CARACAS, Friday August 15, 2008 | Update
Monómeros Colombo-Venezolanos has allegedly allocated
resources to finance in Colombia the activities of the Bolivarian
movement championed by Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez.
As a result, a group of Colombian executives have resigned,
reported on Friday Colombian newspaper El Espectador.
The Bogotá newspaper said that a group of persons from
Caracas arrived some months ago in the Colombian city of Barranquilla,
the seat of the fertilizers manufacturer. These people started
to order that funds from the company were provided to Colombian
individuals and entities with the aim of promoting the ideas
of Chávez, DPA reported.
Colombian top executives of Monómeros, Héctor Rodelo
and Gian Piero Celia, managing director and chief financial
executive, respectively, had to transfer some funds, in compliance
with those guidelines. Both of them decided to quit for being
at odds with this policy, El Espectador reported.
According to the newspaper, among those who received money
from the Venezuelan company were Colombian Senator Piedad
Córdoba, a personal friend of Chávez and one of
the fiercest members of the opposition to the government of
Colombian President Alvaro Uribe.
11:00 AM. Economy. Based on the official data, more and more families failed to get out of poverty in 2008; the exclusion status of more people moved faster and fewer people are on their way to overcome this situation. According to the data provided by the official National Statistics Institute (INE), last year the poorest homes in the country recorded an average monthly income of USD 401.82, whereas the food basket amounted to 417.77