Venezuela’s National Telecommunications Commission (Conatel) launched proceedings on 9 January against the terrestrial television station Globovisión over its broadcast of four clips about the postponement of the inauguration of President Hugo Chavez for a new six-year term, originally scheduled for the following day. The videos are based on a specific interpretation of Article 231 of Venezuela’s Bolivarian constitution. The station was banned from rebroadcasting them and...

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, preparing to travel to Cuba for further cancer surgery, Saturday named Vice President Nicolas Maduro to carry out his legacy if he is unable to remain in office. Chavez, who spoke in a national television and radio address, said he requires more surgery after malignant cells were detected in the same area as his previous cancer during health exams held over the past month in Cuba. The National Assembly Sunday approved his request to be absent from the...

The United Nations (UN) General Assembly passed on Monday Venezuela's inclusion in the UN Commission on Human Rights. Argentina and Brazil, for the Latin America region, were also voted as successors of Cuba, Mexico and Uruguay. In direct and secret voting, and by absolute majority, Venezuela was elected together with 17 countries: Argentina, Brazil, Estonia, Ethiopia, Gabon, Germany, Ireland, Ivory Coast, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Korea, Montenegro, Pakistan, Sierra Leone, UAE and the...

Alfredo Romero, Director of NGO Foro Penal Venezolano, urged Venezuelan reelected President Hugo Chávez to free the 16 political prisoners so as to truly bring about reconciliation or social peace in the country. "Justice is fundamental for every Government that truly believes in reconciliation. For that reason, today, Foro Penal Venezolano, along with some human rights activists, welcomes the statement issued by the president and many ministers who have sustained that a...

Fourteen indigenous organizations issued a statement where they communicate that since 2009 they have been reporting to the Venezuelan authorities the presence of illegal Brazilian gold miners in the Alto Ocamo area (Amazonas state, Alto Orinoco municipality, on the southern Venezuelan border with Brazil), and that these illegal gold miners allegedly massacred a Yanomami community in July 2012. According to the statement, unauthorized Brazilian gold miners had committed "physical...

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Department of the Treasury today designated four individuals and three entities involved in laundering the proceeds of narcotics trafficking for drug kingpin Ayman Joumaa. Treasury also designated a Colombia-based individual under its terrorism authority, Executive Order (E.O.) 13224, for directing Hizballah’s fundraising activities in the Americas. This individual was previously designated under the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act (Kingpin Act) for his...

During a meeting with Costa Rican Vice President Dr. Alfio Piva in Jerusalem on Tuesday, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said that there were increasing signs that Venezuela, headed by President Hugo Chavez, is involved in funding Iran's nuclear program and some of its military projects. "This is not being done without receiving something in return. Apparently, the Iranians have promised Venezuela that they will share their developments with the South American country,"...

Venezuela has transferred at least one F-16 fighter to Iran in an attempt to help it calibrate its air defenses, in preparation for a possible Israeli or U.S. strike on its nuclear facilities, reports Spanish newspaper ABC. ABC, one of the three largest Spanish dailies and aligned with the ruling rightist party, wrote that the transfer, in 2006, was supervised by one of Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez's closest aides. The paper's Washington correspondent, Emili J. Blasco, said the story was...

The manager of Venezuela’s drone program is an engineer who helped build ballistic missiles for Iran. The engineer’s identity raises new questions about the purposes behind Venezuela’s drone program. But it’s also only one part of a mystery involving drones shipped from Iran to Venezuela while hidden in secret cargo containing possibly more military hardware than just ‘bots. According to El Nuevo Herald, the Spanish-language sister paper of The Miami Herald, US...

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad embarked a tour of Latin America on Monday night which includes stops in Bolivia, Brazil for the Rio+20 summit and Venezuela, reported. Iran's Foreign Minister Ali-Akbar Salehi, Vice-President in Executive Affairs Hamid Baghaei and Vice-President for International Affairs Ali Sa'eidlou accompany President Ahmadinejad during the trip. Ahmadinejad is scheduled to arrive in Bolivia on June 19 to meet with his Bolivian counterpart Evo Morales before...