The electric plant article was actually from Panorama which because they don't archive I will past here:
Energía. El presidente Hugo Chávez inaugurará la obra mañana
Más de 450 megavatios generará la puesta en marcha de Termozulia I
La estructura permitirá al país un ahorro de 130 millones de dólares. El complejo posee dos turbinas que funcionan a gas y una adicional que opera a vapor. Para este año se proyecta el inicio de obras en Termozulia II, con una inversión de Bs. 835 millardos.
Más de 450 megavatios generará la puesta en marcha del Complejo Termoeléctrico General Rafael Urdaneta (Termozulia I), obra de ingeniería que inaugurará mañana el presidente de la República, Hugo Chávez, en el sector Palmarejo, del municipio La Cañada de Urdaneta, en una extensión de 57 hectáreas.
La estructura permitirá un ahorro de 130 millones de dólares anuales, una vez que inicie sus operaciones comerciales. El Complejo termoeléctrico fue financiado por el Gobierno nacional, por un monto de 190 millones de dólares.
Actualmente, la obra tiene en funcionamiento un ciclo simple, conformado por dos turbinas capaces de generar 300 megavatios (150 MW cada una). Mañana, el presidente Hugo Chávez pondrá en funcionamiento una tercera turbina a vapor, que adicionará otros 150 megavatios. En total, el moderno sistema eléctrico aportará más de 450 megavatios, energía que se distribuirá a gran parte de la región zuliana y el occidente del país.
La electricidad producida por la obra permitirá satisfacer la demanda de más de 40 mil residencias. Se proyecta que para el 2008, el sistema termoeléctrico genere cerca de 500 megavatios de potencia, una vez que las turbinas se encuentren al 100% de sus operaciones.
Beneficio
Carlos Soto, experto en sistemas de generación eléctrica y profesor de la UCV, señaló que “el ciclo combinado traerá un ahorro importante al país, cuando transmita el primer kilovatio de electricidad.
Su característica más resaltante para el medio ambiente es que el sistema dejará de usar combustibles líquidos en la producción eléctrica”.
El especialista afirmó que las plantas de ciclo combinado, en especial la del Zulia, “es la suma de aprovechar la energía introducida en dos ciclos diferente: el gas y vapor de una manera limpia y eficiente, generando energía con alta eficiencia y mínimas emisiones contaminantes a la atmósfera”.
Para Soto, la culminación del complejo termoeléctrico también facilitará la disminución de la emisión de gases contaminantes al medio ambiente.
Afirmó: “Las plantas de ciclo combinado, por lo general, tienen una capacidad total de generación de más de 500 megavatios. Energía suficiente para atender la demanda residencial de tres poblados”.
II Fase
Para mañana se espera que el presidente Hugo Chávez anuncie la construcción de la fase Termozulia II, ubicado en Palmarejo de La Cañada de Urdaneta.
El inicio de esta parte de la infraestructura se proyecta para finales del 2007, y la m
continued...
El inicio de esta parte de la infraestructura se proyecta para finales del 2007, y la misma está presupuestada en 835 millardos de bolívares, que aportará 500 megavatios adicionales para la región.
Termozulia I y II generarán cerca de 900 megavatios de potencia y permitirá que el Zulia se independice, en buena parte, del Sistema de Interconexión Nacional, que aporta energía desde el oriente venezolano.
Venezuelan defense spending has doubled since the 2003 oil boom began.
This from the New York Times (before the announced deal to buy $2 billion worth of submarines which, I'm glad, aren't nuclear and will have very small crews of 20 meaning little environmental damage and loss of life when the American Navy blows them to the bottom of the sea. But that won't happen. The Venezuelans aren't serious warriors. The subs are just toys for the very obedient Venezuelan navy to play with. And think about how much money will be made under the table! I'm sure several Chavista admirals will end up buying great retirement homes in Florida with their take!):
CARACAS, Venezuela, Feb. 24 — Venezuela’s arms spending has climbed to more than $4 billion in the past two years, transforming the nation into Latin America’s largest weapons buyer and placing it ahead of other major purchasers in international arms markets like Pakistan and Iran.
