Free Republic

IF NOTHING ELSE CAME OUT OF YESTERDAY’S SPEECH AT THE UN, we now know what is on Venezuelan proto-fascist Hugo Chavez’s reading table. “Noam Chomsky, and this is one of his most recent books, Hegemony or Survival: The Imperialist Strategy of the United States,” he said, hoisting the tome aloft at the podium. “I will just leave it as a recommendation.” His Chomsky citation merely proves what we have been saying at FrontPage Magazine for years: there is an Unholy Alliance of American leftists and anti-Americans worldwide – and the influence runs both ways. Thus, Chavez and Chomsky made mutual...

Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez has called our President “the devil” on our own soil and then made the sign of the cross with his hands -- as if praying to God for deliverance from the “devil” Bush. This was one of the worst mockeries of a U.S. President in history! This fascist thug also own Citgo and is making untold millions on Citgo profits to undermine our President and the troops. He is using OUR MONEY to attack and undermine our nation! Let’s send Chavez a message! Join the Citgo boycott!

The U.S. government ordered Venezuela to close its military purchasing office in Miami after suspending arms sales to the South American country, American officials said Thursday. The U.S. government announced in May it was banning new arms sales, accusing President Hugo Chavez's government of failing to cooperate in counterterrorism efforts - a charge strongly denied by Chavez. Venezuela's Foreign Ministry demanded that the U.S. government uphold all pending contracts for military equipment. American officials have said the United States would honor such contracts.

Thousands of flag-waving Syrians greeted Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in Damascus on Wednesday as he began a three-day official visit, challenging what he called American "imperialism." Called the "great guest" by the Syrian news agency SANA, Chavez is receiving the red-carpet treatment. On Wednesday, Syrian President Bashar Assad hosted a reception for Chavez at the People's Palace, where he was honored with a 21-gun salute. As Assad greeted him at the airport late Tuesday, Chavez said that the two countries had the same political vision -- and that the two leaders would sign a document on Wednesday opposing what he...

Geopolitics: Jetting around the world to drum up support, Iran ally Hugo Chavez says he's winning a bid to join the U.N. Security Council. As a showdown with Iran looms, is the world crazy enough to vote him in? If this is Wednesday, it must be Angola on the Chavez world tour. Already the Venezuelan president has visited China, Malaysia and Syria, and last month he blew through seven other countries. As he goes, he splashes out cash and preferential trade deals. He has now spent more than 365 days in his seven-year presidency overseas, but nothing like this. It...

CARACAS, Venezuela - Three major Caracas golf courses, long favored by the city's wealthy, are being expropriated to build housing for thousands of poor and middle class Venezuelans, officials said Tuesday. The city expropriations, which will likely generate new friction between supporters and opponents of President Hugo Chavez, are part of an ambitious government effort to provide more homes amid an acute housing shortage that has driven up real estate prices. Mayor Juan Barreto's office has ordered the "forced acquisition" of two golf courses and will soon issue another decree expropriating a third course in the ritzy hills of southern...

<p>CARACAS, Venezuela -- The Associated Press filed a request under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act last year seeking documents from the U.S. Agency for International Development detailing its funding of non-governmental organizations in Venezuela.</p> <p>The AP sought USAID contracts for grants to groups in Venezuela since January 2004. About nine months after the AP's request, USAID released 132 grant contracts, totaling some 1,600 pages, for 2004 and 2005.</p>

Discussions over energy co-operation are set to dominate Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's visit to China, which began on Tuesday. Oil producing Venezuela wants to reduce its reliance on the US, to which it exports most of its oil despite the two countries' ideological differences. China offers a lucrative alternative market, as Beijing needs oil supplies to maintain its rapid economic growth. Mr Chavez will meet counterpart Hu Jintao during the six-day trip. Venezuela sees China as a key ally Oil increase The two leaders are expected to agree to increase the amount of oil Beijing buys from Venezuela as...

CARACAS, Venezuela, Aug 15 (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Tuesday said he would nationalize the nation's principal telephone operator CANTV if the company does not make court-ordered retirement payments. CANTV (TDVd.CR: Quote, Profile, Research)(VNT.N: Quote, Profile, Research), whose biggest shareholder is Verizon Communications (VZ.N: Quote, Profile, Research), was ordered in 2005 by the Supreme Court to bring retirement payments in line with minimum wage. "It makes me very embarrassed that there are still ... retirees from CANTV who have not received what CANTV owes them," Chavez said during a televised speech. "I told the labor minister ... call...

Latin America: Donald Rumsfeld once observed that Venezuelans had a way of fixing political problems on their own, with no need of U.S. intervention. The dramatic prison break of a union boss may be the first sign. Carlos Ortega's escape Sunday from a Venezuelan maximum security military prison must have sent a shiver through the tyrannical leftist regime of President Hugo Chavez. The tough union boss had crossed Chavez before and was serving a 16-year sentence for leading a vast oil-worker strike in 2002-03. Like Lech Walesa of Poland, Ortega called for independent union leadership at Venezuela's state oil company...

