European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - February 14, 1981, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Doily Magazine we Are not an Island new York times the Only South american country with the economic resources to have a foreign Aid is using it to help steer the troubled nations of Central America and the Caribbean toward we not an and what happens in All these countries sooner or later will affect said Humberto Calderon Venezuela minister of Energy and he presides Over the stat owned Petroleum Industry that is the source of the country generosity venezuelans Are understandably reverential about a re source that brings them More than billion a the stained Glass portals leading to Calderon Bertis office in the Simon Bolivar Center in downtown Caracas picture sunbursts of color emanating from an orb embracing a we dont want to interfere in the internal affairs of these the Energy minister but we Hope that our help in solving their problems will contribute to democracy and despite a Small and undistinguished foreign Venezuela has kept an analytical Eye on its Region and appreciates the subtleties of its which often elude specialists from the United i love to bring people Here to be briefed by the a Diplomat they really have much More intimate knowledge than we at the same half of whose Oil exports go to the United is concerned about feeding the suspicion often voiced in latin America that it is acting in Yanqui like All nations that have Given foreign Venezuela has Learned that the response is not always recipient of much Aid and political has voted against Venezuela in International Organiza some of the Island nations of the More Distant from Venezuela in culture and language than the Central american countries have wondered if Vene Zuela did not Harbor imperialistic and in Al venezuelans accompanying exhibits at a recent International Trade fair began posing As peruvians to escape the abuse from those angry at venezuelan support for the civilian military relations with which have fluctuated Over the years since Fidel Castro took Are the worst since the Early when the cuban Leader sent arms and men to help venezuelan guerrillas try to topple the new democratic increasingly the venezuelan presence is being regarded As a countervailing latin Force against cuban although the chronically Short of qualified people to manage its booming lacks the cuban ability to Send advisers and other personnel along with its since beginning its foreign Aid program in Vene Zuela has authorized billion and spent billion Carlos Andres Perez Rafael president Luis Herrera up of the principal device has been a program under which Venezuela offered to finance on generous terms much of the expense its clients faced in meeting rising Oil prices mandated by the organization of Petroleum exporting of which Venezuela is a that program ends this but Venezuela has devised another Way to spread its Oil Money among its it persuaded the areas other Petroleum to join in a venture to finance 30 percent of the Oil Bill of the dominican Al Jamaica and the 4 percent Loans Are to be deposited in the Central Banks of the affected countries and can be converted into 2 percent Loans in cases where the Money is earmarked for Energy Venezuela is also equipped to act in less formal ways ranging from its backing of the sandinista movement in who have received More than to help for destitute inhabitants of Many of whom Are subsisting on emergency shipments of Venezu Elan the Public has accepted the notion of foreign Aid even though unequal distribution of the country Petroleum Prosperity has left Many of its own people this argument comes up in Congress but it is balanced by a political sense that this is the Only Way that Venezuela will be pardoned for her Oil said Luis Esteban a prominent legis Lator and newspaper some people Export Orange juice because that what they we have observers give Good Marks to president Luis Herrera Campins for his management of the country increasingly complicated foreign though most venezuelans find his retiring manner ill suited to the country prob lems at his Carlos Andres conducted his diplomacy personally and switching for eign ministers three times during his five year trav Eling abroad widely and receiving Many foreign leaders in president Herrera has maintained a lower but he has risen on key occasions to speak out for democratic most notably during a visit to and against the military dictatorships on the herreras Public diffidence has dissipated the Broad support that swept him and his opposition social Christian party to Power a year and a according to an unpublished the party is now favored by Only 11 percent of he is faulted for Lack of a Bent for Delegat ing authority that has become a License for unchecked Public feuding among his Cabinet members and a reluctance to explain his actions or Lack of them to the his handling of his governments recent preliminary Accord with Colombia Over a longtime Border dispute was so inept that speculation arose he was trying to destroy february 1981 rather than announcing the terms of the agreement and trying to Marshall Public he let it be known that his negotiators Felt it was simply the Best Deal Venezuela could get now and then said he would wait for a Public consensus to form before acting we knew him in these a former congressional colleague motioning Down the corridor to the High vaulted Senate chamber where Herrera used to but he is a different Man one Diplomat said he thought Herrera suffered from a carte like Hes a Good he raised High but he implements things badly and can get no support for he Early in his the president took Steps to Correct the Oil induced artificial ties in Venezuela Economy by freeing a wide Range of goods and services from Price limiting government eliminating tariffs that protected overpriced luxury items and calling a halt to the spree of costly projects undertaken by his few quarrelled with the need for these but Herrera did not prepare the Public for the inflation that would his comment that no venezuelan president has loved the poor More than i Only deepened the resentment of xxx it venezuelans living in their slums of Jerry built Brick ranches on the Hills surrounding the Steeland Glass towers of South americas most ostentatiously Rich which was negligible in Venezuela until a few years will exceed 20 percent this the president has reminded dismayed members of his party that opinion polls never correctly reflected his popularity in the election of he appears an associate i have known him for 30 and i never knew him to be so a self proclaimed Herrera holds audiences in the Miraflores Palace at which venezuelans from All walks of life can discuss their problems with the flamboyant when he was had greater Success with his periodic gatherings at which leaders from warring sectors of venezuelan life would emerge in relative agreement after three or four hours exposure to his relentless people familiar with life have compared these meetings to Lyndon Johnsons Arm twisting sessions in the White House of the recently successful in escaping opponents attempts to bring him to trial for alleged is once again running High in the same polls that show Herrera with Little the Leader in All the is former presi Dent Rafael by 1984 he will have satisfied the 10year interval the Constitution demands of a former president wanting to serve a second and he is the Strong favorite to succeed the stars and stripes Page 13