Worldcrunch
The crushing weight of Chinese loans to socialist Venezuela may yet become the biggest, if less publicized, obstacle to the restoration of liberal democracy there, if its power-drunk president were ever to abandon power as he once again appears unwilling to do after a highly contested election.
Corruption, human rights violations, and alliances with totalitarian regimes are all good reasons why the West should be paying attention to Venezuela ahead of the country’s presidential elections on July 28, writes Venezuelan journalist Miguel Henrique Otero in Nicaragua’s Confidencial newspaper.
Venezuela’s PDVSA, once among the world’s most powerful oil firms, was transformed and largely gutted under Hugo Chavez and Nicolas Maduro. But the story is more complicated than it may seem.
Hyperinflation comes from ignoring some basic economic rules. That is unlikely to change any time soon under the Maduro government.
The U.S. president will cast a long shadow over the upcoming Summit of the Americas gathering in Lima, Peru — even if he decides not to show up.
As Venezuela’s leftist regime further tramples its own laws and social-democratic ideals, protesters are reminding us what a popular uprising looks like.
The Venezuelan president’s calls for a constitutional overhaul suggest a possible first step toward the ‘corporatist’ policy forged by 20th century rulers like Castro in Cuba, Francisco Franco in Spain and Italy’s Benito Mussolini.
-OpEd- BOGOTÁ –– For some time now, Latin America has not figured on the U.S. State Department’s agenda. If the continent did appear, it was at the bottom of the government’s list. This indifference has only grown starker since Donald J. Trump moved into the White House. This state of affairs is neither good nor […]
-Analysis- You don’t need to be an army general marching in with troops to mount a coup in a country. Sometimes democracy can be crushed by the very person elected at its helm — the president. In Venezuela, analysts and opposition leaders are describing this phenomenon as a “self-coup,” after President Nicolás Maduro ordered the […]
Venezuela’s socialist President Nicolás Maduro has brought his country to the lowest socio-economic levels in its history. His clinging to power is a dangerous thing.
The shoes were clearly too big for him to fill. Three-and-a-half years after Hugo Chávez’s death, his successor Nicolás Maduro is losing an already loose grip on the helm of his country. A disastrous economic and social crisis is turning into a political one, and the country’s long-suffering opposition feels primed to remove him from […]
Massive protests Wednesday target recent actions by Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro for banning a referendum and evading parliament. Does he compare to Latin American strongmen of the past?
-OpEd- BOGOTÁ — On Sunday, Colombians will decide whether to ratify a peace deal that makes the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, lay down their arms. But if that happens, what will the future of FARC look like? Will it become a socialist party like the one that has driven Venezuela into an […]
The regimes of Iran and Venezuela may have been great chums and eager members of the anti-imperialist camp over the past decade. But the current in Caracas, where food shortages and clashes are rising, is prompting some finger-wagging in Tehran. “We Want Food — Venezuela’s Economy A Step Away From Total Collapse” read the front […]
OCUMARE — It’s midday on this Thursday, and hundreds of people are squeezing inside a supermarket in Ocumare, a poor city about an hour’s drive south of Caracas. Armed police officers are allowing people in, but just a few at a time, infuriating the multitude massed outside since dawn to buy corn flour at a […]
Venezuela’s economic woes are depriving the socialist regime of its remaining popularity, even as the government uses every constitutional and political trick up its sleeve to block the opposition’s ascent to power.
Bolivia’s president lost a referendum earlier this year that could have kept him in power beyond 2019. The long-serving leader may try to seek reelection regardless.
Falling revenues, dire financial conditions and voter exasperation have curbed populist-socialist power in Venezuela and Argentina. The opponents have their work cut out for them.
The supply crisis that has plagued supermarkets and consumers for months now has hit the health care sector, with medicines, doctors and even emergency care in short supply. Plummeting oil prices are a major factor, as is the legacy of Hugo Chavez.
CARACAS — Venezuelan security agents have detained Manuel Rosales, an opposition politician returning to the country after six years in exile, at the airport in Maracaibo, in the western state of Zulia. Opposition daily El Universal reports that the 63-year-old former presidential candidate and ex governor of Zulia, was arrested “literally as he got off […]
Obama’s executive order slapping sanctions on Venezuelan officials is ostensibly in defense of liberty. But it could just as well be another of a long line of aggressive American interventions.
