VALENCIA, Venezuela - It's just after nightfall and the power is out again in untold hundreds of thousands - probably millions - of Venezuelan homes. If the government knows how many, it's not saying. It hasn't issued reports on problems in the public power grid since 2010. In Venezuela's third-largest city, Pedro Martinez dons a shirt for visitors drawn by the flicker of candles inside his one-story, cement-block house in a middle-class district. The Caribbean heat is sticky thick inside....

Following the spirit of the constitution, the next elections in Venezuela are scheduled for April 14th. Nicolas Maduro will be the candidate of the PSUV while Henrique Capriles Radonski will be the candidate of the united opposition (MDU). Chavez’s death has left a legacy in Venezuela similar to that of Peron: a mythical figure that will be remembered by those who have materially benefitted from Chavez’s years as president and by those who see him as a symbol of redemption and...

BACK in the 1990s Latin America seemed to have turned the page on military rule and embraced democracy and free-market economics, with the sole, beleaguered exception of communist Cuba. And then along came Hugo Chávez, a bumptious Venezuelan former lieutenant-colonel who, having staged a failed military coup against a democratic government, got himself elected as president in 1998. Mr Chávez proceeded to dominate his country for more than 14 years until his death this week...

The death of President Hugo Chávez casts a shadow over a polarised Venezuela whose immediate political stability cannot be taken for granted. In extending its condolences to the government and people, Crisis Group calls on all sides to respect the constitutional framework and act prudently in order to avoid violence in what may prove a tense and difficult transition to the post-Chávez era. Re-elected in October, Chávez was too ill to take the oath of office in January....

Alas, Hugo Chávez will not live long enough to atone for his abuse of millions of Venezuelans nor to correct the corrupt and destructive policies that have wrecked the country he leaves behind. Moreover, although his cronies and their Cuban handlers are maneuvering to hold on to power, a Chavista succession is neither stable nor sustainable. With more audacious leadership among Venezuela's democrats and intelligent solidarity from abroad, Chávez's legacy might be buried with him....

From prison, General Raúl Baduel denounces that "under a democratic cloak," chavismo is creating "a fascist post-modern dictatorship." Former Venezuelan minister of defense, Raul Baduel, is considered a political prisoner despite the fact that Venezuelan President, Hugo Chávez, is godfather to his 6-year-old daughter. In his 37-square meter cell in the Ramo Verde military prison in Los Teques, located thirty kilometers from Caracas, he is about to reach the...

Yesterday, Jan. 10, was the day when Hugo Chávez was scheduled to be sworn in for the fourth time as Venezuela’s president. Instead, he is lying in a Cuban hospital, suffering serious complications from cancer surgery, and the country’s legislature, dominated by the president’s loyalists, has delayed the ceremony indefinitely. As Venezuelans grapple with the political uncertainty created by Chávez’s precarious health, the prospect of a post-Chávez...

With cancer-stricken Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez clinging to life in a Havana hospital, an intense struggle for power is under way in Caracas, pitting Cuban-backed ideologues against narcogenerals. Venezuela's inept democratic opposition has no strategy for defending its interests, while career U.S. diplomats are stumbling toward legitimizing an authoritarian narcostate without getting anything in return. The future of Venezuela is hanging in the balance. Two factions have now...

There is a great deal of speculation these days about the immediate political future after Chavez’ expected death. Some analysts, like Amherst University professor Javier Corrales argue that regardless of what happens, the next government will have to deal with a serious problem left behind by Chavez. This problem centers on the previous irrational approach to government spending in which money was used as an instrument of political influence domestically and abroad. Government...

If Congress does not act soon, career diplomats may get their wish of normalizing relations with Caracas. As cancer-stricken Venezuelan leader Hugo Chávez remains in Cuba recovering from emergency surgery, rival factions within his leftist movement may be closing ranks to hold on to power for the foreseeable future. At this critical moment, rather than pressing Chávez’s successor for progress on drugs or democracy, U.S. diplomats are secretly plotting to normalize...