970s, when the IMF was a lender of last resort to
troubled governments, said Lee Buchheit, a partner at New York-based
law firm Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton. The clause stipulates
that there is a default if Venezuela ``ceases to be a member of the
IMF or ceases to be eligible to use the general resources of the
IMF.''

Withdrawal Plans

``The IMF clause is included because creditors want to ensure their
sovereign debtors will have access to the IMF,'' said Buchheit.

Chavez is proposing to leave the IMF after a rally in commodities made
Latin American countries less dependent on foreign borrowing.
Argentina, Brazil and Mexico received bailouts from the IMF in the
1990s and have repaid them. IMF loans to poor countries have fallen to
$11.8 billion from $81 billion in 2004.

Oil, Venezuela's biggest export, has risen almost three- fold from
$21.90 a barrel when the country took out its last IMF loan in July
1996. Chavez has used the money to repay the IMF, take over utilities
and create farm cooperatives. The country's foreign currency reserves
more than doubled to $24.6 billion since he took office in 1999.

Reversing Policies

Chavez reversed policies his predecessor Rafael Caldera put in place
in 1996 to obtain IMF funding. In that $1.4 billion accord, Caldera
agreed to sell assets, reduce gasoline subsidies and cut the budget
deficit.

``We no longer have to travel to Washington, not to the International
Monetary Fund or the World Bank or any of those places,'' Chavez, 52,
told workers in an April 30 speech.

Chavez hasn't commented about his plan since that speech, prompting
some investors to speculate he'll drop it. Finance Minister Rodrigo
Cabezas said on May 16 that the decision ``is in the president's
hands.''

``It may be forgotten like other things Chavez has said he would do
and never did,'' said Edwin Gutierrez, who helps manage about $3.3
billion of emerging-market debt, including Venezuelan bonds, at
Aberdeen Asset Management Plc in London.

Curtis Mewbourne, who helps manage $30 billion at Pimco in Newport
Beach, California, didn't return phone calls seeking comment. The
firm, a unit of Munich-based Allianz SE, owned $227 million of the
below-par bonds, according to filings with the Securities and Exchange
Commission.

Higher Yield

James Barrineau, who runs $11 billion at Alliance, declined to
comment. Alliance holds $62 million of the debt.

Chavez may seek creditor approval to remove the clause, said Manuel
Alejandro Dopazo, a managing director at London- based financial
consulting firm Fincere, and Venezuela's former head of public credit
between 2002 and 2004. Two-thirds of the holders of each bond have to
approve the change and probably would demand an increase in yield of
about 0.1 percentage point, a report by Credit Suisse analysts said.

Venezuela also could offer to buy back the bonds, eliminating the need
for negotiations, said Nick Chamie, head of emerging markets at RBC
Capital Markets.

****************

13)
Chavez Rooting on Venezuelan Driver Duno
By Paul Newberry
The Associated Press
May 25, 2007
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/24/AR2007052401954.html

INDIANAPOLIS -- Milka Duno and Hugo Chavez bantered back and forth
like a couple of flirty schoolchildren. When the two hooked up on the
phone this week, Chavez invited Duno to "go for a ride" in his red
Volkswagen Bug. Duno countered with an offer to attend a race, drawing
a big laugh from the Venezuelan president.

"Give me a ride!" he exclaimed. "With you, I'll go anywhere."

For many Americans, Chavez is a pompous blowhard, the world leader who
called President Bush "the devil" and positioned himself as a
righteous warrior against U.S. imperialism.

Come Sunday, though, Chavez will have a rooting interest in that most
red, white and blue of events: the Indianapolis 500.

Duno is the first Venezuelan to make the race, not to mention being
part of the first three-woman field in Indy history. With her looks
and a willingness to sign more autographs than everyone else combined,
she has quickly become a fan favorite in Gasoline Alley. Never mind
that she has little chance of winning the 200-lap event.

"I am Milka," she said, breaking into a charming smile. "This is my
personality."

But Duno's entry into the Indy Racing League also has sparked Internet
chatter from those who view her as Chavez's personal driver, someone
who willingly pockets his oil dollars _ Venezuelan-owned Citgo is the
team's primary sponsor _ in exchange for helping spread his socialist
message.

Duno expresses no political views of her own and shrugs off the chilly
relations between her homeland and the country where she races.

"I like to talk about the positive things, the good things," she said.
"In my country, there have been many good things that people don't
know. My sponsor, Citgo, is doing many good things that people don't
know."

Indy Racing League founder Tony George, who has struggled to lure
sponsors to the open-wheel series, wasn't about to turn away Citgo's
dollars.

"Citgo is a United States company. It happens to have foreign
ownership," George said. "There are a lot of companies that have
foreign ownership."

