Colombia and Venezuela Rattle Their Sabres: Uribe's Parting Shot Posted: Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Outgoing Colombian President Álvaro Uribe dropped a figurative bomb in the Andes on Thursday, July 22, just weeks before the scheduled inauguration of President-elect Juan Manuel Santos, Uribe's former Defence Minister. At the behest of Bogotá, an extraordinary session of the Permanent Council of the Organization of American States (OAS) was convened to hear Colombia's accusations that there are "1,500 guerrillas and dozens of encampments of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the National Liberation Army (ELN) in Venezuela," both groups deemed to be "terrorist" organizations by Colombia and the United States. Full Article : venezuelanalysis.com
Venezuelan Court Issues Arrest Warrant for Globovision Owner Posted: Thursday, June 17, 2010
Venezuelan courts have issued an arrest warrant for Guillermo Zuloaga, president and 70% owner of the opposition news channel Globovision, in connection with irregularities with his car dealership. In reaction, the U.S. government and international and national private media are accusing the Venezuelan government of suppressing the right to free speech. Zuloaga has refused to turn himself in and is rumoured to have fled the country.
Attorney General Luisa Ortega announced on Friday that the court has issued arrest warrants for Guillermo Zuloaga and his son, Guillermo Zuloaga Siso, for conspiracy and generic usury. Full Article : venezuelanalysis.com
Venezuelan Government Takes over Eighth Largest Bank Posted: Thursday, June 17, 2010
Venezuela's Superintendent of Banks (Sudeban) announced on Monday that it will temporarily close and investigate the privately owned bank Banco Federal for failing to comply with minimum liquid asset provisions and productive sector investment quotas established in the banking law.
"Banco Federal's operations are suspended and its offices are closed until further notice," said Sudeban director Edgar Hernandez. An investigative commission will have 60 days to present a report on the bank, and determine whether it will be liquidated or rehabilitated. Full Article : venezuelanalysis.com
Venezuelan Ambassador to the U.S. Dismisses Congressional Hearing on Freedom of Press Posted: Thursday, June 17, 2010
The ambassador of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela to the White House, Bernardo Álvarez, called a congressional hearing held today on freedom of the press in the Americas "a sad spectacle." The hearing took place in the House Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere.
The hearing was dominated by House Republicans that have made attacks on Venezuela a sort of modus vivendi of their political action in that country, said Ambassador Álvarez. Full Article : venezuelanalysis.com
Venezuela is Not Greece Posted: Friday, May 7, 2010
Given the Venezuelan government's low public and foreign debt, the idea the country is facing an 'economic crisis' is plain wrong
by Mark Weisbrot
With Venezuela's economy having contracted last year (as did the vast majority of economies in the Western Hemisphere), the economy suffering from electricity shortages, and the value of domestic currency having recently fallen sharply in the parallel market, stories of Venezuela's economic ruin are again making headlines.
The Washington Post, in a news article that reads more like an editorial, reports that Venezuela is "gripped by an economic crisis," and that "years of state interventions in the economy are taking a brutal toll on private business."
There is one important fact that is almost never mentioned in news articles about Venezuela, because it does not fit in with the narrative of a country that has spent wildly throughout the boom years, and will soon, like Greece, face its day of reckoning. That is the government's debt level: currently about 20% of GDP. In other words, even as it was tripling real social spending per person, increasing access to healthcare and education, and loaning or giving billions of dollars to other Latin American countries, Venezuela was reducing its debt burden during the oil price run-up. Venezuela's public debt fell from 47.5% of GDP in 2003 to 13.8% in 2008. In 2009, as the economy shrank, public debt picked up to 19.9% of GDP. Even if we include the debt of the state oil company, PDVSA, Venezuela's public debt is 26% of GDP. The foreign part of this debt is less than half of the total.
Compare this to Greece, where public debt is 115% of GDP and currently projected to rise to 149% in 2013. (The European Union average is about 79%.) Full Article : commondreams.org
China Offers Largest Credit to Venezuela Posted: Monday, April 19, 2010
Yesterday government representatives from Venezuela and China signed seven agreements in Caracas, six energy based ones and one around petroleum. China also offered US$20 billion in financing, the largest offer it has made in the last fifty years.
