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VENEZUELAN President Hugo Chavez today said Cuban leader Fidel Castro was now able to leave his bed and hold conversations following stomach surgery that required him to temporarily hand over power to his brother. "This morning I learned that he's doing well, that he's already standing up out of bed, he's talking - more than he should, because he talks a lot," said Mr Chavez during a conversation with Bolivian President Evo Morales broadcast on television. "He has sent us regards." Venezuelan government sources yesterday said Mr Chavez does not have a trip to Cuba on his agenda despite media...

On a state visit to Hanoi, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez hailed Cuban President Fidel Castro, who has been hospitalized following gastro-intestinal surgery. Chavez visited the tomb of former Vietnamese leader Ho Chi Minh, and confirmed a deal to help Vietnam build its first oil refinery. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, center, poses with Vietnamese legendary general Vo Nguyen Giap and his wife Mrs. Ha After visiting the tomb of the former Vietnamese Communist leader Ho Chi Minh Tuesday, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez hailed Cuban leader Fidel Castro, who has temporarily handed over power to undergo surgery. "Viva Fidel Castro!" he exclaimed....

BANJUL (Reuters) - Two of the world's most anti-American leaders, Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, attended this weekend's Africa summit in Gambia to the consternation of Western diplomats. Both lived up to their billing with Chavez railing against U.S. "hegemony" and Ahmadinejad blaming Western greed for "poverty, backwardness, regional conflicts, corruption, illicit drugs." The role of West-baiting once fell at AU summits to Libya's colourful leader Muammar Gaddafi but he has now been welcomed into the Western fold and Libya is soon to be taken off the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism. So why were...

The world social forum: The sad leftist path Wednesday, January 25, 2006 The World Social Forum is an aggregate of leftists joining to condemn President Bush in Caracas, Venezuela, this week. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is leading the event. The pleasures of denouncing and hearing others denounce the United States are a chief attraction. "The U.S. government, especially under the Bush administration, has been trying to force its own economic policies on developing countries, and I think all of us here agree that must stop," said Jeff Monahan, 32, an organic farmer from Michigan. Mr. Monahan, launching into empty-headed rhetoric...

Dec. 19, 2005 issue - Applause and cheers welcomed the Citgo truck as it pulled up at a South Bronx curbside one icy morning last week. The 9,500-gallon tanker was on a mission for one of the Bush administration's most stubborn adversaries in the Western Hemisphere, but the crowd didn't seem to mind. The big thing was that Venezuela's leftist president, Hugo Chavez, was making good on his promise to help some of New York's poorest residents get through a winter of record-setting oil prices. The Venezuelan firm Citgo has agreed to supply 8 million gallons of heating oil to...

United Nations - Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez used the United Nations on Thursday to fire a broadside at the United States, saying the world body should move out of New York over the war in Iraq. In a speech to the U.N. world summit, he also said the United States had failed its own people in its response to Hurricane Katrina, accused Washington of fueling terrorism and faulted it for its doctrine of pre-emptive military strikes.

Pat Robertson made headlines this week when he offered his opinion that the United States should assassinate Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez. What surprised me the most is that so many FReepers took offense to this statement. While nearly all of us fully support the war against Islamofascist terrorism, many here were outraged that a religious personality would call for the death of a totalitarian dictator. From the outset, let me say that I often disagree with Robertson. I live in Virginia Beach and have been listening to his outrageous statements for a long time. I remember ten years ago when...

While televangelist Pat Robertson has apologized for suggesting that Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez be assassinated, a former military man and an ex-CIA operative have stepped forward to say that his concerns about Chavez aren't exactly unwarranted. "Chavez is a dangerous guy," retired Col. David Hunt told Bill Bennett's "Morning in America" fill-in host Steve Malzberg on Wednesday. "We helped to elect the son of a gun [and] after 9/11 you don't get to threaten us." The issue of assassination "should be on the table," Hunt said. "I'm suggesting that we use it as a tool . . . to get...

RUSH: There is a network today that is obsessed with Pat Robertson. This network has called me no less than three times asking me when I'm going to talk about it so they can record it. This network hasn't cared one whit about any of the outrageous assassination threats that George Bush gets from members of the left. They don't care. It's so patently obvious. I knew they're going to be listening, that's why I keep saying, "The mainstream media does not set the agenda of this show!" If you want to find out what I think, report what I...

SUMMARY In early June, Bolivia's government, led by the interim president, Carlos Mesa, collapsed amid widespread popular protests. The trigger was the enactment of a controversial hydrocarbons law which, although it sharply increased levies on foreign companies, was seen by radical protestors as not going far enough. The effective royalty rate was raised from 18% to 50%. The increase will be contested by foreign oil companies which claim it contravenes the terms of existing contracts. However, Bolivia's more radical groups are pressing for outright nationalisation. The future management of the privatised hydrocarbons industry has become a bitterly divisive issue in...

Latin America: Odd, that as "popular" as Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is said to be, he's so detested by Venezuelans that he can no longer go to baseball games without being booed by the whole stadium.

While we have our eyes on the Middle East and the recent good news out of there, a danger to democracy is brewing right here in our backyard. Venezuela, long one of Latin America's strongest democracies, is now under siege by its president, Hugo Chavez. Thanks to an ill-judged intervention by former President Jimmy Carter, Chavez narrowly survived a recall election and has now accelerated his subversion of Venezuela's democracy by a scummy deal with Fidel Castro. advertisement According to Miami's El Nuevo Herald, Chavez has granted Cuban judicial and security forces extensive police powers within Venezuela. Cubans are already...

America-bashing Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is backing a new Al Jazeera-style satellite TV network that will broadcast throughout South America. Critics fear that the network could become a mouthpiece for the Marxist strongman, who in December seized control of all broadcast media in his oil-rich country. Telesur, short for "Television of the South," is billed as a commercial-free counterbalance to North American media and is set to begin broadcasting in several weeks, according to The Washington Times. "Soon we will have Telesur, a channel with information for South American countries, because it is not possible that Venezuela and other southern...