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LEFTIST leaders from Venezuela and Ecuador thundered against a US military presence in Latin America today, warning the "winds of war" were blowing across the increasingly polarised continent. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez led the charge, attacking Colombia's decision to host American forces at seven of its bases, a move also condemned by Chavez's Ecuadoran counterpart and ally Rafael Correa during the inauguration of his second term. Speaking in Quito, Ecuador, at a regional summit, Mr Chavez said he was fulfilling his "moral duty'' by telling fellow leaders that the "winds of war were beginning to blow,'' because of the July...

CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuela's garrulous President Hugo Chavez on Thursday began a marathon four-day edition of his trademark television show to mark 10 years since the influential and widely watched program first hit the airwaves. Chavez is a tireless talker who uses frequent television appearances to make policy announcements, berate opponents and even sing during rambling speeches often delivered in the florid vernacular of working class Venezuelans. Normally transmitted on Sundays from a different corner of the South American oil exporting nation each week, 'Alo Presidente' is the boisterous socialist's favorite forum, with the program once running to eight hours....

CARACAS, Venezuela – A leading opponent of President Hugo Chavez has decided to seek political asylum abroad rather than face a corruption charge in a trial he says would be stacked against him, an ally said Monday. Opposition leader Manuel Rosales, who went into hiding three weeks ago, decided not to appear in court Monday because the case against him is being used for "political persecution," said Omar Barboza, who heads Rosales' political party. "He won't present himself before a court that's been turned into a political tool," Barboza told reporters. "When there's a state of law in Venezuela, Manuel...

The vandalizing of a Caracas synagogue late Friday only underscores the feeling of growing anti-Semitic sentiment in the South American nation, Jewish community members said over the weekend. The words 'Jew dog assassins' and 'terrorist' and a swastika-defaced Star of David appear in spray paint in Caracas, Venezuela, last week. Slideshow: Pictures of the week A group of people - reports run as high as 15 - broke into Caracas's Sephardic synagogue late on Friday, held the guard at gunpoint, wreaked havoc on the building and damaged the Torah scrolls. Before leaving at around 3 a.m., the vandals scrawled "Death...

During the five-year bonanza of rising oil prices, resource nationalism took hold across Latin America, and energy-producing countries boosted spending, raised taxes on foreign oil companies and salted away billions in petrodollars. But with the onset of the global economic crisis and the collapse in oil prices, Venezuela, Mexico and other regional energy producers are feeling the squeeze. If prices don’t rebound soon, the countries will be forced to cut spending on popular programs or dig into their reserves. Governments also will probably see slowdowns or cancellations of energy pro-jects ranging from explorations to biofuels plants. "The old assumptions are...

CARACAS, Venezuela — For the better part of a decade, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has spent billions of dollars of his country's oil revenue to challenge U.S. interests, build influence around the world and fund a self-styled socialist revolution at home. Yet as Chavez moves from one international crisis to another— most recently a near military confrontation with neighboring Colombia , an important U.S. ally— many wonder how long his oil-funded wild ride will last. Not long, analysts in Venezuela and abroad said, if production continues to decline at the country's state-run energy company, Petroleos de Venezuela S.A. , known...

Sunday's defeat likely to hurt Chavez's international standing By Pablo Bachelet, McClatchy Newspapers Mon Dec 3, 7:20 PM ET WASHINGTON — Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's stunning loss in a constitutional referendum Sunday has dealt a severe and possibly fatal blow to his ambitions to spread his political ideology and succeed Fidel Castro as the leader of Latin America's anti-American left, analysts and U.S. officials said Monday. Few analysts were willing to bet that Chavez won't recover and try again to strengthen his grip on power in Venezuela . But the rejection of his proposed constitutional changes hurt Chavez because it...

CARACAS, Venezuela - Soldiers used tear gas, plastic bullets and water cannons to scatter tens of thousands who massed Thursday to protest constitutional reforms that would permit Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to run for re-election indefinitely. Led by university students, protesters chanted "Freedom! Freedom!" and warned that 69 amendments drafted by the Chavista-dominated National Assembly would violate civil liberties and derail democracy. It was the biggest turnout against Chavez in months, and appeared to revive Venezuela's languid opposition at a time when the president seems as strong as ever. Students promised more street demonstrations over the weekend, but no opposition-led...

Israel's Ministry of Defense and some of the country's leading industry executives repeatedly squashed Venezuelan bids to buy high-resolution commercial satellite imagery. According to a lawsuit filed July 2 in the U.S. District Court in Manhattan, Venezuela's potential procurement deals were sabatoged twice and more recently a personal offer by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to buy a significant equity stake in ImageSat International (ISI), a local satellite operating firm, was ignored. In their lawsuit, the ISI minority shareholders accuse major investors and the firm's current management of "spurning lucrative ... opportunities in Venezuela in order to devalue the company [Imagesat]."...

