Colombian Defence Minister Gabriel Silva confirmed on Friday the allegation that at least one senior FARC leader is in Venezuela and admitted that Bogotá has "half lost" the regional dispute by trying to say that there are US military bases on Colombian territory. The Venezuelan government has repeatedly refused to provide protection on its land to Colombia or at the very least it is known that FARC members do enjoy such protection. Minister Silva said "the problem is not that there is the use of a country's territory" by an illegal group "but the will to fight them."
The Archbishop of Caracas, Cardinal Jorge Urosa Savino, and the Venezuelan Episcopal Conference (CEV) advocated the passage of an "amnesty law for Venezuelan political prisoners" as a pathway for "national reconciliation". Venezuelans "are tired of so much tension, aggression, violence and we must find ways to meet as brothers," said the archbishop of Caracas. The opposition denounced the fact that their leaders are jailed for opposing the Chávez government, which, in turn, denies the existence of political prisoners and asserts that the cases against their opponents speak to "legitimate lawsuits."
The withdrawal from hunger strike of Andreína Blanco, daughter of the Caracas prefect Richard Blanco, for having breathing problems, did not discourage the university students who continue onward at the OAS gates in Caracas to demand a visit by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. The strikers said that despite only consuming serum and water they feel strong enough to endure the strike for more days to get the government to allow the introduction of the IACHR to the country. Relatives of political prisoners came forward to support the 17 students. Ana de Gebauer, wife of Captain Otto Adolf Gebauer, (who has been in prison five years), said that the presence of relatives of political prisoners at the OAS helps convey a message on behalf of those who are "unjustly detained". She noted that part of the message is the "appreciation for the generosity of young people to risk their lives in defense of human rights of Venezuelans."
Figures from the Central Bank of Venezuela show that the size of activity related to oil in the first nine months of 2009 recorded a lower level with respect to the close of 2003, when the oil workers' strike occurred. Estimates from BCV experts - which do not discount the effect that inflation has to compare between different years - indicate that by September this year the oil GDP reached 4.8 billion bolivars, an amount that is 24.5 percent below the 6.4 billion bolivars recorded at the end of 2003. "The poor performance of the oil sector is remarkable," says a report by economist Alejandro Grisanti of the investment bank Barclays Capital. "In analyzing the evolution of the oil business since 2003, we find that the level attained at the end of the third quarter of 2009 was the lowest since 1997," he said.
Despite a 12 percent increase of the area planted this year, grain production will end in 2009 with a "significant" regression, according to the National Confederation of Agricultural Producers (Fedeagro), who reiterated that in 2010 importing these items will be inevitable. "We expected to increase by 30 percent this year the grain harvest, but everything points to the contrary, that the production will fall because of the weather situation and the expropriation of productive land," said Pedro Rivas, president of Fedeagro. Rivas reiterated that the decline in production has two basic causes: the severe drought that hit the country this year (the worst in the last 37 years) and the takeover of land, a measure that has so far affected more than 600 farms across the country and the expected maize harvest of at least 70,000 tons of grain for next year.
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