Wall Street sees blue skies for Venezuela's Chavez

Wall Street sees blue skies for Venezuela's Chavez
Reuters, 10.22.03, 11:47 AM ET


By Hugh Bronstein

NEW YORK, Oct 22 (Reuters) - International investors are giving Venezuela a surprise vote of confidence, buying the nation's bonds with enthusiasm that could hardly have been imagined when leftist "revolutionary" Hugo Chavez won the presidency five years ago.

Since winning office in 1998, Chavez has sent shudders through Wall Street with his anti-capitalist diatribes. But when the rhetorical dust settles after each of his infamously long speeches, fund managers see a country flush with oil export revenue and a growing track record of expert debt management.

"Even though Venezuela bond prices have gone up a lot, they still have room to go," said Jose Cerritelli, a Bear Stearns debt strategist.

Should investors keep buying? "Absolutely," Cerritelli said. (snip/...)

http://www.forbes.com/home_europe/newswire/2003/10/22/rtr1118788.html

Wow you knew sooner or later W&Co. had to make even the slightest mistake, I mean come on it's only human nature, no one is perfect. Chosen by GOD sure but even God made some mistakes.......

Are they saying they have to do what makes money now? Ie, letting middle classes develop. Is Wall St going to make more money selling Toyotas and Macs to a newly-formed middle class, then they've made off of cheap oil and a tiny Armani-wearing, Louis Vutton toting super wealthy class in Venezuela?

It always works out so well.

I guess that explains why the U.S. economy is in the shitter.

Wonder how they'll spin this...

<clips>

CARACAS, Venezuela - Lawmakers allied with President Hugo Chavez showed a videotape Wednesday which they claimed was evidence that the CIA was working with Venezuelan dissidents to overthrow the government.

The video, shown at a news conference at Congress, displayed three men speaking in Spanish about espionage, making contacts with an unspecified embassy, and avoiding detection. The identities of those on the tape were unknown.

Ruling party lawmaker Nicolas Maduro said the video showed U.S. secret agents training dissident military officers and municipal police in espionage and "terrorist" tactics. He said it was filmed in Venezuela in June.

In September, Chavez claimed that his government had a videotape showing a CIA officer training Venezuelan police and civilians in spying.

<http://www.santafenewmexican.com/main.asp?SectionID=2&SubSectionID=8&ArticleID=34504>

Maduro said that dissident soldiers trained by the CIA were responsible for the bombings of two diplomatic missions in Caracas in February and another Caracas building in April.

Maduro alleged that undercover U.S. agents were funding and helping opposition governors stockpile thousands of weapons in a plan to topple Chavez's government.

Elements of the video allowed lawmakers "to deduce" that U.S. Ambassador Charles Shapiro was involved, Maduro claimed.

"This is proof the CIA is acting here," said Maduro. "These people must be defeated with the nationalism of all Venezuelans."

The video was given to Chavez allies by a police officer who decided to abandon the alleged CIA training program, Maduro said. He said the tape would be turned over to the U.S. Congress.

What ever they do, they should have lotsa COPIES OF THAT TAPE!

The Bushjeviks have already been exposed as frauds, thieves, liars, etc.

It doesn't matter, it all goes down the Memory Hole.

People shouldn't look to the Imperial Senate to battle the Busheviks in more than extreemly minor ways.

Solid currency (a first for us!!!), dropping interest rates (still murderously high though), bonds going up, getting there on external oil dependency.

I suppose this news about Venezuela's improving economy is why World Net Daily's Dow Jones affiliate was using their pet Latin columnist (Mary Anastasia O'Grady) to launch another attack on the Chavez government earlier this week.

--VG

and discovered she is yet another propaganda slinger. Easy to spot, aren't they?

Here's a response from Bernardo Alvarez


Ambassador of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela
to the United States Washington

Venezuela and U.S. Need Productive Exchange

In regard to the May 23 Americas column "Read the Fine Print on the Chavez Charm Offensive" by Mary Anastasia O'Grady: I am baffled that Ms. O'Grady would employ personal attacks on me after I sought to explain, in a meeting Jack Kemp and I had with your editors, the actions of my government that parallel the rich Jeffersonian traditions of the United States.