CARACAS (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of protesters on Saturday denounced President Hugo Chavez's plans to close an opposition television channel, accusing their leader of maiming Venezuelan democracy as he forges a socialist state. Chavez says RCTV, the country's oldest private broadcaster, supported a bungled coup against him in 2002. He has had a long-running battle with opposition television stations, calling them "horsemen of the apocalypse." "Let us defend democracy, let us defend freedom, let us defend free independent media such as RCTV," RCTV's managing director, Marcel Garnier, told demonstrators in Caracas.

Voting machine provider Smartmatic Corp. and its Venezuelan owners will avoid a full U.S. national security investigation by putting the firm's Sequoia Voting Systems Inc. U.S. subsidiary up for sale. Attention has been focused on the firm because of reports it has had business connections with the government of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who frequently attacks U.S. policy. In an announcement Friday, Smartmatic said it has withdrawn from a review process that was scheduled to be carried out by the U.S. Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, which reviews foreign investments and acquisitions to determine whether they hold...

A man has been arrested at Gatwick Airport under anti-terrorist laws. It follows the arrest of two men near Heathrow. Gatwick's North Terminal has been closed and its flights suspended. No further details have been released by Sussex Police. Stansted Airport has announced its security is being stepped up.

I have just returned from Cooper Union in New York, where I saw Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez give a long winded speech. Chavez was in New York to speak before the United Nations and to shore up Venezuela's bid for a seat on the Security Council. Though I have seen Chavez give dozens of speeches on TV and just came out with my book entitled Hugo Chavez: Oil, Politics, And The Challenge To The U.S. (recently released by St. Martin's Press), I had never seen the president speak in person. I received word of the event through the Venezuelan Information...

In their stupid and criminal arrogance the US authorities proclaimed victoryVHeadline.com commentarist Chris Herz writes: We may be sure that experienced military men like Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez Frias, General Baduel and their colleagues study the Iraq War carefully for clues to better the protection and defense of the Bolivarian Republic.No one should be surprised at this; no one offended.The leadership of any country must survey the world around them for possible threats to the sovereignty of their nations and the self-governance of their people. That is the first duty of a national government: In a word, the defense of...

Venezuelan middle class flees Chávez rule of hate By Sophie Arie in Caracas (Filed: 05/03/2006) Venezuela's once-thriving middle class is packing its bags and fleeing the country, afraid for the future as the socialist president, Hugo Chávez, calls on the slum-dwelling masses to rise up and seize wealth from those better off than themselves. Growing numbers of professionals, business owners and shopkeepers are fed up with the climate of hostility that the Left-wing president has encouraged in his effort to boost his populist credentials. President Hugo Chávez María Carolina García was blowing up helium balloons in her party-decorations shop in...

U.S. Expels Venezuelan Envoy After Chavez Ousts U.S. Navy OfficerState Department describes action as appropriate response to Chavez's decision By Lauren MonsenWashington File Staff Writer Washington -- In response to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's February 2 decision to order the expulsion of a naval attaché at the U.S. Embassy in Caracas, the United States has declared Jeny Figueredo Frias, a diplomat at the Venezuelan Embassy in Washington, "persona non grata."The dispute, which further exacerbates tensions between the two countries, began with Chavez accusing U.S. naval attaché John Correa of espionage.  The U.S. Embassy forcefully has denied the charge and...

Communism is not dead in Latin America. In fact, the dominoes are falling south of the border, but no one seems to be noticing. “It’s a new day. Communism is dead. It’s even dead in Cuba.” So declared Senator Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) at a Senate Commerce Committee hearing in May 2002. “I hate to say it,” she continued, “it’s dead.” The senator’s proclamation was a surprise, no doubt, to Fidel Castro, whose regime was (and is) alive and as Red as ever. It also must have come as welcome news to the people of Cuba, still suffering, after nearly half...

Early on the morning of March 16th, 1984, William Buckley left for work at the American embassy in Beirut, Lebanon. Officially, Mr. Buckley, a decorated veteran of the Special Forces, served as the political officer at the embassy. In reality, however, Mr. Buckley was the embassy’s CIA station chief. On his way to the compound, Buckley’s car was stopped by a group of masked men, who forced him from his car at gunpoint. His assailants would later be identified as terrorists from the group Islamic Jihad, which served as an alias for the real perpetrators, Hezbollah. The circumstances surrounding the...

Havana - Fidel Castro warned that the life of leftist Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is in danger, and said he would blame the United States if his close friend and ally is killed. Castro's remarks came during a six-hour speech that lasted until 4 a.m. Saturday and closed an international globalization conference in Havana attended by hundreds of economists. "If Chavez is assassinated, the responsibility will lie entirely with the president of the United States," Castro said, neglecting to provide details, but noting that President Bush has encouraged Chavez's opponents in the past. The Cuban leader said Chavez's left-leaning "revolution"...

Are we reliving Chile's history ? while we look at the events in Venezuela today. Or is it that we forgot our history, and we are ready to make the same mistakes all over again?