Free Republic

Venezuela’s largest Jewish advocacy group has protested to the government a state-run radio broadcast that positively referenced the anti-Semitic "Protocols of the Elders of Zion." In a formal complaint filed this week with the Public Ministry, the Venezuelan Confederation of Israelite Associations denounced the broadcast in which journalist Cristina Gonzalez read the infamous text and suggested that listeners also should read it. “Venezuelan Jews know that promoting this anti-Semitic document only sows hate and discrimination, violating the Constitution of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela,” the confederation said in a statement. During the broadcast, Gonzalez expressed her admiration for the Jewish...

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez ordered the expropriation of U.S.-based glass container manufacturer Owens-Illinois's subsidiary in the South American country. Company spokeswoman Stephanie Johnston said Tuesday that "we were surprised to learn of this decision and we are prepared to work with government officials to better understand the situation." Chavez announced plans to expropriate the company in a televised speech late Monday. The leftist leader criticized the company's practices in the country, saying it had been "taking away the money of Venezuelans" and exploiting local people.

As in all major government takeovers of private companies in Venezuela, President Hugo Chávez declared that seizing beer-and-food giant Polar's facilities here would mark another victory for the poor in the country's march toward socialism. "Why is it that Polar has so much money?" Chávez asked in a February speech ... Except this time, the president's plans went badly awry, ... Polar [fought] back by taking its case to the Supreme Court, [and] its employees have risen up, too, rallying in opposition to Chávez's edict and holding all-night vigils to prevent a takeover. ... employees said they oppose the government...

CARACAS, Venezuela – Venezuela's government has seized control of 11 oil rigs owned by U.S. driller Helmerich & Payne, which shut them down because the state oil company was behind on payments. Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez announced that Venezuela would nationalize the Tulsa, Oklahoma-based company's rigs. He said in a statement Wednesday that Helmerich & Payne had rejected government demands to resume drilling operations for more than a year ...

This is pretty scary stuff. The Federal government is ready to seize control of private company networks in order to "protect" us in the event of a hacker attack.

breaking...

The collapse in oil prices has hit OPEC nations hard, but perhaps none more so than Venezuela. Hugo Chavez apparently put more of his profits into his socialization programs than in paying contractors for their work. Now they have stopped working altogether as Chavez has no money to pay their past-due notices, which will curtail production just when Chavez needs it most: Venezuela’s state oil company is behind on billions in payments to private oil contractors from Oklahoma to Belarus, some of which have now stopped work, even as President Hugo Chavez funnels more oil revenue to social programs.

BOGOTA (Reuters) - Venezuela's regional neighbors should be ready to respond to a potential threat from President Hugo Chavez's arms build-up, which could be used to intimidate rather than for self-defense, a senior U.S. defense official said on Thursday. Chavez, a self-styled socialist staunchly opposed to Washington, has irked the White House by spending billions of dollars on Russian fighter jets, attack helicopters and Kalashnikov rifles to refurbish the military. The Bush administration has banned U.S. arms sales to Venezuela, criticized Chavez's purchase of jets from Moscow and said his plans to build rifle factories raise concerns about weapons reaching...

The Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez has anointed himself president for life by proposing sweeping changes to the country's constitution. Setting out his plans for completing his socialist revolution in the oil-rich Latin American nation, he proposing radical constitutional reform which has at its centre indefinite re-election for himself. In a rambling televised speech reminiscent of his close ally and friend Fidel Castro, Mr Chavez told the national assembly of 33 changes he plans to make to the constitution he introduced in 1999 which will cement his grip on power. "We have broken the chains of the old, exploitative capitalist system,"...

CARACAS, Venezuela - National Guard troops fired tear gas and rubber bullets Monday into a crowd of protesters angry over a decision by President Hugo Chavez that forced a critical television station off the air. University students blocked one lane of a major highway hours after Radio Caracas Television ceased broadcasting at midnight and was replaced with a new state-funded channel. Chavez had refused to renew RCTV's broadcast license, accusing it of "subversive" activities and of backing a 2002 coup against him. Two students were injured by rubber bullets and a third was hit with a tear gas canister, said...

CARACAS, Venezuela -- When the state oil company recently took over the last privately run oil fields in Venezuela, President Hugo Chávez declared it a victory against Washington and a giant leap toward a new energy policy that would diversify the market for Venezuelan crude to include rising powers like China. "Down with the American Empire!" shouted Chávez, who often warns that he'll shut off the oil spigot to the United States if the Bush administration invades Venezuela or hatches an assassination plot against him. But new study of trade and oil consumption data shows that Venezuela appears ever more...

ConocoPhillips Draws Attention in Defying Venezuela Over Oil Fields by Peter Millard Dow Jones Newswires Friday, April 27, 2007 CARACAS Apr 27, 2007 (Dow Jones Newswires) ConocoPhillips (COP) raised eyebrows in Venezuela this week by skipping an event where it could have signed over the rights to run its local oil operations to state-owned oil firm Petroleos de Venezuela SA, or PdVSA. Industry watchers said the slight could mean Conoco is preparing for a legal battle if new contract terms offered in Venezuela's ongoing oil nationalization don't meet the firm's expectations. Even if Conoco caves in before Tuesday's deadline for...

The rule of law is disappearing in Venezuela Marcel Granier, President of Radio Caracas Television (Inter-American Press Agency) The reaction of President Chavez is verbally violent and crude each time someone dares to have a different opinion. ____________________________________________________ President Chavez verbally announced his decision to close Radio Caracas Television, a channel which for more than 53 years and with the best facilities draws the greater audience, moreover of being the television broadcaster that employs the most people in Venezuela. Thus culminates a long chain of aggressions against journalists, employees, managers, and shareholders of the independent media. He is trying to...

CARACAS, Venezuela — Invoking Christ and Castro as his socialist models, President Hugo Chavez began his third term Wednesday by declaring that socialism, not capitalism, is the only way forward for Venezuela and the world. His first stop: Nicaragua, where leftist ally Daniel Ortega was returning to power with his own inauguration hours later. Chavez can now count on remaining president until 2013 — or later if he gets his way with a constitutional amendment allowing him to run again. At the apex of a resurgent Latin American left, Chavez has been emboldened to make more radical changes at...

Chavez prepares his people's army to confront US By Sophie Arie in Caracas (Filed: 04/03/2006) Venezuela begins training a vast army of civilian reserves today to fight off the attack its Left-wing president, Hugo Chavez, says the United States is plotting against it. The oil-rich state aims to teach up to two million volunteers, from the unemployed to office workers, shop assistants and housewives, basic military skills such as marching in step or shooting to kill.Hugo Chavez warned Venezuelans to expect an attack from the US If it reaches that size, the force will be the largest civilian reserve army...