When he first ran for office, Hugo Chávez declared that he wanted to reduce the size of government, and to make it more efficient. However, Venezuela’s National Institute of Statistics released figures showing that there are now 2,372,587 government workers, an increase of 70% during Chávez’s time in office. The percentage of all persons employed […]
President Hugo Chávez is on a weeklong trip overseas, to strengthen alliances in “the fight against imperialism”. His itinerary includes stops in Libya, Syria, Iran, Algeria, Belarus, and Russia. Freedom House, a US-based non-profit (and declaredly non-partisan) publishes “Freedom in the World, the annual survey of global political rights and civil liberties”. It ranked each […]
Today and tomorrow (September 4 and 5) there will be a series of marches in Venezuela, Colombia and throughout the world based on the theme of “No More Chávez”. El Universal, one of the independent newspapers in the Venezuelan capital, has a short blurb here. Two weeks ago a march against the new education reform […]
The Venezuelan flag carries a rich historical tradition, and is based on versions used by rebels who fought for the country’s independence in the early 19th century. At the same time, like Venezuela as a whole, the flag has undergone changes in recent times. The flag has three horizontal colored stripes. The red is said […]
This past weekend President Chávez of Venezuela’s reiterated his commitment to maintaining “frozen relations” with the administration of Alvaro Uribe and Colombia. (You can read more at this link.) He stated that based on trade agreements with Brazil and Argentina, “we are not going to have problems with supplies”. This may be the plan, with […]
Today leaders met in Bariloche, Argentina, for a session of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR). Atop the agenda was discussion of the military agreement between Colombia and the United States, signed to maintain efforts against drug-trafficking and terrorism in the region. See this BBC Mundo article for a preview of the meeting. As […]
President Alvaro Uribe recently moved one step closer to running for a third term in office. The Colombian Senate voted 56-2 last week to approve a plan for legal changes that would enable him to be reelected a second time. The process must now be approved by the House of Representatives and pass a nationwide […]
On August 24th HBO presented a new documentary titled “Which Way Home”. This film follows a number of children, as young as 9-years old, on their perilous journey from Central America into the United States. While seeking to enter the US illegally, they dream of building better lives. Venezuelan migrants do not live in the […]
On August 16th a staff person from the Colombian Consulate and between 20 and 30 Colombian migrants were detained by the police in Caracas. Despite diplomatic immunities, consular documents and a computer were also confiscated. The Consulate was carrying out a documentation exercise for residents of the barrio Catía. Although accused of not receiving authorization […]
In an editorial within today’s Washington Post, Edward Schumacher-Matos presents a nice summary of what might be considered a waning in the power of Venezuelan President, Hugo Chávez. As Schumacher-Matos describes, on a number of fronts other South American nations have been acting counter to Chávez’s wishes. Ecuador, though considered an ally, has reached out […]
Golf in Venezuela has again come under pressure after President Hugo Chávez recently labeled it “a bourgeois sport”. The links are considered by the President, and his supporters, to be the playing fields of the wealthy and elite. An article in the New York Times further describes the situation. Interestingly, it appears that some of […]
President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela continues to criticize the recent agreement allowing access by a limited number of United States military forces and contractors to Colombian military bases. The accord, signed last Friday, enables the US to support anti-narcotics operations, and to replace its previous base at Manta, Ecuador. Chávez has used particularly strong language […]
Last week Venezuela’s National Assembly pushed forward on a law to extend the socialist nature of the country’s educational system. At the local level this gives greater control over curriculum development to the country’s Communal Councils, which are strongly pro-government. Many members of the Assembly who support the legislation say they do so in order […]
A recent New York Times article rightfully praised the bus rapid transit system now widely used in Bogotá. Known as Transmilenio, it has been credited in part for the transformation of the Colombian capital, which has become increasingly organized and safe during the past decade. It is estimated that 7,000 fewer buses are now on […]
On Monday most presidents of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) met at a summit in Quito to discuss issues of regional interest. Notably, President Alvaro Uribe of Colombia was not in attendance due to his country’s strained relations with Ecuador. One topic not on the official agenda but raised during discussions was the […]