New London Mayor, ends Chavez’s deal with former Mayor.

Mayor to end Venezuelan oil deal
The mayor said there were better ways of benefiting Londoners
Boris Johnson will not renew an oil deal with Venezuela which provides cheap fuel for London’s buses once the agreement ends later this year.

The mayor of London said half-price bus and tram fares for 250,000 Londoners on income support, which was also funded by the deal, would still be honoured.

Mr Johnson said he thought many Londoners were uncomfortable with how the scheme was funded.

Former mayor Ken Livingstone signed the deal at City Hall in February.

In return, a team of officials from the Greater London Authority agreed to work in Venezuela advising on recycling, waste management, traffic and on reducing carbon emissions.

‘Extreme poverty’

Mr Johnson said: “I think many Londoners felt uncomfortable about the bus operation of one of the world’s financial powerhouses being funded by the people of a country where many people live in extreme poverty.

“I simply think there are better ways of benefiting Londoners and better ways of benefiting Venezuelans.”

He added: We will continue to offer the half-priced travel concession to Londoners on income support for the duration for which the deal was originally planned, and will continue to improve the capital’s transport system and ensure that it is accessible and able to meet the needs of all those who rely on it.”

The current deal is due to conclude on 20 August.

Mr Johnson also said the office set up in Caracas to oversee the deal would be closed, saving an estimated £67,000 per year in running and staff costs.

Oil reserves

Mr Livingstone said up to quarter of a million Londoners on low incomes would save at least £280 a year from the half-price fare scheme when he signed the deal.

London Assembly Conservatives attacked the agreement at the time saying the city should not be dealing with “third-rate South American dictators”.

Venezuela has the largest oil reserves in the Americas, and its socialist president is the Bush administration’s fiercest critic in Latin America.

But in November 2005, it signed a deal with the US state of Massachusetts to provide cheap heating oil to poor households. Similar deals were also signed in Boston and New York.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england

Interpol never said that Chavez support terrorism. All that they said is that the files are “authentic”. What do they mean with authentic? All that they certify is that no more information was entered after the Colombian attack to the illegal rebel base in Ecuador. That doesn’t mean the files are real. The information could have been planted several months before by the CIA. And even if the files are authentic, its not clear if the money they mention was only a pipe dream from the Farc leader or if Venezuela ever gave them money. One thing is clear, Latin America leaders give a damn about USA “worries” about those files. 2 days ago 12 South American leaders have formed UNASUR. Old US tactics have lost their effect in Latin America.

http://www.canalrcn.com/noticias/index.php/internacional/candidato-denuncia-presencia-de-ivn-mrquez-en-venezuela/

Chavez’s family protecting farc terrorist Ivan Marquez in Barinas State Venezuela.

Jodi-

I regret to inform you, when two nations clash, their is seldom any level of innocence on either side. I am also here to inform you the interpol has all of the technology needed to determine, when and what was put on that laptop, and normally that will indicate who.

I am so tired of you morally self-righteous hypocrites, you enjoy freedoms that others do not have, and you have the audacity to vocally support the tyrant that has taken those freedoms away, only because you have not seen it first hand, therefore it must not exist.

I remember well the look on my grandfathers face as he talked about liberating Europe and the horrid things we discovered only after we had beaten the Nazi’s

I can still smell the blood in the air from non-combatants being hit by haphazardly placed IED’s. I can still see in my mind the literally hundreds of mass graves mapped in the area’s saddam had butchered the kurds. I can hear the crying of the children in the aftermath of suicide bombers hitting soccer games on my last tour. I can still see the looks on the faces of the women and children as we passed through on patrol, the smiles and waves and the telling glances towards the cowards hiding in their midst that would do us harm.

Jodi, there is evil in the world, and you have obviously been fortunate enough to not witness it first hand, but that does not mean it does not exist.

War is horrible, that I can attest to, but it is not the most horrible. The degraded state of moral being that allows you to believe nothing is worth fighting for is.

I really paraphrased that last one.

My mother kept is simple, she was the daughter of a warrior, the wife of a warrior and the mother of a future warrior. she was washing the dishes and listening to the news, when I questioned the necessity of war.

she looked me straight in the eye and said “son, peace is simple really, all you have to do is sit down, shut up, and take what is given to you”

I then understood that some things are worth war.

Did we bomb Venezuela? if we did, i am disappointed we didn’t smart bomb chavez while we were at it.

