Almost unnoticed in the chaos created by recent terrorist events is the nuclear agreement signed between Russia and Venezuela signed when Russian president Medvedev visited Caracas last week. His visit coincided with the arrival of Russian naval ships for joint operations with the Venezuelan navy.

The ships, in their first post-Cold War venture into Latin America, included the Peter the Great, the flagship missile cruiser of the Russian navy, and several other vessels.

Under the accord, Russia would help Venezuela build a nuclear energy plant. Joint gas projects were also approved. Military co-operation is also high on the agenda of Mr Medvedev.s talks with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

None of this would be alarming if Chavez were not a known sponsor of violent and radical movements across the hemisphere, from the FARC in Colombia to the worst elements (and a small minority of the overall parties) of the Sandinistas in Nicaragua and the FMLN in El Salvador.

His closest allies, such as Iran and North Korea, are rogue nations who have repeatedly lied and failed to abide by international nuclear agreements. Having already spent $4.4 billion on Russian weapons in the past three years, and despite a sharp downturn in oil revenues, Chavez wants to go nuclear. The reason he gives is electrical production as the prime peacetime use of the energy. But this raises several important questions. The first is why, in his quest to acquire nuclear power since 2005, Chavez has insisted on involving the Iranians in the program? According to Russian press reports, the link in the new project will be made, at least indirectly.

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As a consequence of a pacifist protest the Bolivian Army decided to shoot every one around, women, reporters, etc… You can clearly see the white jumbo plane that belongs to the Venezuelan government.

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The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) today designated two senior Venezuelan government officials, Hugo Armando Carvajal Barrios and Henry de Jesus Rangel Silva, and one former official, Ramon Rodriguez Chacin, for materially assisting the narcotics trafficking activities of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), a narco-terrorist organization.

Relation bewteen Terrorist group FARC and Venezuela

“Today’s designation exposes two senior Venezuelan government officials and one former official who armed, abetted, and funded the FARC, even as it terrorized and kidnapped innocents,” said Adam J. Szubin, Director of OFAC. “This is OFAC’s sixth action in the last ten months against the FARC. We will continue to target and isolate those individuals and entities that aid the FARC’s deadly narco-terrorist activities in the Americas.”

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Venezuela’s parliament has approved a new law giving the state a majority share in the distribution of fuel. President Hugo Chavez said the measure was needed to stop intermediary firms from profiting from high oil prices. They will now have a limited role in transporting fuel to the country’s petrol stations. This is the latest in a series of state takeovers of private companies by Venezuela’s socialist government, including major US oil companies.

No Gas

Venezuela’s national energy company will now control almost all elements of the huge oil industry. Exploration and refining is already handled by the state, with some involvement of private partners. But until now, the transport of petrol was in the hands of dozens of private firms, including some major multinationals. President Hugo Chavez said they were making money at the country’s expense.

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Foreign office officials have told the Agencia Judia de Noticias that Israel is “very worried” by the influence of lebanese militia in Venezuela. Last week, an article published in the LA Times noted that Venezuela was a safehaven for the Islamic terrorism of Hezbollah. The article went on to claim that the group may have an operations center in Venezuela, invoking an immediate reaction from the Venezuelan jewish community.

The President of La Confederacion de Asociaciones Israelitas de Venezuela, Abraham Levy Benshimol, said that the possibility of a Hezbollah presence in his country was “worrying”. “Clearly this worries us considerably”, stressed a highly-placed source in the Israeli foreign office. The article also warned of a strengthening link between Chavez and the Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Since the publication of the article in the LA Times, the Israeli foreign office has remained silent, but today, unofficially, accepted that the accuracy of its contents is ‘reasonably certain’. Furthermore, the article confirmed that two Venezuelans with Arab surnames had bank accounts in numerous countries, from which they financed terrorist groups. Because of this, the US Treasury has frozen their accounts.

Source: Noticias24.com

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has spent close to $33 billion to influence the regional politics of Latin America, helping to finance the economies of nations such as Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador and Nicaragua, a former U.S. intelligence official has testified before the U.S. Congress.

