Venezuela News Archives

Venezuela urged the UN Security Council on Wednesday to review the long-running military conflict in neighboring Colombia, which Caracas says is threatening peace and stability across Latin America.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Wednesday signed dozens of new agreements with Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez on the final stop of his three-nation tour to Latin America.

Venezuela on Wednesday asked the UN Security Council to take up a Colombia-US military base agreement it considers a threat to regional peace and a possible harbinger of nuclear weapons in the area.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad vowed Wednesday beside firebrand President Hugo Chavez that Iran and Venezuela would "stand together until the end" in the face of US "imperialism." Endi'ng a tour of Latin American allies, Ahmadinejad praised his "brave brother" Chavez, saying: "Today the people of Venezuela and Iran, friends and brothers in ...

Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez used a visit by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Wednesday to brand Israel as a murderous agent of Washington.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has his heroes, and a nasty-as-hell lot they are.

Unfazed by a recession and rampant inflation, image-conscious Venezuelans show no signs of cutting back on the facelifts, liposuction, and breast augmentation that have become de rigueur beauty treatments.

A delegation of the International Press Institute , which recently returned from Caracas, reports increasing hostility and intimidation towards media and journalists, and impunity for physical attacks.

Opposition parties and the Jewish community criticized a visit by Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Venezuela, citing worries over his denial of the Holocaust, human rights violations and Iran's nuclear program.

VHeadline Venezuela News reports: You have probably heard about the tyrant, left-wing strongman dictator who is heading a military dictatorship in Venezuela.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has moved on to Bolivia and later today heads to Venezuela, as part of his whirlwind trip to Latin America this week.

'We must have a good relation with Venezuela. We are waiting for Venezuela to rectify its position. This appears to be the problem that is only of the president Chávez.

A hunger strike by opponents of President Hugo Chavez has grown, with 24 university students vowing not to eat until the Organization of American States sends a delegation to Venezuela to review allegations of human rights abuses.

" Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez called for the formation of a "Fifth International" of left parties and social movements to confront the challenge posed by the global crisis of capitalism.

Guyana and Venezuelan authorities agreed to strengthen cooperation to combat the drug trade during a meeting in the Venezuelan capital earlier this month.

Venezuelan President Hugo ChA vez recently compared Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Idi Amin and Robert Mugabe - in a good way.

Venezuelan officials and troops have seized more than 48,000 acres of farmland, accusing owners of not holding proper titles or not putting the land to adequate use.

Freedom Financial Holdings, Inc. CEO Brian Kistler announced today that Freedom Energy International, the Company's wholly owned subsidiary dealing with Heavy-oil conversion technology, hosted a group of private business leaders from Venezuela.

Caracas, Nov 22. ABN.- The mediation of the Colombian conflict must be carried out from the Union of South American Nations , because the Government of Colombia is threatening the integration process in the region with the settlement of United States military bases in its territory.

Ugandan officials were offended Sunday after Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez wondered out loud whether Ugandan dictator Idi Amin was truly as brutal as he was reputed to be.

Venezuela has no interest in talking directly to Colombia to end a monthslong crisis but would support an effort by other South American nations to broker a solution, a top government official said Sunday.

Sunday, November 22, 2009 at 9:53 a.m. CARACAS, Venezuela - President Hugo Chavez is hailing the forthcoming arrival of 300 Russian-made tanks and armored vehicles, and urging civilians to join government-organized militias to be ready to defend Venezuela from a foreign invasion.

Iraq is poised to strike deals with international oil companies that could vault it into third place in the table of oil producing nations.

After five years of expansion, the Venezuela economy is in technical recession as Gross Domestic Product has declined over two successive quarters Oil has fallen from an average of USD 110 in the third quarter of 2008 to USD 64 in the third quarter of 2009 Noel Maurer warns that Venezuela is vulnerable to actions filed in the ICSID due to ...

For a factbox on other actions taken by refiners this year due to weak profits, click [ID:nN20226769] "If there's ever been a time to mothball a refinery, it's probably now, with utilization rates below 80 percent.

