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Venezuelan political opposition leader and founder of the Popular Will Party, Leopoldo López, will spend the next 45 days in the Ramo Verde jail in Los Teques. During that time, the Public Prosecutor’s Office will decide whether it seeks to convict him of the alleged planning of the violent incidents that happened after the opposition rally on February 12 in the center of Caracas. Judge Ralenis Tovar Guillén delivered the detention measure today at 1:00 a.m. inside the military prison where López is held. She made use of a “mobile court” unit — basically a bus repurposed to function as...

U.S. Investigates Voting Machines’ Venezuela Ties By TIM GOLDEN Published: October 29, 2006 The federal government is investigating the takeover last year of a leading American manufacturer of electronic voting systems by a small software company that has been linked to the leftist Venezuelan government of President Hugo Chávez. Enlarge This Image Tim Boyle/Getty Images A touch-screen machine by Sequoia Voting Systems was used this month during early balloting in Chicago. Politics Blog News, updates and insights on the midterm elections, the race for 2008 and everything in-between. Go to Election Guide More Politics News The inquiry is focusing on...

President Nicolas Maduro is taking a page out of the Castro playbook to violently oppress Venezuelans who are demanding an end to his disastrous rule. February 21, 2014 (202) 228-7561 WASHINGTON, DC -- U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz released the following statement regarding the crisis in Venezuela:"As opposition protests drag into their second week in Venezuela, President Nicolas Maduro is taking a page out of the Castro playbook to violently oppress Venezuelans who are demanding an end to his disastrous rule. Activists have been detained and abused, and even shot dead in the streets. Opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez, who has emerged...

Venezuelan police and opposition demonstrators have clashed at the end of a march that gathered tens of thousands of people in Caracas. Several people were injured, as police fired tear gas and activists hurled stones in the Altamira district....

With intensifying unrest and the Maduro regime fighting a losing battle for survival, it appears that Hugo Chávez’s ‘Bolivarian revolution’ will outlive him by about a year. Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro is fighting a losing battle to salvage his regime, and student demonstrations that will continue today are only one of his problems. As details of his government’s bankruptcy are made public, his political base will continue to splinter. And as he follows Cuban advice to use brute force against peaceful demonstrators, the nationalist military will find the growing violence intolerable. In short, Maduro’s condition is terminal.According to a source...

The protesters in Venezuela do not seek anything extraordinary: They demand to be secure in their homes and their persons, they demand an end to current shortages of staple foods and other goods in the country, and they demand the right to free speech. That these things should be considered a challenge to the Maduro regime is what is extraordinary, along with the regime’s brutal response to the protests — both speak to the character of the current Venezuelan government. If honoring such basic human decencies requires a regime change in Caracas, that is more a reflection on the current...

Caracas (AFP) - President Nicolas Maduro said Saturday that remarks by US Secretary of State John Kerry on the unrest in Venezuela gave violent groups a "green light" to carry out attacks. In a tweet, Maduro also slammed the remarks made by Kerry late Friday as "arrogant" and "insolent." "John Kerry threatens Venezuela with more violence, with his statements gives the green light to violent groups to attack our people," Maduro wrote.

Caracas held on of its biggest rallies ever. The pictures of the Francisco de Miranda avenue packed cannot lie. And cannot be ignored. See previous post. There were also many marches/rallies around the country, some very well attended (Merida to name one), some in more obscure places but where there had never been anything in the past, so even 50 folks is a huge deal there.

Venezuela's Socialist government has warned it will suspend the passports of arrested protesters for five years amid a hardening crackdown on the bloody unrest that has spread nationwide in recent weeks, threatening to consume the volatile oil-rich nation. Anger erupted among demonstrators in Caracas, as news broke on Friday night of the Interior Ministry resolution that anyone detained for disturbing the peace and the public order or participating in acts of violence would be barred from leaving the country. "We're turning into Cuba", government opponents wailed as they once again took to the streets for the daily protests that have...

As the world focuses on the demonstrations and “Day of Liberation” in Kiev, as the oppressive regime in Ukraine has fled to areas in which they have support, events closer to the United States are also flaring up.While the demonstrations against the leftist dictatorship of Nicolas Maduro continue in Venezuela, news has arrived that a new group of Cuban troops has arrived in Caracas to help the regime defeat the protestors. As PJ Media contributor Alberto de la Cruz [1] reports at Babalu [2], the anti-Castro website, these troops are in fact “simply joining the thousands of other Cuban...

