This morning, I received a call from the BBC World Update program, requesting my thoughts on the ongoing dispute between Hugo Chávez and the U.S. regarding the U.S. ambassador to Venezuela, Larry Palmer. The last…
Published in Official Gazette no. 39,577 on Monday, December 20, 2010 (pages 2 and 3 undefined), the limping congress of Hugo Chávez announced the creation of a joint venture with Petropars UK Limited, a London-based…
Amnesty International believes that the arrest of Judge María Lourdes Afiuni Mora on December 10, 2009, represents a serious case of political interference by the executive branch. Her detention violates the UN Basic Principles on…
I received a document titled “Venezuelan Armed Forces: 200 Years Later,” supposedly produced by the COMACATES (Commanders, Majors, Captains, and Lieutenants of the Venezuelan Armed Forces). It concludes with the following questions and warnings: I.…
The question was phrased like this: “You are backed by the Venezuelan oil company PDVSA and also by the government of Venezuela. How did that come about?” This question was posed by a journalist from…
The arrest of Venezuelan drug trafficker Walid Makled in Colombia has unveiled the dark underbelly of drug trafficking, corruption, and organized crime surrounding President Hugo Chávez. As I mentioned in 2006, it is simply impossible…
The days when Hugo Chávez could be given the benefit of the doubt are long gone. In fact, the argument that Chávez “has the support of the vast majority of Venezuelans” is now outdated. In…
Journalist for Diario La Verdad in Venezuela. Journalist for The Christian Science Monitor in Madrid. Another one from Agencia COLPISA, also in Madrid. The director of PROVEA, a human rights NGO in Caracas. Ambassador of…
It’s certainly amusing to watch the president commander and his supporters twist and turn their arguments to explain their recent electoral defeat in the parliamentary elections. The leader is so disconnected from reality that he…
Ricardo Fernández Barrueco breaks his silence after 10 months of imprisonment. He claims he was demonized and attributes his situation to a power struggle within the Government. “I believed in their national project where the…
In Venezuela, it has been a long time since elections have been free and fair. In this latest episode, Hugo Chávez threatens the electoral chief Vicente Díaz -the only member of a five-person board who…
The Guardian’s Comment is Free has published an article by the blogger Francisco Toro. One can get a sense of the prevailing mindset of those commenting on it, with remarks like, “I’m surprised that The…
Emergency measure text: “The newspaper El Nacional is prohibited from publishing images, information, and advertising of any kind that includes blood, weapons, messages of terror, physical aggression, images that provoke war content, and messages about…
A significant exchange of ideas recently occurred in the comments section of an article published by Miguel Octavio about undefined topics. Miguel essentially reflected on the challenges of explaining the realities of our country to…
The news agency reports without clarification that Jaime Granados, legal representative of the now former Colombian president Álvaro Uribe, officially filed a lawsuit against Hugo Chávez on Friday at the International Criminal Court (ICC) for…