Word: venezuelan
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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There was Light Flyweight Paul Gonzales, 20, for example, 106 Ibs. of controlled barrio macho with an elegant command of the ring. Favoring an injured right arm, Gonzales disposed of his Venezuelan opponent in the semifinals by scoring repeatedly with a classic left jab. He won his final in a walkover when his opponent, Salvatore Todisco of Italy, turned out to have broken a thumb in a previous bout. Ten years ago, Gonzales was running with the violent gangs of predominantly Hispanic East Los Angeles. Taken in hand by Sympathetic Cop Al Stankie, Gonzales emerged as a home-town hero...
...missed his high school graduation to make the team. Raised in Philadelphia, a city with impeccable boxing bloodlines (Smokin' Joe Frazier, et al.), Taylor is a good-looking fighter who can slip a punch, hit hard with both hands and move well. In his semifinal bout with Venezuelan Omar Catari Peraza, Taylor floored him in Round 2 with a straight right and went on to win unanimously. Nigerian Peter Konyegwachie gave Taylor all he could handle in a hotly contested final, but Taylor, surprisingly, won a unanimous verdict. His flamboyant teammate Whitaker, who sometimes mocked opponents, fought stylishly...
Only a few days earlier, a similar drama had been enacted in the Caribbean skies. A Venezuelan Aeropostal airliner, en route from Caracas to Curaçao with 87 passengers and crew aboard, was hijacked by self-proclaimed Haitian Rebel Hilertaut Dominique and his Dominican accomplice Felix Segundo Castillo. Armed with gasoline and pistols, the two forced the pilot to fly the plane first to Trinidad, then to Aruba, and finally to Cura...
That afternoon Dominique splashed gasoline on passengers and then ignited a newspaper. The terrified hostages forced open a door and tumbled out of the plane. At that moment the Venezuelan commandos stormed the cabin. The two hijackers died in the ensuing shootout...
Venezuela had a hungry bureaucracy that swallowed up huge amounts of cash. Of its $27 billion public debt, more than half was run up by 47 state agencies. One of the worst offenders was the Venezuelan Development Corporation, which borrowed $2.3 billion. Much of the money is now tied up in businesses that have gone bankrupt, including hotels, gold mines, textile mills and cement companies...