Venezuelan military and government officials here say the arms acquisitions, which include dozens of fighter jets and attack helicopters and 100,000 Kalashnikov assault rifles, are needed to circumvent a ban by the United States on sales of American weapons to the country.
They also argue that Venezuela must strengthen its defenses to counter potential military aggression from the United States.
“The United States has tried to paralyze our air power,” Gen. Alberto Muller Rojas, a member of President Hugo Chávez’s general staff, said in an interview, citing a recent effort by the Bush administration to prevent Venezuela from acquiring replacement parts for American F-16s bought in the 1980s. “We are feeling threatened and like any sovereign nation we are taking steps to strengthen our territorial defense,” he said.
This retooling of Venezuela’s military strategy, which includes creation of a large civilian reserve force and military assistance to regional allies like Bolivia, has been part of a steadily deteriorating political relationship with the United States.
The Bush administration has repeatedly denied that it has any plans to attack Venezuela, one of the largest sources of oil for the United States. But distrust of such statements persists here after the administration tacitly supported a coup that briefly removed Mr. Chávez from office in 2002.
Venezuela’s escalation of its defense budget, up 12.5 percent in 2006, has brought harsh criticism from the Bush administration, which says the buildup is a potentially destabilizing problem in South America and is far more than what would be needed for domestic defense alone.
The spending has also touched off a fierce debate domestically about whether the country needs to be spending billions of dollars on imported weapons when poverty and a surging homicide rate remain glaring problems. Meanwhile, concern has increased among Venezuela’s neighbors that its arms purchases could upend regional power balances or lead to a new illicit trade in ar
cazador -too late. I already debunked that story, Venezuela hasn't spent $4 billion buying arms in the past two years.
Oh, and the submarine story turned out to be BS too.
I should stop coming on to this web site, I find it so depressing that the we in the United Kingdom don`t have a GREAT leader like you do in Venezuela. We have Blair, no that`s not true we have Bush as our leader, he tells the people of the UK what to do. The working class here in the UK are suffering as we move to a low-wage economy so that the rich can become richer and the poor became poorer. The whole structure of our society is falling to bits. People here are dying in dirty hospitals from Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) this is due to the cleaning of our hospitals being done by private companies to save money,they cut down on staff to save money and make more profit. This sums up what is happening here in the UK...
In 2005-6 3.8m children were in poverty - in homes on less than 60% of average income including housing costs.
Figures showing a 200,000 rise in UK children living in relative poverty last year have been described as a "moral disgrace" by Barnardo's.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_po...ics/
6497981.stm
Taken from the compass web site March 2007...
"A bumper City bonus season is drawing to a close. An estimated £8.8 billion has been dished out to City workers, with 4,200 of them receiving bonuses in excess of £1 million. The usual tales of conspicuous consumption follow, washed down with champagne, while the rest of Britain looks on."
I just can imagine the comments they make at ow's office:
"What the hell is he doing all day in front of the computer? He doesn't even have lunch".
ow, get a life. Your efforts to justify Chavez' regime will not be nearly enough. There is a whole economic force building up that will topple him. BTW, where is your analysis on the oil industry? Is it worse than what you originally thought? Hard to put a positive spin on it?
"There is a whole economic force building up that will topple him."
Economic forces don't "leaders" - politicians do. And considering how bad the opposition ones are Chavez is likely to be around a while even if the economy performs poorly.
I know I'm being lazy on the oil post. There are actually two posts that I have to do. But if you are so desperate the gist of the first post is that Venezuela is likely cheating on its OPEC quota and overproducing - otherwise its hard to explain how it can be getting so much money from exports.
So sleep soundly, no need to panic.
Dutton,
Pretty bad in the U.S. too. Paul Krugman in the NYT had an Op-Ed explaining how the average height of Americans has been going down for the past couple of decades!!! If this keeps up we'll be back to the stature of colonial times soon and Britian can re-colonize the U.S.
ow
Some sites you might like to visit...
http://www.wsws.org/index.shtml
http://gdl.cdlr.strath.ac.uk/index.html
http://costofwar.com/
http://www.craigmurray.co.uk/index.html
Brothers and Sisters you are not allowed to sign this petition I put it on here to show you all what capitalism will do when you let it. Stick with Chavez give him the support he needs to save you all from the evils of the Bush and Blairs of this world. Everyday here in the UK it gets worse for the underclass/working class.