Oil-exporting Venezuela is in recession, its socialist President Hugo Chavez said on Saturday, adding that the capitalist system of measuring economic growth was established in the United States.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is inviting his mentor Fidel Castro to visit Venezuela during the coming months.

Venezuelan authorities have captured a former Colombian official wanted for collaborating with outlawed right-wing paramilitary fighters.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has defended jailed killer "Carlos the Jackal" and several world leaders he says are wrongly considered "bad guys". In a speech to international socialist politicians, Mr Chavez said "Carlos", a Venezuelan, was not a terrorist but a key "revolutionary fighter". He is serving a life sentence in France for murders ...

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Eds: APNewsNow. Will be led. For global distribution. CARACAS, Venezuela Hugo Chavez is defending alleged terrorist mastermind Carlos the Jackal, saying the Venezuelan imprisoned in France was a "revolutionary fighter." Chavez mentioned the Venezuelan whose real name is Ilich Sanchez Ramirez during a speech saying: "I defend him.

The Bolivarian Revolution is showing no sign of slowing. The elected presidential dictator of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, has made numerous statements that their economy is based on oil priced at $40 per barrel. The price over the previous 12 months has been continually above that number and now has shown only slight resistance near $80 per barrel.

The government is still showing HUGE declines in productivity, health, and other infrastructure services. The petroleum industry has been heavily shifted from foreign investment and ownership/partnerships to hostile government takeovers, where the Venezuelan Oil giant PDVSA, now controls the industry. The profits, even at these well-over the projected national needs, still do not seem to satisfy the budget.

This number does not include the automatic procedure performed when customer service is not operating, said a source.

USA Role Under Spotlight in Venezuela Crisis with Colombia Former Venezuelan Defense Minister Predicts Colombia Victory if Venezuela Pushes War By Jeremy Morgan Latin American Herald Tribune staff CARACAS -- A former Venezuelan defense and foreign minister warned Thursday that his country could face defeat in a war with neighboring Colombia, and he ...

Lance Winslow Level: Platinum Greetings to Everyone, I am a retired Franchisor, Business Consultant, Philantropist and I run a Think Tank, as well as do a lot of Traveling, ... Back when oil was trading at above $150 per barrel, Hugo Chavez the President of Venezuela, made a deal with the Russians to buy $15 Billion worth of late model Mig Fighter ...

Colombia's government said on Thursday Venezuelan soldiers blew up two small pedestrian bridges that stretch across their border in the latest incident to test diplomatic ties between the Andean neighbors.

OBAMA and his vermin horde of socialists and eco-fascists have set us on a path similar to the hazardous road Chavez put his PEOPLE ON a decade ago.

With Venezuelan troops mobilised on the border with Colombia, and Peru accusing Chile of military espionage, bilateral tensions are once again flaring across Latin America.

An alliance between Iran and Venezuela is a necessity at this point in time according to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Venezuelan officials said here Wednesday, AFP reported.

Venezuela has shown little interest in curbing the number of illegal flights hauling Colombian cocaine from its territory for the United States and Europe, a U.S. official said on Wednesday.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said on Wednesday the South American nation's unexpectedly high third-quarter economic contraction was due to its compliance with OPEC-mandated production cuts.

It was the second consecutive quarterly decline, with the economy dipping 2.4 percent in the April-June period after a small 0.3 percent rise in the first three months.

After five years of expansion, the Venezuela economy is in technical recession as Gross Domestic Product has declined over two successive quarters. The sharp 4.5 percent contraction in the third quarter follows a 2.4 percent drop in the second quarter of the year. The downturn shows that all the "economic engines" that drive growth and prosperity are not working properly. According to the Central Bank of Venezuela (BCV), consumption fell 4.8 percent in the third quarter; investment plummeted 14.5 percent; exports plunged 48.5 percent, whereas government spending is kept afloat with a 2.6 percent increase, the smallest gain in the last seven years...

