Venezuela: Chavez slams protesters for assailing Egyptian embassy

Venezuela: Chavez slams protesters for assailing Egyptian embassyVenezuelan President Hugo Chavez slammed a group of young Venezuelans with Egyptian ties who took over the Egyptian embassy in Caracas on Friday (January 28) in a sign of solidarity with protesters in Egypt demanding Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak resign.

Chavez said he was concerned about the actions saying it was unacceptable and that Venezuela has to protect all foreign embassies which are sovereign territory. The Venezuelan leader said the embassy was instructed not to provoke violence and that the protesters peacefully left soon after taking control of the building and being talked down by Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro. Look at what is happening in Egypt. And just today I spoke with the foreign minister. Something very worrisome happened that should not have happened in Caracas. A group of Venezuelan citizens that are Egyptian entered the Egyptian embassy. They entered peaceably, as Egyptian citizens. They supposedly went to ask for documents but when they were inside they took over the embassy. This cannot be allowed, Chavez said. Meanwhile, President Mubarak refused early Saturday (January 29) to bow to demands that he resign, after ordering troops and tanks into cities in an attempt to quell an explosion of street protest against his 30-year rule. Mubarak dismissed his government and called for national dialogue to avert chaos following a day of battles between police and protesters angry over poverty and political repression.

Election boosts Venezuela’s opposition

CARACAS: Venezuela’s rejuvenated opposition celebrated on Monday after reducing President Hugo Chavez’s majority in parliament and set their sights on defeating him at the next presidential election in 2012.

“It’s a clear message — we don’t want the government’s radical path,” one leader, Julio Borges, told Reuters after the Democratic Unity umbrella group won a third of seats and claimed a majority of the popular vote from Sunday’s ballot.

“Today, Chavez is in a minority.”

The president said his ruling Socialist Party won 98 seats in the 165-member National Assembly, while the opposition bloc took 65 seats. Other parties had two.

The opposition had boycotted the last election in 2005, giving Chavez complete control of parliament.

The result left the government just shy of the 99 seats — or three-fifths — it would need for parliament to

Chavez party wins majority, but not full control

CARACAS: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’s party won most seats in key legislative elections, but strong opposition gains robbed it of enough votes to easily pass reforms, electoral officials have said.

The ruling party won at least 90 out of 165 seats in the National Assembly in Sunday’s vote, and the opposition had at least 61, the electoral council said after almost eight hours of vote counting. AGENCIES

Chavez rejects US ambassador-designate to Venezuela

CARACAS: President Hugo Chavez on Sunday rejected Larry Palmer as the US ambassador-designate to Venezuela, and urged US President Barack Obama to “look for another candidate.”

“How can you think I”d accept this gentleman coming here? You”d best withdraw him, Obama. Don”t insist, I”m asking you,” said Chavez in his weekly “Alo Presidente” radio and television show.

Palmer recently voiced concern about Cuba”s growing influence in the Venezuelan military, which, he said was “considerably low” in morale and professionalism.

In written answers to a US lawmaker”s questions — his nomination as ambassador must be confirmed by the Senate — Palmer also said there were “clear ties” between leftist Colombian guerrillas and Chavez”s government.

Venezuela”s foreign ministry on Thursday protested Palmer”s statements as “interference and interventionism” and asked the United States for an explanation before he was confirmed in his post.

Palmer “can”t come here as ambassador,” said Chavez. “He disqualified himself by breaking all the rules of diplomacy. He messed with all of us. He can”t come here.”

“The best thing the United States government can do is to look for another candidate,” for ambassador to Venezuela, he added.

The US government has said it shares Palmer”s concerns about Venezuela, but denied it was interfering in Venezuela”s internal affairs.

In its annual report on terrorism, the US State Department on Thursday said anti-terrorist cooperation with Venezuela had dropped to a minimum and that Venezuela”s alleged support to Colombia”s leftist FARC guerrillas was still uncertain.

Palmer, in his written response, offered the most detailed explanation yet of Washington”s view of the presence of Colombian guerrillas in Venezuela, an issue that Bogota and Caracas have been quarreling over.

He said the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) “maintain camps in Venezuela, and members of the FARC high command have occasionally appeared in public in Caracas.”

“The Venezuelan government has been unwilling to prevent Colombian guerrillas from entering and establishing camps in Venezuelan territory,” Palmer added.