@Adam Housley

Thank you, and if you would care for having a third party dismantle the posting of 19.May at 11:44pm point-by-point, I would be more than happy to do so.

I trust also that a message (e-mail) I had forwarded to you did get to you, yes?

follow-up

By the way, calling them “crazy”, or “stupid”, does you a greater disservice than it does to them. Almost without exception, the leadership of such groups is neither by anything but the most modern definitions. I would agree that what makes a good gang leader, (or business CEO, or presidential candidate) includes a number of features that taken out of context could be considered mental disorders in modern day. They were even grounds for accusations in the near-modern era…

Here’s an unsettling example: American President A. Lincoln is considered “…supremely capable of enduring the criticism of others, and even of society” (paraphrase), yet even in his time he was accused of being everything from “powerhungry” to having “authoritarian contempt for the rule of law” to even being called variations on “insane”.

@Susan-AZ

There *is* a reason: Gangsterism is one of the most successful (if anti-social) forms of human organization, you know. You might want to look up “Autocracy” as a leadership form, too.

(to those of you quick to note this is an oversimplification, yes, I know most factions/gangs are oligarchies by structure)

oh, and check your e-mail, please.

@LDG-

I just looked at Karina’s picture because when I looked at it earlier today, some one kept just going through my head- voila! Angela Davis– she sort of looks like her but with shorter hair!

My thoughts to FARC, Al Qaeda, Taliban, et al– they have the mentality of gang members but with more ammo! And of course, the main man as gangs have!

These are not crazy– they are just plain stupid! LOL

Quiet in here– why? My guess would be everyone is burnt out on Chavez, until he pulls another dirty trick…

Lies, lies, lies. The Interpol were contracted to determine whether or not the computers were tampered with since they were in Columbian custody and to determine their contents in terms of number of files and bytes. They WERE NOT investigating the authenticity of the documents or the actual owners of the computers. NOTHING in the investigation implicates Chavez. FOX news is LIEING THROUGH ITS TEETH TO ADVANCE BUSH’S POLITICAL AGENDA. How surprising. Why doesn’t FOX news report on the Columbian military officers’ statements that they don’t even possess the kind of aircraft or “smart” bombs that did the bombing? Others suggest that it is more likely that the US did the bombing from INSIDE Ecuador from its base and then sent in the Columbians to pick up the pieces and take the fall. Interpol’s report CLEARLY states that it did not even attempt to make a determination about the authenticity or the source of the info on the computers.

Karina–

well there is one of the FARC women we were talking about months ago!

this house of cards is going down!!!

socal-

I found the story behind the abalone to be interesting– never knew abalone had a history! Or I had never even thought about abalone!

the things I learn here!

xxx

And, in late-breaking news:

Another FARC high-level leader has given up. “Karina” has surrendered, according to the BBC. Here is the AP version, via FOXNews:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,356550,00.html

@Susan
James Swan isthe author of that article. He is a triple threat, Actor, pHd, Jounalist.

socal–

that was an interesting article! very…

off topic- James Swan– Murder in the First— That was a great movie!!!!! One of the best movies I have seen– forgot about that movie (James Swan was mentioned in your post)

@Adam-

In the meantime, I am running some errands. I know you care.

Adam
————————————————————————————————————

I care but you forgot to say hi to Rebeca! (From Venezuela) Where are your manners?

Abalone pickin’ time Skirting restrictions on mollusk cottage industry in CaliforniaBy James A. Swan, Ph.D.
ESPNOutdoors. com

Updated: May 15, 2008, 11:54 AM ET

If you walk into a sushi bar and order awabi, chances are you are going to shell out some coin, as awabi is sushi made from a dinner plate-sized sea snail — the abalone, or “sea ear” — a distant relative of octopus, clams and squid, that has a “foot” about an inch thick and the size of your hand, and is worth as much as $60–$100 each.

Abalone are in the family Haliotidae and the Haliotis genus. The most primitive of mollusks, they originated in Cambrian Period 500 million years ago. On the West Coast they are found from the Aleutian Islands to Pt. Conception north of Santa Barbara.

Abalone is prized for the unique flavor of its edible gray, tan, or even blue “foot,” which in the Orient is believed to have aphrodisiac powers, and for its mother-of-pearl inner shell. Species are found around the world, but most prefer cold ocean waters — off New Zealand, South Africa, North American Pacific coast, Tasmania and Australia — along a rocky shoreline out to depths of 300 feet.