Duno makes no attempt to distance herself from Chavez. Most notably,
she spoke at one of his massive campaign rallies last October, talking
about the importance of education and praising presidential programs
that have largely wiped out illiteracy in the South American nation.
At the end of her speech, the two embraced on the stage.

"In my country, you see the government trying to help people that have
low income, that have no resources," Duno said this week during an
interview in her garage. "They help people to get an education. We
have free education. Everyone in Venezuela has access to go to school,
to go to the university, for free. They don't have to pay anything.
This is good."

On Tuesday, Duno and Chavez had a brief telephone conversation while
he was participating in a government event in Venezuela.

"We congratulate Milka Duno, this extraordinary woman who will bring
the Venezuelan flag to the Indianapolis 500. What a dedicated girl.
What dedication!" Chavez said proudly, holding the cell phone next to
a microphone inside a packed auditorium.

"You are the one of those people who believed in me from the
beginning," Duno replied.

Chavez's campaign to spark a socialist revolution throughout Latin
America has led to worries of an economic backlash against Citgo, the
American-based subsidiary of Venezuela's national oil company.
Already, 7-Eleven dropped Citgo as its gas supplier, a decision that
was attributed partly to politics.

But Duno dismissed the critics, pointing out Citgo has provided low-
cost heating oil to needy Americans.

In Indianapolis, Duno's more worried about helping build the dwindling
Indy fan base, fully aware that she brings special appeal as a woman
and a Hispanic.

On Wednesday, she stood under a hot sun for more than three hours,
autographing anything that was put in front of her. Her handlers
literally pulled her away from the fans, reminding her of other
commitments.

"I'm going to call the Indy Racing League and tell them that she's the
best ambassador this sport has," said one of those fans, Terry
Crowder, who first met Duno when she was launching her career in
sports cars.

Duno has plenty of fans back home, too. Pedro Tovar, a newspaper
vendor in downtown Caracas, said his customers frequently comment on
her success.

"She's a lady, and she's done well," Tovar said. "That's not something
you see every day in car racing. She's the pride of Venezuela."

The 35-year-old Duno has four college degrees and got a relatively
late start on her racing career, which began less than a decade ago.
She had some success in sports cars, including a second-place finish
at this year's 24-hour Daytona race _ the best showing ever for a
woman.

With Citgo along for the ride, Duno moved into Indy cars last month,
making her debut at Kansas. She accomplished her main goal _ making it
to the end without any major problems _ but finished six laps behind
winner Dan Wheldon in 14th place.

"Honestly, I was a little concerned when I was lapping her on like lap
12," Wheldon conceded.

At Indy, Duno crashed in practice and slipped into the field with the
second-slowest speed (219.228 mph). She will start from the next-to-
last row Sunday.

"Do I think she will be a contender? Absolutely not," Wheldon said.
"At the same time, I think she's good for the series."

Duno faces a steep learning curve, which isn't helped by the language
barrier.

"She's trying to ask the right questions," said Sarah Fisher, another
of Indy's female drivers. "But she doesn't speak English very well, so
it's hard to communicate (with the engineers) when she sees things out
there."

Plus, Fisher added, "it's really hard when your second race in one of
these cars is the Indy 500."

No matter where she finishes Sunday, Duno might be able to ease some
of the tension between Venezuela and her adopted home.

"My country," she said, "doesn't want to have a problem with any
country."

****************

14)
Venezuela's Copa America stadiums in doubt
Reuters
May 23, 2007
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=433132&campaign=rss&source=soccernet&cc=5901

CARACAS - Venezuela's Copa America stadiums may not all be ready in
time, the South American Football Confederation (CSF) said on
Wednesday after a week-long inspection.

Eugenio Figueredo, the confederation's vice-president, said his team
would be back in June for another visit to see if all the work had
been finished.

Venezuela has ambitious plans to host this year's 12-team event at
nine different venues around the country, including five brand new
stadiums.

'We will return on June 1 to see if the timetable has been kept to and
then we will make the final decision on where the games will be
played,' Figueredo told reporters.

The Copa is due to start on June 26 and Figueredo said work at some
venues was being left to the last minute.

'It could be June 10 or 12 before everything is finished,' he said.
'The deadline has been pushed back for a variety of problems.'

Figueredo, however, paid tribute to the host nation's attempt to take
the tournament to so many regions.

'The challenge which Venezuela has taken on, in wanting to take the
Copa America to nine venues, is more than heroic,' he said.

'The whole country is working intensely to hold the most modern
version of this event that has ever been seen.'

Jorge Rodriguez, president of the local organising committee, promised
all the stadiums would be ready.

'We swear that there will be nine venues, the work is advancing and
overcoming all the obstacles. I want to ratify the Copa America in
each one of the cities,' he said.

'In addition, we are sure we will have full houses at every game,
given the overwhelming demand for tickets.