"The current Welfare Reform Bill will not help people it will further disadvantage them. It will target the people who are least able to defend themselves.We need Welfare Reform that is about helping people not sanctioning people.How will reducing there benefits help them? It will mean that they will have to go cold and hungry as they will be unable to pay for power to heat their homes or food to feed their families.The idea of rewarding private companies for getting people off of benefits rather then doing what is best for the claimant will mean that people will be thrown of benefits which will then be paid to line the pockets of the rich.This Bill is not about helping people but about an arbitrary target set by a government that has little or no understanding of the problems of disabled people or single parents. We ask that the Prime Minister stop and think again and ask the people who are most effected how things can be made better and how their life’s chances can be improved".
http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/StopWRB/
Good points George.
The illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq should disabuse anyone that is concerned about justice that Europe or the US are in any way protagonists at this juncture in human evolution.
Truely progressive and sustainable solutions will come from those that challenge corporate power, imperialism, and stultifying patterns of illegitimate heirarchies of command and control.
Anyone excusing the criminality of the US occupation of Iraq should be seen for what they are--stoodges, on a similar ethical level as those that cheered the rise of Nazi dementia in Europe sixty years ago.
construction began for two subs several months ago. Chavez will probably announce from Russia or after trip. Or he may not at all... now that the cat is out of the bag they are getting secretive.
Sorry "George", you are too late. That story has already been debunked:
http://www.nctimes.com/articles/
...9_016_15_07.txt
Venezuela denies immediate plans to buy Russian subs
By: Associated Press -
CARACAS, Venezuela -- The Venezuelan government has no immediate plans to buy Russian submarines, the defense minister told the state news agency Friday, denying a Russian newspaper report.
"The acquisition of those systems is not planned at this moment," Gen. Raul Baduel told the Bolivarian News Agency.
The Russian business daily Kommersant reported this week that Venezuelan President Chavez would sign an initial contract for five Project 636 Kilo-class diesel submarines during a visit to Moscow this month, with the possibility of Russia supplying four state-of-the-art Project 677 Amur submarines later.
Gen. Alberto Muller, a top military adviser to Chavez, said Thursday that the government was studying the possibility but that the money has not yet been set aside.
Dear George, please come over to Venezuela.
We want you here. Become a Venezuelan.
We will sign a petition to give you the Venezuelan citizenship as fast as possible.
But please, give your UK passport to some guy from Belarus or Malawi. Become a real Venezuelan and enjoy what Chavez is doing for our country.
It is so much more fun to live it really than to know from it from blogs.
Dear Anonymous,Thanks thats the best offer I have ever had. I would be honoured and proud to be a Venezuelan citizen I really would. What you are doing in Venezuela is an inspiration to the whole world. But we few here in the UK fight on for what want here and one day we will win. The fight goes on for all who believe in the brotherhood of mankind the world over. We take our strength from you and all like you.
In Solidarity
George Dutton.
Something i've always been interested in:
Does anybody have statistics about the average size of a family in Venezuela, 4? 5? 7?
Venezuela is a powerul lighthouse in an ever darkening world.
"I would be honoured and proud to be a Venezuelan citizen I really would."
This website is a hypocrite-magnet. Mr. Dutton, get on a plane and go to Venezuela. Trust me: as long as you wear a red T-shirt, you will be able to get citizenship rather quickly (and women much better looking than the average Brit). Or are you like the rest of the people here who praise Chavez while they would never ever live in Venezuela on a Venezuela-type salary.
Are you trying to suggest that its Chavez fault for Venezuela have a low wage economy?
Are you trying to imply this wasnt the case before he came into power?
Grac, you are like the vendepatria 'middle classes'--those that do not strive to lift up the entire nation. The only modus operandi that you can understand is stuffing your pockets with imperial booty.
