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Venezuela enters an uncertain future with Tuesday's announcement of the death of President Hugo Chávez, who led the country virtually as a one-man show for the past 14 years, using oil money to launch popular spending programs for the poor and putting much of the economy under government control.

Ho hum...another day another commie in Congress.

U.S. officials quickly cast Hugo Chavez's death as an opportunity for America to rebuild a relationship with Venezuela and for the country itself to pursue “meaningful democratic reforms," with President Obama heralding a "new chapter" in the Latin American country's history. Chavez, who had been battling cancer since 2011, died Tuesday after 14 years in power. An election is expected to be held in 30 days – the transition marks one of the first major challenges for newly appointed Secretary of State John Kerry. Obama kept a measured tone in a statement released Tuesday evening. "At this challenging time of...

There is perhaps no worse political disaster for the government of Cuba than the death of President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela. After the Soviet Union collapsed and ceased to subsidize the Castro regime, the government of Cuba went through a very difficult period. That is, until President Chávez picked up the tab. While the real amount of the subsidy is unknown, Venezuela does send more than 115,000 barrels of oil a day to the refinery at Cienfuegos and pays for tens of thousands of Cuban doctors and sports trainers who are deployed all over Latin America. The true amount is...

President Hugo Chavez Has Died

After reiterating that President Hugo Chávez's health is looking grave, Venezuela’s vice president lashed out at the country’s “enemies” and expelled two U.S. diplomats whom he accused of spying on the country’s military. At a press conference on Monday, Vice President Nicolás Maduro also pointed to the U.S. and other foreign countries of somehow poisoning Chávez with cancer. Following a lengthy introduction of numerous officials in attendance, Maduro said U.S. military attaché David Delmonaco will be expelled from the country for conspiring against the government and the armed forces. Foreign Minister Elias Jaua also announced the expulsion of a second...

CARACAS, Venezuela -- A severe new respiratory infection has hit cancer-stricken President Hugo Chavez and his condition is "very delicate," Venezuela's government says.

Hugo Chavez is either dead, or on life support, but the world will remain in the dark for weeks to come. While the above photograph has probably been Photoshopped it has been making its rounds on the internet for the last few weeks. Until we hear from el Comandante himself the rumors will not be silenced, irregardless of what Venezuelan officials would lead us to believe. Government officials are attempting to prepare the country for Chavez to govern from life support, or beyond the grave. In this attempt they may succeed – for a while. Preventing civil war is a...

En contacto con CNN Chile, el ex embajador de Panamá ante la OEA, Guillermo Cochez, afirmó que desde el 30 de diciembre pasado el presidente Chávez fue declarado con muerte cerebral en Cuba, con lo cual regresó a Venezuela en ese estado. Por esta razón, asegura que no fue visitado por los distintos mandatarios y cuestionó la última fotografía que fue publicada de Chávez con sus hijas.

CARACAS—The Venezuelan government Friday released the first images of ailing President Hugo Chávez since his departure more than two months ago to Cuba to resume his battle with cancer. The photos show the smiling president in a blue and white track suit, lying down and flanked by two of his daughters. In one image, he is holding a copy of the Cuba state newspaper Granma, which Venezuelan officials said was the Feb. 14 edition of the publication, apparently to prove that the photos were taken recently. The 58-year-old leader, who announced his battle with cancer in June 2011, appeared to...

CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is undergoing "complex" alternative treatments more than two months after having cancer surgery in Cuba, his vice president said on Wednesday. The 58-year-old socialist leader has not been seen in public since he went to Havana for the operation on December 11, his fourth surgery for cancer in 18 months. Vice President Nicolas Maduro did not give details of the alternative treatments the president was receiving. Chavez has never said what type of cancer he is suffering from, and critics accuse the government of excessive secrecy over his condition. "Today our commander is...

Translated by IASW Physicians caring for Hugo Chávez in Havana have notified his family, the Castro brothers, and the main chavista leaders that their patient will no longer be able to return to his functions as president of Venezuela. This is according to sources in direct contact with his medical team, who also indicate that Chávez has lost his voice completely as a result of medical treatment. His vocal cords have endured permanent damage making recuperation highly unlikely. Speechless and unable to move from the bed in which he has spent the last two months, our sources tell us the...

[To Admin Moderator: I couldn't fit title in completely - here is the rest: “This May Well Be the Lighting of the Proverbial Fuse… Everywhere.”] While Europe’s fiscal woes seem to be on everyone’s financial radar recently, and rightfully so, there is instability everywhere. This is a global economic crisis and it’s affecting hundreds of millions of people all over the world. Earlier this week Argentine President Cristina Kirchner responded to her country’s sky-rocketing inflation rates by freezing prices on food, a move Forbes magazine says will soon lead to widespread corruption in the business community and government. In Venezuela,...

It was the first devaluation to be announced by Chavez's government since 2010, and it brought down the official value of the bolivar by 46.5 percent against the dollar. By boosting the bolivar value of Venezuela's dollar-denominated oil sales, the change is expected to help alleviate a difficult budget outlook for the government, which has turned increasingly to borrowing to meet its spending obligations.

Venezuela’s cancer-stricken President Hugo Chavez is entering a new phase of treatment after finishing post-operative care, Venezuelan Vice President Nicolas Maduro said Sunday. -- Univision channel said on Friday Chavez was transferred from the intensive care unit to a secret underground bunker-hospital in Havana, which was designed for emergency medical assistance to Fidel Castro.

In late November and early December, Peruvian business leaders gathered in the industrial city of Arequipa for the 50th Annual Conference of Executives (CADE). When the polling firm Ipsos Apoyo asked CADE attendees whether they approved of the job performance of Peruvian president Ollanta Humala, a remarkable 75 percent said yes. In other words, a former Hugo Chávez acolyte—who led a failed military coup in 2000, who reportedly received money from Chávez during his 2006 presidential campaign, and whose wife once earned $4,000 per month in “consulting” fees from a pro-Chávez newspaper based in Caracas—now enjoys overwhelming support from the...

Shortly after Hugo Chávez won his first election as Venezuelan president in December 1998, a lawyer from the western state of Barinas, which was then governed by Chávez's father, delivered a prescient warning to Newsweek magazine: "Venezuelans are dreaming of a savior, but Chávez is a dictator. People don't know what they are getting."  More than 14 years later, a cancer-stricken Chávez is reportedly near death, but his autocratic legacy is very much alive. Venezuela long ago ceased to be a real democracy: The ruling regime effectively controls the Supreme Court (which in 2004 was expanded and packed with Chávez allies), the National Assembly...

Thursday was inauguration day in Venezuela. Hugo Chavez — who has dominated Venezuelan politics one way or another for 14 years — was again sworn in as President. Only this time, the authoritarian populist could not take the oath in person. He departed for cancer surgery in Cuba on Dec. 10, 2012, and has not been seen in public since. This latest surgery is his fourth round of treatment in Cuba. Few expect Chavez to serve out this next six-year presidential term.

The failure of the sick President-elect of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, to show up yesterday for his necessary swearing in as the nation’s President at Venezuela’s Supreme Court was emblematic of a man who has cared little for law or procedure whilst ruling Venezuela as a dictator for over a decade now.

The failure of the sick President-elect of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, to show up yesterday for his necessary swearing in as the nation’s President at Venezuela’s Supreme Court was emblematic of a man who has cared little for law or procedure whilst ruling Venezuela as a dictator for over a decade now.