Politics Venezuela is one of the world's most corrupt countries and the worst in Latin America after being ranked 162nd.

Note: The Transparency International study can be found at: http://www.transparency.org/policy_research/surveys_indices/cpi/2009

Washington's state department is not known for its mischievous or whimsical statements.

But it's hard to imagine what else but a talent for amusement could have motivated department spokesman Ian Kelly to offer United States mediation between Venezuela and Columbia, where there are rumblings of an impending war.

After all, it is Colombia's recently signed deal allowing the Americans to use seven Colombian military bases that has brought Venezuela's always excitable leader, Hugo Chavez, to a pinnacle of mouth-frothing paranoid rage.

Venezuela on Tuesday announced a surprisingly large third-quarter economic fall, shocking analysts and leaving the South American oil exporter's economy on course for a bigger contraction then previously thought in 2009.

The government supports the construction of an ethanol plant in El Zulia, a city in northeast Colombia near the border with Venezuela, to help families affected by Venezuelan restrictions on sugar cane sales, President Alvaro Uribe said.

Esther Benchimol de Roffe arrived in Venezuela as a young bride, leaving northern Morocco more than 50 years ago to meet her groom in a prosperous foreign land.

It has taken Venezuela by storm, but it seems that Facebook and other social networking sites also come with their perils.

Mon Nov 16, 11:21 pm ET CARACAS, Venezuela A Venezuelan commander contends Colombia wrongly detained four of his soldiers last week along the border separating the South American nations.

The Iranian minister of industries and mines says Iran plans to produce 16,000 vehicles at its Venezuelan car plant in the coming year.

Caracas, Nov 14 Venezuelan Culture Minister Hector Soto said the Revolution led by Hugo Chavez since 1999 stamped out the concept of book as a merchandise to turn it into a liberating tool.

...I have invested in the debt of risky developing world countries for more than three decades, but I would not risk investing in Venezuela today. I have always used several methods for measuring the health of emerging market economies. Some are simple observations about indicators like the state of basic infrastructure, or conversations with cabbies that give me a sense of whether things are looking up or down. But there were three main criteria that guided my decision whether to bet for or against the long-term fortunes of a nation’s economy.

First, is there a black market for dollars and how extensive is it? When people are eager to unload their own currency and pay well above official exchange rates for dollars, it’s not a good sign. Second, is financial and human capital fleeing the country? If people are sending their money overseas, or technically skilled and professional classes are moving abroad in significant numbers, that’s a vote of no confidence. Third, if the government is nationalizing key industries, it’s a safe bet foreign investment is going to dry up. In Venezuela all three key indicators are negative...

Reviewing the political history of the Western Hemisphere, including its most conflictive periods, one can not find another case similar to that of Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez and, specifically, his challenge against international public order, practically declaring war against Colombia, albeit not invading it, and insulting its government and, ...

Venezuela says it plans to expropriate one large coffee producer and is negotiating to buy a majority stake in another.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chvez's foreign envoys sometimes seem to forget their diplomatic manners.

The time was one o'clock and it was hot. VHeadline News Editor Patrick J. O'Donoghue reports: The parish is Concepcion, the municipality Iribarren, the city Barquisimeto and the state Lara.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chvez's foreign envoys sometimes seem to forget their diplomatic manners.

Watching Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez call on his armed forces to ``prepare for war'' with Colombia, I couldn't help wondering whether he will end up like the late star of the TV series The Crocodile Hunter -- a victim of his own addiction to headlines.

Colombia has detained four members of the Venezuelan national guard on Colombian soil amid continuing tension between the South American neighbours.

President Hugo Chavez is inviting former Cuban leader Fidel Castro to next month's meeting of the regional ALBA trade bloc being held in Havana.

Caracas, Nov 13 Thousand Venezuelans will join a march against the US military bases in Colombia in respond to the call of Venezuela United Socialist Party .

Brazil will be proposing to Colombia and Venezuela the creation of border vigilance commission as the first step to cool tensions between the two neighbouring countries, reported the government's official news agency.

