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CARACAS, VENEZUELA - Maria Corina Machado doesn't hesitate when asked her feelings about the possibility of going to prison for up to 28 years for "treason to the nation" and conspiracy. "I'm scared, I'm very scared; I have three kids," the political activist says softly, sitting in her small office in the Caracas headquarters of Sumate, the organization that led last year's unsuccessful bid to recall President Hugo Chávez from office. Mr. Chávez's landslide victory in that vote only added to the troubles of Ms. Machado, Sumate's vice president and the woman who has come to symbolize the anti-Chávez opposition....

Why not in the USA? Because Holder, SEIU, ACORN, the DNC, La Raza, the New Black Panther Party, some spineless RINOS and the ACLU won't allow it, that's why. Thwarting rampant ballot stuffing and multiple voting just might tip the scales to make him Former President Barack Hussein Obama. Hmm mmm MMM!

Latin America: Since 9-11, the U.S. has tried to spread democracy not by buying candidates, but by encouraging civic institutions. It's in everyone's interest. One country, however, wants to throw someone in jail for it. Today an outrageous court hearing will take place in Caracas, Venezuela. Organizers of last year's recall referendum against President Hugo Chavez are facing potential charges of treason. Their crime? Taking a U.S. National Endowment for Democracy grant to advance democracy. It's not just political revenge from a victorious Chavez. It's also an attack on civic institutions and, if successful, opens the door to dictatorship and...

Thirty-seven-year-old Maria Corina Machado doesn't seem to have planned on a career in public life. After studying engineering at Catholic University in Caracas she earned a post-graduate degree in finance from the Venezuelan business school IESA and went off to work for an auto parts manufacturer in the Venezuelan city of Valencia. Today, facing charges of conspiracy against her government, she has become an international celebrity for her efforts to defend Venezuelan democracy. Ms. Machado is one of the leaders of Súmate, a nongovernmental organization resisting efforts by President Hugo Chávez's to turn Venezuela into a dictatorship. Because of its...

CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - Venezuela on Wednesday condemned as "meddling" and "a provocation" President Bush's meeting at the White House with a prominent opponent of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. In a move that strained already frayed relations, Bush met on Tuesday with Maria Corina Machado, a Venezuelan opposition activist who helped promote a recall referendum last year against left-winger Chavez. Chavez won and remains in office. The nationalist Venezuelan leader, a fierce critic of Bush's policies, has branded Machado a "traitor" for receiving U.S. Congress funding for her pro-referendum activities in the world's No. 5 oil exporter. "I think this...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush met a prominent opponent of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez at the White House on Tuesday in a show of support that could anger the firebrand leader of a major U.S. oil supplier. Maria Corina Machado, a founder of Sumate, a citizens rights organization, helped promote an August referendum against Chavez and still faces a possible jail term of up to 16 years along with her colleague Alejandro Plaz. Called a "traitor" by Chavez, she was accused by a Venezuelan state prosecutor last year of conspiracy after her organization received a grant from the U.S. Congress-funded...

...Chávez has accused four Súmate leaders of treason.... Their crime, according to the president and his henchmen, is accepting funding from the Washington-based National Endowment for Democracy, a bipartisan agency that promotes democracy abroad. Chávez sees the NED as an organ of his enemy, the U.S. government. For several years now Chávez has been trying to pick a fight with the Bush administration by using hateful rhetoric. The administration, perhaps wisely, has largely ignored the noises coming from Caracas. But with four brave and innocent democrats accused of conspiring with the U.S. to overthrow the Venezuelan government, it's clearly time...

...By now, the Chávez intimidation factor is legendary and Mr. Carter's practice of ignoring it, as he did in his letter to the Journal, is baffling. Messrs. Frankel and Graham [Canada's Globe and Mail] do not ignore it: "Thousands of citizens who had signed the petition that triggered the referendum lost jobs, pensions or suffered harassment. Many feared that their choice would be known to the government, and the ubiquitous presence of machine-gun-toting soldiers inside and outside the polling stations reinforced this concern." Venezuela's most important non-governmental election watchdog, Súmate, also strongly contradicts many of Mr. Carter's claims. For example,...