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The U.S. Embassy in Venezuela has temporarily stopped scheduling appointments for first-time visa seekers because of the consular staff is insufficient to serve the overwhelming demand, the consular office announced. The measure applies to all new tourist and business visas, for which an average of 1,800 applications were being filed daily. "We had to make this decision because in the last eight months [Venezuela's] Foreign Ministry hasn't responded to various requests to increase personnel," said Lola Petrova, the embassy spokeswoman. She said that with the current number of employees they can handle 800 daily appointments at the most. In an...

In 2004, Hugo Chávez and Fidel Castro launched the Bolivarian Alternative for the Peoples of Our Americas, a regional alliance of leftist leaders designed to subvert a hemispheric free trade agreement that the United States had been pushing for a decade. Today Latin America's leftist ramparts appear to be crumbling because of widespread corruption, a slowdown in China's economy and poor economic choices. For the most part, leaders failed to create diversified economies capable of withstanding slumps. The welfare and pension programs that kept voters loyal proved unsustainable. Leaders in Venezuela, Ecuador and Bolivia flouted democratic traditions by expanding or...

Cautionary tale: When socialism is instituted democratically, it’s a good indication that your days of making decisions democratically may be numbered With Venezuela spinning out of control, it’s said that U.S. officials fear a military coup. We ought to ask “Why?” Democracy on the brain can be a dangerous condition. George W. Bush pursued his unwise “nation-building” policies under the assumption that, as he put it, “democracies don’t go to war with each other.” (Note: technically we’re speaking of “republics,” not democracies.) So WWI was the “war to end all wars,” and now there’s the political system to end all...

Venezuela arrests business owner because he somehow managed to acquire enough toilet paper to properly stock his employees’ bathrooms According to this article from the Atlantic, in Venezuela, a labor union at a private business has a clause in its contract which says that the bathrooms must always have toilet paper. I agree with the union on this.Since price controls caused a shortage of toilet paper, the only way the employer could get enough toilet paper was to illegally buy it on the black market for a price that was higher than the government controlled price.Now the government is accusing...

I'm praying that Venezuela can find a way back from this. And that the United States isn't dumb enough to go down the same road In case you haven’t heard, Venezuela went all in on feeling the Bern more than a decade ago. Socialism has been about as complete a disaster there as it’s possible for a thing to be. Just to give you one example: How does a country with more oil reserves than Saudi Arabia end up with a gas crisis? I’ll tell you how: A corrupt central-planning government mismanages its resources while making it impossible for anyone...

KINGSTON, Jamaica (JIS) – The President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro Moros, arrived in the island last night for a working visit. He was met on arrival at the Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston by Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Senator Kamina Johnson Smith, among other dignitaries. Senator Johnson Smith said the visit is an important one, and is expecting fruitful talks from a bilateral meeting between President Maduro Moros and Prime Minister Andrew Holness today. The Venezuelan President is also expected to meet with Cabinet ministers.

President Maduro Deliberately Causes Shortages to Cow Venezuelan Citizens into Submission Even with the collapse of the price of oil, Venezuela’s total export revenue this year will yield a similar amount to Peru’s total exports. Peru and Venezuela have the same population, and the world knows there are no food lines in Peru and no one is dying for lack of medicines in that country. Unfortunately, most reporting by the international press on Venezuela’s current crisis, while mentioning the Chavista regime’s mismanagement and corruption, also places the blame on the economic crisis that befell the country after oil prices collapsed...

They have a socialist paradise in Venezuela! People there receive "according to their needs". But you'd better not need much in Venezuela Lest you find your self buried under weeds. Oooooooooohhhhh! They're cooking cats on every corner in Caracas. In Maracaibo they make a meal of mud. Palmasolans put pepper on their pooches. Hugo Chavez sure turned out to be a dud! The professors in their classes in the US Tell their students that socialism is great. But I don't think they'd be asking for seconds If Spot and Mittens were cooked and on their plate! Oooooooooohhhhh! They're cooking cats...

Puerto Rico's tourism industry is hoping to ease tourists' concerns about the Zika virus on the cash-strapped island, describing the extra precautions businesses are taking. "We feel this has been blown out of proportion," Clarisa Jimenez, president and CEO of the Puerto Rico Hotel and Tourism Association told ABC News. "We have taken all the measures that the CDC has recommended from day one." Tourism is particularly important to Puerto Rico, as the U.S. commonwealth struggles through its recession and its inability to pay $72 billion in public debt. Puerto Rico's hotel business comprises about 7.1 percent of the island's...

