Venezuela to Reopen Natural Gas Program for Cars

Caracas, Venezuela, February 25, 2006—Last week, PdVSA, Venezuela’s state owned oil company, announced its intention to reopen its program to replace some of the country’s vehicular gasoline consumption with natural gas.

The project was closed down some five years ago, because, according to Bloomberg, of natural gas shortages. PdVSA Director of Business and Supply, Asdrubal Chávez, cousin of President Húgo Chávez, said at a Tuesday press conference that the first phase of the plan would be to reopen the 160 stations for Natural Gas for Vehicles previously built by PdVSA. This phase should bee completed by the end of June. The second step would be to switch public transportation vehicles from gasoline to natural gas, which would lead to an estimated 10 to 15 percent diversion from gasoline to natural gas. The third step would be to open natural gas stations in highly populated areas in the country which currently don’t have the stations.

“This way we can offer our consumers a more ecological fuel, with which we’ll have environmental benefits and will also be more economical,” said Chávez, according to Petroleum World.

According to the US Department of Energy, “Natural gas is one of the cleanest burning alternative fuels available and offers a number of advantages over gasoline. In light-duty applications, air exhaust emissions from natural gas vehicles are much lower than those from gasoline-powered vehicles. In addition, smog-producing gases, such as carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxides, are reduced by more than 90% and 60%, respectively and carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, is reduced by 30%-40%.”

However, while a switch from gasoline to natural gas in Venezuela would potentially have health benefits for residents by reducing toxic emissions, unless Venezuela cut production rather than sold the saved gasoline abroad, world green house gas production would not decrease.

Natural gas has been a difficult fuel to use for vehicles, because, for use in automobiles and trucks, the gas can be compressed, but not liquefied. The result is that vehicles using the fuel need to be refilled frequently, and so must run in areas with frequent easy access to stations which supply natural gas, which often involve expensive technology to compress and transport the gas. Natural gas tanks are also large, and can be costly to add to existing vehicles. According to Bloomberg, Chávez did not mention the cost of the program.

South America is leading the world with number of natural gas vehicles on the road, with Brazil and Argentina the only two countries world wide to have more than a million natural gas vehicles, according to numbers from the International Association of Natural Gas. The United States ranks sixth, with less than one tenth the number of cars on the road as Argentina, but over seven times the population.

A natural gas program will allow Venezuela to export more gasoline, which it sells on the world market at a profit, but heavily subsidizes within the country.

Opposition Groups Begin Organizing For December Presidential Election

Caracas, Venezuela, February 24, 2006—In the wake of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez’s recent threat to hold a referendum on extending presidential term limits if the opposition declined to run in the upcoming presidential election, opposition parties have broken into two overlapping camps in declaring their plans for the upcoming election.

One group, which includes Primero Justicia, a libertarian conservative party formed in 1999, which has already announced a candidate to challenge Chávez’s candidacy, has stated its intention to run as in a statement last Wednesday in a statement called “Together for Venezuela.”

The other coalition has put together a list of ten demands that the government must meet before its members will run candidates in the upcoming elections. The best known of its parties is Acción Democrática, which, along with Copei, governed the country in a power-sharing system for 40 years. The left-leaning Izquierda Democratica and Primero Justicia are both members of both the coalitions.

Julio Borges, Presidential Candidate for Primero Justicia, told the AFP that “Together for Venezuela” was to run a single opposition candidate and to “return hope to a country that already knows that neither violence nor abstention are useful paths for the construction of new realities.” The left leaning Causa Radical and Movimiento al Socialismo are also part of this coalition.

Primero Justicia had pulled its candidates out of the parliamentary elections last month days before the election, after three other major parties including Acción Democrática and Copei dropped out of the race. At the time, Borges told Venezuelanalysis.com that the group was deeply split on whether or not to pull out, because, without its coalition groups running and with voter distrust decreasing turnout, it was unlikely to win many seats. But he said that PJ would “absolutely” run a candidate in the presidential election.

Now the party seems to be distancing itself from parties that called for abstention. Borges told the AFP that the people supporting abstention believe that, “if we don’t run candidates in the elections and let President Hugo Chávez run alone, this will delegitimize [the elections], which is an inexcusable thing to do” and which “is declaring yourself in bankruptcy.”

Shortly after the Venezuelan Electoral Council (CNE) conceded to the demands of opposition parties before last December’s parliamentary elections, and an Organization of American States’ announcement said that leaders of opposition parties had confirmed that “the secrecy of the vote in this process will not be violated,” Acción Democrática and Copei dropped out of December’s parliamentary elections and called for abstention.  Within days Primero Justicia followed suit.

For their part, Acción Democrática (AD) has joined together with other parties to set an ultimatum for the government to ensure its participation.

