Free Republic

CARACAS, Venezuela—The largest private Venezuelan company and producer of 80% of the beer consumed here began to shut down its last beer plant on Friday, the latest deprivation in a country crippled by shortages. After Empresas Polar SA closed its three other beer plants over the past several days, the shutting of the San Joaquin plant, near Valencia, will leave just a week’s supply of beer, the company said. Like many other firms here, Polar blames the government, which hasn’t allocated the dollars the company needs to pay for imported raw materials such as malted barley. President Nicolás Maduro’s government...

On the eve of the National Assembly elections of Venezuela in which many observers expect voters to express their extreme dissatisfaction with the the Socialist policies of the ruling Chavistas which have completely ruined the economy of that oil rich nation, The Guardian of the UK has found a villain. A wealthy elite living in a state of priveleged luxury. A normal person would expect the culprits to be the corrupt Chavistas such as National Assembly president Diosdado Cabello who is estimated to have stolen over 2 billion dollars via corruption or the President of Venezuela Nicolas Maduro who is...

Daniel Pardo of BBC Mundo went on a shopping spree to see how many household goods he could find while waiting on the notoriously long lines in Venezuela. On the first day he was able to obtain a grand total of only three items out of a shopping list of eight but promised he would return the next day to see if he could get any of the rest. Well, as far as the world knows tomorrow never came. In fact, following the  March 16 Spanish language broadcast of his first day shopping for the three items, it seems Daniel Pardo never returned....

In the "believe it or not" series. We learn today that chavismo has created its own prayer to Chavez. Let's start with the crossing. TEACH YOUR CHILDREN HOW TO CROSS THEMSELVES AS CHAVISTAS In the name of Chavez, Maduro, and the sovereign "pueblo", we shall live and win NOW TEACH THIS TO YOUR LITTLE FRIENDS And then with a new and improved prayer to the Lord, the lord Chavez that is. Spanish original as per Globovision: “Chávez nuestro que estas en el cielo, en la tierra, en el mar y en nosotros, los y las delegadas, santificado sea tu nombre,...

The ill-fated talks between befuddled opposition leaders and the Chavista regime have collapsed and the repression of protesters has increased."Dialogue" with ChavistasThe Chavista regime has not engaged in meaningful dialogue with the opposition and will continue to evade it. The regime has also increased its attacks on those who demonstrate against its repression. According to The Devil's Excrement, Venezuela’s Dictatorship No Longer Cares About Appearances. For two and a half months, the Venezuelan Government had been extremely careful with the students and their protests. While it was aggressive and repressive at attacking those protesting in the streets, it had been respectful of the student...

".......Lisandro Barazarte, a photographer with the local newspaper, Notitarde, caught images of several of the men shooting into the crowd while steadying their firearms on their palms. "They were practiced shooters," Barazarte said. "More were armed, but didn't fire." When it was over, two La Isabelica men were dead: a 22-year-old student, Jesus Enrique Acosta, and a little league baseball coach, Guillermo Sanchez. Witnesses told the AP the first was shot in the head, the second in the back. They said neither was at the barricades when he was killed.... ....."They put a pistol in my face and said they...

There are fewer things there to like now than a decade or more before, but even now there are some. The past several days in Venezuela, marginally covered by the "legitimate" media in the United States, were highly disturbing. My wife, Jeanie, and I retain pleasant memories from when we were there off and on between 1996 and 2001, frequently for months at a time.ThenIn general Venezuela was prosperous, food (most of it locally grown or raised) and other necessities were plentiful as well as inexpensive and, with rare exceptions, the people we met seemed happy. Caracas, for a large city, was...

Secretary of State John Kerry is joining officials from the United Nations, Organization of American States and European Union in condemning “senseless violence” in Venezuela. “The United States is deeply concerned by rising tensions and violence surrounding this week's protests in Venezuela,” Kerry said in a statement. “Our condolences go to the families of those killed as a result of this tragic violence.” “We are particularly alarmed by reports that the Venezuelan government has arrested or detained scores of anti-government protestors and issued an arrest warrant for opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez. These actions have a chilling effect on citizens' rights...

It's a shame, because Venezuela is a beautiful country. However, both stuff and freedom are in short supply and there appears to be more interest in stuff than in freedom, My wife and I arrived at a splendid marina, Mare Mares in Puerto la Cruz, Venezuela in (as I now recall) November of 1996 and remained there until we sailed to the island of Bonaire about a year later. We generally returned to Venezuela -- a pleasant overnight sail with the wind from abeam -- every six months or so to stock up on booze and fuel at very low...

This is one of the best short online videos I have seen in a long time.Go to the link above, or here:http://www.el-nacional.com/www/site/detalle_multimedia.php?q=med/5947Let it load (be patient if not on good broadband), turn up your speakers, and get dig this totally ballistic Hugo Chavez supporter after losing an election in Venezuela recently.You won't be disappointed. This is right after the communist Reds in Venezuela under Chavez lost a vote to anti-Chavez forces.

