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

February 13, 2009

as Chavez has accelerated his drive to install a Cuban-style socialist regime - the opposition has finally found a winning answer: democracy. Last December voters rejected a new constitution that would have greatly increased presidential powers. On Sunday Venezuelans turned out in record numbers for local elections - and chose opposition candidates for five of the six most important elected posts in the country. ...more

November 27, 2008

President Hugo Chavez has used his decree powers to carry out a major overhaul of this country's intelligence agencies, provoking a fierce backlash here from human rights groups and legal scholars who say the measures will force citizens to inform on one another to avoid prison terms. ...more

June 3, 2008

My recent Venezuela column in The Tampa Tribune prompted a prominent response from a local Venezuelan activist who took exception to some points I made. Fair enough. On this subject, I'm not an expert on anything but my own first-hand impressions based on what I saw -- from health clinics to brazen street crime -- and to whom I spoke -- from Chavez acolytes to scornful opposition. ...more

May 22, 2008

The second of four suspects accused in a purported scheme to hide the source of $800,000 sent in a suitcase to finance the campaign of Argentina's president pleaded not guilty in federal court Friday. ...more

December 29, 2007

The surprising defeat of a referendum this weekend to accelerate President Hugo Chavez's socialist-inspired revolution has given new energy to his long-suffering opposition. ...more

December 4, 2007

Venezuelan officials claimed a world record Saturday for making the largest pot of soup, a giant cauldron of stew prepared by President Hugo Chavez's government. ...more

September 16, 2007