This vendepatria inclination is why your beloved rightwing and empire is so discredited in Latin America (and the world). You have no ideas--only reaction.
Loosing, and your thoughts are incoherent. Is it a coincidence that 'grac' rhymes with 'crack'. I think not.
OT: There is a good article on racism in Brazil in El Nuevo. Can anyone still maintain the notion that racist ideas are not deeply engrained in the minds of the rightwing in Venezuela? Quico tried to pimp off the idea of 'color blindness' in Venezuela a couple years back on his crack blog--with astoundingly twists of logic and by eliding the historical continuum and context.
Indeed, racism is a fairly complex topic, and one that is difficult to grapple with intellectually because so much of it is rooted in the deep ideological coding that undergirds a cultural worldview. But it has its real world effect of perpetuating an underclass and overclass.
It is an interesting read; but, as usual, the brevity of the article does not provide adequate space to flesh out more nuanced understanding of the social phenomena.
Why was his post deleted?
two points.
1. my cousin just moved up to Canada from vzl. He left a job with a us oil firm that was paying him $1500 USD every two weeks, company apartment and car in puerto la cruz. He is now working as a part time waiter for $5 a hour plus tips. He is 28 yeras old. Smart move?
2. racism. My cousin, from a very wealthy family, once told me that in Venezuela they don't have blacks and that their is no racism....
There is a report in the Houston Chronicle that two players from the Cuban national soccer team have defected to the US. Gee, how dumb can they be...leaving the land of Paradise and go to the Evil Empire? Why didn't they wait and defect in Venezuela during the Gold Cup play? We read everyday Chavez is making Venezuela into Utopia.
BTW, does anyone have Chavez's telephone number? I know he is going to make life fair. I want the looks of Brad Pitts and the money of Bill Gates.
Dutton ...get yourself on some sports team in the UK that travels to Venezuela and defect. That way you get a free plane ride. After all we all know socialism provides free things because some one else pays for it.
"1. my cousin just moved up to Canada from vzl. He left a job with a us oil firm that was paying him $1500 USD every two weeks, company apartment and car in puerto la cruz. He is now working as a part time waiter for $5 a hour plus tips. He is 28 yeras old. Smart move? "
If he likes skiing and hockey it is. Everyone is different but it certainly sounds like he had it good in Venezuela
"racism. My cousin, from a very wealthy family, once told me that in Venezuela they don't have blacks and that their is no racism...."
Ronald Reagan once made a very telling comment - that until the 1960s in the United States "we didn't know we had a race problem". It all depends who you are listening to and you need to take that into account when evaluating what they say on these types of things.
grac, You know VERY little about what goes on here in the UK. Many here live hand to mouth.
"Or are you like the rest of the people here who praise Chavez while they would never ever live in Venezuela on a Venezuela-type salary."
That above proves my point. Tell me grac how did people live before Chavez?. I suspect your motives in your post above. The USA and the UK are failing states of greed and ever extreme deeds to prop up a failed philosophy of capitalism. Many here in the UK are having to pull their own teeth out as they cannot afford to go to a dentist. You grac know very little of what goes on,there again they do say "ignorance is bless".
http://www.dvorak.org/blog/?p=1713
John, You said..."There is a report in the Houston Chronicle that two players from the Cuban national soccer team have defected to the US."
"No one disputes things are hard for people in Cuba...Why?...The economic embargo that the US imposed on Cuba 37 years ago should be lifted, according to a state governor."
"George Ryan, the first US governor to visit the communist-run country since 1959, does not support Fidel Castro's government but says the people of Cuba are suffering."
Of course the USA doesn`t want people to know that many of it`s own medical students have to go to Cuba to get the best training that is not available to them in the USA.
Just think what Cuba could do if there were no embargo.
http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-
o...w_8040166.shtml
Scroll down and watch the video of Cuba`s health care from the BBC...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/
theed..._was_right.html
George, I am looking forward to Michael Moore's movie "Sicko"--should be at the same time funny, depressing, and enlightening.
Slave Revolt, Will his film make any difference? I don`t think so. We in the UK are going down the same road as the USA when it comes to health care and so will France with Sarkozy in charge.
http://www.wsws.org/articles/200.../fill-
m28.shtml
George - give our best wishes to George Galloway and Rod Finlayson.