Caracas, Aug 10 (Prensa Latina) The Venezuelan National Assembly (parliament) is focused on the security of citizens, protected by firearms possession laws and police codes of conduct. Given the challenge posed by this issue, the Domestic Policy Commission of that legislative body is examining new regulations for the police, following elaborations by the Armed Forces s Weapon Direction. National Assembly Vice President Juan Jose Molina stated legislators will evaluate the Police Code of Conduct. Experts believe the governmental stance is part of strategies to fight criminality and protect citizens, and will further target people who possess weapons. In a recent...

CARACAS, Venezuela — Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said Thursday that Fidel Castro is in a "great battle for life," but added that he's been given reason by the Cuban leader's aides to be optimistic about a quick recovery.

CARACAS, Venezuela, Aug 8 (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said on Tuesday Venezuela would likely sever relations with Israel in protest over Israel's military campaign against Lebanon. Chavez, a harsh critic of the United States who frequently expresses sympathy for the Palestine people, announced last week he had ordered the withdrawal of Venezuela's ambassador in Israel. Israel withdrew its chief diplomat in Caracas in response. "We have withdrawn our diplomatic representation from the state of Israel and they have also withdrawn their ambassador," Chavez said during an evening speech. "The most likely next step will be for us to...

Believe it or not there's more than thuggery, political murder, smashing of the presses, arming of narco-terrorists, and hobnobbing with Castro and the crazy mullahs in Tehran. Chavez, despite record oil revenues, is presiding over the Cubanization of Venezuela. Video uses simple before (1998) and after (2005) images. See Hugo's "Beautiful Revolution".

Gotta' see this. Here:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVnnoz_Gqp8 and at the link above....Somebody is streaming a short video clip on "YouTube.com" of a recent live TV broadcast tirade during Venezuelan communist dictator Hugo Chavez' 'weekly address to the People', whereby the despot launches into a comical tirade against George Bush.You will hear el Presidente comically trying to grasp at such epithets as 'donkey', and 'little bird', and 'Mr. Danger', all spouted by Hugo in reference to George W. Bush. I wonder if he realizes how silly he looks, including his attempts at very poor English. For the entertainment value alone, this is worth watching,...

Today’s Cronica newspaper of Mexico City has a disturbing front page photo: Elementary school-age children dressed in full war regalia, grinning before a camera and saying how ready they are to defend Hugo Chavez’s Marxist “revolution.” If there’s ever a corruption of childish exuberance, this is it. Our source in Caracas is a little bit skeptical of it, because he hasn’t seen any of this stuff duplicated around Venezuela, and right now he wonders if it could be contrived. In Mexico, anti-Chavez sentiment is high, even in the press. Still, Cronica is a reliable news source. If it’s not a...

Venezuela's U.N. ambassador tells NewsMax that President Hugo Chavez will not use oil exports as a weapon against the Bush White House for support of Israel's confrontation with Hezbollah. More than 60 percent of Venezuela's oil income comes from U.S. sales. Its also America's largest single source of imported oil. Rumors about a possible reduction in Venezuelan oil exports to the U.S. had been circulating in commodities markets since Israel's confrontation with Hezbollah began on July 12. "No, we are not considering any oil embargo, Venezuela believes in a laissez-faire market," proclaimed Francisco Javier Arias-Cardenas, Venezuela's new U.N. representative

DUBAI, Aug 4 (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Friday blasted Israel for its attacks against Lebanon and Palestinians, comparing its operations to those of Hitler. In an interview with Qatar-based Al Jazeera television, Chavez also slammed U.S. backing for Israel, describing Washington as a "Dracula always searching for oil and blood". "The Israeli offensive against the Palestinians and Lebanon is an aggression that we feel targets us also. It is an unjustified aggression that is being carried out in the style of (Adolf) Hitler, in a Fascist fashion," he said, referring to the leader of Nazi Germany. "They...

President Hugo Chavez is spending more than $7 billion of oil revenue this year to help Venezuela's poor, and they love him for it. But in the downtown business district, over and over again you hear allusions to one of Aesop's fables. "You don't want to kill the goose that lays the golden eggs," said Elio Ohep, editor of Petroleumworld.com. "If you scare away investment, what are you going to do?" Venezuela's president is seeing how far he can push international oil companies such as ExxonMobil Corp. In the last several months, Venezuela's government has raised royalties, taxes, and government...

On a state visit to Hanoi, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez hailed Cuban President Fidel Castro, who has been hospitalized following gastro-intestinal surgery. Chavez visited the tomb of former Vietnamese leader Ho Chi Minh, and confirmed a deal to help Vietnam build its first oil refinery. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, center, poses with Vietnamese legendary general Vo Nguyen Giap and his wife Mrs. Ha After visiting the tomb of the former Vietnamese Communist leader Ho Chi Minh Tuesday, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez hailed Cuban leader Fidel Castro, who has temporarily handed over power to undergo surgery. "Viva Fidel Castro!" he exclaimed....