SPECIAL INTERVIEW WITH PRES. PEREZ

By Bob Van Leer

  (LEAVING CARACAS, BRAZIL, OCT. 17, 1990) - Our party of 19 from the National Newspaper Association boarded an Avianca (Venezuelan) Airline plane for a 7 a.m. flight to Panama City. The flight is just over two hours flying time.

  The Venezuelans really rolled out the red carpet for us. Yesterday we started with an hour-long meeting with President Carlos Andres Perez. This was followed with briefings by two cabinet ministers and their staffs and the day's activities concluded with a meeting with the state-owned oil company, one of the largest businesses in the world. Press coverage has been the same.

  Pictures of our group have appeared in three of the country's daily newspapers, including a page one picture in Venezuela's largest newspaper just under a picture of Gorbechev winning the Nobel prize. We have also been on the TV evening news at least once.

  Betty and I have been on a number of these study missions and have been treated well wherever we went. But our reception in Venezuela was exceptional.

  Before our meeting with the president we had time for a short tour of historical points downtown. Caracas is situated in a bowl-shaped valley only a few miles from the sea but at an altitude of 900 meters. This helps the climate but the bowl is full. Residences climb up the slopes and there is little place for expansion.

  Venezuela is not a poor country, our guide says the minimum monthly wage is $150 per month and an average is $800. Brazil's minimum is a third of that.

  Going in for our meeting with Pres. Perez, there was considerable in the way of security, but nothing compared to what we encountered in the past going in to see U.S. President Reagan.

  For several of our meetings, including with Pres. Perez, we had to go through an interpreter. This is cumbersome, but it does give more time to take notes.

  Perez said Latin America is satisfied with U.S. Pres. Bush's policies towards Latin America. Bush is starting a new type of relation with Latin America.

  Perez said Venezuela did not agree with the U.S. invasion of Panama, but acknowledged that his country did little to compel Gen Noriega to leave Panama.

  In the Persian Gulf, he felt the U.S. and Europe had no other way out. He said we can't accept having borders deleted by force. This creates an uncertainty for the whole world. He would like to resolve the problem without war.

Falklands Issue

  A surprise issue was the Falkland Islands war. Perez said the Malvinas (the Latin American name for the Falklands) issue was a watershed for Latin America. He sees it as an extraterritorial power (Britain) attacking our continent. And he said it would not have been possible without U.S. assistance. Perez said he never supported what Argentina was doing, but there should have been a peaceful solution. He pointed out the patience the U.S. is using when Iraq is eradicating a country by force. He also accused the British of genocide in sinking an Argentinean cruiser causing the death of 500.

  Perez called the drug problem very serious and said it has to be dealt with at an international level. Otherwise, national sovereignty can become a protection for the drug trade.

Structural Reform

  Our next meeting was with Dr. Miguel Rodrigues, the minister of planning. He said in 1989 Venezuela started a path of structural reform. Huge, inefficient public enterprises are being privatized.

  The nation's $5 billion foreign debt is being renegotiated. Joint ventures with foreign companies are being negotiated. A $500 million paper mill is planned which will make the country self sufficient, even an exporter, of paper.

  He said this is an oil economy but the base is being expanded.

   Our next meeting was with Dr. Enrique Colmenares Finol, the minister of environment. While we waited in a conference room for them the sky opened up with a deluge of rain and thunder cracks loud enough to lift us from our chairs. The rainy season was beginning.

  Colmenares said he is the first environment minister in South America. He said preservation of the environment is the job of all mankind. But he said environmental problems are different in every area.

  Colmenares said Venezuela's population is concentrated in the northwest along the coast. He wants to stimulate development along the central axis north of the Orinoco river.

  South of the Orinoco he said should mainly be for preservation except for hydro power and limited mining.

  All mining and forest development is prohibited in the Amazon. He pointed out that this is 20 percent of the country. He said over half of the country is under some form of protection.

  A problem for Venezuela is Brazilian miners crossing the unmarked border in the Amazon. The Amazon covers 178,000 square kilometers but has only 80,000 people, half of them Indians. He is starting a program to classify and use products from the forest that do not involve cutting the forest.

  As a sidelight, we noticed that a great many of the officials of the country were U.S. educated. One of the president's military aides has a U.S. West Point ring.

Big Oil

  Our last stop of the day, by then evening, was at the office of Petroleas de Venezuela (PPVSA). This was the office of one of the world's largest oil companies, and it showed. The buildings and furnishings reeked of money. Our meeting was in the board room around a table with a polished marble top about 50 feet long.

  Dr Paul Reineell, acting director of the company, said it is owned by the government but, by law, commercial in nature. It is now a global company in the energy business. Inside the company are three fully integrated companies that compete with one another. Venezuela has 59 billion in oil reserves, third largest in the world and largest outside the mideast.

  The country now produces 2.8 million barrels per day and is increasing this to 3.5 million, partly to compensate for problems in the Persian Gulf. Production is planned to hit 4 million barrels per day in 2000. He said the Fortune 500 index lists PDVSA as 76th in sales in the world. It is a huge company employing 46,000 people in a number of countries including large operations in the U.S.

  These include Citgo and Champlin, Most of Venezuela's production, 70 percent, goes to the U.S. Venezuela is planning to export liquefied natural gas to the U.S. but he doesn't think natural gas powered vehicles will have a big impact.

Why OPEC?

  In response to a question, his assistant, Ronald Pantin, implied that Venezuela would like to get out of OPEC but doesn't think it can. He said Venezuela was a founding member of OPEC when oil brought only $3-4 a barrel and OPEC was good for the country then, "But now it would be difficult to get out". He said if Venezuela left OPEC oil prices would collapse from overproduction.

  He said there is plenty of oil, enough to last for 200-300 years. The problem has been the periodic crises. On arrival in Panama, our day was to start with a tour of the city and then a meeting with the U.S. Ambassador, Deane Hinton and the mayor of Panama City.