The communist, pro-terrorist group International ANSWER (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism) seems to realize they are facing a hot LZ on March 17. ANSWER has made significant changes in their plans since their initial announcement that they would hold their ‘antiwar’ rally at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Last week they changed the location of their rally from Constitution Gardens (East side of the Vietnam Memorial) to a park one block west of Memorial on Henry Bacon Drive. Yesterday, ANSWER announced they are only going to use the Henry Bacon Drive park as a meeting point for their...

At the moment the bomb was attached to the undercarriage of his canary-yellow Toyota Land Cruiser, Danilo Anderson was one building away, studying criminalistics at a nearby police academy. The unguarded lot where he had parked was outside the coroner's office in the Caracas neighborhood of Bello Monte. It was after 6:00 p.m. November 18, 2004. Anderson, a 38-year-old prosecutor with the Venezuelan attorney general's office, finished class around 9:30 p.m. He dropped off his bodyguard at a bus stop and drove down La Avenida de las Ciencias de los Chaguaramos toward the Sambil Mall, where he was supposed to...

Here is the latest ranting from the mouth foaming leftist radicals in San Diego... "Saturday, January 27, 2007 at 2pm Demonstration at Horton Plaza 4th and Broadway, Downtown San Diego NOT ONE MORE DEATH NOT ONE MORE DOLLAR NOT ONE MORE DAY End the War on Iraq! Bring the Troops Home Now! The US occupation of Iraq is the greatest source of violence in Iraq today. Only the immediate and complete withdrawal of US and other occupation troops will clear the path for Iraqis to determine their own future. We need to bring our sons and daughters home now. Join...

WASHINGTON, Apr. 10, 2006 (AP) The Bush administration may severely restrict the movements of Venezuela's ambassador if pro-government activists in Venezuela engage in any more "thuggish" activities against U.S. Ambassador William Brownfield, a spokesman said Monday. There have been four incidents of harassment directed at Brownfield in recent weeks, including one last Friday when his convoy was pelted with eggs, tomatoes and other food. The convoy was also pummeled by motorcyclists during a miles-long chase through Caracas. "If we see an incident like this again, I think that there are going to be serious diplomatic consequences between our two countries....

Latin American war could possibly break out in the next few years. Unlike what happened in the 20th century when all confrontations were caused by border disputes, this time the war could be a bloody, multinational conflict triggered by ideological reasons. All symptoms indicate that behind that likely disaster will be the irresponsible behavior of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, a quixotic firebrand who is intent in reconstructing the continent according to his revolutionary fantasies. .... Venezuela has replaced Cuba as the headquarters of the violent left. A few weeks ago, a former Peruvian Army officer, Antauro Humala, after proclaiming himself...

It was a small opposition march. Between the threat of violence, the lack of permits, people being disouraged and the fact that not a single political party got involved, only a small group by the standard of the past four years went to the march. Curiously it felt like the first march on January 23d. 2001, exactly four years ago. While it was tense, there was no violence, at least until the point I left. It was erie, wealking down Avenida Francisco de Miranda with the Chavistas lining the sidewalks jeering at us. The pro-Chavez march had all of the...

When Hugo Chavez was running for President, he emphasized that he did not believe in representative democracy, but in participatory democracy. So much so, that Chavez refused to sign the declaration after the Quebec Summit, because it used representative rather than participatory. I had to wonder what happened to that when the Venezuelan National assembly named this week a committee to choose a replacement for Central Bank Director Manuel Lago. Despite the fact that the National assembly is split almost 50/50 between pro-Chavez and anti-Chavez Deputies (there is a difference of only three Deputies out of 160), there is not...

I have been arranging my extensive CD collection which lead me to play some of those long forgotten CD. This afternoon it was Mendelssohn "Reformation" Symphony. This might not be the best symphony of this rather underrated composer. The 5th popularity has suffered from being a "heftier" work, more intellectual, less crafted and vital than the "Italian". As if trying to encompass the reformation movement in music were possible. Still, the last movement opening is one of the most stirring moments of the repertoire, and a powerful musical image of the liberation of the spirit, no matter what religious connotation...

"El Charcote," a cattle ranch owned by the British Vestey Group, is to be seized on Saturday "with state machinery, to settle a first group of men participating in the Mission Land and Mission Free Men," said Alexis Ortiz, solicitor general of rich farmland Cojedes State. After a meeting at the Executive Vice President's Office, he explained that the move is to be supported by "the National Armed Force and local police corps, as well as officials from Governor Johnny Yánez Rangel's Office."

Aleksander Boyd, who publishes the blog Vcrisis from London, has proven to us to be a relaible source of news on the Castroite Chavez regime of Venezuela. Most recently, he scooped the world press in reporting on a nonsensical raid on a Jewish school in Caracas. Another blog, Vheadline.com, which seems to take a pro-Chavez perspective, has taken to attacking Aleks mercilessly. It is now calling him "socially racist" and a "terrorist" in addition to a "traitor." Aleks is a brave and honest patriot, resisting a thuggish left wing regime, as far as we can tell. We wish him well....