West Coast Indians were harvesting abalone when the Spanish arrived. Recreational fishery regulations began in 1911. Up until the 1970s, Californians enjoyed no annual limits on several species of abalone: red, pink, green, white (endangered species), black, flat, pinto and threaded. Picking was allowed south of San Francisco, no tags were required and there was a thriving commercial fishery along the coast. Today only red abalone is legal.

Red abalone reach sexual maturity in 2–3 years and legal size (7 inches) in 6–12 years. They can live up to 15 years. The shell has several respiratory holes for breathing. Big shells go 9 inches across, and the largest ever caught was said to be a foot across.

Abalone are very prolific broadcast spawners, producing 3 million eggs at a time. Twenty-four hours after fertilization, a trophophore larva develops, which hides among the rocks.

Along the California coast, regulation of commercial fishery began in 1901. The commercial fishery peaked in 1950s and ’60s, when 4–5 million pounds a year were harvested.

All commercial harvesting for wild abalone closed in 1997.

In Japan, abalone are cultivated commercially and over 16,000 metric tons are harvested annually. Commercial abalone for restaurants is produced via mariculture in the US.

Abalone fishing south of San Francisco was closed in 1997. California’s Sonoma-Mendocino County coast has one of the last viable populations of red abalone in the world, but continued poaching has put great pressure on these dinner-plate- sized mollusks. Pickers look for red abalone in rocky coastal areas with abundant kelp, which is what the big sea snails feed on.

James Swan

Harvesters display their catch of abalone at a checkpoint.
The abalone sport season, open only north of San Francisco Bay, runs from April 1 through June 30 and from Aug. 1 through Nov. 30. The minimum legal size is a shell 7 inches across. There is no commercial fishery for abs, no scuba diving for abs, and the limits have dropped from 10 to three per day, down from 100 per year to 24 — and only red abalone are legal.

You must also pry the abs off a rock with a metal abalone iron as you either walk among rocks or swim offshore and free dive, placing your catch in a float tube, or an ocean kayak.

As soon as you climb out of the water you must attach a tag on each abalone through a respiration hole in the shell and mark the date and place on your report card accordingly.

When the tides are low, pickers and divers swarm the coast, competing with octopus, crabs, lobster, sea stars, wolf eel, bat ray, mink and sea otters for abalone.

One reason for a decline in abalone south of San Francisco is the return of the sea otter: For some reason, probably the abundance of great white sharks, sea otters have never come back north of the Golden Gate, resulting in an abnormal abundance of abalone in those waters. In 2006, 32,500 licensed fishermen took 264,000 abs and spent $10 million along the north coast.

Boats, planes, surveillance, citizen volunteer watchers and abalone checkpoints are all used by the Department of Fish and Game to control human poachers. The coast is large, wardens are scarce, and when the tides are minus, pickers are everywhere. Sonoma County has a very active citizen volunteer watch network, SCAN, a model of citizens working with wardens to control poaching.

On May 8, 2008, working on a documentary, my son and I videoed wardens manning a checkpoint at Boonville in Mendocino County. High tide was about 9 a.m., and by 9:30 the parking lot of the County Fairgrounds was jumping with carloads of abalone pickers and divers on their way home, letting wardens see their abalone, sea urchins, periwinkles, and rockfish.

James Swan

Abalone isn’t always the only thing intercepted at the checkpoints. This man has 47 pounds of kelp in a garbage bag, when the limit is 10.
According to Lt. Dennis McKiver, about 100 cars were checked in a three-hour period, resulting in 33 citations issued for limit overages, undersized abalone, prematurely removing abs from the shell and not tagging abs in possession.

Probably the strangest violation of the day was a guy with some kelp. It is legal to harvest kelp, but only 10 pounds a day. This guy had 47 pounds, stuffed into a plastic garbage bag.

And this was a weekday.

On one weekend in 2007, DFG operated two vehicle checkpoints in Boonville and Highway 1 in Sonoma County, inspecting a total of 552 vehicles. Wardens issued a total of 107 citations and confiscated 144 illegal abalone. Around the same time, two poachers south of the Golden Gate were nabbed with 122 black abs — an illegal place and protected species. At Fort Bragg, a commercial fishing boat was found with over 400 abalone stashed in the hold.