The Venezuelan government also provided resources to Colombia’s FARC guerrillas, the Basque separatist group known as ETA and Islamic organizations such as Hamas and Hezbollah, according to Norman Bailey.

Bailey briefly held the post of Venezuela and Cuba program manager for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence last year, a position that coordinates information-gathering for areas considered top priorities. Bailey, now with the Institute of World Politics and the Institute for Global Economic Growth, testified that Venezuela continues to present a “clear and immediate” threat to U.S. national security, “especially due to the broad and ever-increasing ties to the Islamic Republic of Iran.”

Bailey testified Friday during a hearing on Venezuela by the Western Affairs Subcommittee of House Committee on Foreign relations.

He questioned Washington’s “passivity” in confronting the excesses of the Chavez government and criticized the arguments by some U.S. government officials that it “will ultimately destroy itself,” and that any U.S. measures against Chavez could make petroleum prices spike.

Bailey said the impact of a U.S. embargo on oil imports from Venezuela could be countered by releasing around two million barrels a day from the U.S. strategic oil reserves. In contrast, he said, for Venezuela, “the effects would be devastating“.

Bailey also denounced the close relations with Iran that have been “assiduously cultivated” by the Chavez government.

Source: MiamiHerald.com

The vice president of a Venezuelan newspaper was shot and killed by a gunman who police said could have confused the victim for his brother the president of a daily that has closely covered corruption cases.

Pierre Fould Gerges, vice president of the Reporte Diario de la Economia, was shot about a dozen times by an assassin on a motorcycle Monday night, newspaper editor Jose Palmar told the Venezuelan broadcaster Union Radio.

“Everything indicates it was a hit“, Palmar said, adding the 48-year-old was shot about a dozen times and that the gunman stole nothing during the attack outside a Caracas gas station.

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Various armed groups from Caracas’ ‘23de Enero’ parish declared themselves to be on revolutionary strike this Thursday, in order to protest against the repression shown towards them by officials from the DISIP (Directorate of Intelligence and Prevention Services), following the detonation of an explosive device in the entrance of the Fedecamaras (Venezuelan Federation of Chambers of Commerce) building last February 24th. This explosion caused the death of Hector Serrano, a suspected member of one of the area’s collectives.

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An analysis published today by Aristimuño Herrera & Associates draws attention to an increase in arrears in 36 of the 47 Venezuelan banks. The increase in credit card fees is one of the causes.

A rise in the rate of arrears has been observed in the accounts of banking institutions, with rates of 1.14% in February 2007 increasing to 1.34% in January 2008 and 1.41% in February.

Of a total of 47 commercial and universal banks, 36 have seen their rate of arrears increase in the last 12 months. This figure, according to Aristimuño Herrera & Associates, will continue to increase through the year. This will strike in unison with a fall in the banks’ profits, which will without doubt hang over the system in a negative way.

The economic slow down which will occur in 2008, along with an increase in interest rates, is a highly detrimental combination for the solvency of Venezuelan banks’ credit portfolio.

The maximum rate of interest that banks can charge for credit card loans has now risen to 32%, which is evidence for the increase in arrears for this credit, which now represents 14% of all loans, equal to Bs.F 14,733,193. Banks have done away with sending out unsolicited credit cards, just as with the phrase “Buy now, pay later”. Credit cards are the easiest form of borrowing to use and the hardest to pay back- in periods of economic cooling things are aggravated even more by the increased cost of borrowing.

At Aristimuño Herrera & Associates, they predict that credit cards will be one of the biggest headaches for banks this year. Furthermore, they foresee 2008 being a difficult year for banking in general, as financial obligations are not met.

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The biggest threat in the region is not Colombia but Venezuela. Mr Chávez has recently veered towards outright support for the FARC. Colombia alleges that the captured laptops show that he gave the guerrillas $300m (and also that the FARC is seeking uranium for a ‘dirty bomb).

Mr Chávez’s mismanagement of Venezuela’s oil boom has made him increasingly unpopular at home. His regime runs a risk of imploding. A cornered Mr Chávez might think of a border skirmish as the perfect distraction and as justification for more repression at home.

