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CARACAS, Venezuela - President Hugo Chavez said Monday that Venezuela should open the coffin of independence hero Simon Bolivar to examine the bones, saying there are sufficient doubts about his death in 1830 to warrant a full investigation. Although history books maintain Bolivar died of tuberculosis, Chavez said doubts exist because some writings suggest it is possible the South American "Liberator" might have been murdered. Chavez has raised this theory before, but went further during a speech on the anniversary of Bolivar's death. "Who knows if they even made Bolivar's bones disappear? We have to determine it now," Chavez said....

The ability of Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chávez to charm celebrities seems to be a never-ending feat. Beyond the normal cast of characters, like Oliver Stone, Sean Penn and Danny Glover, Chávez has managed to add another fan to his roster. As part of his departure tour from CNN, after 25 years at the network, King appeared on NFL Network anchor Rich Eisen’s Dec. 8 podcast and raved about his fascination with dictators, specifically Chávez. “You know who’s fascinating?” King said. “Dictators. Chávez was fascinating, from Venezuela – one, because he’s a crazy baseball fan.” ...more (w/audio)...

Icky LeaksSensitive diplomatic communications have been published by the Wikileaks Web site, and some of this sensitive material concerns Russia. The importance of Russia as a global power has been downplayed since the fall of the Soviet Union. Leaked U.S. State Department cables give us a glimpse of how dangerous Russia is becoming. The true nature of the Russian regime has not been a popular topic of public discussion; but in secret meetings between diplomats, statesmen and law enforcement officials, there is growing concern. Russia has become the center of international corruption, drawing other states into her orbit.From the leaked...

Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez lauded WikiLeaks founder Julian Assnage as a "brave man" according to El Universal. Mr. Chavez stated on his state-run TV network VTV: "The empire stood naked. I do not know what the United States is going to do. Well, they do not care about this. But how many things have been disclosed! They disrespect their allies with all these spying activities!” Mr. Chavez may be referring to a WikiLeaks cable describing his country's health care system. A WikiLeaks cable dated in December of 2009 and released on Sunday describes Venezuela’s medical system in disarray. (All bolding...

Obama joked he'd have AF-1 fly home via South America so he could see Hugo Chavez. Some joke.

(Reuters) - Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez ordered the nationalization of local steel company Sidetur on Sunday in the latest of several recent government takeovers in South America's top oil producer.

(Reuters) - Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez ordered the nationalization of local steel company Sidetur on Sunday in the latest of a several recent government takeovers in South America's top oil producer. Sidetur, a subsidiary of local steel company Sivensa, produces mainly rebar, bar, beam, angle and flat products. According to its website (www.sidetur.com.ve), it has six plants in Venezuela, an annual production capacity of more than 835,000 tonnes and exports products to 25 countries. "I am going to say the words that (the opposition) like: expropriate it," the socialist former soldier said during his regular Sunday television broadcast.

Lunatic dictator, Hugo Chavez now wants his own nukes and Barack Obama is just fine with it. Heck, if Iran can nuke up, why not Venezuela? Once again, the Russians are stepping up and arming the most dangerous crazies on the planet. Whether or not Chavez can actually start launching nuclear warheads next week is less of a concern than the developing alliances between Russia and the psychopath community. "Chavez says he means to bring in Russian and Iranian experts for his nuclear project. That opens the door to influence from the mafiya-linked criminal underworld that includes the terrorists and...

Russia's agreement to build a nuclear power station and a research reactor in Venezuela has handed the Obama administration and the International Atomic Energy Agency with a headache that won't go away easily. The problem isn't so much the introduction of nuclear energy to the Latin American country, which has growing electricity needs, but the unpredictable policies of populist President Hugo Chavez. U.S. State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said in Washington the United States hoped both Russia and Venezuela would act responsibly and adhere to IAEA rules. Comparisons with the Iran nuclear row figured in Crowley's briefing with reporters. Any...

Russia's S-300 air defense systems, which Moscow refused to deliver to Iran following a new round of UN sanctions against the Islamic Republic, could be sold to Venezuela instead, a Russian arms trade expert said on Friday. Russia signed a deal to deliver five battalions of S-300PMU-1 air defense systems to Iran in 2007 but banned the sale in September, saying the systems, along with a number of other weapons, were covered by the fourth round of sanctions imposed by the UN Security Council against Iran over its nuclear program in June. "Russia is looking for a buyer of five...

Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez hailed its alliance with Russia and said his country had a right to develop nuclear energy as he started a visit to Moscow on Thursday. Chavez is planning to buy tanks in Russia, after committing to $5 billion in earlier arms deals, and discuss construction of a nuclear plant which will use Russian technology. "We are going to develop nuclear power and nothing will stop us," he told Russian and Venezuelan students...in Moscow. Chavez said he was going to sign "important deals" in the oil and gas sector without elaborating, and also agree on the supplies...

What is it with Hollywood personalities going to Venezuela and being swept off their feet by the thuggish dictator Hugo Chávez. They come back with these stories claiming he is just misconstrued by the media and that he’s really a great guy. On Oct. 7, at an appearance at the Cato Institute in Washington, D.C., CNBC “Power Lunch” co-host Michelle Caruso-Cabrera, in an appearance promoting her book “You Know I'm Right: More Prosperity, Less Government,” explained how this could happen. She told an audience that Chávez has a very charismatic, seductive personality. “I was telling – my two most interesting...

The ruling party won at least 90 seats, while an opposition coalition won at least 59. The good news is that he lost his supermajority.

Hugo Chávez outdoes even Iran in fostering the most nauseating kind of anti-Semitism among the ruling elites while pushing comical conspiracy theories about the Jews. Did you know that in the late 1960s, the Bilderberg Club decided to use drugs and big outdoor rock concerts to stop the increasing discontent among the population? In order to prevent people from joining the civil rights movement or paying attention to Vietnam, the CIA and Britain’s MI6 placed the Beatles before the American audience.If you are not familiar with this course of history, you are probably not a regular reader of the Reflexiones...

Venezuelans have been voting for a new parliament, with opposition parties poised to return to the National Assembly after a poll boycott in 2005. They are set to take back seats from the governing United Socialist Party (PSUV) of President Hugo Chavez. But Mr. Chavez is hoping to hold on to a two-thirds majority in the assembly. Opinion polls suggested that the result could be tight in what is being seen as a test of Mr. Chavez's popularity before presidential elections in 2012..... Polls were due to close at 2230GMT (6:30pm EDT), but some voting stations stayed open longer so...

Voters in cities across Venezuela were awaken in the predawn morning to loud explosions over their skies-- the fireworks (more noise than light display) served as a reminder by President Hugo Chavez's government to the electorate that today is not just another Sunday, but an election day of major political significance. Chavez, who embraces both social media, and military jargon, told his followers on Twitter to" un-sheath their swords" and " Attack!". The 2010 election is the biggest political battle in years in this South American country, pitting Chavez's socialist political party vs. an alliance of opposition political forces. All...

Venezuela goes to the polls on Sept. 26 in a parliamentary election that opponents of President Hugo Chavez see as “a chance to turn the tide,” as Reuters news service puts it. Chavez may be taking on more authoritarian powers, but he also has to defend what the latest data show is the worst economy in the world. And you thought the Democrats had problems! The Economist magazine provides statistics weekly on 57 nations, from the United States to Estonia. Its most recent report forecasts that gross domestic product in Venezuela will decline by 5.5 percent in 2010. Next worst...

Washington - When Brian Nelson, a nationally renowned expert on Venezuela, traveled to the South American country on a Fulbright scholarship in 2002, he arrived believing that controversial Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez was just misunderstood. "I was very pro-Chavez — I was opposed to the war in Iraq, kind of opposed to what we were doing in Afghanistan — and here was a guy who was saying what I thought," Nelson said in a Journal interview. "I went to Venezuela thinking, 'This is probably a good guy'. I found out pretty quickly that he isn't." Nelson, who teaches at the...

The Honorary Chairperson of the Democratic Socialists of America, 80-year old Dolores Huerta, is indoctrinating US students, and inciting violence against Americans. Huerta has been tapped by Cong Grijalva (D-Ariz) to praise the virtues of Hugo Chavez and the supposed socialistic "advances" in Venezuela. Hilda Solis is Obama's appointee to head the US Labor Department. Solis is forcing taxpayers to underwrite advertisements featuring Dolores Huerta that instructs illegal aliens to fight for fair wages. In this recently uncovered videtaped audio (link below), Huerta is speaking to high school students and praising the virtues of Hugo Chavez and the supposed socialistic...

CARACAS, Venezuela — President Hugo Chavez's allies launched their campaigns Wednesday for crucial congressional elections that come just as recession, crime and inflation have pushed the socialist leader's popularity to a seven-year low. A survey by the Venezuelan polling firm Consultores 21 indicates just 36 percent of Venezuelans approve of Chavez's performance, the lowest figure since 2003, when Chavez survived an opposition-led strike that devastated the economy, pollster Saul Cabrera said. The results suggest Chavez allies could face a difficult struggle to keep control of the National Assembly in the Sept. 26 election. The survey of 1,500 people nationwide in...