IBD EDITORIAL

From petrostate to narcostate

A congressional report released last week left little doubt that Venezuela's Hugo Chavez is turning his country into a narcotraffickers' paradise. So why isn't Venezuela an international pariah?

LOS ANGELES TIMES

Venezuela's opposition gets heat from Hugo Chavez

Local leaders who defeated the president's candidates in last year's elections say Chavez is stripping them of resources and authority. A new law could give him still more power.

AS-COA

Venezuelan officials speak to U.S. group

Video: Venezuela - A Conversation with Three Governors and the Mayor of Caracas

THE WASHINGTON POST

Ally's ouster gives Venezuela's Hugo Chávez a stage

The ouster of Honduran President Manuel Zelaya could not have been better scripted for another Latin American leader who has taken center stage: Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez. The populist firebrand has been Zelaya's most forceful advocate and could win international accolades if the Honduran eventually succeeds in regaining power.

LOS ANGELES TIMES

U.S., Venezuela to restore full diplomatic ties

In a potentially significant step toward repairing their tattered relationship, the United States and Venezuela have formally agreed to resume full diplomatic relations, the State Department announced Thursday. (May need to register)

THE NEW YORK TIMES

Venezuela’s hope of more sway dims as riches dip

President Hugo Chávez’s push to extend his sway in Latin America is waning amid low oil prices and disorder in Venezuela’s own energy industry.

THE WASHINGTON POST

Venezuela Targets Cable Station

The government of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez has taken actions that could shutter a private television news station, part of an offensive that has led to the seizure of foreign oil firms and a congressional effort to control the financing of nongovernmental organizations critical of the state.

WALL STREET JOURNAL

Hugo Chávez moves to seize oil contractors' assets

Venezuela's President Hugo Chávez said Thursday his government will seize the local assets of some international oil-service companies starting Friday -- a response to threats by several firms to stop their work in Venezuela because of nonpayment of bills owed by state-run oil giant Petróleos de Venezuela SA.

THE WASHINGTON POST

Courting Venezuela's Hugo Chavez

The administration has maintained a deliberate silence about the persecution of Venezuelan elected politicians, a dissident former defense minister and a leading journalist. Meanwhile, the State Department is lauding what it calls the "positive development" in U.S.-Venezuelan relations.

EL UNIVERSAL

Hugo Chavez's pyramid (Spanish)

Estoy aliviado de poder admitir esto& yo pensé que podría revertir la situación pero fue imposible& sabía que lo que hacía estaba mal hecho, y que era criminal& jamás invertí los fondos que me confiaron&". Esta es cita textual extraída de la declaración de culpabilidad del segundo timador más grande de la historia contemporánea, el administrador de fondos de inversión Bernard Madoff. Habiendo admitido, finalmente, que lo que efectivamente había hecho por años era construir una gigantesca pirámide financiera, hoy espera -encarcelado- su muy probable condena a 150 años de prisión.

LOS ANGELES TIMES

Brazil seeks to boost ties with U.S

On the eve of Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's visit today to the White House to discuss trade, energy and global warming issues, U.S. diplomats reacted coolly to his other agenda item: his offer to mediate with Venezuela's Hugo Chavez.

DRUDGE REPORT

Hugo Chavez calls on Obama to follow socialism

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Friday called upon US President Barack Obama to follow the path to socialism, which he termed as the "only" way out of the global recession. "Come with us, align yourself, come with us on the road to socialism. This is the only path. Imagine a socialist revolution in the United States," Chavez told a group of workers in the southern Venezuelan state of Bolivar.

KCJA

International court partially acquits Venezuela in journalists' cases

The Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) acquitted Venezuela of violating the rights of equality and freedom of expression in the case of RCTV and Globovisión. But it ruled that the government intimidated and obstructed the work of journalists through "attacks" and "putting their personal safety at risk," El Nacional reports.

REUTERS

Venezuela's Chavez turns to confrontation in crisis

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's aggressive moves against the food industry show the socialist leader will respond to growing economic woes in the OPEC nation with takeovers and tighter controls on business.

THE WASHINGTON POST

Venezuela's determined voice of dissent

Days after President Hugo Chávez won a referendum to eliminate term limits, Congressman Juan José Molina stood up in the National Assembly and called the victory "a major fraud" made possible by weak institutions and a populace manipulated by an omnipresent government.

IBD EDITORIAL

Venezuela's elected dictatorship

Sunday's referendum in Venezuela was hailed as a "victory" for the Chavez regime and extolled as participatory democracy. In reality, it was a farce undermining a multiparty state. So why does the U.S. praise it?

WALL STREET JOURNAL

Uncertain Latin American Investors Line Up, Looking to Get Back Their Life Savings

Customers of R. Allen Stanford's banking empire in the Caribbean and Latin America faced uncertainty over their accounts as some regulators struggled to stem the flow of withdrawals

Hugo Chavez wins Venezuela vote with solid margin

President Hugo Chavez scored a major victory Sunday when Venezuelans lifted term limits so he can run for re-election in 2012 and perhaps beyond. The Chavez-backed measure won 54.3 percent of the vote, according to the National Electoral Council.

Venezuela vote expected to be tight

President Hugo Chavez's bid to run for reelection in 2012 and beyond was expected to produce a tight tally Sunday night after Venezuelans voted in a critical referendum to abandon all term limits on elected officials.

THE WASHINGTON POST

The beginning of the end is setting in for Hugo Chávez.

The beginning of the end is setting in for Hugo Chávez. The authoritarian Venezuelan president is holding a referendum tomorrow on a constitutional change that would allow him to run for president indefinitely. Pollsters say Chávez leads slightly, but the election is mostly irrelevant. Barring an oil miracle, the former army paratrooper is slowly being undone by his economic mismanagement and corruption, like any of a number of populist strongmen before him.