Tag Archives: justice

Jul
22
2011
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In Case You Missed It… Articles Roundup Week of 7/22/11

In this week’s roundup… The Chávez administration moved forward with the new Law of Costs, Prices and Salary Protection. It is likely to fuel more product shortages and inflation in Venezuela. After an unsuccessful attempt to persecute presidential candidate Henrique Capriles, the Venezuelan courts dropped their investigation.  Koch Industries filed an arbitration claim with the World Bank seeking compensation for the expropriation by the Venezuelan government in 2010 of one of its companies; Chavez continues to receive treatment in Cuba as his global appeal dwindles; and in Venezuela, crime and unemployment continue to hurt the average citizen.

Venezuela to oversee product prices, limit profits, Reuters

Government claims measure meant to control inflation, ensure “fair” prices. Critics say rules may fuel product shortages. Venezuela is creating a new agency to limit profit margins for companies operating in areas such as food and medicine, the vice president said on Monday, in the latest effort to boost state control over the economy.

Venezuela’s Docs Flee—So Does Chávez, The Wall Street Journal

It’s no coincidence that the president has returned to Cuba for medical attention.

If we are to believe Hugo Chávez, doctors have removed a cancerous tumor the size of a baseball from somewhere inside his body.

Election Official Says Venezuelan Courts Targeting Chavez Rivals, NASDAQ via Dow Jones Newswires

An electoral official in Venezuela said Wednesday that criminal investigations against possible challengers to President Hugo Chavez’s re-election bid suggest “a strategy of the government to choose who will be his opponent in the presidential elections.”

Venezuela court drops complaint against Chavez foe, San Francisco Chronicle via AP

Venezuela’s Supreme Court annulled a corruption complaint against a leading opponent of President Hugo Chavez on Tuesday.

World Bank to hear Koch arbitration against Venezuela, Reuters

Chavez nationalized Koch fertilizer plant in 2010. Multiple Venezuela arbitration cases outstanding. The World Bank will hear an arbitration case requested by U.S. Company Koch Industries after Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez nationalized a fertilizer plant it owned with the OPEC nation’s state oil firm.

In Cuba, a Prayer for Chávez, The Wall Street Journal

Castro Regime’s Survival Depends Greatly on Ill Venezuelan Leader’s Largess

Venezuela’s ailing President Hugo Chávez says he is praying to Jesus Christ, the Blessed Virgin and the spirits of the Venezuelan savannah to help him beat his cancer.

Analysis: Cancer may further dim Chavez’s global influence, Reuters

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’s public battle with cancer has added to his global fame but it may also weaken his already waning influence in Latin America and beyond.

Unemployment rate up to 8.6%, El Universal

No matter the hike, INE President Elías Eljuri points to “effective performance” in the labor market

Unemployment rate stood at 8.6% in June 2011, based the monthly report on workforce prepared by the Venezuelan National Statistics Institute (INE

 

Venezuela town — home to Chávez, home to crime, Miami Herald

Oscar Pineda keeps a wary eye on the rearview mirror as he pulls up to a coffee shop. He steps inside, spots two policemen, and rushes back to his car — one of the few places he feels safe talking.For the past three years, Pineda has been engaged in a controversial activity in this agricultural town: tracking crime.

 
Jul
19
2010
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Chavez Ramps Up Conflict With Catholic Church

chavez1 223x300 Chavez Ramps Up Conflict With Catholic ChurchThis article was originally posted by About.com

The late Catholic leader of Caracas, Cardinal Rosalio Castillo Lara, was once asked if he’d give Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez a blessing. “More than a blessing,” the cardinal responded. “I’d give him an exorcism.”

And so sums up the rocky battles over the years between Chavez and the church. “If the Venezuelan people fail to grasp the seriousness of the situation and fail to categorically speak out in favor of democracy and freedom, we will find ourselves subjected to a Marxist-style dictatorship,” the cardinal said shortly before his death in 2007. His prediction has sadly come true as Chavez has cracked down on free media and nationalized industry after industry.

Castillo Lara’s predecessor didn’t have it any easier. The late Cardinal Ignacio Velasco, a longtime critic of Chavez, said in 2002, “Every day we turn another cheek. I have no cheeks left because every day there is a new insult.” Upon Velasco’s death in 2003, Chavez declared he was “in hell.” At Velasco’s funeral, Chavistas threw stones and held up pictures of the cleric with devil horns.

Of the present Catholic leader, Cardinal Jorge Urosa, and other opposition clergymen, Chavez once said, “If Christ were still alive and physically present, I’m completely sure he’d take them out with whippings.”

Now, as summed up in a week’s worth of battle by El Universal, Chavez is calling the cardinal a “troglodyte” and “unworthy” for trying to “scare people about communism.” But it’s hardly Chavez vs. a cardinal: The Venezuelan Bishops’ Conference weighed on the presidential threat to prosecute Cardinal Urosa and the state of the nation in a joint statement. More:

“In its traditional call, the bishops said: ‘People want to live in democracy, (in a state) under the rule of law, with a real participation of all citizens, in a climate of justice and freedom. That is what the referendum held on December 2, 2007 decided. Therefore, the imposition of a socialist state inspired by the Cuban communist regime that has been enforced through laws and facts that ignore the popular will and the Constitution is absolutely unacceptable.’

In the document, which was read out by Monsignor Diego Padrón, Archbishop of Cumaná, the Bishops reiterated their concern about the climate of violence and corruption in the country which is especially evident ‘in insecurity, violent deaths, both in streets and prisons, and the outrageous loss of food and medicines.’

Two months ahead of parliamentary elections to be held on September 26, the bishops invited the citizens to participate in polls. They recalled that the Parliament should not only pass laws but ‘it must also be a real and effective body to monitor public administration, to ensure the appropriate use of funds and to carry out management that meets democratic-oriented goals.’

They also pleaded for a new plural Congress with ‘divergent political views.’”

A pro-government deputy called the statements a fake, and Chavez recalled Venezuela’s ambassador to the Vatican.