Free Republic

SAN FERNANDO DE APURE, Venezuela ? As dusk fell on the tropical wetland crawling with iguanas and small crocodilian caimans, Jos? Ismael Jim?nez pointed his harpoon at a rodent about the size of a Labrador retriever. With aim that comes from years of practice, he landed his spear on the back of its head. Farmhands turned hunters stalking the wild capybara, reputedly the world?s largest rodent, on Saturday on Hato Santa Luisa. One of them hurled a harpoon at a wounded capybara. The meat is then salted and dried. But this hunt was not about ridding the country?s southern plains...

Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez said on Tuesday he had forged a strategic alliance to stand up to U.S. imperialism with fellow maverick Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko. "Our countries must keep their hands at the ready on the sword," Chavez, in ex-Soviet Belarus as part of a world tour, said on a visit to a military academy. "After a day of intensive work, we have created a strategic alliance between our countries," he said, speaking through an interpreter. "It is absolutely vital to protect our homeland, to guard against internal and external threats." "The jaws of imperialism and hegemonism have both...

These past days have been rich in demonstrations that the Venezuelan state is sinking fast into some type of tribal units ruled by weapons. Sunday's papers reflected the marvelous contradictions in which we live, making Gabriel Garcia Marquez an illuminated amateur. I wanted to start with the latest on the seizure of El Charcote, that X-thousand acres ranch in Cojedes part of a group of ranches owned by British interests. I use the X as a number since the true extent of the land owned, and by whom, has become the mystery du jour. And the source of quite a...