Call it the Bolivarian battle of the bulge. President Hugo Chavez said in a televised speech Friday that "there are lots of fat people" in Venezuela and advised his supporters to exercise and eat healthy to trim their waistlines.

Reuters: Venezuela has failed to meet its deadline to finalize the conditions of the Carabobo oil project tender in the country's Orinoco heavy oil belt, private sector sources involved in the process said Friday.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez lashed out at an agreement for American troops to use more Colombian military bases on Friday, accusing the U.S. of aiming to start a conflict and urging his military to be prepared.

Economy The Venezuelan government approved the Imported Assembly Material for Vehicles for the car industry corresponding to the first quarter of 2010, reported Jesse Chacn, the Minister of Science, Technology and Intermediate Industries .

At least 19,400 persons will be murdered in Venezuela this year, an increase of 4,816 homicides compared with 14,584 homicides recorded in 2008, according to Incosec , an NGO that uses homicide statistics nationally to create a dynamic "map" of murder in Venezuela...

RIA Novosti: Ten countries have applied for licenses to construct plants to produce Kalashnikov assault rifles, a deputy CEO of Russia's state arms exporter Rosoboronexport said Tuesday.

The naming of the diplomats was the first concrete step in the reestablishment of ties between the U.S.-backed conservative government of Colombia and that of socialist revolutionary Rafael Correa, the president of Ecuador.

OUR OPINION: Hugo Chávez's economic policies driving Venezuela to ruin

It's come to this in Hugo Chavez's Venezuela: The president is pleading with people to save water by limiting their daily cleansing routine to a 3-minute ``communist shower.''

Really. This is just the latest indication of how badly Mr. Chávez continues to mismanage the economy of energy-rich Venezuela, which should be one of the most prosperous nations in the world to judge from its vast hydrocarbon reserves...

Laht.com: Colombia has delivered a protest note to the UN Security Council concerning the warlike "threats" made by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, the Colombian Foreign Ministry said Thursday.

By threatening war with Colombia and with the United States, Venezuelaa s President Hugo Chavez is trying to distract attention from the domestic crisis in his own country, charged Archbishop Balthazar Porras of Merida.

CARACAS, Venezuela President Hugo Chavez's government on Wednesday nationalized two coffee companies, including Fama de America, one of Venezuela's largest coffee producers.

The state of affairs in South America remains alarming. An armed conflict between the two countries is very likely.

The mother of former major league pitcher Victor Zambrano was rescued after a three-day kidnapping ordeal, Venezuelan authorities said on Wednesday.

CARACAS (Dow Jones)--Finance Minister Ali Rodriguez said Wednesday that any devaluation of the bolivar would have to be timed taking into consideration its political and social impact. "It's a problem that requires making the necessary adjustments in the precise moment," Rodriguez said during a conference. Rodriguez added that any adjustments would need to take into consideration economic and financial variables as well as their political and social impact. "An overvalued bolivar is a mechanism for economic redistribution," he said. The bolivar officially trades at a fixed rate of VEF2.15 for $1, but restricted access to that rate forces most companies and individuals to go to the black market for their foreign currency needs, where more than 5 bolivars are needed for $1.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez last night denied he had called for war with Colombia and said his comments to make preparations were defensive, Caracol Radio reported.

A potentially devastating outbreak of swine flu among the Yanomami Indians in Venezuela's Amazon rain forest appears to be contained for now after a rapid medical response in the remote zone.

Brazil and the U.S. urged Colombia and Venezuela on Tuesday to talk out their differences after Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez ordered his military to prepare for a possible war with his neighbour.

CARACAS, Venezuela - This country may be an energy colossus, with the largest conventional oil reserves outside the Middle East and one of the world's mightiest hydroelectric systems, but that has not prevented it from enduring serious electricity and water shortages that seem only to be getting worse.

WASHINGTON The United States on Tuesday called on Colombia and Venezuela to talk out their differences, before the growing tension over a US-Colombian military base deal gets out of hand.

