THE WASHINGTON POST

Obama and Hugo Chávez start sparring early

U.S. President-elect Barack Obama recently said that Venezuela's firebrand president, Hugo Chávez, has hindered progress in Latin America, and he expressed concern that Chávez's leftist government has assisted Colombia's biggest guerrilla movement. Chávez responded this weekend by saying that Obama had "the same stench" as President Bush.

EL UNIVERSAL

Michael Rowan's book: Getting over Chavez and poverty

For the last 7 years, President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela has failed to deliver on his 1998 campaign promises to reduce poverty and corruption. In fact, both have increased while he has spent $500 billion building a dictatorship in Latin America’s first democracy, tricking many into believing he is a democrat working for the poor.

INVESTORS' BUSINESS DAILY

Venezuela's Hugo Chavez crawls back

Low oil prices and plunging output have seen Venezuela's Hugo Chavez come groveling back to U.S. oil firms for new investment after abusing them earlier. But Big Oil, once bitten, should now be twice shy.

THE NEW YORK TIMES

Venezuela's Hugo Chávez allows west to make oil bids

President Hugo Chávez, buffeted by falling oil prices that threaten to damage his efforts to establish a Socialist-inspired state, is quietly courting Western oil companies once again.

LOS ANGELES TIMES

Venezuela deepens trade, military ties with China

Venezuela took control this weekend of a Chinese-built communications satellite, part of a deepening trade relationship that some say illustrates waning U.S. influence in Latin America.

AFP

Nearly 30,000 Cubans provide healthcare in Venezuela

Nearly 30,000 Cuban doctors, dentists, nurses and technicians are providing healthcare to the poor through a Venezuelan government-sponsored program, officials here said Wednesday.

AFP

Cuba's Raul Castro to make Venezuela trip

Cuban President Raul Castro is to arrive in Venezuela on Saturday on his first overseas trip since taking over from his brother Fidel Castro, President Hugo Chavez said Wednesday.

Putin sees no need for bases in Cuba, Venezuela

Vladimir Putin says he sees no need for Russia to build military bases in Cuba or Venezuela.

ST PETERSBURG TIMES

Losses puncture Hugo Chavez's ambition

Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez certainly likes to put on a show. Only days after his ruling socialist party suffered major losses in regional elections Sunday, he is hosting Russian President Dimitry Medvedev today on a state visit. Just to add to the occasion, part of Russia's Northern Fleet dropped anchor off the Venezuelan coast Tuesday, led by its flagship, Peter the Great.

THE WASHINGTON POST

In rampant crime, political danger for Hugo Chávez

For the first time in years, Venezuela's political opposition is poised to break President Hugo Chávez's nearly complete hold on local and state offices. Crime is one reason why.

Ecuador's Correa May Burn Ally Hugo Chavez

Ecuador President Rafael Correa's looming default on $510 million of bonds may hurt his biggest ally, Venezuela President Hugo Chavez, more than anyone else. Chavez's government owns structured notes tied to Ecuador's bonds that would force Venezuela to pay $400 million if Correa doesn't make the payment, according to estimates by Barclays Capital Inc.

Alertan sobre preso político en Venezuela

Líderes y organizaciones políticas del sur de la Florida lanzaron ayer un llamado de alerta sobre la delicada situación de salud que padece el preso político Raúl Díaz Peña, detenido en Venezuela desde el 2004 sin ser sometido a juicio.

Denuncian presencia de venezolanos y cubanos en Bolivia

Una activa participación de militares venezolanos, con centenares de millones de dólares en cheques entregados, y la injerencia ''sutil y profesional'' de agentes cubanos en un sofisticado sistema de represión, forman parte de la operación cotidiana del gobierno del presidente Evo Morales, denunciaron en Miami dirigentes y analistas bolivianos.

LATINOBAROMETRO

New poll shows Venezuelans satisfied with democracy

The Latinobarometro survey of Latin American attitudes toward democracy was released today. Results published in the Economist show that Venezuelans are the region's second-most satisfied with the functioning of democracy in their country. Confidence in institutions like Congress, the Judiciary, and political parties is also high. Over one third of Venezuelan respondents said that inequalities have diminished.

VIO

Venezuelan elections to be monitored

Regional elections in Venezuela on November 23rd will be monitored by 130 foreign observers from groups such as the OAS, according to the Caracas newspaper El Universal. Observer missions have been invited from 34 different countries.

CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR

Falling oil prices dent Hugo Chávez's clout in Venezuela

Sixteen months ago, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez visited Nicaragua to lay the ceremonial cornerstone to a new $3.9 billion oil refinery to help "liberate" Nicaragua from poverty. Today, the cornerstone, outside the city of León, sits among weeds. And with the price of oil 55 percent less than its peak in July, many Nicaraguans are starting to wonder if it will ever amount to more than a mere brick

THE NEW YORK TIMES

Venezuela, Iran, Russia face oil reckoning

As the price of oil roared to ever higher levels in recent years, the leaders of Venezuela, Iran and Russia muscled their way onto the world stage, using checkbook diplomacy and, on occasion, intimidation. Now, plummeting oil prices are raising questions about whether the countries can sustain their spending — and their bids to challenge United States hegemony.

THE WASHINGTON POST

As election looms, Chávez steps up rhetoric

With President Hugo Chávez's socialist party facing tough regional elections in November, the government is ramping up the warnings of a U.S. attack on Venezuela like never before ,and taking the requisite actions against what officials say are shadowy assassination plots and U.S.-orchestrated destabilizing plans.

NEW YORK REVIEW OF BOOKS

Hugo Chávez versus human rights

On September 18, Human Rights Watch released a report in Caracas that shows how President Hugo Chávez has undermined human rights guarantees in Venezuela. That night, we returned to our hotel and found around twenty Venezuelan security agents, some armed and in military uniform, awaiting us outside our rooms. They were accompanied by a man who announced—with no apparent sense of irony—that he was a government "human rights" official and that we were being expelled from the country.

EL NUEVO HERALD

Denuncia gobierno de facto en Venezuela

El editor del diario El Nacional de Caracas, Miguel Henrique Otero, denunció el miércoles en Miami que la administración de Hugo Chávez es "un gobierno de facto'' que viola la Constitución, y aseguró que no descarta la posibilidad de ser detenido por las acusaciones de que lidera una conspiración magnicida y golpista, aunque hasta ahora "no han presentado pruebas serias''.