Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez spoke with embattled strongman Moammar Gaddafi and discussed creating a multinational commission to mediate the unrest in Libya, according to an internet message posted Wednesday by a Venezuelan government official.
Venezuelan lawmakers exchanged punches in parliament on Thursday when a fight erupted between members of President Hugo Chavez's socialist party and rivals, in a sign of the country’s political polarization.
Venezuelan authorities say they recorded 48 homicides for every 100,000 inhabitants last year, making it one of the most dangerous places in South America. Venezuela has a population of 28 million and a report for United Nations last year put the homicide rate for South America as a whole around 20 per 100.000 people.
Brazil expects Venezuela’s full incorporation to Mercosur to be approved “soon” said Foreign Affairs minister Antonio Patriota during a meeting on Monday in Caracas with his peer Nicolas Maduro in Caracas to reaffirm strong bilateral links.
The Paraguayan political system is willing to consider the incorporation of Venezuela to Mercosur as a full member if there is a “significant gesture or compensation” from the government of President Hugo Chavez, according to congressional sources in Asunción.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez celebrated Wednesday his twelfth anniversary in power saying he is ready to battle for six more years in elections next year. Chavez said in a televised speech that the battle has begun for his 2012 re-election.
Venezuela holds 297 billion barrels of proven oil reserves, most of it in tar sands but sufficient to be ahead of Saudi Arabia considered by world experts the number one country in reserves.
Colombia’s request to formally join Mercosur will be addressed during the group’s next summit to be held in Paraguay June 24th, revealed Paraguayan Foreign Affairs minister Hector Lacognata.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has said that he has no plans to nationalise the Banco Provincial, the Venezuelan affiliate of Spain's Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, or BBVA.
Uruguayan President Jose Mujica is visiting Venezuela and today held talks with President Hugo Chavez at the Miraflores presidential Palace.