Hampered by plummeting oil prices and fading public support, President Nicolas Maduro and his crafty sidekick, Assembly leader Diosdado Cabello, are trying to provoke an opposition outburst. Last week’s arrest of Caracas Mayor Antonio Ledezma was a c
As Colombia prepares to elect a president, voters must choose between a candidate willing to make painful concessions with FARC guerrillas and a hawk keen on the status quo.
CARACAS — The rigid black-and-white vision of a Venezuela divided between government supporters and opponents obstructs any understanding of the multiple identities that have emerged since the start of mass anti-government protests in February. For those looking in from the outside, the media have presented a veritable caricature of events. The situation reminds me of […]
The media criticism heaped on Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has prevented an objective assessment of the protesters, who may not be quite as democratic as they’re portrayed.
The battle at hand on the streets of Caracas and beyond may be more fractured than it first appears.
The dire state of the economy and vanishing press freedoms are two key signs that Venezuela is a nation on the edge of disaster.
Haven’t finalized your Halloween costume yet? Don’t worry! Worldcrunch has been browsing the news archives of recent months looking for good ideas, bad puns and other ways to abuse the powers of photoshop. Scary, right…??
-Op-Ed- LIMA – Last January, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro announced that he and Venezuelan parliament president Diosdado Cabello were both the target of an assassination plan – without unveiling the conspirators’ identity. In March, he said the Pentagon and the CIA were hatching a plan to murder opposition leader Henrique Capriles and frame him for […]
In the first interview with the foreign press since his victory, the new Venezuelan President tells Le Monde that he will carry on Hugo Chavez’s policies, both at home and abroad.
MINSK – At the age of nine he has already met a pope and a few presidents. He likes guns and carries around a gold-plated pistol he was given by former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. Wearing his mini-uniform, he attends military parades and takes part in high-level meetings. Meet Kolya, the youngest son of Belarusian […]
EFE; BBC; FRANCE24 (France); EL UNIVERSAL, EL NACIONAL (Venezuela) Worldcrunch CARACAS – Hugo Chavez’s hand-picked successor Nicolas Maduro declared himself the narrow winner of Venezuela’s highly anticipated presidential election, but his opponent has already demanded a recount. The Spanish news agency EFE reported the final tallies were 50.66% for Maduro and 49.07% for rival candidate […]
As Sunday’s election looms, Folha de S. Paulo sits down with, and gets a ride from Nicolas Maduro, the fiery former bus driver and heir apparent to Hugo Chavez.
After the death of Hugo Chavez, Venezuela is set for the second presidential election in less than six months. Chavez’s handpicked successor Nicolas Maduro faces challenger Henrique Capriles.
SANTIAGO – Venezuelan television network Globovision has announced it had accepted a purchase offer, and its sale would be finalized shortly after the presidential election on April 14. Globovision’s board of directors explained that they were selling the station because its operation had become both legally and financially impossible due to harassment from the government […]
Worldcrunch CARACAS – An animated video has been released by ViVe, the cultural TV channel owned by the Venezuelan government, depicting Hugo Chavez passing into immortality. The short video shows El Comandante being welcomed into the afterlife by famous Latin American heroes of the past that it felt best represented Chavez’s political ideals. From right […]
MOSCOW – When word first came out in 2011 that Hugo Chavez was suffering from a serious illness, a Russian military source predicted the consequences of the end of the Chavez era: not only could Moscow lose contracts already signed, but it might also never get paid for weapons it has already delivered to Caracas. […]
Worldcrunch CARACAS – After a long battle with cancer, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez died on Tuesday at the age of 58. Both in health and in sickness, whether loved or despised, El Commandante was an iconic figure of our times. Newspapers in Venezuela, elsewhere in Latin America, and around the world are dedicating major coverage […]
CAN U.S. AND RUSSIA START DIALOGUE ON UKRAINE? U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov are meeting today in Paris with other world leaders, on the sidelines of a long-planned conference on Lebanon. The encounter will be an attempt “to ease mounting tensions,” according to France24. It comes after Kerry’s […]
EFE, EL PAIS (Spain), EL UNIVERSAL (Venezuela) Worldcrunch CARACAS – Hugo Chavez is suffering from another severe respiratory infection said Venezuelan Minister for Communication and Information, Ernesto Villegas, in a video statement. “At the moment the respiratory function is getting worse because of the immunosuppressants. Currently, he has a new, severe infection,” said Villegas. “Right […]