This past Tuesday, the Venezuelan National Assembly passed new legislation reforming the country’s laws on organised crime and terrorism. The legislation widens the number of crimes under its competence and also increases maximum sentences for offenses.
By Correo del Orinoco International , Jan 27th 2012
This week Venezuelan opposition forces demonstrated a false showing of unity against President Hugo Chavez in preparation for next October’s presidential elections.
The president of Venezuela’s National Electoral Council (CNE) Tibisay Lucena reported on Wednesday that the CNE, which organises and oversees elections in Venezuela, is fully prepared for the upcoming 2012 – 2013 electoral period. “We say to the country that we are ready...all that remains is to put that thorough planning into practise,” she stated.
By Correo del Orinoco International, Jan 22nd 2012
As governor of Zulia, Perez has been accused of helping Colombian paramilitary forces enter the country as part of destabilization plans aimed at toppling the Chavez government. Earlier this year, neighboring Apure State Governor Ramon Carrizalez accused Perez of using his role in office to “make frequent trips into and out of Colombia” and “making agreements to bring in paramilitaries to sow anxiety and violence in the region”.
For the sector of society that has it all and no one has taken it from them, the real problem is that a “zambo” [a person of mixed African and native American origin] governs them.
Venezuela's opposition once again appears to be withering on a vine that has not taken root since President Chavez was first elected 12 years ago. The men who would be president this year are little more than plastic media candidates, reading scripts written by their funding source in the U.S. State Department. They offer no real challenge to the Chavez administration for several reasons. The first is due to the success of the Bolivarian Revolution or in a word, socialism.
Leopoldo Lopez Mendoza comes from one of Venezuela’s wealthiest families and is known for his “good-boy” looks and extreme right-wing agenda. Lopez has been an anti-Chavez media favorite for his “heroic” negation of a decision by Venezuela’s Comptroller General barring him from holding office until 2014 for acts of corruption committed while he was mayor of Caracas municipality Chacao and during his time as a state employee of PDVSA.
By Nil Nikandrov - Strategic Culture Foundation, Dec 29th 2011
Nine months ahead of the presidential poll in Venezuela, US President B. Obama gave a written interview to the country's top-conservative and sternly anti-Chavez outlet El Universal. Obama's provocative comments were immediately read as a mobilizing signal by the opposition in Venezuela.
Kevin Avila was suspended from Venezuela's largest and most prestigious university on Thursday after UCV authorities accused him of participating in vaguely defined acts of violence.
By Correo del Orinoco International , Nov 18th 2011
On Monday, Venezuela’s anti-Chavez minority remained sceptical as a proposed “debate” between their pre-presidential candidates went no further than a series of grand promises each candidate would implement if he or she somehow beats Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in next year’s presidential elections