Wild abalone cannot be sold commercially in California, yet they can fetch between $60 and $100 each on the black market, depending on the size. Because abalone are so valuable, abalone poachers are increasingly organized, and often combine dealing illegal abs with dealing drugs.

“Operation Hat Trick,” nabbed a ring of seven poachers working the Sonoma coast: Divers had several changes of gear; buddies and friends all bought fishing licenses. The purloined abalone were being sold out of a San Jose beauty parlor. One of California Fish and Game Wardens Special Operations Undercover Unit posed as a customer having her hair done during a time when a fresh shipment came in, to be able to get the goods on the sellers.

Sitting in on the briefing for the takedown, the SOU leader for “Operation Hat Trick,” said, “When you go in, look for money — because these guys have not made a deposit in months. They should be loaded. Look everywhere, even in their underwear drawers.”

And guess where the piggy bank containing $11,000 in cash was stashed?

Penalties for exceeding the bag limit on abalone, etc. are not huge, but by taking the time to get the goods on a group of people working together to sell abalone, you have a felony conspiracy case which translates into thousands of dollars of fines, confiscated gear, loss of fishing licenses for years, and jail time.

In June of 2006, Bob’s Sushi House at San Francisco’s Fishermen’s Wharf area was caught by SOU buying illegal wild abalone. Today Bob’s is closed and bums sleep on the steps of what was once an upscale eatery where awabi was a house special.

James Swan — who has appeared in more than a dozen feature films, including “Murder in the First” and “Star Trek: First Contact,” as well as the television series “Nash Bridges,” “Midnight Caller” and “Modern Marvels” — is the author of the book “In Defense of Hunting.” Click to purchase a copy. To learn more about Swan, visit his Web site.

http://sports.

Looking forward to “Sports on Sunday”.

Be well and safe, All
((departs))

@Alfredo

thank you, also!

forgive my slow replies, please. I am a bit distracted.

http://www.semana.com/wf_InfoArticulo.aspx?idArt=111918

more about the documents FARC CHAVEZ

in Spanish.

Yes, I read an article similar to that one in spanish some days ago…

correction, for completeness sake: that link is to a translation of One of the FARC files.

LDG: Thanks so much!! I am trying to open the link you posted!!

@Rebeca

re: B. Obama promising to meet Chavez — I believe the actual promise was to meet with any national leader, without preconditions, so that would include Hugo Chavez. I can not quote to you a specific case where he named him at this time, however. My regrets.

re: B. Obama’s position about … Venezuela — Officially, he has no stated position. Unofficially, men claiming to represent him have been deeply involved in matters of both showing support for the Chavez regime and for the FARC. Here is an English translation of a few of the files from the Reyes (FARC) computers:

http://english.eluniversal.com/2008/03/03/en_int_art_memorandum-found-in_03A1403679.shtml

…likely the same is more available to you in Spanish.

Key Point: look at item #6 there — The FARC believes the representatives promised Obama is against Plan Colombia and the Colombian Free Trade Agreement.

Susan: thanks

Open Question:
Is it true that Barack Obama promise to meet with Chavez if he wins the presidency of United States?? What is Obama’s position about the whole venezuelan thing??

@Rebeca

re: “To answer your question…” — a very fine answer, thank you.

@All

Key points of the link Rebeca posted: The Government of Colombia has made a reply to the Venezuelan Embassy stating it is impossible that the matter occurred as claimed by Venezuela, specifically that no violation of the border occurred. Venezuela has counter-claimed on the basis of supposed evidence, as yet unreleased.

Max–

LOL– YOU ARE SO WISE!

Will check back later-

have a good day @all!

xxx

Game warden shortage affecting salmon fishery
By Gary Roussan
Article Launched: 05/16/2008 04:13:36 PM PDT

One area of agreement among state agency and private sector sport and
commercial fishermen is that California’s game warden situation is a
serious factor that has an effect on the salmon fishery.

California has only 192 wardens for 38 million people the worst per
capita ratio of wardens in North America.

Fish and Game Commissioner Michael Sutton, a former U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service special agent, said, “The warden shortage in
California is as big a disaster as the salmon fishery’s decline.”
Commissioner Rogers added the commission maintains the number of
wardens in California should be increased “by a factor of four” to
handle the need.

“This would increase the wardens’ per capita numbers to those of Texas
or Florida,” DFG Director Donald Koch said.

