[StJacques]

"Isn't that a rather unusual first name for a Venezuelan?"

Though marron is correct that South Americans are well known for giving their children unusual first names, in this case the man was raised to be a leftist by his Slavic mother and labor union leader father.

I quote from  http://www.vcrisis.com/?content=letters/200511190917

". . . Vladimir is married to a photographer. He has several children. And siblings: Mario, Esperanza, Ernesto. He is the son of the late Cruz Villegas, an honest labor union leader of the left. His mother was of Slavic origin. By way of both his first name alludes to Lenin. . . ."

[marron]

Yes, its usually a dead giveaway, if a south american is named after Lenin or Stalin, his parents were usually leftists. I have met Mexicans, Venezuelans, and Ecuadorians named "Vladimir" especially, sometimes Vladimir Ilyich just to make sure you don't miss the point. In some cases they were not themselves leftists, it was their dad's thing.

One guy's entire family, brothers and sisters, had Russian first names, his dad was a proud communist, and he himself studied in the Ukraine on a Soviet scholarship and married a Ukrainian girl. He eventually lost interest himself in communist politics, but his dad never did.

My current work pal is a "Vlad" who is on the run from Chavez. His entire family is communist and pro-Chavez, and he is the black sheep in his family as a result. Good guy.

Then there is the Jackal, the Venezuelan terrorist, whose name is, guess, Ilich. His brother Lenin Ramirez serves as Venezuela's Energy Minister. Not hard to figure out their dad was a marxist (as are they).