Free Republic

MANAGUA (Reuters) - Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, a former Marxist guerrilla leader, looks likely to win re-election on Sunday after heavy social spending won him strong support among the country's poor. Ortega has overseen a period of economic progress in his five years in power, backed by financial aid from his socialist ally in Venezuela, President Hugo Chavez.

Hugo Chávez announced earlier this month he'd like to expropriate much of Los Roques' private property for state tourism — including yachts like Alvarez's, which el Presidente says would be better used for ferrying visitors. "Expropriating a boat is completely absurd," says Alvarez, 39. "I don't see how they can take away something you've worked hard for and bought." Actually, Chávez has made it look pretty easy during his 12 years in power. His socialist Bolivarian Revolution has nationalized and expropriated everything from utilities to ranches to golf courses — and with his re-election bid approaching next year, seizing a...

Our world is coming apart....... ........China faces the reality that their huge surpluses in owning debt around the world could become a massive problem if write-downs become epidemic....China's heretofore strengths are rapidly becoming its weaknesses. It may thus perceive only one rational choice. War! .... Argentina is saber-rattling... Instability in the Americas is surging as Cuba and Venezuela work to undermine their age-old enemy, the U.S. The massive growth of Islamic extremists around the world is being fueled by a deluded foreign policy initiative from the Obama administration.... Israel is about to become a victim of the first nuclear world...

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said he is cancer-free, citing a series of medical exams in Cuba that showed no recurrence of the illness following two months of chemotherapy treatments. The 57-year-old leader announced the test results on live television Thursday after returning from Cuba, saying thorough exams found no sign of any malignant cells in his body. "I'm free of illness," Chavez said on state television, wearing military fatigues as he arrived in the southwestern town of La Fria. Crowds of supporters cheered for Chavez as he rode in a caravan to the town of La...

HAVANA - A state-run newspaper in Havana published a column by Cuban dictator Fidel Castro in which he said that he believes that Venezuela "is destined to become a revolutionary model for the world," and discussed this and other revolutionary revelations with the ailing autocrat Hugo Chavez, who is in the country reportedly to receive a check-up on the status of his cancer. In his newspaper column "Reflections," Castro wrote, "I talked with him at length yesterday and today (referring to Monday and Tuesday). I explained the eagerness with which I spend my remaining energies to the dreams of a...

Elections: If there's any better proof that Venezuela's Hugo Chavez can't win an election fairly, it's in his Supreme Court's sorry bid to disqualify a promising opponent this week. Why anyone would want to run for president in a democracy as corrupt as Venezuela's is an open question. After all, President Hugo Chavez's Marxist government has used state funds to buy votes, engaged in ballot-box fraud (as gullible observers like Jimmy Carter grinned and nodded), and used surveillance and retaliation against those who voted "incorrectly" in supposedly secret elections. But it speaks well for those who do, keeping the faith...

[snip] It was a little over two and a half months ago that Chávez, during a national television address, told stunned Venezuelans that he'd undergone two surgeries in Cuba to remove a pelvic abscess and cancerous tumor. Speculation has been rife since then about what a post-Chávez Venezuela will look like. Last month, early elections for next year were called for October as opposed to December. To date, however, Chávez has no credible successor. But he does have his fanatic supporters, Chavistas, along with plenty of help from Cuba. Large numbers of Cuban intelligence agents now operate in Venezuela in...

Over the past several days, anarchists, anti-capitalists, environmentalists, communists, and probably several other varieties of left-wing crackpots have converged in small numbers on New York to protest against Wall Street. In the United States, these types of protests are common; to an extent, they’re welcome manifestations of democracy. To be sure, not everybody agrees with the messages portrayed on the streets of Manhattan today, but there is general consensus that it is the people’s right to protest peacefully. But to the embarrassment of the left-wing Twitterati, details have emerged of cash passing hands from labour unions to protesters. That’s right;...

Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez likely has less than two years to live, his former doctor said, as the ailing firebrand traveled to Cuba for a checkup following cancer treatment. Chavez, 57, has been through four rounds of chemotherapy in Cuba since revealing he had a cancerous tumor removed in June. But Venezuela has provided few details about the exact nature of the cancer, aside from that it was in the pelvic area. Salvador Navarrete, his former personal surgeon, told Mexican newspaper Milenio Semanal on Sunday that the leader's condition likely was worse than publicly admitted. The doctor described the prognosis...

