Red Pepper's Venezuela Blog

Event: Supporting Venezuela’s Social Progress - Challenging the Media War Against Chávez

[The Venezuela Information Centre (VIC) have organised an event in London to mark the sixth anniversary of the military coup that briefly overthrew the government of President Hugo Chávez.]

The Coming War on Venezuela

[Writing for Counterpunch, George Ciccariello-Maher reviews Eva Golinger's latest book, Bush Versus Chavez. For Ciccariello-Maher, Golinger continues the diabolical narrative of her previous book, this time relying less on Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests than on a series of other key documents and bits of testimony gleaned from anonymous sources. Click here to access the appendices to Bush Versus Chávez, largely composed of declassified or leaked documents.]

 

Book Review - Forgotten Continent: The Battle for Latin America’s Soul by Michael Reid

[Diana Raby, Honorary Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Latin American Studies, University of Liverpool, reviews The Battle for Latin America’s Soul by Michael Reid. Reid is the Latin America editor at the Economist. Click here to read the first chapter of Diana Raby's book Democracy and Revolution: Latin America and Socialism Today.]

Counter-Attack of the Bureaucrats: "Endogenous Right" vs. "False Left" in Venezuela

[Writing for Counterpunch, George Ciccariello-Maher argues that in Venezuela in recent weeks the so-called "endogenous right," the well-known bloc of moderate, centrist, bureaucratic-minded Chavistas, have landed a series of body blows to more leftist elements, threatening internal democracy and the radicalism of the Revolution in the process.]

OAS Rejects Colombia’s Military Incursion into Ecuador

[Venezuelanalysis.com's Kiraz Janicke reports on the March 17 meeting of Foreign Ministers of the Organisation of American States (OAS), where they rejected Colombia's military incursion into Ecuador on March 1 which killed 25 people, including Raul Reyes, second in command of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).]

Chavez: “Colombia is the Israel of Latin America.”

[Venezuelanalysis.com's Chris Carlson reports on statements made by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez who labeled Colombia the "Israel of Latin America" on his Sunday talk show Aló Presidente yesterday. Chavez's statements come in the wake of the assassination of Luis Édgar Devia Silva or "Raul Reyes" by the Colombian military on Saturday in Ecuador. Reyes was second-in-command in the FARC (Colombia's guerrilla group), and perhaps its most visible spokesperson.]

Colombia Assassinates Raul Reyes of FARC

[Znet's Justin Podur reports on the assassination of Luis Édgar Devia Silva or "Raul Reyes" by the Colombian military on Saturday in Ecuador. Reyes was second-in-command in the FARC (Colombia's guerrilla group), and perhaps its most visible spokesperson. Click here for a Spanish version of this news.]

Protest against ExxonMobil’s hostile action against Venezuelan sovereignty

[Below information on a protest organised by the Venezuela Information Centre (VIC) for Tuesday 4 March.]

Venezuela: the spectre of Big Oil

[PolEconAnalysis.org's Paul Kellog argues that ExxonMobil isn't suing PDVSA because it needs the money. The world's largest publicly traded corporation recorded profits of $40.6-billion (U.S.) in 2007, up three per cent from 2006's record of $39.6-billion. The truth is, ExxonMobil's ultimatum has more to do with politics than economics.]

 

Chavez, freed FARC hostages call for political solution to Colombian conflict

[Venezuelanalysis.com's Kiraz Janicle reports on Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's call for international mediation group to negotiate a humanitarian accord in neighbouring Colombia. Chavez's call follows a successful Venezuelan led humanitarian mission that secured the release of four former legislators held by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), on Wednesday.]