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Telephone Call from Chavez to "Reyes" Allowed Colombians to Locate FARC Camp Elpais.com.co-EFE A telephone call that the President of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, would have made to the guerrilla leader "Raul Reyes,"1 permitted location of the encampment, according to reports from Colombian intelligence, RCN Radio divulged today. The telephone call took place Wednesday the 27th of February, the day in which four Colombian Congressmen (Gloria Polanco, Luis Eladio Pérez, Orlando Beltrán, Jorge Eduardo Gechem), kidnapped for almost seven years, were liberated.2 "Chavez, emotionally moved by the liberation of the kidnapped prisoners, called Reyes (alias of Luis Edgar Devia) and told...

"Sonia" declared guilty in U.S. The FARC guerrilla Nayibe Rojas Valderrama was found guilty of the crime of narcotics trafficking and on the 4th of May they will inform her of the total of her sentence.   ____________________________________________________________________________________ Tuesday, 20 February 2007 Through several days of deliberations, the jury, composed of 12 persons, made the decision in spite of the guerrilla's defense having presented "proof" that she was innocent of the charges of narcotics trafficking. "Nayibe is innocent of having committed any crime against the United States, she is a simple campesina1 who does not have the words to...

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...

Chávez lashes out at Mexico On the same day the Calderón administration took steps to ease rocky relations with Venezuela and Cuba, Venezuela´s Hugo Chávez on Thursday hurled personal insults at his Mexican counterpart Wire reports El Universal Viernes 02 de febrero de 2007 On the same day the Calderón administration took steps to ease rocky relations with Venezuela and Cuba, Venezuela´s Hugo Chávez on Thursday hurled personal insults at his Mexican counterpart. Chávez´s ire was raised as he attacked Calderón for comments the latter made in Davos, Switzerland, last week criticizing countries that "nationalize industries" and "interfere in the...

(12:07 p.m.) Rosales announces front against authoritarian pretensions of the government Caracas. - The Governor of the State of Zulia and ex-presidential candidate, Manuel Rosales, warned the national government today that the Venezuelan people will fight to safeguard their democratic principles when facing the coming presidential announcements which they are awaiting. The leader assured everyone that the citizens are not so defeated as they would make themselves out to be and he guaranteed that he will work jointly and in an organized way against any authoritarian pretension. He said that the activity of an organized society with clear objectives will...

DEA confirms nexus between Mexican narcotics traffickers and the FARC We know the contacts, they assure us; they are confident in the support of the new regime Jose Carreño El Universal (Mexico City) Wednesday 31 January 2007 WASHINGTON. - The United States anti-drug agency (DEA) assured [El Universal] that it knows who the contacts are between Mexican narcotics traffickers and the guerrilla group the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). The head of operations of the DEA, Michael Braun, assured that the FARC obtains between 500 million and a billion dollars by their drug-related operations [annually]. Narcotics trafficking, he added,...

VIOLENCE IN PROTESTS SUPPORTING A CONSTITUTIONAL ASSEMBLY Deputies evacuate the Congress amid insults and gas The police pushed back hundreds of protestors from the zone bordering the National Congress Tuesday January 30th, after confrontations occurred between the police and protesters who demanded the restoration of a Constituent Assembly. A contingent of police with anti-disturbance armored vehicles and material pushed back the protestors who surrounded the building and broke up violent groups. The Congress had begun its session to debate the documentation remitted by the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) on the calling of the popular consultation for the Constituent Assembly, which...

The Christian Democratic Organization of America warns about risks of Populism and calls upon related parties to work to remove rulers like Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro from power. By: Jose Contreras and Adolfo Sanchez Venegas Sunday 28 January 2007 | Hour of publication: 12:47 p.m. The Christian Democratic Organization of America (ODCA) will promote the transition to democracy in Cuba and the liberation of political prisoners and will strive for the recovery of those governments in Latin America which are in the hands of the Left, the President of the body, Manuel Espino Barrientos, indicated. In a press conference,...

Monday, 22 January 2007 Risks in Bolivia _____________________________________________________________________ The majority support with which President Evo Morales was elected placed him in a promising position to obtain Bolivian governability. Moreover, the significant improvement of the prices of the principal Bolivian exports of soy, minerals, and gas, the discovery of important reserves of hydrocarbons, plus the structural adjustments carried out by preceding governments, allowed for favorable expectations for the neighboring economy. Nevertheless, the methods of Morales in advancing his controversial electoral promises are preventing his capitalizing upon the auspicious conditions under which he assumed office. The combination of discouraging governmental measures against...

Mercosur Summit: Evo generates an impasse and discomfort with Colombia In an encounter dealing with subjects such as how to unite the region, the President of Colombia, Alvaro Uribe, replied strongly yesterday to unexpected criticisms made by his colleague from Bolivia Evo Morales and requested the Venezuelan Chief Executive, Hugo Chavez, who intervened in favor of the Bolivian, to understand the "legitimate right" of Bogota to clarify whatever doubt could arise in the region over the Colombian situation. The impasse was produced during the session of speeches of the second and last session of debates of the Chief Executives of...

