Stories related to: Venezuela

Hugo Chavez fired back at Angela Merkel after the German leader suggested Latin American countries should be wary of ties to Venezuela. "She is from the German right," he said yesterday, "the same that supported Hitler, that supported fascism, that's the Chancellor of Germany." More »

Oil climbed over $125 a barrel today, just ahead of the US driving season and propelled by investors jumping at a weaker dollar, the AP reports. Light, sweet crude for June rose to $125.98 on the New York Mercantile Exchange today, later dropping to $124.86 in Europe. More »

A cache of computer files found on a dead Colombian guerrilla leader's laptops implicates Hugo Chávez in arms deals with the FARC rebels. The Wall Street Journal reports that Colombian and American intelligence agencies, which came into possession of about 100 files, have no doubt of their authenticity. Both FARC and the Venezuelan president claim that they are counterfeit. More »

Hugo Chavez has bumped pudgy Homer Simpson from Venezuela's airwaves, reports the Times of London, opting instead for the decidedly more fit and furry David Hasselhoff. The dysfunctional Simpsons were deemed "inappropriate" for kiddies watching the morning TV lineup, but were replaced with the entirely, er, wholesome "Baywatch Hawaii." More »

Colombian officials claim to have computer files captured from its FARC rebels that indicate Venezuela sold arms to the terrorist group, the New York Times reports. If Interpol verifies the files, they would also suggest links between FARC and Ecuador’s government and provide insight into the rebel organization. Colombia nabbed the computers in a raid in Ecuador earlier this month. More »

Condoleezza Rice has embarked on a visit to Brazil and Chile, but the secretary of State won’t be stopping in neighboring Argentina, a sign of ever-frostier relations. “The United States is clearly snubbing Argentina,” one expert tells the New York Times . New Argentine president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner has worsened already-sour relations by strengthening ties with Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez. More »

Possible links between Hugo Chavez’ Venezuelan government and the Colombian FARC guerrilla group concern Washington, but US officials aren't yet saying the nation will be declared a state sponsor of terrorism, Reuters reports. Colombia said computers seized in a March 1 raid on a FARC base in Ecuador contain evidence that proves Venezuela is aiding the leftist group. More »

Venezuela will return its diplomats to Colombia after last week’s border crisis was largely resolved at a regional summit. Ecuadorean diplomats say it will take longer for them to return, reports the BBC. Colombian forces killed an important rebel leader inside Ecuador last week, provoking a bristling regional standoff. More »

The threat of war involving Colombia, Ecuador, and Venezuela was diffused today with a bevy of handshakes televised all over Latin America, Reuters reports. Colombian President Alvaro Uribe and his opposite number, Rafael Correa of Ecuador, reached an agreement on combating insurgents in the future; the Colombian military's killing of FARC rebels in Ecuador last weekend sparked the crisis. More »

Venezuela deployed tanks to the Colombian border, Reuters reports, as Latin American tensions remained high enough that Hugo Chavez warned of an Andean war. Though Colombia refused to send reinforcements to its border, the mobilization of heavy artillery, including support from air and sea forces, is the first in the standoff following Colombia's weekend incursion into Ecuador to killFARC rebels. More »

Ecuador's president, Rafael Correa, is in Brazil today, pushing for an apology from Colombia for its incursion into Ecuador to attack FARC guerrillas Saturday. While most Latin American nations, including Brazil, have condemned the cross-border attack, the White House yesterday unequivocally backed Colombia in the rapidly escalating crisis. Correa heads later today to Caracas to meet with Hugo Chavez who, like Correa, has massed troops on the border with Colombia. More »

Colombia has accused Ecuador and Venezuela of cooperating with FARC guerrillas who were trying to buy uranium, the BBC reports, even as Ecuador cut ties with Colombia and Venezuela expelled its diplomats. “FARC is taking big steps in the world of terrorism to become a global aggressor,” said Colombia’s top cop, citing documents found during Saturday’s raid that detailed negotiations for 110 pounds of uranium. More »

The tension in Latin America deepened last night as a Colombian general charged that Ecuador’s president had ties to a FARC leader killed by Colombian forces Saturday. Ecuador and Venezuela have both mobilized troops to their borders in response to the raid, which they claim took place on Ecuadorean territory. Colombia says its forces, attacking targets in Colombia, merely returned fire when FARC rebels shelled them from about a mile inside Ecuador. More »

Hugo Chavez sent thousands of Venezuelan troops to the Colombian border today after Colombia killed a FARC rebel leader, CNN reports. Chavez accused Colombia of being a US puppet and said Ecuador's border was violated in the attack. "We have to liberate Colombia," said Chavez, who is linked to FARC and tried to negotiate a prisoners-for-hostages trade with it last year. More »

Colombian FARC rebels today set free four former Colombian legislators who had been held hostage for more than six years. The deal was brokered by Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, and three of the four will fly to Caracas to speak with him. The fourth is in poor health and may require immediate medical treatment, reports CNN. More »

Search helicopters today found what was left of the Venezuelan passenger plane that crashed yesterday with 46 people aboard. No survivors were found in the wreckage, which was nestled among the Andes mountains at an altitude of 13,000 feet, the AP reports. The plane crashed into the mountain head-first, said one Venezuelan general in the civil aeronautical institute. More »

A plane crashed in western Venezuela with 46 people aboard today, AFP reports. Air traffic controllers lost contact with the airliner soon after it took off from the Andean city of Merida bound for Caracas. People in the mountainous Coyado del Condor region reported seeing a plane go down. Merida's head of civil defense said search-and-rescue teams were on the way. More »

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is threatening to cut off US oil supplies if Exxon Mobil wins a court ruling to seize billions of dollars in Venezuelan assets, AP reports. The Texas-based oil giant has challenged Venezuela’s efforts to nationalize a multi-billion-dollar oil project, and the fiery leader promised an "economic war" if a decision goes against his nation. A British court has already frozen some $12 billion in assets. More »

Hugo Chavez’s once unshakable authority is finally on the wane in Venezuela, the New York Times reports. After 10 years in office, Chavez is still pushing hard for his socialist vision, but the people are more concerned with rampant crime and an economy that’s in trouble, despite loads of oil revenue. “Chavez’s revolution has stalled,” concluded one political scientist. More »

Hugo Chavez recently grabbed headlines by brokering the release of two women held hostage by FARC, Colombia's guerrilla rebels. But Chavez was no neutral mediator: FARC operates openly in Venezuela, and even hand-in-hand with government agencies, both to wage war in Colombia and smuggle Colombian cocaine into Europe, the Guardian reports. More »