Chinese president Hu Jintao's planned visit to Venezuela was cancelled due to the recent tragic earthquake in China, but Jintao and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez talked by telephone and Chavez also met for two hours with a delegation from China.
The two governments agreed to exploit the Junin 4 section of the Orinoco Oil Belt together and as part of this they established a joint company between state owned Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) and state owned China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), to carry out the initiative. They also established some economic and tax conditions. Full Article : venezuelanalysis.com
Eight Colombians Arrested on Suspicion of Spying in Venezuela Posted: Thursday, April 8, 2010
Eight Colombian citizens have been arrested in Venezuela on suspicion of carrying out espionage against the country's national electricity system Venezuelan Interior Minister Tarek El Aissaimi announced on Tuesday.
Among the equipment seized from the suspects was a camera with images of various electricity substations around the country, transmission lines and national transport infrastructure, as well as satellite communications equipment, documents in English and Spanish, a vehicle, a number of cell phones and "other items of interest," El Assaimi said. Full Article : venezuelanalysis.com
Uruguay's new leader strengthens ties with Chavez Posted: Thursday, April 8, 2010
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez offered Wednesday to help Uruguay expand a refinery and supply it with crude oil.
Chavez and visiting Uruguayan President Jose Mujica, popularly known as "Pepe," signed accords pledging to deepen trade and energy ties between the two South American nations.
Venezuela's president expressed admiration for the 74-year-old Mujica, a former leftist guerrilla leader who took office last month. Chavez embraced Mujica when he arrived at the presidential palace, affectionately calling him "a mentor." Full Article : news.yahoo.com
Cuba, ALBA send aid directly to Haiti Posted: Wednesday, April 7, 2010
By W. T. Whitney Jr.
At a recent 136-nation UN conference, focused on reconstruction in Haiti, pledges from 59 nations and organizations came to $5.3 billion due within two years and $9.9 billion in ten years. The United States promised $1.15 billion, the European Union, $1.6 billion. The eight ALBA nations (Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America) pledged aid worth $2.42 billion over six years, most of it from Venezuela. Full Article : peoplesworld.org
Pentagon says Venezuela a 'destabilizing force' Posted: Friday, March 19, 2010
Venezuela's ambassador in Washington, Bernardo Alvarez, said the reversal of the general's position, to conform with statements by officials in the Obama administration, showed the United States has no proof of Venezuelan support for the FARC and the criticism was politically motivated. Full Article : thestar.com.my
US Military Commander: Venezuelan Government has no Links to Terrorists Posted: Monday, March 15, 2010
General Douglas Fraser, Chief of the United States' Southern Command, confirmed yesterday that the Venezuelan government has no relation to the Basque separatist movement ETA nor the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).
Speaking to the US Senate, Fraser admitted that although the Southern Command has "continued to watch very closely for any connections between illicit and terrorist organization activity within the region" there is no evidence to link the Venezuela government with the armed rebel groups. Full Article : venezuelanalysis.com
Venezuela's revolution achieves social gains Posted: Saturday, March 13, 2010
By: W. T. Whitney Jr. March 12 2010
A revolution makes a difference. For the corporate media, however, what happens to people's lives and dignity goes by the boards, focused as they often are on stories aimed at casting Venezuela as a pariah state. Under discussion here is the business of a socialist revolution.
The National Institute of Statistics released data recently showing that poverty rates fell from 70 percent in 1996 to 23 percent last year, with extreme poverty dropping from forty to six percent. Venezuela's Human Development Index, a United Nations tool for composite surveys, advanced from 0. 802 in 2000, one year after President Hugo Chavez took office, to 0.844 in 2007. In one recent year Venezuela moved from 62nd in the world to 58th, from the "medium" range of rankings to "high." Full Article : peoplesworld.org
Hugo Chavez rocks Moscow
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez brings the house down with his multi-talented performance on stage in front a group of university students in Moscow. --russiatoday.com
