Caracas Mayor Antonio Ledezma, upon concluding the "International Meeting for a Christmas without political prisoners", said the call on our youth to go to war with Colombia is not acceptable and that it is necessary to declare "a peaceful Christmas in Venezuela." "Mr. President, you are responsible for the situation of political prisoners now living in Venezuela. Do not call on our young men to risk their lives in war. Invite them to build the new country we need. Enough of hatred and rancor," said Ledezma, who said the Venezuelan president as was partly responsible for the failures in public services and insecurity plaguing the country. "Not only your ministers are responsible, you are too, because it was you who appointed those officials and keeps them."
References to "war" this weekend by President Chávez generated negative reactions from the Brazilian Senate and could affect the approval of Venezuela's accession into Mercosur said government MPs. Speaking to the official agency ABR, the deputy leader of the government benches in the Upper House, Gim Argello, said that Chávez's call to the Venezuelan people to prepare for war with Colombia "would be a complicator" for approving the treaty signed in July 2006, whose vote is scheduled for Wednesday. Also, U.S. Senator Renato Casagrande, of the Brazilian Socialist Party (PSB), said that with his words, Chávez "did not help" the effort of the government of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to win approval of the protocol. Chávez's speech on his program "Alo Presidente" brought together opposition parties and the government of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to launch an offensive to postpone the vote.
A high technologies exhibit with more than 5,600 projects or scientific investigations from Russia was inaugurated on Monday in Caracas with the aim of strengthening bilateral cooperation and knowledge transfer in that area. "The success of this exhibition owes itself to a call by President Chávez to organise the transfer of technology," said Russian First Deputy Minister of Education Yuri Sentyurin at the opening of the Russia-Venezuela Exhibition of High Technologies. For his part, Venezuelan Minister of Science, Technology and Intermediate Industries Jesse Chacón said that his country had risen strongly in "technological independence" and emphasised, among other accomplishments the launching of the Simón Bolívar satellite, launched one year ago from China. Chacón said that during the exhibition there will be exchanges in areas like energy and oil, gas, petrochemicals, agribusiness, medicine and information technology, among others.
For any operation that exceeds a 10% stake in a bank or insurer, the legal and natural persons acquiring this stake must be previously authorized by the Superintendency of Banks and Other Financial Institutions (Sudeban) and the Superintendency of Insurance. This is established in a resolution appearing in the Official Gazette number 39.301 published last Friday. According to the resolution, transactions that are intended through an public offering of shares or a public tender offer that exceeds 10% stake in a bank or savings and loan institution must be approved by Sudeban. Also, persons wishing to obtain 10% of the shares of insurance and reinsurance must do so under the supervision of the Superintendency of Insurance. Similarly, authorization is required when acquiring a stake equal to or greater than the aforementioned percentage, which implies a purchase of equal or greater than a 5% stake in insurance and banking. Sudeban will have a period of 20 bank business days, while the Superintendency of Insurance will have a period 30 working days, to grant the authorisation.
The Venezuelan government announced the nationalisation of coffee company Fama de América and announced the creation of a joint venture company with Café Madrid, both of Venezuelan origin and occupied by government authorities since August, said Food Minister Felix Osorio on Monday. With respect to Fama de América, the "decision is to expropriate," said the minister, but noted that no consensus exists, so the period of temporary occupation for further evaluations has been extended. Meanwhile, in the case of Café Madrid, "there will be a purchase of the company to make way for the creation of a joint venture, but we have not completed the arrangements. Most of the stake would be held by the Venezuelan government," said Osorio during a presentation of the national budget before the Finance Committee of Parliament. Since 3 August, the Venezuelan government has occupied the premises of the national coffee companies, Fama de América and Café Madrid, responsible for 80% of the product offered in the domestic market.
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