Even as they scold Mr Uribe, Brazil and other South American countries should warn Venezuela that it is destabilizing the continent and it is high time it stopped.

Source: economist.com

The leader of the PPT Andrea Tabare confirmed today (11th February 2008) that the demonstration outside the British Embassy concerning the EXXON – PDVSA dispute will take place this Wednesday at 11, and went on to accuse those who do not attend of being “traitors to their homeland”.

The PPT gave its “completed and unlimited support” to the PDVSA and to the actions which “businesses as much as the State are carrying out against the aggression and this shady deal which British and American courts have tried to impose against our sovereignty and natural resources” stated Tabare.

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In Venezuela, they are now standing in line to get powdered milk. Not whole, 2%, 1%, or skim, but powdered. Not chocolate or strawberry in half-gallons, quarts or pints, in cardboard or glass, but powdered.

It isn’t just milk either. Beef? Good luck. Sugar? Try again. Chicken, eggs or rice? Not in Venezuela.

The food shortage is so bad, that Venezuela imported 74,000 tons of food items last month, just to avoid a ‘food crisis’. Chavez has demanded that food producers increase production, but the country still faces shortages.

It is undeniable is the inability of socialism to meet the needs of people. In Zimbabwe, they face the same problems, for the same reasons. And respond in same socialist fashion.

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Down here a man named Hugo Chavez has gained control of the country by being its president. While his intelligence is that of the current American president, he also dreams of power and especially more power. You can just imagine him as Palpatine from Star Wars: Episode III (I know, it sucked, but my point stands) screaming “POWER!” and frying Samuel Jackson… motherfucker. And true enough, during his reign of terror he have tried to change the constitution of the country so he can become the president till his time is up. Which he predicts is 2050. As if his health and the world’s will last that long. Anyway, while the man may appear funny, and could be the interest of many comedians, he also have a bad influence on his country. He is certainly a divider.

Chavez is largely supported by the poor people of Venezuela, because he promises them better uh… stuff? Dunno really what he does for them. But what is worse is that the rest of the world is largely ignoring what is going down in Venezuela. Yeah, we hear it on the news, yeah, we read about it. But do we really care? Do we really have room for more caring? We already pretend to care about Afghanistan and Iraq. And North Korea and Pakistan. And Kenya and Sudan. And economics and terror. And so on and so on. Our caring usage is simply too much.

No excuse. Humans can care unlimited. That or you can simply revert your caring to other things.

Source: p.sviip.dk

Government Seeks Overbroad Emergency Powers for President

Amendments proposed to Venezuela’s constitution increasing presidential emergency powers would jeopardize the protection of fundamental rights at times when they are most needed, Human Rights Watch said today.

The proposed changes would eliminate the constitutional prohibition on suspending due process guarantees during states of emergency. They would also eliminate specific time limits on states of emergency, giving the president de facto power to suspend due process and other basic rights indefinitely.

Human Rights Watch is particularly concerned that these provisions could lead to suspension of fundamental rights in violation of international law, as the proposed amendments would also eliminate the requirement that such restrictions meet the requirements, principles, and guarantees established in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the American Convention on Human Rights.

These amendments would enable President Chavez to suspend basic rights indefinitely by maintaining a perpetual state of emergency, said Jose Miguel Vivanco, Americas director at Human Rights Watch.

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Around a hundred people turned up at the Spanish embassy in Caracas today with banners criticizing Spanish authorities and presented a document supporting Batasuna and expressing solidarity “with the towns that fight”. The demonstrators launched firecrackers and burnt two dolls with the effigy of the King of Spain and the ex-president of the Government Jose Maria Aznar, leaving behind graffiti supporting ETA.

Since 1968 to date ETA has killed 821 people and committed dozens of kidnappings. ETA is proscribed as a terrorist organization by both the Spanish and French authorities as well as the European Union as a whole, the United States, and the United Nations. More than 500 members of the organization are incarcerated in prisons in Spain, France and other countries.

ETA is a terrorist group just like FARC and ELN in Colombia.