Venezuela plans to expropriate a large coffee producer and is negotiating to buy a majority stake in another, potentially allowing the government to control 80 percent of the domestic market.

Fidel Castro learned a lot from Chilean President Salvador Allende's failed power grab in 1973. And he used the lessons of that bitter defeat to coach Venezuela's Hugo Chávez to dictatorship under the guise of democracy more than 25 years later...

The Colombian government said it would appeal to international bodies over what it called a threat made over the weekend by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

Prosecutors say a lone gunman approached Gustavo Gonzalez, a member of the Copei opposition party, a4 a restaurant, fatall9 shot the politician in the head and fled on a motorcycle driven b9 an accomplice.

The call by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to the country's military on preparing for a war against Colombia may hinder the Brazilian Senate's vote on the Protocol of Venezuela Accession to Mercosur, warned some Brazilian senators on Monday.

Laht.com: A small opposition party has said that Venezuela's new Minister of Electricity has been guilty of stealing power amid a crisis that has caused prolonged blackouts across the Andean nation.

Public sector grows while the number of workers in private companies decline El Universal: The Venezuelan government payroll increased by 12.7% in the last 12 months after the State hired 259,781 people as public employees between September 2008 and September 2009.

Colombia has said it will seek UN help after Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez instructed his military to ready "for war."

The mother of former major leaguer Victor Zambrano has been kidnapped. Zambrano's agent Peter Greenberg says Elizabeth Mendez Zambrano was abducted Sunday morning from her son's farm near Maracay in central Venezuela.

President Hugo Chavez on Sunday ordered Venezuela's military to prepare for a possible armed conflict with Colombia, saying his country's soldiers should be ready if the United States attempts to provoke a war between the South American neighbors.

" Venezuelan Vice President and Defence Minister RamA3n Carrizales claimed on Sunday that he had evidence that a group of Colombians who were kidnapped and assassinated a week earlier in Venezuelan territory were part of a "paramilitary infiltration plan" that aimed to destabilise the socialist government of President Hugo Chavez.

" Venezuela plans to build 2,000 homes for poor families in the Dominican province of Montecristi, on the border with Haiti, Governor Alejandro Toribio said yesterday.

Venezuelan Jewish groups have partnered with a leading developer to restore the oldest existing Jewish cemetery in South America.

BOGOTA: Spying charges, troop movements and mysterious killings along the border between Venezuela and Colombia are stoking a long-running diplomatic dispute that some are calling the "Cold War" of the Andes.

'Former Chavez's allies are moving away from his model and getting closer to Lula's social democracy' Fernando Gerbasi, expert in foreign affairs Politics Director of the Strategic Study Center, Metropolitan University, Fernando Gerbasi was twice ambassador to Colombia and also chief of mission in Brasilia.

Politics A group of 37 Colombians, who were deported from Venezuela for allegedly being members of a paramilitary group that attempted to assassinate President Hugo Chavez, complained of mistreatment.

Caracas, Venezuela, Nov 7, 2009 / 05:50 pm .- Widespread anxiety exists among Catholic leaders in Venezuela who fear that President Hugo Chavez could try to confiscate churches, schools and other church property and try to 'eliminate' the work of the Catholic Church, a source close to the Venezuelan Bishops Conference has told Aid to the Church in ...

The sacralization of history is an ancient practice in Latin America. In the region's Catholic countries, stories of the past, with their heroes and their villains, became instant paraphrases of the Holy Story, complete with martyrologies, holy days, and iconic representations of secular saints.

While a drought has put Caracas under widespread water rationing for the first time in years, for Venezuelans in this hillside slum it's just more of the same.

Severe shortages of electricity and water pose a growing risk to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and his Bolivarian revolution that is powered largely by the country's petroleum revenues.

Venezuela's Iran Ties Raise Eyebrows Latin American Current Events, News & Affairs - Andres Oppenheimer Hugo Chavez, controversial president of Venezuela M. Ryder Here's an issue that is drawing growing attention in Washington , but is going almost unnoticed in Latin America -- allegations that Venezuela is helping Iran develop nuclear weapons, and ...