Within 10 miles of Sacramento last fall, one California game warden
made 130 arrests for salmon poaching in a three-month period. When
fellow wardens joined him, more than 400 salmon poaching arrests resulted.

Though short-handed, warden deployment is being redirected to protect
the fall salmon run. “Wardens will be patrolling in the air, on the
water and on land,” Director Koch asserted. Originally the Governor
had recommended cutting 38 wardens from the budget, but those
positions have been restored.

The commissioners emphasized “Wildlife is under assault across the
board” in California due to the warden shortage. The DFG estimated the
redirection of wardens to focus on protecting the fall Chinook run
Advertisement
from poaching would cost $1.7 million this year.

Violators of the ban or regulations for the seasons on the Sacramento
and Klamath Rivers can look forward to fines of $1000 and/or up to six
months in jail.

The quota for the Klamath River is 20,000 Chinook this year. The
season and bag limit will be set at the next commission meeting on
late June. While the closure of the Central Valley salmon fishery is
unprecedented, in 2006 the Klamath River was closed to all sport
fishing. This hopefully indicates the closure, coupled with increased
enforcement, can turn the salmon fishery around.

Anglers may keep posted on any developments in the salmon fishery
through a special page on the California Department of Fish and Game’s
website.

We’ve seen Live Aid, Farm Aid and Live Earth concerts to call
attention to social and environmental crises. There will be a Salmon
Aid Festival held in Oakland May 31 and June 1 to increase public
awareness of the salmon fishery and its value to the state.

http://www.willitsnews.com/ci_9285824

Susan

yah the Kenesset is a few pics down…… with the glass surrounding it…

Adam,

can you confirm or add to that debka article ?

Susan: Oh dear, i think it’d probably be better to plan days out without the dogs, or at least only one of them.

@ Rebeca-

Comment by Rebeca
May 18th, 2008 at 2:21 pm
Susan:
I dont understand your first question about chavez and correa…Could you make it in spanish? About Chavez…He feels desperate!!! Yesterday Colombian army found in Colombia’s border with Venezuela a lot of venezuelan’s army weapons. Later that day, Venezuelan government made a protest to Colombia because a few military colombian personel enter venezuelan territory… That is what LDG is asking right now…
Today, Colombia said they army did not enter venezuelan territory…I think Chavez invented the whole thing to keep us distracted away from Reyes’ laptop.
————————————————————————————————————

Me contestaste la pregunta– preguntaba yo que por que tan callado Chavez– por lo visto, no anda tan quieto! Que bueno que sufre– así que sepa el lo que se sienta la desesperación!

Al rato regreso–
gracias!

xxx

@Rebeca

re: “are you venezuelan?? … ” — no ma’am, but thank you for the compliment.

Avi-

The Menora is in front of the Israeli Kennest(Parliament) its the symbol of Israel …. it was donated by England ages ago….. dunno the hight ….

————————————————————————————————-

I learned something else today- that is a cool Menora– it is made out of stone- I wonder how much that would weigh? Was that the Parliament building after the Menora’s pictures– a few picutres down?

LDG: To answer your question….

About Venezuela and Colombia latest news:

http://www.noticias24.com/actualidad/?p=14329

LDG are you venezuelan?? You seem to be well informed!! LOL

Max–

I see your post– two dogs drooling all over the place and Ken yelling the whole time about the dogs drooling! I had to change the seating arrangement at one point– Taz came up front with me and Ken had to sit in the back with Tomasa– you should see my windows! I need to go get my car washed too today! LOL

I need to run–

I need to come back and read Rebeca’s Interpol link– what is relevant– and LDG’s Washington Post link– so thanks to you both-

Avi– thanks for sharing the pictures– you had a little bit of everything-

Max- xxx

Susan: why was it so bad?