How are things coming along in Venezuela, that paradise of democratic socialism? You must remember Venezuela. That's the country that Diane Abbott said was showing "a better way", which Owen Jones told us had proven that "you can lead a progressive, popular government that says no to neo-liberalism"? The apple in the eye of Marx, the last hope for humanity in a world of fat cat banksters and austerity Scrooges. The Copacobana of the international revolution. Viva! How is Venezuela doing? Well, tens of thousands of protesters are in the streets, the army's been sent to crush revolt, an opposition...

In the face of the massive violence taking place in Venezuela, Texas Senator Ted Cruz, in a statement released today, sharply criticized Venezuela President and hand-picked successor to Marxist Hugo Chavez, Nicolas Maduro as using strongman tactics similar to Cuban communist tyrant Fidel Castro: “As opposition protests drag into their second week in Venezuela, President Nicolas Maduro is taking a page out of the Castro playbook to violently oppress Venezuelans who are demanding an end to his disastrous rule. Activists have been detained and abused, and even shot dead in the streets.” Cruz went onto call out Maduro for arresting...

"I call for a dialogue with you, Obama," Maduro said. "You can designate (U.S. Secretary of State John) Kerry or whoever you want to come to this dialogue and I will send my foreign minister ... for this high-level meeting." At the same time, Maduro accused Obama of failing to live up to a commitment not to "interfere with Venezuelan affairs." "What you have said has not been carried out," he said. The United States and Venezuela have not had resident ambassadors since 2010, although they have maintained diplomatic missions and active embassies. Maduro's call to exchange ambassadors comes after...

On the other hand CNN and CNNE have both been asked to leave and Penfold at CNN was even robbed at gun point. And then CNN was asked back for a Maduro press conference this evening while their official correspondent in Caracas, Osmary Hernandez, had her press credentials revoked.

When Venezuelan Dictator Hugo Chavez passed away in 2013, the White House issued the following statement. At this challenging time of President Hugo Chavez’s passing, the United States reaffirms its support for the Venezuelan people and its interest in developing a constructive relationship with the Venezuelan government. As Venezuela begins a new chapter in its history, the United States remains committed to policies that promote democratic principles, the rule of law, and respect for human rights. Now that Chavez' protege Nicolás Maduro is ordering a violent crackdown on thousands of people who dare to speak out against the failures of...

There is a scandal in the United States, and this one is not about anything the government has done. This one is squarely on the media, which is virtually ignoring what’s going on in Venezuela. There, the population is rising up en masse against the socialist government of Nicolas Maduro - the successor to the late anti-American strongman Hugo Chavez.

BOGOTA, Colombia -- In Venezuela, President Nicolás Maduro controls the TV remote. A week after he turned off Colombian television station NTN24, he threatened to pull the plug on CNN. “They want to show the world that there’s a civil war in Venezuela,” Maduro told a cheering audience Thursday night. “CNN, get out of Venezuela, enough of your propaganda.” Hours later, four of the broadcaster’s journalists had their press passes revoked. Adding to the confusion of the past two weeks of violent protests in Venezuela is that they’ve taken place amid a broadcast brownout. As local television stations have either...

Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro has invited US President Barack Obama to join him in talks aimed at resolving the problems between the two countries. Mr Maduro said the meeting would help "put the truth out on the table". He has accused US conservatives and media organisations of plotting to overthrow his government.

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has asked Congress to give him special decree-making powers that he says he needs to fight corruption and economic sabotage. The opposition says Maduro is simply following the playbook of his late mentor, Hugo Chávez. …

Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro admitted to knowing ‘with IDs and all’ who are the 900.000 Chavistas who crossed lines and did not vote for him in the 14 April election which anointed him as the successor of deceased Hugo Chavez. “When there is a man fallen in combat as was our commander (Chavez) strength must prevail. Instead of feeling defeated by sadness, we must defeat that sadness and overcome the lethargic feeling. We have identified the 900.000 compatriots with IDs and all…which meant that the gap was smaller, when the gap could have been good”, said Maduro during one of...