(03:02 PM) Enabling Law approved in first discussion Caracas. - The National Assembly this afternoon approved unanimously and in first discussion a law which enables President Hugo Chavez to legislate by decree during [a period of] 18 months. The second debate will be carried out next Thursday, a day in which its definitive passage is forecast. Chavez was authorized "to dictate by decree . . . with the force of law, with statutory urgency," the President of the National Assembly, Cilia Flores, said after deputies approved the petition of the Chief Executive by a show of hands, as reviewed by...

Caleron: tension was surpassed; reform is urgent He recognizes that narcotics trafficking gangs can put the state in danger Roberto Rock El Universal (Mexico City) Wednesday 17 January 2007 Institutions and the constitutional regime will surpass the challenge which the electoral crisis of last year signified, President Felipe Calderon Hinojosa assured today. For the first time since his arrival to the presidency, Calderon made an evaluation of the post-electoral situation which [the country] lived through in 2006: "It was a panorama of generalized anxiety. I saw the imperious necessity of assuming power with all its consequences, with control of the...

Ecuador aligns itself with Venezuela, Bolivia, and Cuba In speeches against imperialism and neoliberalism, the presidents of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, and Bolivia, Evo Morales, and the Ecuadoran President-Elect Rafael Correa, who should assume the government of his country Monday, expressed common ideological and political agreement Sunday. Chavez, Morales, and Correa, who also exalt the figure of Cuban leader Fidel Castro, met together in Zumbahua, an indigenous [Ecuadoran] locality 90 kilometers south of Quito, for a symbolic inauguration of Correa before the indigenous peoples [of Ecuador]. In a speech before a multitude congregated in the central plaza, Correa emphasized that "[Latin]...

Marines settle in at San Lazaro1 Andrea Merlos & Ricardo Gomez El Universal Mexico City Thursday 30 November 2006 1:40 a.m.   At least ten trucks of the Marines of Mexico2 arrived in the early morning this Thursday at the Chamber of Deputies with 40 soldiers, each one of whom put himself in place on Congreso de la Unión Avenue. One day before the Toma de Protesta3 of Felipe Calderon as incoming President of the Republic, security was reinforced to the maximum in those squads who are covering the area up to the corner of Viaducto and Congreso de la...

Deputies act out new confrontation at the rostrum After the quarrel, the PRD Deputy for the State of Mexico, Alberto Lopez, had to be evacuated from the sessions room in a wheelchair Ricardo Gómez & Andrea Merlos El Universal Mexico City Tuesday 28 November 2006 4:56 p.m.   A new confrontation among federal deputies of the National Action Party (PAN) and the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) was provoked at the foot of the rostrum of the Chamber of Deputies, which continues to be occupied by legislators of both factions. At 4:13 p.m., the legislators of both groups were...

Rosales: Chavez wants to terrorize people so they do not vote Caracas. - In a press conference with foreign correspondents, the opposition candidate, Manuel Rosales, qualified as a great "irresponsibility" of President Chavez that he is threatening and intimidating the people of Venezuela through phrases attacking the communications media and the collective body of the Venezuelan people, furthermore that he is inventing coup d'états and supposed plots or acts designed to raise tensions in the street. "What we are reading between the lines are two things: the first is that he wants to terrorize people so they do not...

Carter Center will limit itself solely to observing system of automated voting Caracas. - The representative of the Carter Center in Venezuela, Hector Vanolli, made known today that he signed the Memorandum of Understanding between the members of that organization, which will function as watcher in the presidential elections, and the rectors of the National Electoral Council (CNE). "It established an agreement by which the Carter Center deploys in Venezuela a mission of an exclusively technical character, whose only focus of attention is going to be the system of automated voting." He explained that due to the limited character...

Rosales says that he is tied with Chavez in the polls Caracas. - The opposition candidate Manuel Rosales assured today that the polls reflect a technical tie between his candidacy and that of President Hugo Chavez. "The most important thing in a poll, and it's what the experts indicate, translates itself in the tendencies" and "at this moment they reflect what can be defined as a technical tie, (because) I don't know if he (Chavez) is a few points ahead or if I am," Rosales said in an interview with a German television station replayed by the Globovision network,...

Chavez threatens private television stations with closure Caracas. - President Hugo Chavez warned Friday that he is disposed to close those television channels who lend themselves to spreading messages of "hate" and non-recognition of the authorities during the December 3 election campaign, AP reported. "A television channel which lends itself to the spreading of the messages of terrorism, of hate, of war, or calling for the non-recognition of the authorities, it has to be closed," Chavez declared during an event held with sympathizers on the Island of Margarita. Chavez denounced that "new destabilizing plans" existed for the next elections...

Venezuela's presence in Mexican presidential investiture unconfirmed Mexico City. - The government of Venezuela still has not confirmed whether it will send a representative to Mexico to the presidential investiture of Felipe Calderon, the 1st of December, according to the official list circulated today by the Mexican presidency. The President of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, who is seeking reelection in the elections which will be carried out in his country the 3rd of December, up to now has avoided recognizing Calderon's victory, among other reasons since he considers there were "strange things" in the Mexican elections. According to information released...