Susan,

The Menora is in front of the Israeli Kennest(Parliament) its the symbol of Israel …. it was donated by England ages ago….. dunno the hight ….

the other mountains in the one with the Army checkpoint is the West Bank and is PA territory not all of the pics but some… as you know the West Bank also is israeli territory … we stayed in a large settlement called Kvar Etzion which is appx 15 miles in.,… in between J-town and Hebron ….

the road we took on the way out was a joint road used by PA and Israeli drivers ….. first time i saw PA cars and the area of the settlment blocks… it put things into perspective…

I will have pics of the Western Wall soon i didnt have my camera with me when we were there…

Susan:
I dont understand your first question about chavez and correa…Could you make it in spanish? About Chavez…He feels desperate!!! Yesterday Colombian army found in Colombia’s border with Venezuela a lot of venezuelan’s army weapons. Later that day, Venezuelan government made a protest to Colombia because a few military colombian personel enter venezuelan territory… That is what LDG is asking right now…
Today, Colombia said they army did not enter venezuelan territory…I think Chavez invented the whole thing to keep us distracted away from Reyes’ laptop.

@LDG-

@All

Open Question: Any more recent news on the supposed border violation (by a Colombian military patrol) in Venezuela’s Apure State? (I have already heard both the Venezuelan claim and the Colombian “we’ll look into it” reply as of yesterday.)

note to self: I *wish* the Agency was half as good at international dirty tricks as is commonly stated by foes. Then again, I could wish for a pony. I’ve always wanted a pony…

Part A– I need to get caught up on what is going on– I am getting all the news on the blog-

Part B– Really? You have always wanted a pony?

Max–

the message was about Taz– and my god awful road trip yesterday- day- with Taz, Tomasa, and Ken– I think I lost forty years of life- Tomasa is going to outlive me! LOL

@All

Open Question: Any more recent news on the supposed border violation (by a Colombian military patrol) in Venezuela’s Apure State? (I have already heard both the Venezuelan claim and the Colombian “we’ll look into it” reply as of yesterday.)

@Susan-AZ

“Does Chavez realize he is so busted now?” — both he and Correa have been making all kinds of nice whenever the foreign media is around, since the 15th, but he couldn’t quite keep quiet at the Lima Summit or on his own media outlets. In the latter case, the protestations of innocence are replaced by accusations that this whole matter was a CIA plot.

note to self: I *wish* the Agency was half as good at international dirty tricks as is commonly stated by foes. Then again, I could wish for a pony. I’ve always wanted a pony…

Susan: what was the message for me?

LDG: it seemed quiet friday as well.

o si Rebeca–

Marie y Alfredo también entienden español– mas que yo–

Comment by Avi
May 18th, 2008 at 1:41 pm
Susan,

thats at Har Herzel the equavlient to Arlington …. the doom faces the tomb or grave whatever you wanna call it of the founding father of Israel… Herzl
———————————————————————————————————-

Well I just learned something today– I just got done with the third link– are these the Lebanon mountains?

The Menorah in the first link? How tall is it? It looked big- and impressive!
-________________________________________________________________________________
Rebeca– I opened your link–(Interpol) and I skimmed through it– I will have to read it– or los importante datos–

Why is Chavez and Correa not raising Cain? Does Chavez realize he is so busted now?

Susan,

thats at Har Herzel the equavlient to Arlington …. the doom faces the tomb or grave whatever you wanna call it of the founding father of Israel… Herzl

Rebeca–

si– por eso me vine aquí–muchas gracias! Le va dar gusto a Adam que veniste– por que de vez en cuando, Adam te nombra! You and LDG have some great comments– I tried to post this but it did not go through– hmmm? Tengo que contestar el email y otros también– xxxx

Avi– I just went through the first two– and thanks for telling me what those mountains are- or where they are! The first slide show– the dome– where all of you are- what and where is this?

INTERPOL Forensic report COMPLETE available at:

http://www.interpol.int/Public/ICPO/PressReleases/PR2008/pdfPR200817/Default.asp

Hey Susan!!
Did you check your mail? I wrote you this morning!!

theres a selection of a view of the pics….. each link is different .. enjoy….

the album with the Hatikva …. most of the first pics of the mountains are lebenon…

http://www.slide.com/r/EBAJbUARyj8GmhCX6cJenR_xCoWW6YA5?previous_view=mscd_embedded_url&view=original

http://www.slide.com/r/CEvMDLjizT97mnr8XpeXGLgdAJZGsRZ7?previous_view=mscd_embedded_url&view=original

http://www.slide.com/r/Z1FvFE_K5j_SkC9wuMLHpPXsZlLtkf5d?previous_view=mscd_embedded_url&view=original

where is my preceding post? I just left LDG and Rebeca a message– thanking them for the updates and of course LDG’s comments– a message to Max and I posted a couple links for Avi for his pictures– and the post did not show up!