The fixture list and venues for the event were announced following the
draw in February and any changes in venues at this stage would cause
huge logistical problems.

*****************

15)
Chavez doc tells of quixotic revolution
By Kamal Al-Solaylee
The Globe and Mail
May 25, 2007 at 12:35 AM EDT

Revolucion!?
Directed by Charles Gervais
Classification: G
Rating: ***½

In Revolucion!?, Montreal director Charles Gervais provides an answer
to a question that has plagued the current American administration for
nearly a decade: How do you solve a problem like Hugo Chavez?

Ever since 1998, when he was democratically elected to lead Venezuela,
a "poor rich country," Chavez has struck a revolutionary path,
nationalizing its oil industry, building closer ties with Cuba and
Iran, redistributing wealth at home and exporting revolutionary ideals
to neighbouring Latin American countries, all as part of his "21st-
century socialism." No wonder he's keeping Bush awake at night. The
revolution is practically in America's backyard.

Gervais's probing, intelligent and engagingly told documentary, shot
on location in Venezuela, begins by suggesting that perhaps Chavez
himself isn't the problem. The real issue lies not in Chavez seeking
out a revolution but in the telltale signs that he's losing sight of
what that revolution has been about in the first place: a quest for
freedom and liberation. As Chavez moves away from the ideals of Simon
Bolivar and Che Guevara and closer to the dictatorship of Fidel
Castro, he is demolishing with one hand what the other has inarguably
accomplished. Will he stop before it's too late, or will somebody else
(the Americans perhaps) get him first? History will tell what this
documentary is careful not to predict one way or the other.

Gervais realizes that the story of Chavez is far from over and can't
be reduced into moral absolutes one way or the other. This, in turn,
lends Revolucion!? its absorbing, if unsettling, quality. If Chavez is
deposed tomorrow, this doc will explain why. If he goes all Kim Jong-
il on us, this doc will also tell us how that came to pass.

Although he's a director with an eye to the visual language of film -
despite its revolutionary subject matter, the doc is luxuriously shot
and impeccably edited - Gervais is above all a deft distiller of
history. He contextualizes his scenes without losing sight of a
limited but vital number of arguments. At less than 90 minutes,
Revolucion!? feels both exhaustive and highly selective.

The feature is organized around what an old revolutionary narrator
dubs as the 10 guidelines for a peaceful revolution, from first seeds
to restructuring a nation to its leaders coping with being expendable.
Each step is illustrated with guerrilla filmmaking, talking heads and
animation sequences based loosely on the story of Don Quixote.
(Gervais got the idea for this film in 2005 when he read a news story
about Chavez distributing a million free copies of Don Quixote to
Venezuelans.)

The business and social elite who had the most to lose after the
revolution make some sound arguments. Those who were lifted out of
poverty are equally convincing but are visibly motivated by
nationalist fervour.

Gervais doesn't ask you to take sides (although he's clearly more
sympathetic to the working poor) but presents one case after another
with as dispassionate a tone as those fiery Latin American tempers
will allow. Chavez didn't grant him an interview, but there are no
shortage of scenes with the "presidente" in action.

I don't understand why Chavez is always referred to as charismatic,
but political beauty is in the eye of the downtrodden beholder, I
guess. To its eternal credit, Revolucion!? never falls for the trap of
self-righteousness that characterizes every last speech of its leading
subject. This makes it an exemplary documentary and recommended
viewing for anyone who wants to know why bad things happen to good
revolutions.

****************

16)
Latin America is facing its own immigration issues
By Tyler Bridges
The Miami Herald
May 25, 2007
http://www.miamiherald.com/579/story/118089.html

LA QUIACA, Argentina -- The 60-foot-wide river that marks the boundary
between Argentina and Bolivia at this border crossing is as
unimpressive as the Rio Grande that marks part of the U.S.-Mexico
border.

But it serves the same purpose -- an easy way for people from Bolivia,
South America's poorest nation, to slip illegally into better-off
Argentina in search of jobs so they can help support their families
back home.

As the U.S. Congress tackles the thorny issue of immigration reform,
Latin American nations are facing their own issues with the nearly
three million people estimated to have migrated to neighboring
countries within the region -- both legally and illegally.

Some, like Argentina, are welcoming them because of labor shortages.
The line of Bolivians waiting to enter La Quiaca legally these days
snakes along the 100-yard bridge that spans the International River,
even as others simply slip across the largely unguarded border.

But others are not. In southern Mexico, for example, border
authorities are aggressively trying to stop the entry of Guatemalans
and other undocumented Central Americans, most of them trying
ultimately to get to the United States.

As the ranks of migrants within Latin America steadily increase, the
issue of illegal migration is just beginning to attract the attention
of policy-makers and researchers in the region.

