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## author     : vheadline-l-owner@true.NET
## date       : 09.12.97
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December 9,  1997 - VENEZUELA'S INTERNET NEWS - VHeadline No.313
Editor: Roy S. Carson        VHeadline No.313          December 9, 1997
_______________________________________________________________________
CSJ CHIEF JUSTICE CECILIA SOSA GOMEZ SAYS "WE'VE FINALLY GOT
AN X-RAY ON THE JUDICIARY" -- report by VHeadline/VENews (c)
correspondent Patrick J. O'Donoghue --

VHeadline/VENews: Tuesday, December 9, 1997 -- Venezuela's
Chief Justice Cecilia Sosa Gomez has taken a bird's eye view
of partial results from a 6-month survey of the country's
judges and claims "we've finally got an X-ray on the
Judiciary."

Mrs. Sosa Gomez was closing up a Conference on Justice at
the Supreme Court of Justice (CSJ) attended by 200 judges
from the Metropolitan area, Vargas municipality and Miranda
State.

She skimmed over statistics on the number of cases concluded
in a year, those currently under review, the greatest number
of cases requested and expedited, the area or parish -- the
real dynamics of the courts -- touching base on problems
such as efficiency and administration among the judges
themselves, those under disciplinary measures, receiving
on-going formation, and even the infrastructure each judge
has at his/her disposal in his/her court.

     "The Conference has helped to get an exact idea of
     judiciary budgetary demands, thus providing us with a
     better basis for requesting independent resources."

Sosa Gomez insists that if the CSJ demands an independent
budget, it needs an exact knowledge of what has to be
improved because "you can't have reform plans, if you
haven't got the resources with which to promote them." She
believes the national census undertaken among the judges
will allow the CSJ to take measures of a political and
administrative nature.

But, it will be up to the Judiciary Council to seek the
necessary precautionary steps to enable the courts to run
more efficiently.

"The final results will be presented in public at 11.00 a.m.
on January 13 at the CSJ when the Court begins its
activities after the Christmas, New Year and Three Kings
holidays."

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
IT'S AN ELECTION DUEL BETWEEN IRENE SAEZ AND CLAUDIO FERMIN
-- report by VHeadline/VENews (c) correspondent Patrick J.
O'Donoghue --

VHeadline/VENews: Tuesday, December 9, 1997 -- Irene Saez
Conde, current mayoress of Chacao and former beauty queen,
is still the public's and the punter's favorite for
Venezuela's next president ... and in exactly one year from
now, Venezuelans will know who their next president will be.

     Strategy being followed by the majority of presidential
     wannabes is to highlight their independent stand within
     the general public's distaste for the traditional
     political parties.

Sure enough, Irene's next hurdle is how to deal with any
public support from the Christian Socialists (Copei) without
losing points in the opinion polls ... and among followers
for having sold out to the system. According to Irene's
closest advisers, she is making a detailed study of the
possible political fall-out from accepting support from
traditional quarters like Copei.

Her nearest rival is now Claudio Fermin, the Accion
Democratica (AD) breakaway who resigned in protest over what
he calls the "clique" at the top out of touch with AD
grassroots activists.

After all is said and done, opinion polls put AD at only 20%
-- the highest for any political party -- which shows that
it does enjoy a certain following among voters, even though
it is in danger of losing out due to the pact it made with
President Rafael Caldera's government -- currently facing a
dramatic drop in popularity.

Fermin says "whoever make alliances with the old cliques
represents the past, and will be defeated by us." He's
accusing Irene of "wanting to come to some agreement with
the cliques under the cover of darkness or in the back
rooms."

Copei's pollsters see the present situation as a duel
between Irene (35%) and Fermin (18%). They put Coup d'Etat
leader Hugo Chavez Frias third (10%) and Copei breakaway
Henrique Salas Romer fourth (6%).

Hector Alonso Lopez of ex-president Carlos Andres Perez's
"Apertura" party believes things will change drastically
once the "voters start getting electoral fever."

Political scientist Diego Bautista Urbaneja, a fervent Irene
supporter, doesn't agree.

"When the official campaign gets under way in April, we'll
see the tendencies crystallizing. What's valid now, will
remain so in April. The campaign will have little effect on
current tendencies."

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
CHILD LABOR IN VENEZUELA: ERADICATION OR PROTECTION? --
report by VHeadline/VENews (c) correspondent Patrick J.
O'Donoghue --

VHeadline/VENews: Tuesday, December 9, 1997 -- Lara State
Coordinating Committee of Non-governmental Organizations
(NGOs) that attend children (Congani-Lara) is organizing two
important events over the next weekend related to working
children.

On Saturday, December 13, a forum will be held at
Barquisimeto's Museum titled, "Child Labor: Eradication or
Protection?" and among the panelists are Catholic University
(UCAB) Professor, Cristobal Cornieles, International
Movement of the Apostolate of the Children (MIDADEN) deputy
president Angel Gonzalez, and Jorge Vasquez, director of
Fundamenor.

     Cornieles and his UCAB legal team have been active in
     formulating the final draft of the New Children's Law
     presented to Congress in September; Gonzalez is an
     expert on working children, having attended numerous
     regional meetings of working children (NATs); and
     Vasquez, once a working child himself, has come up
     through the ranks to run Barquisimeto's No.1 NATs
     organization.

