Red Pepper's Venezuela Blog

Unregulated Diamond Mining Wreaks Environmental Havoc in Venezuela

[While Chavez's government touts the policy for its enormous oil sector, it has left less lucrative areas like the diamond industry unregulated. The result is smuggling, environmental damage and international concern.]

Chavez Views Presidency As Epic Struggle

[AP's Ian James spends a day driving across the plains of Venezuela with Hugo Chavez. For  James, underneath the fiery persona is a man who both firmly believes in his vision and is shrewd enough to know how to sell it. Chavez sees the world in black and white and casts himself as crusader, a role that is at once genuine and expedient. He truly empathises with the common people of Venezuela, but it is also vital for him to hear their cheers, be their hero and feel the power.]

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's silhouette is seen as he speaks to the crowd after holding talks on energy cooperation with his Panamanian counterpart Martin Torrijos at the start of his two-day visit to Panama, June 22, 2006. Credit : Jorge Silva/Reuters

Voices In Defense Of Bolivia

[The democratically elected government of Bolivia's first indigenous president Evo Morales Ayma, which is heading a process of democratic change, is Washington's immediate target in Latin America today. Bolivia is in Washington's sight, not only because it is viewed as the weakest link of the growing axis of hope in the region, but because of its role as a catalyst for inspiring the struggles of indigenous peoples, regionally and internationally, for real social justice.]

Allende’s Grandson Addresses Venezuelans on the 34th Anniversary of the Chilean Coup

[Venezuelanalysis.com have translated a speech given by Gonzalo Meza Allende, the grandson of Salvador Allende, who spoke in Caracas, Venezuela on Tuesday, during a commemorative ceremony on the 34th anniversary of Pinochet’s coup d’etat, which overthrew and resulted in the death of the democratically elected Chilean President, Salvador Allende on September 11, 1973. Click here for a transcript (in Spanish and English) of Salvador Allende's last radio broadcast  made on 11 September 1973, at 9:10 AM, before he killed himself during the US-backed coup that had Augusto Pinochet overthrow his socialist government.]

Chavez Warns that Bolivia is Being Destabilised by U.S. Just as Venezuela

[Venezuelanalysis.com report on Hugo Chavez's recent warning that there was a plan financed by the United States to derail the democratically elected government of Bolivia, including a plan to assassinate Morales. Chavez warned, “If U.S. imperialism attacks our peoples, using their lackeys in Venezuela and Bolivia, they can be sure that we’re not going to wait with our arms crossed.”]

Inner-Party Disputes Flare in the Formation of United Socialist Party of Venezuela

[Venezuelanalysis.com report on a dispute within the pro-Chavez sector over how to go about the formation of the new United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV).]

Venezuela’s Resurgent Revolutionary Student Movement

[Venezuelanalysis.com's Kiraz Janicke argues that the latest round of opposition mobilisations, the ostensibly “spontaneous” student mobilisations in defense of private television station RCTV, have once again for the opposition inadvertently produced an undesired result - the revitalisation of Venezuela’s revolutionary student movement.]

Chávez Pours Millions More Into Pioneering Music Scheme

[The Guardian report on Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez's announcement that his government will increase its funding to a scheme which brings classical music into Venezuela's slums, following international acclaim for the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra. The Venezuelan leader announced the creation of "Misión Música", a government-funded effort to give tuition and instruments to 1 million impoverished children. To watch a clip of the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra at a recent concert in London click here.]

Conservative Party’s Venezuelan Friends in Low Places

[For Calvin Tucker, co-editor of www.21stcenturysocialism.com, London’s Conservative party leadership seems happy to entertain the bloodthirsty opponents of Venezuela’s democratically elected government. Tucker asks whether the party’s national leadership will do anything about this?]