Migrants who stay within Latin America rather than go to the United
States stand to earn less but get to stay closer to home.

And, except for Haitians in the Dominican Republic and migrants to
Portuguese-speaking Brazil, they speak the same language as those in
their new home.

Argentina's 2001 census put the number of Bolivians living there at
230,000, but analysts believe the real number could be as high as
500,000 because of the large number of undocumented migrants. Many
work as cleaning ladies and maids; others work on farms or in
construction.

''Bolivians have gone into areas of work where Argentines don't
compete, like picking grapes,'' said Eduardo Gamarra, a Bolivian
native who heads the Latin American and Caribbeam Center at Florida
International University. ``But they also make up a large part of the
construction industry in Buenos Aires and [the central city of]
Córdoba It's very similar to the United States, where the Mexicans
started off in agriculture and moved into construction.''

With a much stronger economy, Argentina has long been a magnet for
migrants from less developed neighbors.

Per capita income in Argentina in 2006 was $15,000, according to the
CIA World Factbook, and only $3,000 in Bolivia.

Alejandro Grimson, a Buenos Aires-based social scientist, said
Argentina in the 1990s sought to keep out Bolivians because of the
popular view that they fueled crime and unemployment. But Argentina's
Congress in 2003 changed course and adopted policies to legalize the
thousands of undocumented migrants and protect their rights.

One new law allows Bolivians to legalize their status in Argentina and
eventually become citizens, and gives them the same rights to medical
care, education and job security as Argentines, Grimson said.

But Bolivians sometimes still are not welcome in Argentina.

''Argentines think they're superior to us,'' said Inés Tarifa, a
Bolivian who is allowed to cross into La Quiaca every day to sell
knickknacks to passersby.

'Some stop and shout, `Pig!' and then continue along their way,''
Tarifa said.

It's a similar story for the many Haitians who migrated to the
neighboring Dominican Republic over the past few decades, most in
search of jobs, some to escape political persecution.

FLACSO, a Latin American think tank, estimates that 500,000 Haitians
currently live in the Dominican Republic.

''Work in the sugar industry has traditionally been reserved for
Haitian migrant workers because of the low pay and grueling
conditions,'' Manuel Orozco, an analyst for the Inter-American
Dialogue, a Washington-based group, wrote recently.

Per capita income in Haiti was $1,800 in 2006, according to the World
Factbook, compared to $8,000 in the Dominican Republic.

Haitian migrants have complained of discrimination and abuses,
including the denial of Dominican citizenship for the children of
undocumented Haitian migrants born in the Dominican Republic.

''Decades of unregulated migration have given rise to a significant
number of Haitians whose status is uncertain and vulnerable to
widespread human rights violations,'' said Bridget Wooding, a FLACSO
researcher based in the Dominican Republic.

In another large migration, an estimated 400,000 Nicaraguans live in
neighboring Costa Rica, driven there by Managua's devastating 1972
earthquake, the bloody civil wars of the 1970s and 1980s and the
economic troubles of the 1990s.

But the greatest flow of migrants in Latin American is from Colombia
to oil-rich Venezuela, according to Jorge Martinez, an analyst with
the Chile-based U.N. Economic Commission on Latin America and the
Caribbean.

Official figures from Venezuela's 2001 census show that 608,691 people
born in Colombia lived then in Venezuela, although Martinez believes
the current number is higher because of continuing immigration and
because many undocumented migrants were not counted.

In a telephone interview, Martinez cited ''violence in Colombia, not
enough good-paying jobs in Colombia and higher salaries in Venezuela''
for the heavy immigration to Venezuela.

He said that the immigrants from Colombia typically consist of rural
men who seek farm jobs in Venezuela and females from urban areas who
head to Caracas and other cities to work as maids.

Under leftist President Hugo Chávez, an estimated 500,000 undocumented
migrants -- including a couple hundred thousand Colombians -- were
awarded Venezuelan citizenship as of mid-2004.

Chávez argued that it was high time to legalize the migrants who had
lived there for years, but opponents said he wanted to earn their
votes in future elections.

Nearly 40 years ago, one of those crossing the border at La Quiaca was
a penniless 5- or 6-year-old boy named Evo Morales.

Morales, now president of Bolivia, recalled during a February
interview with The Miami Herald that as a boy he accompanied his
father when he went to work in the sugar cane fields in northern
Argentina for three or four months.

For the first time in his life, Morales recalled, he attended school
and slept in an actual bed. And he sold ice cream on the side.

''It was very funny,'' Morales recalled with a wistful look during the
interview at the presidential home in La Paz.

''My father asked me to give him all of the money. I didn't want to
give all of it to him, only part of it. So I buried what I saved,'' he
said.

''One night, we had to leave to go to another area. I left the money
-- a few Argentine pesos -- buried in the ground,'' he said.

****************