The demands, according to Correo del Caroní, were the election of a new electoral council, a complete manual recount of ballots, a government guarantee of the secrecy of the vote, the prohibition of the transmission of information from the voting machines during the vote, an audit and correction of the electoral registry, the elimination of the use of fingerprint machines, the prohibition of the use of state resources in the electoral campaign by the President and other public functionaries, the electoral council following the guidelines set up for voter registration, airtime on government stations for all candidates, and  the formal invitation of international observers.

Many of these demands, including a guarantee of the secrecy of the vote, the prohibition of the transmission of information from the voting machines during the vote, the elimination of fingerprint machines, equitable airtime, and the presence of international observers, were made and met by the CNE during the past electoral elections before AD, Copei and Primero Justicia dropped out of the race.

Among the more controversial demands was the fingerprint scanners, which opposition groups did not want used because, they said, they feared that they could compromise the secrecy of the ballot. The CNE dismissed these concerns, noting safety procedures which would prevent anyone from having access to both the voting sequence and the matching fingerprints, but eventually conceded to the demand. The opposition withdrew anyway, and low-income service workers, who must rely on the goodwill of their employers for their jobs, were forced to decide whether they were willing to go to work with a conspicuous purple finger showing they had voted, or boycott the election.  

There was a forty-five percent manual recount in the parliamentary elections, rather than the hundred percent currently being demanded by the opposition. The National Assembly is currently seeking input from civil society to put together a new CNE.

In addition to AD and Izquierda Democrática, parties including Polo Democrático, and leftist Bandera Roja were part of the coalition. Copei was present at the presentation of the list of demands, but was not one of the signatories.

Church and Business Decline to Help Select New Venezuelan Electoral Council

Caracas, Venezuela – Venezuela’s business federation and the country’s highest Catholic church authority have both said they will not take part in the nomination of a new Venezuelan National Electoral Council (CNE). Cardinal Ubaldo Santana said, “This is an act of civilian nature and therefore civil society… has to play this role.”

Apparently neither Venezuela’s Episcopal Conference or Fedecamaras, the business federation, want to become involved in what might be the central political clash in the run up to the Presidential elections.

The CNE is responsible for running the upcoming Presidential elections in December. The 5 member board that controls the CNE is suggested by a 21 person nominations committee. Venezuela’s National Assembly appoints 10 of the committee’s 21 members. The other 11 are supposed to be chosen by civil society groups. This panel then draws up a list of possible candidates that the National Assembly finally votes for.

The CNE has been a focus of political dispute for Venezuela’s opposition for quite some time. The opposition says that the organisation and its President, Jorge Rodríguez, are biased in favor of the government.

Several of the main opposition parties dropped out of last Decembers elections for the National Assembly, saying the CNE had failed to provide reliable voting procedures. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said the opposition used the CNE as an excuse to cover up for their lack of support.

Both the government and the opposition wanted the Church to participate in the process of organising the CNE for the Presidential elections because it was hoped they might be able to mediate between the two sides involved and give legitimacy to the process.

The recently appointed Cardinal and Archbishop of Caracas, Urosa Savino, said a majority of Venezuelans, “have doubts about the CNE and the electoral system, and it’s important that they have great confidence.”

The Church was unwilling to take part in creating this confidence, though, saying, “the networks and organisations” of civil society should be responsible. The President of Fedecámaras, Jose Luis Betancourt, also said, “other players should play this role.”

In 2003 there were problems with appointing the board of the CNE. The National Assembly needed a two-thirds majority to appoint a new CNE, but such a majority could not be reached in the confrontational climate at the time. Eventually the Venezuelan Supreme Court appointed the CNE board.

CNE exhorts possible presidential candidate to refrain from campaigning

On another matter CNE president Rodríguez has said the CNE will ask all of the presidential candidates not to engage in campaigning before the officially scheduled campaign begins. This is a step down from CNE director Sobella Mejías’s suggestion that an administrative investigation be made against them.

Julio Borges of the opposition party Primero Justicia, Roberto Smith of Venezuela de Primera, and President Chavez all declared their campaigns in the past month. The Venezuelan constitution says that campaigning may not start more than four months before an election. The CNE argued, though, that it cannot sanction the candidates yet because the CNE has not yet officially convoked the December presidential elections.

The CNE also made a statement saying it would punish anyone who, “discourages the exercise of the right to vote,” and non-voting. The CNE also encouraged all political organisations to, “abide by effective electoral rules regarding advertising.”

Chavez Dismisses 3 Ministers Connected with Food Problems in Venezuela

Caracas, Venezuela, February 21, 2006 – Venezuela’s President dismissed the Minister for Land and Agriculture, Antonio Albarran, the Minister for Food, Rafael Oropeza, and the Minister for Light Industry and Commerce, Edmee Betancourt yesterday. All three dismissals are related to irregularities or problems in their respective food-related ministries.