OW two things.
Centers here is the middle of the country where signatures are being collected have been very sparely attended up tp today - noon Sunday. Unless there is an avalanche tomorrow very few of the 167 recall petitions will be triggered as far as I can see.
You will be glad to know that next weeks Aló Presidente will be held...........on the new viaduct on teh Caracas- La Guaira autopista
Eat you hearts out all oppos who said last year that this viaduct "would never be built" on time.
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha............
Another poke in the eye.
PSUV
Edmundo - no blacks in Venezuela? What fucking rubbish do you believe?
Oh I see. your cousin from a very wealthy family says that there are no blacks in Venezuela. If he lives in the Country Club in Caracas he could well be right. I suggest he goes to Barlovento and look for some one "white" there.
PSUV
grac - when you will make a coherent comment and contribute to this debate instead of personalizing everything?
Typical opposition speak which has never got them anywhere.
Ask the dude from Caracas Chronilies. He's NEVER got anything right since he launhced his blog in 2002 and will soon be Dr. Toro.
PSUV
George, yes it will make a difference--but not a difference that makes much of a difference. However, it will plant some fertile seeds for when the contradictions being to explode.
Of course the pundit class, both the 'left' and the right (of the corporate-capitalist continuum) will pooh-pooh the film.
The impoverished and exploited here in the US will still be fucked--and many will continue to die because they obtain no or substandard medical care. The upper middle class doctors will still pad their invoices to the insurance companies and whine about the stupidity of the lower classes whilst on their Tuesday golf outings.
So the world will keep turning.
But, never forget that eventually the contradictions will explode. However, the future break-down of the capitalist, imperial state could evolve in a reactionary direction--which, looking at a future senerio from this juncture, is more likely than politics moving in a more egalitarian direction.
But, who knows. The important part is to remember why we fight, what we are fighting for, and to never give up.
Slave Revolt,You are right in what you say. Capitalism is on it`s last legs and it knows it all too well. I fear they are preparing for that eventuality. Some over here in the UK are wondering how much longer we will be allowed a vote???. These people are capable of anything.
George Dutton: Capitalism on its last leg? Ah, ah, ha. Ask the Chinese, ah, ah, ah. They are worse than the XIX century robber barons as far as running virtual slaves to production, ah, ah, ah.
Escualido, Here in the UK we have some old sayings...A rose by any other name... If it looks lke a dog, barks like a dog and wags it`s tail like a dog you will find that it is a dog. Anything can call itself anything it likes to call itself. Fascism/dictatorship calling itself commuism but does that make it so.
George; Please repeat again, didn't get that last one.
Escualido, The world has never known a true communist state. Commuism has always been murdered at birth. Capitalism has always undermind it. The world says the USSR was a communist state and therefore commuism is evil and doesn't work. The truth is both the USSR and China have MUCH more in common with a fascist dictatorship or with a capitalist state then they do with a communist state.
George: Besides making good whisky, it looks that people don't know very much in your corner of the world (unless you have had a sip too many of that good whisky). Comunism, socialism, capitalism, facism and other outdated ...isms, please leave the hills and get into the XXI century where new models are being created and not just copied from previous failed experiments.
Escualido, Please repeat again, didn't get that last one.
George; not surprising, it is one notch up from your comprehension.
Escualido, Abuse is the last refuge of a scoundrel.
Wrong again George. The quote is "patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel" by no other than Samuel Johnson.
Wrong again Escualido, The quote
"the last refuge of the/a scoundrel"
there are many quotes on the above i.e....
"sarcasm is the last refuge of the scoundrel"
You see Escualido I can call it what I want to as can you.
Looks like since the scoudrel has so many refuges I am pretty safe from the attacks of the ignorant.
Escualido, Better to be ignorant then a scoudrel.
Be my guest
"Eat you hearts out all oppos who said last year that this viaduct "would never be built" on time."
Good one there! Everyone with even half a brain knows that the Viaduct collapsed because of all those years of neglect from the government. If they had kept up the maintenance it wouldn't have collapsed...oh gee that would have saved tonnes of money....Don't pat Chavez's back for something he and his "monos" could have prevented.