I see Patty took care of Avi-

test again!

test

avi… how about http://www.slide.com

@Rebeca

Looking forward to any and all information you can bring us, thank you!

Oh, and don’t give up on all the neighboring states… Peru and Panama both seem to be capable of seeing the trouble Chavez and the FARC bring to the entire region.

@All

In a particularly timely Editorial, the sunday edition of the Washington Post (of all places!) has a very well-spoken commentary on what may come of the Reyes computer files:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/17/AR2008051702280.html

Key point: “Therein lies the best approach for Colombia and the United States. Since neither Mr. Chávez nor Mr. Correa has offered any credible or even serious response to the laptop material, they should be firmly, repeatedly and relentlessly confronted with the evidence and asked for answers. Colombia can do this by petitioning the Organization of American States to determine whether Venezuela and Ecuador have breached its charter; it could also ask the U.N. Security Council to judge whether the two governments violated Resolution 1373, passed in September 2001, which prohibits all states from providing financing or havens to terrorist organizations. President Álvaro Uribe should order that all of the captured material be posted on the Internet. This should at least expose Mr. Chávez’s behavior to global scrutiny and make it more difficult for countries and political leaders who have tried to ignore or excuse it, ranging from neighbors such as Brazil to some U.S. Democrats.”

Thanks LDG for sharing your opinion. I ask for your opinion because here in Venezuela everything is quiet and it seems like nothing is going to happen after these discoveries in Reyes’ laptop.

I agree with you OAS will not help at all, lately the only country besides Colombia who is not Pro-Chavez in the OAS is U.S. The other countries seem to be bribed by Chavez with oil and other resources. So I wonder if Colombia can take Chavez to an international court using the evidence found in Reyes’ PC.

Now that I know that you can read spanish, I will try to bring you as much info as I can. I am happy there are people outside Venezuela interested in these issues.

By the way, next sunday will be a big rally here in Venezuela. It is the first anniversary of RCTV’s shut down and hope a lot of people to go there….I will post more info when I have it.

@Rebeca

Welcome back, and thank you for the link and story excerpt. A few others of us besides Susan can manage to make our way through articles in Spanish (our good host here, for one).

“what do you guys think will happen?? ” — *OPINION*: A lot depends on what was in the encrypted files that were cracked open. If there is something solid there, like bank account access or locations of more seizable items (like the money in Costa Rica was), then there may well be something to base a formal claim on. The OAE ( = OAS ) may not be much help. The American Government will have to decide to change the policy they have in place if they are to take any actions, and there is very little they can do that will not be as troublesome as it is helpful…

…but if there is enough information to finally drive a wedge between the Chavez regime and other nations (Europe, Mexico, for starters), something good might begin to happen. For without significant assistance, it seems likely the Chavez regime will run out of money to misuse *and* places to hide their gains outside Venezuela, and then things might start to turn.

You have my fondest hopes that turn is for the better, and somehow a peaceful one.

@Avi

“whats that site i can put a few of the pics …” — I *think* she used Imageshack. Does that sound familiar?

Hello guys!!!

Glad to see Adam is reporting about what is going on in Venezuela and Colombia!!!. I read the entire INTERPOL conclusions yesterday….and today I found a very interesting colombian press article about Chavez supporting FARC and some e-mails from Raul Reyes’ personal computer…

Here is the link:
http://www.semana.com/wf_InfoArticulo.aspx?idArt=111918

The only problem: the article is in spanish….so I guess only Susan can understad what it says…

Also…there is an article about John Walters and the evidence in Raul Reyes’ PC published by “El Tiempo”, a colombian newspaper. Here is a small part of it:

“Lo que he visto de los documentos que han salido (del PC de alias ‘Raúl Reyes’) me ha dejado sorprendido por lo extensa que es la relación entre el gobierno de Venezuela y las Farc“, dice hoy John Walters, el zar antidrogas de EE.UU., en una entrevista que hoy publica “El Tiempo” de Bogotá.”

So…after INTERPOL conclusions…and all the news about Chavez supporting FARC army (we already knew it, but now it is official)…what do you guys think will happen?? Will Chavez go to international court?? Will OAE do something about this?? What will be the position of the United States?? I would like to know what do you think!!

greetings to all of you!!

Rebeca

LDG,

yah it does need a second source…. on the one hand is kinda does make sense on the other it doesnt….. if it were true youd think it would