Monthly Archives: October 2011

Oct
31
2011
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ICYMI: Obama’s policy on Venezuela leaves Chavez’s victims paying price

Obama’s policy on Venezuela leaves Chavez’s victims paying price

The Washington Post
October 30, 2011
By Jackson Diehl

In May 2010, Nelson Mezerhane got the phone call that made him realize he could never return to Venezuela. The then-67-year-old businessman, a co-owner of Globovision, the country’s only independent television network, was in Boca Raton, Fla., where he had taken his family out of concern for their security.

The call was from Hugo Chavez. “Where are you? When are you coming back?” the caudillo began, according to an account Mezerhane gave me. Then Chavez got down to business: “I need for you to fix this Globovision. This cannot go on like this. Fix it or take the consequences.”

For nearly six years Mezerhane and his business partner had been under intense pressure to stifle Globovision’s critical coverage of Chavez, or else sell the network. Mezerhane had been imprisoned on bogus charges – the prosecutor who brought them said so before fleeing Venezuela – and he had been publicly accused of everything from plotting to assassinate the president with an F-16 warplane to working for the CIA. But Mezerhane refused to buckle. “Shut it down,” he challenged Chavez over the phone.

Chavez did not do that: His closure of another independent TV station had triggered a huge domestic and international backlash. But a couple of weeks later, his security forces raided and seized Mezerhane’s bank; in August 2010, they invaded his home. That same month, Mezerhane, like thousands of other Venezuelans fleeing the Chavez regime, filed an asylum request in Miami with the Citizenship and Immigration Services office of the Department of Homeland Security. And there our story begins.

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Oct
28
2011
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In Case You Missed It… Articles Roundup Week of 10/28/11

In this week’s roundup…The Venezuelan doctor who predicted that President Hugo Chávez has “less than two years to live” is forced to flee the country; a hostage standoff at Venezuela’s top prison ends without fatalities; Chávez refuses to recognize Libya’s new government in a sign of solidarity with his long time ally, Moammar Gadhafi; and two new reports label Venezuela one of the “14 most violent countries in the world” and Latin America’s weakest link.

 

Doctor Who Warned of Chavez Death Says He Had to Flee Venezuela, Bloomberg Businessweek

A Venezuelan doctor who claimed that President Hugo Chavez has less than two years to live because of cancer said he was forced to flee the country.

Inmates free employees held inside Venezuelan prison, ending hostage standoff, The Associated Press via The Washington Post

Venezuela’s top prison official said Tuesday that inmates who had seized more than 50 guards and other prison workers in the Tocuyito lockup have released the final 12 hostages, ending a tense standoff in which prisoners were demanding transfers. Penitentiary Minister Iris Varela said the hostages were released after authorities vowed to transfer hundreds of prisoners to another facility. “Nobody is any longer in a hostage situation,” said Varela, speaking on state television.

Former baseball executive takes key behind-the-scenes role against Chavez in Venezuela, The Washington Post via The Associated Press

A former baseball executive is plotting strategy for Venezuela’s political opposition, and he’s on a winning streak. Ramon Guillermo Aveledo helped the opposition make major gains in congressional elections last year, and then convinced a diverse array of parties to agree to compete in a presidential primary for the first time next February. The bearded 61-year-old is now setting his sights on channeling the opposition’s momentum into a broad-based challenge against President Hugo Chavez next year.

Venezuela’s Chavez says he won’t recognize new government in Libya, The Washington Post via The Associated Press

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said Wednesday that he won’t recognize Libya’s new government and predicted more war in the country. The Venezuelan leader condemned the killing of Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi, whom he had considered a friend. He defended Gadhafi throughout the conflict and strongly criticized NATO’s military involvement in the country.

Venezuela among the 14 most violent countries in the world, El Universal

Six out of the 14 countries featuring very high levels of armed violence in the world are in Latin America, according to the second edition of the report “Global Burden of Armed Violence” released Thursday by the secretariat of The Geneva Declaration on Armed Violence and Development, a diplomatic initiative launched in 2008. “One quarter of all violent deaths occurred in just 14 countries,” the report on armed violence and development said.

Morgan Stanley sees Venezuela as LatAm’s weakest link, El Universal

In its latest report, Morgan Stanley claims that Latin America is more prepared than ever to deal with the worsening global crisis, but it labels Venezuela as the region’s most vulnerable country.

 
Oct
21
2011
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In Case You Missed It… Articles Roundup Week of 10/21/11

In this week’s roundup… Despite returning to Cuba for more cancer tests, Hugo Chávez’s “repression machine” continues to run smoothly at home. Defying an international human rights court ruling, Venezuela’s Supreme Court blocked the presidential candidacy of a popular opposition leader; the Chávez administration also imposed a hefty fine on Venezuela’s last remaining privately-owned TV station; also this week, the United States accused Venezuela of not cooperating with the war on drugs.

Venezuela’s Chavez returns to Cuba to undergo more cancer-related tests, The Washington Post

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez returned to Cuba on Sunday to undergo a series of medical tests to evaluate his cancer treatment. The president, who finished what he described as his fourth and final round of chemotherapy in Cuba last month, said he will be undergoing what he described as “rigorous examinations.”

Venezuelan Court Bars Opposition Contender, The Wall Street Journal

Venezuela’s Supreme Court defied a ruling by an international human-rights court and blocked a popular political rival of cancer-ridden President Hugo Chávez from running in next year’s presidential election.

Venezuela fines TV station for prison coverage, Bloomberg Businessweek

Venezuelan regulators fined a TV channel more than $2 million on Tuesday for its coverage of a deadly prison riot that became a political headache for President Hugo Chavez. The hefty fine against Globovision sharply raises the stakes in an intermittent conflict between the government and the country’s only remaining channel that takes a staunch anti-Chavez stance.

US says Venezuela not cooperating with drug war, AFP

Venezuela is not cooperating with the United States in its fight against illegal drug trafficking, US officials told a congressional panel Wednesday.