Gonzalez says "Child labor is a hot topic at the moment
given the International Labor Organization's (ILO)
determination to wipe out child labor by all means
necessary, starting with an International Declaration
against child labor in Geneva early next year." It has
called its campaign "The Global March against Child Labor."

On Sunday, December 14, NATs delegates will converge on
Sanare (Lara State) to hold their first regional meeting of
NATs from the city and the country, to discuss their working
conditions, especially hazardous work, education and health.

"We expect to come out with a simple declaration on how
working children in the area view the onslaught against
their work and how they think their conditions can be
bettered."

The organizers highlight the involvement of the children in
organizing the event since no financial aid has been given
by any governmental or NGO group; it's being financed by the
children themselves and voluntary contributions from caring
adults.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
MORE VENEZUELAN WOMEN ARE BECOMING SEX WORKERS BECAUSE OF
THE ECONOMIC CRISIS -- report by VHeadline/VENews (c)
correspondent Patrick J. O'Donoghue --

VHeadline/VENews: Saturday, December 6, 1997 -- Venezuelan
Women's Welfare & Mutual Aid Association (Ambar) insists
that sex work is just like any other and that's why
rehabilitation of prostitutes isn't on Ambar's books.

Ambar director Nury Pernia says her main worry these days,
is increasing police abuse (extortion and harassment)
against working girls. Ambar is learning how to react
quickly, and she recalls one police department's surprise on
receiving messages from all the world complaining about the
rough treatment handed out to Ambar health workers by
Libertador municipality police.

     Ambar is registered with the Venezuelan authorities as
     a Non-Government Organization (NGO) and receives
     financial support from the European Community (EU) and
     France's Medicus Mundi.

Pernia insists on increasing her members' self-esteem,
fighting for their human and social rights ... like the
Labor Ministry recognizing sex worker's right to form a
trade union ... and not working more than 8 hours a
day/night.

"At Ambar we believe a woman can do what she likes with her
body. It's her decision, so we don't confuse the moral issue
with the legal, as people tend to do. In our country,
there's no criminal penalty for being a sex worker. In fact,
the Health Ministry (MSAS) regulates the profession and
Venezuela's Criminal Code only penalizes a man who forces
women into prostitution to live off them."

     Pernia says that more Venezuelan women are becoming sex
     workers because of the economic crisis and the fear of
     AIDS hasn't deterred them from entering into
     prostitution.

Prostitution isn't limited to women from poorer families ...
middle class women are now becoming "weekend" professionals,
as are university students from the provinces, hoping to
move up in status through income derived from prostitution.

"What has changed is the percentage. Currently, 86% of
prostitutes are Venezuelans and the rest foreigners --
before, it was the other way round."

Pernia says she's proud that since the end of 1995 not one
case of AIDS has been reported among the nation-wide 350,000
Ambar sexual workers registered in MSAS.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
BOOTLEGGERS, SLAVE TRADERS AND WILDCAT MINERS ARRESTED IN
THE IMATACA RAINFOREST RESERVE -- report by VHeadline/VENews
(c) correspondent Patrick J. O'Donoghue --

VHeadline/VENews: Monday, December 8, 1997 -- Nineteen (19)
wildcat gold miners have been caught red-handed by the
Venezuelan National Guard (GN) in allegedly illegal
activities in the Imataca Rainforest Reserve areas of
Bochinchito, Fangol, Los Angelitos and La Trinidad in the
Sifontes municipality of southeast Bolivar State.

Lt. Col. Antonio Arrellano Rojas, GN commander at the 85th
Post in Tumerero has named the detainees -- among whom are 6
women, accused of selling bootleg liquor and engaging in
white slave trading.

     The GN confiscated 13 injectors, 3 valve heads, 2
     hydraulic monitor injectors, 2 electrical plants, a
     motor pump, a burner, a gas cylinder, an injector pump,
     2 chain saws, 2 electrical hammers, a dynamo, a
     starter, 5 rocker arms and a gasoline filter. 2 guns,
     25 rounds of ammo -- 7 liters of rum and 2 liters of
     whiskey were also seized.

GN sources have given no details about the events leading up
to the arrests or why they were arrested in an area
notorious for illegal mining ... nor if the arrests were a
random occurrence or form part of a new GN strategy to
reduce and eliminate wildcat mining from the Imataca
Rainforest Reserve.

Meanwhile, nothing or nobody is stopping Bolivar State
Governor, Jorge Carvajal in his hell-bent "support mining"
campaign. He is busy implementing the recently promulgated
state mining law through the Autonomous Institute for the
Environment, Mining and Territorial Ordinance (Iamot) --
with its own organization and budget.

Iamot president Victor Fuenmayor, former regional director
of environment and mining, says the state mining consultancy
committee will be formed by representatives from the
Environment Ministry, the National Guard Regional Command,
the Eastern University, and the Bolivar State Mayors
Association.

"At last, the investor can count on a legal body and
up-to-date geological information, as well as just one
collection counter for exploitation taxes, which will be
roughly 2%."