Face of evil: MOHSEN RABBANI The Islamic Shiite cleric active in Latin America since the early 1990s. Responsible for the 1992 and 1994 anti-Jewish massacres in Argentina. Wanted in that country and by the Interpol for the crimes. Called for Israel to be "wiped off," in 1994. 'Chief' Islamic operator of Hezbollah - Quds activities of: Islamizaton --including 'recruting converts for Islam'-- and terror networks in Latin America, resides in Brazil. Lightning Out of Lebanon: Hezbollah Terrorists on American Soil - Pages 122-3Tom Diaz, Barbara Newman - Random House Digital, Inc., 2006 - History - 272 pagesThe man directly responsible for this cell-building...

Not to be outdone by the likes of Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, who claimed there is "horrible repression" of the "Occupy Wall Street" protesters or by an Iranian commander who called the demonstrations an "American Spring," Communist Party USA wants in on the "Occupy" protest action.

Chavez slams "horrible repression" of U.S. protests Photo 5:48pm EDT By Enrique Andres Pretel CARACAS (Reuters) - Socialist firebrand Hugo Chavez condemned on Saturday the "horrible repression" of anti-Wall Street protesters and termed a Republican presidential candidate "crazy" for his criticism of Cuba and Venezuela. Although still convalescing from cancer surgery in June followed by four rounds of chemotherapy, the 57-year-old Venezuelan president is quickly returning to the tough rhetoric and strong views that have made him famous worldwide. Not surprisingly, Chavez expressed solidarity with American activists who have been staging rallies and marches against what they view as corporate...

CARACAS, Venezuela — A part of Venezuela's capital is giving dangerous drivers the silent treatment. It's sending mimes into the streets to do what police alone cannot: tame the lawless traffic. About 120 mimes in clown-like outfits and white gloves have taken to the streets in Caracas' Sucre district over the past week to wag their fingers at traffic violators and at pedestrians who streak across busy avenues rather than waiting at crosswalks.

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez tossed a softball overhand with gusto Thursday, said his latest medical checks have been stellar and ridiculed rumors that his health might have taken a turn for the worse. Chavez said he is bouncing back vigorously from chemotherapy and gaining weight more than three months after he had surgery to remove a cancerous tumor from his pelvic region. He declined to say what type of cancer he was diagnosed with. "You want me to tell you more? What for?" Chavez said when asked about the cancer at a news conference. "Go to...

Hugo Chavez, who has been fighting cancer, was rushed to a military hospital for emergency care following kidney failure, according to reports.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who has been fighting cancer, was rushed to a military hospital for emergency care following kidney failure, according to El Nuevo Herald newspaper. The leftist, staunchly anti-US stalwart Chavez went into the Military Hospital in Caracas on Tuesday morning, the report on the newspaper's website said, citing anonymous sources with knowledge of the case.

U.S. actor Sean Penn engaged in attempts to secure the release of two Americans freed by Iran this week, flying to Venezuela to ask President Hugo Chavez to intervene with Iran's leader, a source close to the release process said on Friday. Since Tehran freed Josh Fattal and Shane Bauer on Wednesday details have emerged about the efforts to win their freedom, which involved the United Nations, Iraq and Oman - as well as Chavez, who is a fiery critic of the United States. Venezuela's deputy foreign minister said on Thursday that Chavez brought up the case with his Iranian...

[Venezuela's opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez], ... opponent of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has launched his presidential campaign after a human rights court overturned a ban on his candidacy.

Through a stench of urine infused with marijuana, inmates of Venezuela's La Planta prison brandish machine guns, rifles and grenades while enjoying music blaring from a 6-foot high stack of speakers. Guards are nowhere to be seen as other inmates sharpen knives and carry pistols..."If the guards mess with us, we shoot them," said one prisoner... The South American nation's prisons are notorious for ease of access to weapons and drugs as well as mobile phones and computers hooked up to the Internet, allowing inmates easy access to the outside world, often to run further crime enterprises. ... At La...

Chavez denounces Libya's rebels-turned-rulers as "terrorists" and has spearheaded a group of Latin American allies in condemning NATO's airstrikes. In Gadhafi's fate, Chavez appears to see a cautionary tale and a dangerous precedent for potential U.S. and European military interventions in other oil-producing countries, such as Venezuela.