Colombia has announced it will build a new military base near its border with Venezuela, in a move likely to further strain its tense ties with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. Defense Minister Gabriel Silva said Friday that the base, located on the Guajira peninsula near the city of Nazaret, would have up to 1,000 troops. Two air battalions would also be activated at other border areas. "It is a strategic point from a defense point of view," Silva said. The 1.5-million-dollar facility... Read Full Story
CARACAS (Reuters) - President Hugo Chavez on Thursday accused the Netherlands of planning "aggression" against Venezuela by allowing U.S. troops access to Dutch islands off the Caribbean coast of the OPEC nation. "I am accusing the Kingdom of the Netherlands, along with the Yankee empire, of preparing aggression against Venezuela," Chavez said at a meeting with leftist groups in Copenhagen, which was broadcast on Venezuelan state television. Chavez, in the Danish capital to attend climate... Read Full Story
The Dutch government has denied Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's claims that it is allowing the United States to use Caribbean islands to prepare a possible military attack against his country. A spokesman says Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen has asked Venezuela's ambassador to clarify the claims made by Chavez in a speech Thursday at the climate summit in Copenhagen. Spokesman Bart Rijs told The Associated Press on Friday that "none of the countries in the (Dutch) kingdom recognize... Read Full Story
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is accusing the Netherlands of letting the U.S. military use Dutch islands off his country's Caribbean coast to prepare a possible attack against his government. Chavez says the U.S. military has deployed intelligence agents along with warships and spy planes to Aruba, Curacao and Bonaire, which are self-governing Dutch islands. He hasn't given evidence, but is blaming the Netherlands and says the European Union should take a stance. Chavez claims it's part... Read Full Story
GENEVA (Reuters) - Three U.N. human rights experts on Wednesday accused President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela of creating a climate of fear among his country's legal profession with the arrest last week of a woman judge. The three, all from developing countries, said Judge Maria Lourdes Afiuni was seized by police on December 10, a day after she ordered the conditional release of long-detained opposition politician Eligio Cedeno. "Reprisals for exercising their constitutionally guaranteed... Read Full Story
Venezuela's National Assembly passed a banking reform law that boosts government control and depositors' insurance, and reopens next week three of eight banks that were shut in recent weeks for inspection. The law increases government-backed depositors' insurance to 30,000 bolivars, (around 13,800 dollars), from 10,000 bolivars. "We're guaranteeing 98 percent of depositors who were saving with the banks that were intervened, that is to say Canarias and Banpro," congressman Rafic Souki was... Read Full Story
Hugo Chavez spoke at the climate summit in Copenhagen and was greeted by loud applause. Here is an excerpt from his speech, which sums up his over all message:
We could say that there is a ghost lurking. To paraphrase Karl Marx there is a ghost running through the streets of Copenhagen. And I think that ghost is silent, somewhere in this room, amongst us. Coming through the corridors and underneath. And that ghost is a terrible ghost and nobody wants to name him or her. It’s capitalism... Read Full Story
A Venezuelan judge is in jail on charges of corruption and abuse of power for freeing a high-profile banker, and an angry President Hugo Chavez has demanded she be kept in a cell for the maximum sentence — 30 years. The president's condemnation of the judge as a "criminal" has drawn rebukes from his political opponents and also from some legal experts, who say the case is one more indication of the influence Chavez now wields over the judiciary. The former army paratroop commander has... Read Full Story
By Mike Whitney
Eva Golinger is a Venezuelan-American attorney from New York living in Caracas, Venezuela since 2005 and author of “The Chávez Code: Cracking US Intervention in Venezuela” (2006 Olive Branch Press), “Bush vs. Chávez: Washington’s War on Venezuela” (2007, Monthly Review Press), “The Empire’s Web: Encyclopedia of Interventionism and Subversion”, “La Mirada del Imperio sobre el 4F: Los Documentos Desclasificados de Washington sobre la rebelión militar del 4 de febrero de 1992... Read Full Story
Lawmakers loyal to President Hugo Chavez inaugurated a state-run radio station Tuesday that replaces a previous broadcaster that sandwiched criticism of Venezuela's socialist leader between jazz and salsa music. AN Radio — named with the Spanish initials for the National Assembly — took over the frequency used by the closed CNB 102.3 FM amid cheers from lawmakers. Nelson Belfort, president of Venezuela's Radio Chamber, was the owner of the previous station until July, when state broadcasting... Read Full Story
From Spain's Princess Letizia to Italy's Mara Carfagna, the game of politics is no stranger to beautiful, powerful women. Following is a list of women whose influence is matched only by their sheer hotness.
We've rounded up the fifty most infamous female teacher sex scandals the Internet has seen, and ranked them from most famous to least. We do it because we care.