Colombia's state-controlled oil company Ecopetrol SA (ECOPETROL.BO) and its partner U.S.-based Chevron Corp. (CVX) reduced shipments of natural gas to Venezuela as demand in Colombia increased...

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's government is sending 15,000 soldiers to the border with Colombia, saying the military build-up is needed to increase security, combat drug trafficking and root out paramilitary groups.

Venezuela's Central Bank says inflation eased slightly in October. The nation is still battling the highest consumer price gains in Latin America.

President Hugo Chávez’s victory in the 15 February 2009 referendum, permitting indefinite re-election of all elected officials, marked an acceleration of his “Bolivarian revolution” and “socialism of the 21st century”. Chávez has since moved further away from the 1999 constitution, and his government has progressively abandoned core liberal democracy principles guaranteed under the Inter-American Democratic Charter and the American Convention on Human Rights.

Fredys Villanueva, 55, from Barranquilla in Colombia has come to Venezuela to work.

CARACAS, Venezuela: Swine flu has appeared among Venezuela's Yanomami Indians, one of the largest isolated indigenous groups in the Amazon, and a doctor said Wednesday that the virus is suspected in seven deaths, including six infants.

Random drug tests will begin next year for horses in polo matches in the U.S. after the deaths of 21 elite horses in Florida that were injected with an incorrectly mixed supplement shortly before a championship match, the United States Polo Association said Wednesday.

Everyone is on edge in Caracas nowadays, and with good reason. The scent of blood is in the air. Criminal violence grows worse by the day. Independent security experts estimate that over 14,000 persons will be murdered nationally in 2009. Up to 17 million unlicensed handguns and other light weapons are circulating in a country of about 27 million inhabitants...

As this text is written, Lusbi Portillo, professor at Zulia University and environmental activist in solidarity with the indigenous movement is in hiding to protect his life and physical integrity.

VHeadline News Editor Patrick J. O'Donoghue reports: The Major was in charge of the Safe Caracas anti-crime plan for the western sector of the city.

Gunmen have killed two Venezuelan soldiers near the border with Colombia in the latest incident fueling tensions between the Andean neighbors, Caracas said on Tuesday.

By Jeremy Morgan CARACAS - The murder of the chief of the government's much-vaunted attempt to cut violent crime in this capital - which reputedly boasts one of the highest per capita murder rates in the world - has underlined the impunity of trigger happy villains in this city and a society seemingly inured to what at times looks like non-stop ...

Diosdado Cabello: "Legal framework gives government power to take action" VenEconomy: Many Venezuelans still have not realized how serious the situation created by the laws that have been enacted wholesale in recent months is, particularly when these laws are applied in combination.

Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez said Colombia's FARC rebels should lay down weapons for four months to help start peace talks, toughening his stance towards the Marxist group Washington says his government backs.

Venezuelan authorities are investigating the shooting death of an opponent of President Hugo Chavez.

It looks like Hugo Chavez's economic policies aren't exactly having a positive effect on the Venezuelan economy.

Venezuela could close out the year with more than 18,000 murders, a scourge that is increasing and the solution to which, in the opinion of analysts, includes the disarmament of the civilian population.

RESIDENTS of the Venezuelan capital face cuts in water service for as much as 48 hours per week, after the government imposed rationing to stem a 25 per cent shortfall in the city's supply, officials said on Monday.

Highlights from the Venezuelan 2010 Budget:

- Budget for the Office of the President: $2,200 million ($2.2 Billion). This corresponds to an increase of 600% with respect to the previous year which only asigned Mr. Chavez $350 million...

This stems mainly from the fact that before the global collapse last year, Venezuela financially assisted many South American countries that had beef, and refused help from the US controlled IMF and World Bank.

Iran and Venezuela are preparing to establish a joint oil company with a central office in Spain, energy sources said.