GDZIE JEST POLSKIE WOJSKO, KTORE POWINNO STAC NA STRAZY I BRONIC
POLSKICH INTERESOW NARODOWCH ???!!!


April 12. 2002

Venezuela's Chavez Ousted, Carmona to Head Government
By Peter Wilson and Patrick Gordon


Caracas, April 12 (Bloomberg) -- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez was
ousted by the military after three years in office following a day of
rioting that killed 12 people. The former colonel was under arrest at an
army base in Caracas.

Pedro Carmona, a 60-year-old economist who heads Venezuela's largest
business organization, was named to lead an interim government of the
second-largest supplier of oil to the U.S. Elections will probably be
held Dec. 8, El Nacional newspaper reported.

The coup followed three days of street protests triggered by Chavez's
attempt to name his allies to the board of the state oil company, which
accounts for one-third of the economy. Public opposition had been stoked
by a currency devaluation, a plan to confiscate some private property
and a strike by oil workers.

``A change in government can only represent an upside for Venezuela from
that day forward,'' said Wayne Lyski, chairman of Alliance Capital
Management LP's fixed-income group with $6.5 billion in emerging market
debt under management. ``There have been a lot of resources and money
frittered away on policies with no long-lasting benefit for Venezuela.''

Venezuelan bonds surged and crude prices fell as investors anticipated
new leadership would increase oil output, breaking with OPEC quotas that
Chavez helped initiate. Venezuela's benchmark 9.25 percent bond maturing
in 2027 soared 4 points to traded at 74, the highest price since Chavez
was elected in 1999.

PDVSA Strike

A strike begun a week ago at the state oil company, Petroleos de
Venezuela, was the catalyst that drove Chavez, 47, from office. The
company, which hasn't reported 2001 results, had net income of $7.35
billion on revenue of $53.23 billion in 2000.

Managers and employees there stopped working, halting oil shipments, to
protest his firing in February of three board members and installing
five PDVSA employees with no senior management experience.

Brent crude oil for May settlement fell as much as 44 cents, or 1.8
percent, to $24.60 a barrel on the International Petroleum Exchange in
London.

A protest march of about 500,000 people yesterday, held to support
PDVSA, led to the riots that killed 12 and injured 89. After Chavez
appeared on national television, rejecting calls to quit, senior
generals and admirals asked him to resign.

Fireworks, Apology

Fireworks erupted in the Venezuelan capital after the news of Chavez's
ouster. People went into the streets to celebrate, waving flags and
lighting candles. Defense Minister Jose Vicente Rangel also resigned.

``We ask the Venezuelan people for forgiveness for the events''
yesterday, General Efrain Vasquez Velasco, commander of the Army, said
at a news conference. ``Until the end I was loyal, but the deaths cannot
be tolerated.''

Carmona, surrounded by officers as he spoke at a press conference, said,
``We have to restore confidence among the people, we have to reunite the
people.'' He did not comment on specific policies except to say that
among his first acts will be to restore the country's name to the
``Republic of Venezuela.''

Chavez had changed the name to the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela,
honoring founding father Simon Bolivar.

``I can guarantee you that restoring the name will be one of my first
measures,'' Carmona told Union Radio.

Dramatic Entrance, Exit

Chavez's ouster by the military echoed the way the former army colonel
burst onto the national scene.

Early in the morning of Feb. 4, 1992, he sent rebel soldiers to storm
the Presidential Palace. Defeated hours later, he said in a televised
speech that he and his troops were giving up the fight ``for now.''

Those two words turned Chavez into a hero for millions of Venezuelans
who opposed the two major political parties, setting the stage for a
campaign that would land him in the presidency in 1999 with a popularity
rating of more than 80 percent.

He spent two years in Yare military prison, minutes outside of Caracas
after his failed coup attempt. There he and his followers made plans to
rewrite the constitution and crack down on corruption.

Analysts say three years of rising unemployment eroded popular support
for the leader who campaigned as a populist and increasingly took on the
mantle of a dictator, critics say.

Last night, officers surrounded the palace with tanks backing up their
demand he quit. He was led to into detention at the Fuerte Tiuna
military complex in southern Caracas wearing fatigues and a red beret,
the symbol of his party.

``His downfall has been in the making'' since he took office, said
Teodoro Petkoff, a former planning minister who today runs Caracas-based
newspaper Tal Cual. ``His political speeches revealed an intolerant,
brutal man that drove Venezuelans to desperation.''

do góry