Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez revealed Sunday that a new tumor recently removed from his pelvic region was of the same type of cancer as a baseball-sized growth extracted from that part of his body about eight months ago. In his first TV appearance in nine days, Chavez said the surgery and follow-up tests showed the tumor was "a recurrence of the initially diagnosed cancer." As he has done in recent weeks, Chavez defended Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, who has tried to...

The Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas, better known by its acronym "ALBA," strongly condemned the current violence in Syria on Sunday. But the ALBA group wasn't condemning the slaughter of civilians by the Assad dictatorship, but violence that it said was being committed by "irregular groups supported by foreign powers." The ALBA group, which consists of Latin America's far-left led countries Venezuela, Cuba, Bolivia, Ecuador and Nicaragua and a handful of Caribbean...

Iran's president on Tuesday lauded his country's newly launched Spanish-language satellite TV channel, saying it would deal a blow to "dominance seekers" - remarks that were an apparent jab at the U.S. and the West. The launch is Tehran's latest effort to reach out to friendly governments in Latin America and follows Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's four-nation tour of the region earlier in January, which included stops in Cuba and visits to Venezuela, Nicaragua and Ecuador. It also comes...

Russia seeks to sign weapon sales agreements with Latin American countries, particularly Brazil, Argentina, and Chile, said Sergei Chemezov, the CEO of Russian state-owned corporation Rostekhnologii. Chemezov said that "no new contracts are expected soon" with Venezuela, the biggest purchaser of Russian weapons in Latin America. "We have signed many contracts with Venezuela that must be fulfilled," he added. According to several sources, Russia has sold USD 5...

NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW) condemned the Venezuelan government's policies to control the independent media and to subdue the judiciary power in order to silence opposition. During the presentation of its World Report 2012, Emma Daly, the Communications Director at Human Rights Watch, complained that Venezuelan media are "vulnerable" and judiciary authorities "support" government interests. Although there are elections in Venezuela, "democracy requires not...

Venezuelan authorities must adopt the "necessary measures" to protect the life and physical integrity of Rocío San Miguel, the head of NGO Control Ciudadano (Citizen's Oversight for Security, Defense and Armed Forces) and her daughter, as the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) ordered the State of Venezuela to do so. The commission, which is an independent branch of the Organization of American States (OAS), set a 15-day deadline to receive information about...

Former Colombian President Álvaro Uribe, (2002-2010) asked authorities to prevent rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) from taking "refuge" in Venezuela, and follow instead the same path as ETA, the armed Basque separatist movement. Uribe expressed this opinion in a message posted on Twitter. The former Colombian Head of State highlighted France's cooperation with Spain in the fight against the Basque terrorist group ETA, and compared this policy...

CARACAS, Venezuela - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Venezuela's Hugo Chavez lavished praise on each other on Monday, mocked U.S. disapproval and joked about having an atomic bomb at their disposal. The fiery anti-U.S. ideologues have forged increasingly close ties between their fellow OPEC nations in recent years, although concrete projects have often lagged behind the rhetoric. Both leaders dismissed U.S. concerns about Iran's intentions in the Middle East and its growing...

Caracas, Venezuela (CNN) -- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez pledged closer cooperation on Monday, vowing to fight poverty and imperialism. The two leaders signed a series of accords in the areas of industry, science, technology and politics, the state-run AVN news agency reported. Sitting side by side in front of a room full of reporters, they presented a united front in their opposition to the United States. "It's clear they are afraid of our...

“During the tour that begins the second week of January, president Ahmadinejad will first visit Caracas to meet with President Hugo Chavez and later to Nicaragua for the taking office ceremony of President Daniel Ortega, who was recently re-elected for a second term”, said Mohamad Reza Forghani, foreign affairs director from the presidential office. In Cuba and Ecuador the Iranian president will holds talks with the leaders of both countries, adds the report. Iran in recent years...