Venezuela

NOVANEWS Announces expulsion of two U.S. Embassy officials; prepares emergency measures By Gloria La Riva Venezuela’s Minister of Communication and Information Ernesto Villegas issued a government statement March 4 on the worsening health condition of President Hugo Chávez. Chávez, leader of Venezuela’s Bolivarian revolutionary process since his election in 1998, has been battling for his life against cancer, which was diagnosed in June 2011. According to the March 4 communiqué, “there is a worsening in his respiratory function, related to the President’s depressed immune system” and “currently he presents with a new and severe infection.” Ever since Chávez returned suddenly to Cuba in early December for further medical treatment, the Venezuelan masses who support him have rallied by ...

NOVANEWS Venezuelan Vice-President Nicolas Maduro speaks during a military council held to discuss the political path for Venezuela in Caracas on March 5, 2013. Venezuelan leaders have met amid growing concerns over President Hugo Chavez’s health, with Vice President Nicolas Maduro saying his cancer is the result of enemies' attack. Venezuela’s civilian and military leaders met on Tuesday, after it was announced that Chavez’s health had taken a turn for the worse. "...The historic enemies of this nation looked for how to harm the health of our commander," Maduro said. The vice president also added that a US Embassy military official was being expelled for seeking information from military officials and being involved in "destabilization projects" against the government. He added th...

NOVANEWS Venezuela's Vice President Maduro announces the death of President Hugo Chavez, says they believe Venezuela's enemies are responsible   Transcript President Hugo Chavez died on Tuesday March the 5th 2013 in Caracas Venezuela, the news sent political shockwaves all across Latin America and the World.   Nicolas Maduro acting as provisional president spoke to the people: “We came here to the Military Hospital in Caracas, to follow up on the health of our President – Commander. And the moment we where paying company to his daughter, brothers and family; we then got the hardest and most tragic information we can transmit to our people… Hugo Chavez Frias died today, March the 5th at 4:25pm .” The Venezuelan Defense Department Secretary Diego Molero Bellavi...

NOVANEWS bloomberg.com Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez hinted that the U.S. may be behind a “very strange” bout of cancer affecting several leaders aligned with him in South America. Chavez, speaking a day after Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner was diagnosed with thyroid cancer, said the Central Intelligence Agency was behind chemical experiments in Guatemala in the 1940s and that it’s possible that in years to come a plot will be uncovered that shows the U.S. spread cancer as a political weapon against its critics. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez gives a speach during the swearing in of the People’s Guard to strengthen the fight against crime in Caracas. Photographer: Leo Ramirez/AFP/Getty Images “It’s very difficult to explain, even with the law of probabili...

NOVANEWS by Martin Iqbal. Henrique Capriles Radonski – leader of the Venezuelan opposition – vows to downgrade ties with Iran and cut subsidised oil to Cuba and Nicaragua, should he get into power. What is more, his coalition has links to Israel, and both of his parents are Jewish, though he claims to be a ‘fervent Catholic’. At a rally in June 2010, much to the disdain of the American Jewish Committee which dismissed the accusations as ‘baseless’,(1) Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez publicly stated that Israel is funding the Venezuelan opposition: An inspection of the profile of Henrique Capriles Radonski – leader of the Venezuelan opposition – not only elicits deep suspicion, but in fact completely validates the claims made by Chavez. Firstly, Radonski is the youngest Venezuelan MP ev...

NOVANEWS by jodymcintyre To name one of the many lessons from these months in Venezuela, it is never to expect a disappointing turn-out.  The concept simply does not exist in the political vocabulary here.  This stems from the fact that there are concrete achievements at stake, and a sense that the two choices are either to continue to advance, or to be vulnerable to set-backs.  To allow the process to stagnate is not an option. There has been much talk in recent years of the importance of continental unity in Latin America, and not only talk.  On January 10th, the date on which Hugo Chavez was due to be re-inaugarated as President, huge crowds turned out in support as he continues to recuperate from cancer surgery in Cuba.  The people who flooded the streets were joined by he...

NOVANEWS by Stephen Lendman   On January 8, Vice President Nicolas Maduro addressed National Assembly Speaker Diosdado Cabello. He said Chavez: “asked that (I) inform that, according to the recommendations made by the medical team that is watching over his health, the process of post-operation recovery should be extended beyond 10 January of the current year.” “For this reason, he won’t be able to appear on that date before the national assembly.” “This constitutes an irrefutable supervening reason to invoke article 231 of the Constitution of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela in order to formalize, at a later date, the corresponding swearing-in before the Supreme Court.” Article 231 states: “The candidate elected shall take office as President of the Republic on January 10 of the ...

NOVANEWS by jodymcintyre   Me and my younger brother have spent an enjoyable couple of trips to Barquisimieto Zoo recently.  There were tigers, lions, ostriches (so funny), baboons, rhinoceres, hippopotamuses and bears, but my favourite was the elephant.  We went and watched the elephant for quite a while, which has eyes that look like it is weeping, and almost the whole time it was eating, scooping up leaves and weeds with it´s trunk.  It also used it´s trunk to take a swing at my younger brother, missing it´s target by only centimetres.   Driving in the outskirts of Cubiro, a small town in the hills surrounding Barquisimieto, in the state of Lara, a familiar voice speaking over the radio brought conversation to a halt.  President Hugo Chavez was announcing the re-a...