You guys see what you want to see and ignore or ridicule the rest.
Jen, once again congrats. This collapsed viaduct was a marvel of civil engineering, designed by no other than Eugene Freyssinet, the pioneer of prestressed concrete. Venezuela lost a major modern work of art through neglect and/or incompetence. It was not necessary for this collapse to occur. The action to save it was taken too late. The same occurred in the Vargas tragedy.
"This collapsed viaduct was a marvel of civil engineering, designed by no other than Eugene Freyssinet, the pioneer of prestressed concrete. Venezuela lost a major modern work of art through neglect and/or incompetence. "
That is a joke - it suffered from a pretty major design flaw. It was built into the side of a ravine with its survival depending on the sides of that ravine never sliding down. Ooops! Fortunately the new bridge is being built correctly - the supports go to the bottom of the ravine which is much more stable and the earth around them has been removed so that it won't effect them.
Yup, the old governments allowing all that housing to be built on an alluvial flood plain with no drainage channels to speak of sure was a catastrophe waiting to happen.
You are way out of your league on this one OW. Are you a Civil Engineer? I am with exactly 40 years experience this month. In those years, I worked on all continents mainly in major civil works. This bridge collapsed because of incompetence or "laisser faire". I will not debate engineering subtilities with you but just repeat once again that you are a very dishonest character. You blab your mouth out on stuff you know nothing about. What drives you is socialist doctrine, nothing else. If the facts don't match your opinion, you discard the facts. That is the way you operate. If you believe what you wrote, it only means you got it from those who had to cover their asses to excuse this disaster. The men who designed and supervised the construction of this bridge in the 50s did not come from Bolivarian Engineering schools. They were serious people.
Escúalido - no one believes you. Read any evidence and the original viaduct started to move in 1985 carried by the moutain moving. Inevitable result.
What drives you on Escúalido is irrational hatred of Chavez and the Venezuelan people.
No volverán as much as you whine.
PSUV
As this is my expertise, I have plenty of eveidence as well as cover-up. This is the blind leading the blind. I was wondering why OW's blog was removed from the list of shills and PSFs that appears in Venezuela Today. Well, I got the answer now, it does not deserve a mention because it is not serious. So much for all those statistics that only convince poor dupes and losers like Slave, Dutton and Weixel.
" The men who designed and supervised the construction of this bridge in the 50s did not come from Bolivarian Engineering schools"
Sure, it was designed and built by people who studied at the "Tacamo-Narrows Advanced University of Bridge Design" 
Escualido, as PSUV the support of the bridge was in the way of thousands of tonns of earth sliding down a steep ravine starting decades ago. That you don't want to acknowledge or discuss that shows YOUR lack of seriousness.
Frankly I do not know when the old bridge could have been saved, or by whom it was neglected, or who warned who when. I'm not an engineer and I have not read enough about it, though I hold suspect anything the opposition says because they are proven time tested liars. I do know that the opposition was saying that the new bridge would not be built and here it is - built and on time.
The opposition will not return to power (unless they ride in on the bayonets and tanks of an intervention force) because they are not credible, they offer no solutions, they call their own countrymen monkeys and stupids, they demonstrate their lack of love for their country by lying to the world about it.
Eugene:
Here is a post where I gave the details on what they tried to do with the bridge just before they had to close it to traffic (I jinxed them 
)
http://oilwars.blogspot.com/2006...uela-
proud.html
They made a tremendous effort and did everything they could but the mountain side kept sliding down. Short of very expensive things like freezing the ground in place (imagine the cost of that in a tropical country!) there was nothing they could do. This problem had been developing since the 1980s and resulted from the idiots who built it having the supports go right into the side of a ravine that was likely to slide sooner or later.
The new bridge avoids that problem by having its supporting towers at the base of the ravine and having the land around them dug out and held at bay with concrete retaining walls. Much smarter.
There is a reason they chose an entirely different type of design rather than simply rebuilding the old bridge as it was the foolish commentors here notwithstanding.
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