Free Republic

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Saturday ordered authorities to seize factories that have stopped production and jail their owners, a day after declaring a state of emergency to combat the country's economic crisis. "We must take all measures to recover productive capacity, which is being paralyzed by the bourgeoisie," he told a rally in Caracas. "Anyone who wants to halt (production) to sabotage the country should get out, and those who do must be handcuffed and sent to the PGV (Venezuelan General Penitentiary)," he said.

At the moment, the armed forces’ position vis-à-vis the government is not clear. Some speculate that the Bolivarian National Guard is divided. Others claim that the regime exerts full control over the Bolivarian National Guard’s members. The only certainty is that uncertainty abounds. The PanAm Post had the opportunity to interview a Bolivarian National Guard member of middle rank, who asked to remain anonymous since his views could expose him to danger. Why has the state launched an offensive against criminal groups? The situation was getting out of hand for political reasons. The state has no means to control criminal...

The daughter of Hugo Chavez, the former president who once declared 'being rich is bad,' may be the wealthiest woman in Venezuela, according to evidence reportedly in the hands of Venezuelan media outlets. Maria Gabriela Chavez, 35, the late president's second-oldest daughter, holds assets in American and Andorran banks totaling almost $4.2billion, Diario las Americas reports. The figure would make Gabriela Chavez wealthier than media mogul Gustavo Cisneros, whom Forbes named the wealthiest Venezuelan earlier this year with $3. 6 billion in assets. Others close to Chavez managed to build up great personal wealth that was kept outside the petrostate....

U.S. intelligence officials said Friday they are concerned Venezuela is slipping into a crisis that could lead to a coup attempt or a government crackdown on dissent. Reuters reports: In a bleak assessment of Venezuela’s worsening crisis, the senior officials expressed doubt that unpopular leftist President Nicolas Maduro would allow a recall referendum this year, despite opposition-led protests demanding a vote to decide whether he stays in office…They said one “plausible” scenario would be that Maduro’s own party or powerful political figures would force him out and would not rule out the possibility of a military coup. Still, they said...

Under Bernie Sanders, the United States of America would become a failed state such as Venezuela If nations could have biographies, Venezuela’s would read something like this: After a rocky adolescence, Vennie got his life straightened out, got an education, a good job, and lived a fairly comfortable life. However, in his dotage, he was suckered by a succession of con artists and blew through all his savings, ending his days penniless and bitter. That, in a nutshell, is pretty much what Hugo Chavez and his socialist caudillo successors have done to the country. By Latin American standards, Venezuela used...

If nations could have biographies, Venezuela's would read something like this: After a rocky adolescence, Vennie got his life straightened out, got an education, a good job, and lived a fairly comfortable life. However, in his dotage, he was suckered by a succession of con artists and blew through all his savings, ending his days penniless and bitter. That, in a nutshell, is pretty much what Hugo Chavez and his socialist caudillo successors have done to the country. By Latin American standards, Venezuela used to a prosperous and stable nation. Venezuela possesses one of the largest petroleum reserves in the...

Nicholas Maduro, the Venezuelan president declared a 60-day state of emergency on Friday due to what he called plots from within the OPEC country and the United States to topple his leftist government. Mr. Maduro did not provide details of the measure. A previous state of emergency, implemented in states near the Colombian border last year, suspended constitutional rights guarantees in those areas....... Earlier on Friday, U.S. intelligence officials told reporters they were increasingly worried about the potential for an economic and political meltdown in Venezuela and predicted Mr. Maduro was not likely to complete his term.....

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro declared a 60-day state of emergency on Friday due to what he called plots from within the OPEC country and the United States to topple his leftist government. Maduro did not provide details of the measure. A previous state of emergency, implemented in states near the Colombian border last year, suspended constitutional guarantees in those areas, except for guarantees relating to human rights.

With dire shortages of basic goods, a looming foreign debt payment, horrific street crime and intransigent political divisions, Venezuela is in danger of collapsing into waves of deadly violence, U.S. intelligence officials warned Friday. Venezuela, which controls the world's largest reserves of crude oil, is in the throes of a potentially explosive political stalemate after opposition parties gained a majority in the national congress in elections late last year. President Nicolas Maduro, a leftist, faces a possible recall vote sponsored by the opposition that he is maneuvering to block.