Certainly, we can disagree on how my government is proceeding, and even on my interpretation of Jefferson or U.S. history, but I was not expecting this reaction. I was hoping for a dialogue. Now I would like to address some of Ms. O'Grady's statements:

Regarding the situation in PDVSA, Venezuela's oil company: Ms. O'Grady states that "since Chavez's absolute utopia requires authoritarian control of PDVSA, he has had to fire every worker who doesn't agree with him" and has had to replace them with "untrained chavistas who are loyal to the revolution but can't tell an oil rig from a desert cactus."

To begin, the oil workers dismissed from PDVSA were not fired because of any political or ideological disagreements. They were fired because they walked off the job -- a violation of a law that predates the election of President Chavez by many years -- and in so doing illegally sabotaged the production of oil, virtually paralyzing the industry that represents the main source of income of our country. In this regard their situation parallels that confronted by President Reagan with the air traffic controllers. And with those employees who remain, those who in Ms. O'Grady's opinion "can't tell an oil rig from a desert cactus," we have reached our daily average of 3.2 million barrels of oil, thereby retaking our rightful place as one of the world's most reliable and dependable energy exporters, and the most productive oil nation in the Western Hemisphere. All nations benefit from a stable Venezuela, and a stable supply of energy coming from this hemisphere.

Ms. O'Grady wrongly accuses "totalitarian aspirations" to President Hugo Chavez. There has been a great level of consternation in the U.S. regarding President Chavez and the complex relation between the Venezuelan government and the opposition. She points out that "Since he came to power in 1999 he has been perfecting his impersonation of an egotistical Cuban dictator, railing against his political adversaries, free enterprise, the media, the Catholic Church et al. He invites property invasions, foments hatred, and threatens opponents with retaliation."

This statement is false. President Chavez is democratically elected, with more than 55% of Venezuelans voting for him. And he has created one of the most liberal and participative constitutions in the Western Hemisphere; it guarantees the rights of women, minority groups and freedom of speech. Venezuela also has an independent judiciary.

We in Venezuela have faced a tough and at times deadly opposition. Yet there are no political prisoners and no one in the media is being persecuted or detained. In addition, the government has signed a historical agreement that recognizes Article 72 of the Venezuelan Constitution, which allows the voters to call for a binding referendum/recall for any and all elected officials.

Finally, my duty and responsibility as Venezuelan ambassador to the United States is not, as Ms. O'Grady describes it, to "pay lip service to American values," but to encourage an honest and productive exchange between Venezuela and the U.S.

http://casavenezuela.org/05persp/articles/productive_exchange.html

The Bushies fear a good example.

http://www.independent-media.tv/item.cfm?fmedia_id=3052&fcategory_desc=Information%20Related%20to%20Venezuela

President Hugo Chavez could not persuade city folks to move to the sparsely populated interior to help Venezuela feed itself. So he is bringing farming to the city. With help from the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, the populist ex-paratrooper who sold mangoes as a child hopes to give Caracas residents a green thumb as a way to fight poverty and malnutrition. Despite the country's oil riches, more than half of its 24 million people live in poverty. According to the latest statistics from the U.N. Department of Economic and Social Affairs, at least 5 percent of Venezuelan children under age 5 were undernourished in 2000.

US.

Bush wants people to live in poverty, his forte is fear and misery mongering and keeping people dependent on fossil fuels even if the environment is destroyed.


The US is big, lumbering, mindless thug trying to fuck up anything that helps people become independent and self-sustaining. :grr:

I believe in the Emerging Democratic Majority it is just submerged by a corrupt conservative/corporate run state.

strong and a secure leader tested by the worst opposition and confusion that anyone could endure. He thrived. He overcamea and outsmarted and He was a responsible leader of OPEC even though his hand not a puppet guided things away from the short sighted insular PNAC coup on the world.

You have to remeber not to be too hard oor soft on the money guys. They are not all crazed renegades against humanity nor they humanitarians. They like a solid profit and could flip like a record against their protection racket benefactor in the WH, whose pitiful bullies blundered so miserably against a real and really popular leader who minds the store.

Take some credit, Mr. Bush. You made him a hero of democracy.

It would behoove them to do business with a real Democracy
as opposed to this phoney one in the US!!!

The Bush buddy system will ultimately proove to be more costly
than paying regular taxes in a capitalist society.

It is those little people that are the foundation of success!!!

The FAT CATS shouldn't ignore this!!!