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...

Iran's intelligence service includes 30,000 people who are engaged in covert and clandestine activities that range from spying to stealing technology to terrorist bombings and assassination, according to a Pentagon report. The report concluded that Iran's Ministry of Intelligence and Security, known as MOIS, is "one of the largest and most dynamic intelligence agencies in the Middle East." The ministry actively supports Iran's radical Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC)...

Iran has blasted US President Barack Obama for enacting a law aimed at countering Tehran's alleged influence in Latin America, saying it was an overt intervention in the region. "It is an overt intervention in Latin American affairs... that shows they are not familiar with new world relations," Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast told reporters on Tuesday. The United States, he said, "still lives in the Cold War era and considers Latin America as its back...

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...

While the Obama administration prepares a strategic pivot to Asia to help jumpstart the U.S. economy in its second term, there are equally promising economic opportunities in our own hemisphere. Moreover, our national security establishment also must confront threats to regional harmony. Practical initiatives by Washington may help the United States and its neighbors to find common ground for our collective prosperity and security. The stakes are high: This is home to three of the top four...

This week marks the third anniversary of the Cuba's arrest of USAID subcontractor Alan Gross for the "crime" of delivering internet equipment to a Jewish group in Havana. Working under a U.S. program to support the Cuban people - as opposed to the Cuban regime - Mr. Gross was subsequently sentenced in a Cuban kangaroo court to 15 years in prison for acts "against the state." The ordeal has taken a terrible toll on Mr. Gross. He has reportedly lost more than 100 pounds, may...

At the request of Iran, the Argentinean and the Iranian Foreign Ministries agreed to hold a dialogue about improving their estranged relationship at the UN General Assembly in September. These two countries have had chilly relations since the Argentinean justice system found Iran and its proxy, Hezbollah, to be the main culprits responsible for the deadly attacks on the Jewish Community Headquarters (AMIA) in July 1994 that left 85 people dead and hundreds of others wounded. In 1992 a...