U.S. intelligence analysts are increasingly convinced that Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro is likely to be pushed aside by members of his own socialist movement before finishing his term. Senior American intelligence officials said Friday that as Venezuela’s economy spins out of control, Maduro’s grip on power is more fragile. They briefed reporters on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss their assessments by name. […] The officials said the main concern for the Obama administration is that the deep political divisions and mounting economic hardships could trigger mayhem of the sort that Caracas experienced in 1989, when at...

This is what happens when you mix hyper-inflation, price controls, and totlaitarianism. Pan Am Post reports: Ramón Muchacho, Mayor of Chacao in Caracas, said the streets of the capital of Venezuela are filled with people killing animals for food. Through Twitter, Muchacho reported that in Venezuela, it is a “painful reality” that people “hunt cats, dogs and pigeons” to ease their hunger... The population’s desperation has begun to show, with looting and robberies for food increasing all the time. This Sunday, May 1, six Venezuelan military officials were arrested for stealing goats to ease their hunger, as there was no...

...In a dark-of-night operation, Russian antidoping experts and members of the intelligence services surreptitiously replaced urine samples tainted by performance-enhancing drugs with clean urine collected months earlier, somehow breaking into the supposedly tamper-proof bottles that are the standard at international competitions, Dr. Rodchenkov said. For hours each night, they worked in a shadow laboratory lit by a single lamp, passing bottles of urine through a hand-size hole in the wall, to be ready for testing the next day, he said. By the end of the Games, Dr. Rodchenkov estimated, as many as 100 dirty urine samples were expunged.

The son of Lebanese migrants - Vice President Michel Temer will take the helm of the world’s fifth-most populous nation on Thursday after Brazil’s Senate voted to put President Dilma Rousseff on trial for breaking budgetary laws.

Kardashians Do Cuba: The World’s Coolest Place Shooting the next show at a Stalinist death-camp. May 12, 2016 Humberto Fontova    Thanks largely to Obama’s recent “engagement,” Stalinist Cuba has quickly become the absolute coolest place on earth. Close on the heels of Katy Perry, The Rolling Stones and the Obama family itself, this week Karl Lagerfeld showcased his Chanel “cruise line” with a fashion-show extravaganza where Havana’s Prado Street served as the catwalk/runway for the world’s coolest models. Gisele Bundchen, Tilda Swinton and Vin Diesel monkey-shined for the paparazzi on the sidelines. Not to be outdone, the Kardashians just arrived in...

As for March, there was an increase in yearly prices due to inflation — a 582.9 percent increase for food,

Citizens turned out in massive crowds to add their signatures to the recall referendum against Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro. And for good reason. The country is in a state of paralysis: frequent blackouts; food, medicine and vaccine scarcities; closed-down factories and frequent looting. Chaos and anarchy hang over the nation that not so long ago was the most rich and advanced in Latin America. Without a doubt the fault of the country's dire situation is on the late president Hugo Chávez. His socialist policies devastated Venezuela's flourishing economy. But in a less obvious way, Venezuelan citizens are also to blame....

Life isn’t much fun these days in the world’s socialist paradise. If you had to choose a country you didn’t want to live in, Venezuela would be near the top of the list. Corrupt, dysfunctional, bankrupt, crime-ridden, drug-infested, short of practically every basic commodity, it can’t keep the lights on, keep the government running or brew its own beer. Last weekend six army officers were arrested for stealing goats from a farm because they were hungry. Venezuela has become the basket case of the western hemisphere, a case study on how not to run a country and a living example...

Following a presentation on law enforcement of Jewish radicals who attack West-Bank Palestinians at the UN, the Venezuelan ambassador accused Israel of carrying out 'final solution' for Palestinians. Venezuelan Ambassador to the UN Rafael Ramirez accused Israel of implementing a "final solution" against the Palestinians in the UN Security Council on Friday. "Is Israel trying to impose a 'final solution' on the Palestinians in the West Bank?" Ramirez asked at the Security Council meeting. Israeli Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon immediately condemned the statement, and Ramirez apologized to "the Jewish people, if they were offended by my statement." The...

Venezuelan politician German Mavare, leader of the opposition UNT party, died Friday after being shot in the head, an assassination that occurred in the western state of Lara, his organization said. latino.foxnews.com

The situation in Venezuela has become so bad that even soldiers are struggling to support themselves. Over the weekend, six members of the Venezuelan military were detained by local authorities for stealing goats, the Venezuelan newspaper El Nacional reported Sunday. It said the soldiers confessed to stealing the goats and said they did it to feed themselves, since they had no food left in their barracks.