During Albarran’s time at the Ministry of Agriculture there have been corruption scandals and protests by farmers. Also, last week a corruption scandal was made public involving the Land and Agriculture Ministry (MAT), where a group of military officers have been charged with stealing $1.3 million from the Ezequiel Zamora sugar-processing plant owned by MAT.

Albarran was criticized for his handling of the case, when he said he had received a report about the corruption at the Ezequiel Zamora plant in 2004, but did not make it public because, “we were in an election campaign and it would have blown things up.” It was assumed the campaign he was referring to was for the regional elections of October 2004.

A MAT employee speaking on the condition of anonymity said, “There had been rumours Albarran would go even before the Zamora scandal. His general performance was not considered good enough.”

Albarran had been Minister during months of protests by agricultural farmers. Corn, rice, and sorghum producers all held demonstrations outside of the Presidential Palace of Miraflores over government food policy in recent weeks.

With regard to the Minister for Light Industry and Commerce, Edmee Betancourt, it is assumed she takes the fall for politically embarrassing food shortages at the beginning of the year. In December, coffee farmers protesting over price controls got an increase in the price of coffee beans from the ministry. The price at which coffee was sold was not raised as well.

Coffee suppliers said this would mean they would have to sell at a loss. They hoarded the coffee in protest. Other producers joined in and several other foods such as sugar were unavailable for weeks.

The government’s response was to send the National Guard to seize hoarded food, a practice that is illegal in Venezuela. The government also threatened to nationalize companies found hoarding. After negotiations, though, the ministry agreed to a 60% price increase for some of the price controlled food categories.

Similarly, there have been several accusations of corruption in Mercal, the government-run food stores that sell subsidized food to people in poor neighborhoods. The newspaper Últimas Noticias reports that the Minister for Food, Rafael Oropeza, is being asked to take responsibility for these irregularities with his departure.

It has been rumored that Elias Jaua, currently the head of the Ministry for Popular Economy, will take over from Albarran at MAT. The government would not confirm this though.

These are the first ministerial changes for several months in Venezuela. During the first several years of Chavez’s government Ministers were changing positions with far greater frequency.

Chavez Threatens Opposition with Referendum on Third Term in Office

Caracas, Venezuela, February 20, 2006 – Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez warned the Venezuelan opposition if they did not put forward any candidates to contest the December presidential elections, he might have a referendum to ask if Venezuelans want him to serve a third term. Chavez said, “It’s not a firm decision, it’s something I'm thinking about.”

Speaking Sunday on his weekly TV show Aló Presidente, Chavez said, “I might sign a decree calling for a popular referendum - Do you agree that Chavez should run for a third term in 2013?”

Chavez said this would be done, “In case the opposition want to do something dirty like withdrawing [from the Presidential election].” If they did, this would, “strengthen this idea that I have come up with,” said the Venezuelan President.

Several of the main opposition parties dropped out of the elections for the Venezuelan National Assembly last December. This was after little to no campaigning and low support in opinion polls. According to opposition leaders, the boycott was because of bias in the Venezuelan Electoral Commission.

Last December, Chavez said the opposition parties had dropped out of the elections because the US government told them to. On Sunday the Venezuelan President said he feared the US would use the same strategy with the Presidential elections this December.

Chavez said, “The North American Empire tries to make these dirty tricks, as they don’t have an opposition candidate to contest the elections, so they try in this manner to indirectly overthrow me.”

Under the current constitution Chavez can only be President until 2013 and cannot run again because by then he would have served two full terms. A Constitutional amendment changing this could happen if a majority of Venezuelans voted for it in a referendum.

The Second Vice president of the National Assembly, Roberto Hernández, said if nobody stands against Chavez in December’s Presidential elections the President will have the right to hold a referendum to serve another 6 years.

The limits for Presidential reelection were changed in 1999 as part of Venezuela’s new popular constitution. The Presidential term was extended from 5 to 6 years and one immediate reelection was allowed.

Chavez argued that this was necessary as the job of rebuilding Venezuela was so big that it could not be done in 5 years. At other times Chavez has said that this project will not be finished until 2021. Chavez has also said he will retire from politics in 2021. This has led many to conclude that Chavez wants to be President until 2021. Chavez has denied this, though.

The opposition responded to Chavez’s threat that Chavez was merely trying tom distract from the country’s real problems by raising this issue. Eduardo Fernandez, the president of one of Venezuela’s former governing parties, the Christian-democratic Copei, said, “This is a distraction maneuver, a red cloth.” Others, such as the leader of the former governing social-democratic party AD, argued that Chavez was preparing the population for an amendment that would allow automatic re-election if a candidate runs unopposed.

A leader of Chavez’s own MVR party, Willian Lara, said that Chavez’s proposal was, “still not a decision. It is a call to the democratic Venezuelan opposition to play cleanly…”

Venezuela’s opposition is currently divided between parties that support running a candidate for the December 2006 presidential elections and parties that say they would only run if there is a new National Electoral Council.