It was around noon when a food truck rolled up to a Venezuelan state-subsidized supermarket in the town of Guarenas just east of the capital. But, to the fury of the long line of people waiting out front, the cargo wasn't unloaded. Instead soldiers took it away. "We want food!" the crowd roared in protest, to no avail. Some tried to run after the truck. Under the state of emergency imposed by President Nicolas Maduro, the military, along with government-organized civilian committees, ensures that food packets are delivered door-to-door in order to -- as officials say -- cut out black...

Smartmatic: All Things Connected By Aleksander Boyd Smartmatic revisited 08.03.2011 London 14.08.05 | The Florida register of companies contains details of the board of directors of Smartmatic Corporation, which is formed by Antonio Mugica, Alfredo Anzola, Antonio Mugica Rivero, Roger Piñate, Antonio Mugica Sesma and Luis Feliu [1]. Its principal place of business is 1001 Broken Sound Parkway, NW, STE D, Boca Raton, FL 33487. The company's history in Venezuela dates back to seven years ago when the venture was "the Research and Development Unit of Panagroup in Venezuela" (sic) and in "2000 we realized the true impact of our...

MIAMI -- For the second time, Venezuela has failed to pay mining company Gold Reserve the $750 million it has been awarded for Venezuela's expropriation of its gold mining operation in 2007.

Venezuelan opposition leaders are rejecting a 60-day state of emergency declared by President Nicolás Maduro. Maduro declared the state of emergency over the weekend, giving himself decree powers to intervene in the economy and protect national sovereignty. He said the expanded powers were needed to guard against U.S. meddling in the socialist country. Opposition leader Henrique Capriles called the move unconstitutional Tuesday because Maduro acted unilaterally. Capriles said Venezuelans should reject the decree. …

Venezuela's army is to be backed by civilians grouped into ancillary security units, to tackle food shortages and public unrest, under a state of emergency decree published on Monday. The decree, published in the government gazette, brings into effect for at least 60 days sweeping powers President Nicolas Maduro announced on Friday. The measures give his government and security forces broad authorization to ignore most constitutional safeguards in a bid to keep order and supply basic food and services, and to counter a crippling energy shortage....

Venezuelan opposition leader Henrique Capriles has urged the army to choose whether it is 'with the constitution or with (President Nicolas) Maduro", after a state of emergency was declared. President Maduro has announced a 60-day emergency, giving soldiers and police wider powers to deal with the country's sprialling economic crisis. Mr. Capriles said the decree gave the president unconstitutional powers. He called on Veneuelans to ignore it and take to the streets on Wednesday. "We Venezuelans, will not accept this decree. This is Maduro putting himself above the constitution," Mr. Capriles told journalists. "To impose this, he'd better start preparing...

Venezuela's opposition has urged the public to defy a state of emergency that President Nicolas Maduro decreed over a nation sapped by food shortages and a collapsing economy. Key points: Opposition-controlled parliament rejects the President's state of emergency decree The opposition leader asks army: are you "with the constitution or with Maduro" Polls show 70 per cent of the population wants a new government The opposition-controlled National Assembly rejected the decree in a vote, saying it "deepens the severe disruption of constitutional and democratic order that Venezuela is suffering through".

Venezuela's army is to be backed by civilians grouped into ancillary security units, to tackle food shortages and public unrest, under a state of emergency decree published on Monday. The decree, published in the government gazette, brings into effect for at least 60 days sweeping powers President Nicolas Maduro announced on Friday. The measures give his government and security forces broad authorization to ignore most constitutional safeguards in a bid to keep order and supply basic food and services, and to counter a crippling energy shortage. But the opposition, which controls the National Assembly and is seeking Maduro's ouster through...

Dan from Squirrel Hill's Blog Venezuelan military tells customers not to take pictures of empty shelves in supermarkets The Venezuelan military has troops stationed in supermarkets, and they are telling customers not to take pictures of empty shelves. But that hasn’t stopped people from doing it. During the first week of 2015, the Twitter hashtag #AnaquelesVaciosEnVenezuela (“Empty shelves in Venezuela”) listed more than 200,000 tweets.For example: (posted here under fair use from https://twitter.com/Indiferencia/status/551547489565016064/photo/1 ) Nicolas Maduro, the country’s president, has continued the policies of Hugo Chavez, the country’s previous president who died in March 2013.Chavez was an incompetent, communist dictator, who...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=isO52VeBUaQ

It was once billed as a model of socialist fraternity: South America's first high-speed train, powered by Chinese technology, crisscrossing Venezuela to bring development to its backwater plains. Now all but abandoned, it has become a symbol of economic collapse — and a strategic relationship gone adrift. Where dozens of modern buildings once stood, cattle now graze on grass growing amid the rubble of the project's gutted and vandalized factory. A red arched sign in Chinese and Spanish is all that remains of what until 16 months ago was a bustling complex of 800 workers. That's when the project's Chinese...