Chavez on July 22 broke off diplomatic relations with Colombia and reinforced its military presence at the border.

Since the inauguration of Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos on Saturday, however, both countries have made overtures and said they are prepared to talk to resume normal relations.

Venezuela breaks ties with US-allied Colombia

CARACAS: Venezuela’s defense minister on Friday warned Colombia against provoking a conflict over allegations his country is sheltering guerrilla bases and said the military backs President Hugo Chavez’s decision to cut ties with the neighboring nation.

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Venezuela breaks ties with US-allied Colombia

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Fans Bid Final Farewell To Boxer Valero
Hometown Of Venezuela’s Boxing Champ Valero Holds A Funeral For Fighter Who Killed HimselfEL VIGIA, Venezuela (AP) – Relatives and fans of former boxing champion Edwin Valero gathered for the funeral on Wednesday of the troubled fighter who killed himself after slaying his wife.

Hundreds of residents from this small town in southwestern Venezuela attended the mass for a fighter who rose to national fame before quickly falling into disgrace. Many wept, wiping tears from their faces during the ceremony. Fans, friends and family members later brought the coffin containing the boxer’s remains to a local gym where he once trained, before his body was buried at a nearby cemetery.

Valero, famed for an impressive record of 27 straight knockouts and a huge tattoo of President Hugo Chavez on his chest, was arrested Sunday in the stabbing death of his 24-year-old wife. Police said the boxer hanged himself in his cell early Monday.

The killing, coupled with Valero’s suicide, shocked many Venezuelans. Many have been asking what went wrong in his life and why authorities hadn’t stepped in to protect his wife, Jennifer Carolina Viera, after numerous reports of domestic violence.

A boxer who was close to Valero, Jose Luis Varela, lamented that many of the fighter’s friends didn’t urge him to seek help to deal with what had become a serious drug and alcohol addiction.

“We didn’t want to see that he had problems,” Varela said.

During Wednesday’s mass, Priest Esteban Gudino told parishioners he hoped Valero “receives the mercy of our Lord.”

“It’s a tragedy for all of use when the life of a youngster ends like this,” Gudino said from the church’s pulpit. “Hopefully, this will serve others to emulate his positive side, and they’ll distance themselves from drugs and alcohol.”

The fighter’s mother-in-law, Mary Finol, told reporters at her daughter’s funeral Tuesday in El Vigia that Valero was addicted to cocaine and had grown increasingly violent before he was arrested for his wife’s murder.

“We knew that he used cocaine beginning at 12 years of age,” Finol said, adding that her daughter had told her that Valero “didn’t sleep, didn’t eat, got high everyday and was increasingly violent.”

Valero’s fans shouted “Champion! Champion!” from a caravan of motorcycles and cars that accompanied the Hurst carrying the coffin to the burial site.

Fellow boxer and friend, Joel Finol, broke down in tears.

“It broke my heart to see him like that: dead,” Finol told The Associated Press.

Venezuelan news reports since 2008 had repeatedly linked the former WBA super featherweight and WBC lightweight champion to domestic violence incidents, but the fighter and his supporters rejected those reports.

In September, Valero denied he had been detained on domestic violence charges after Venezuelan news reports said a neighbor called emergency services and told authorities the boxer had struck his mother and a sister
source:cbsnews

US Spy Plane violated Venezuela’s airspace, President Hugo Chavez

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has accused the United States of launching a spy plane from Colombia that violated his country’s airspace, and vowed to shoot down any future such aircraft.

The firebrand leftist leader said Sunday that a drone with “Yankee technology used in Colombia” flew over a Venezuelan military base a “few days ago,” taking photographs before disappearing. “Last night, I ordered these little planes to be shot down,” Chavez added on his weekly television and radio program. “We cannot permit this.”

His allegations came amid tense ties between neighbors Colombia and Venezuela, after Washington and Bogota struck a deal allowing US forces to run counternarcotics operations from Colombian bases. Venezuela suspended diplomatic relations with Colombia in July in response to the US-Colombian military base deal, denouncing it as a military threat to the sovereignty of Latin American countries and saying it paved the way for a possible attack against Venezuela.

Chavez warned Colombia against sending its armed forces across the border into Venezuela. “You’ll be sorry,” the former paratroop commander said. “We are not unarmed.”

The US-Colombian agreement, signed on October 30, involves seven Colombian bases and sparked consternation throughout the region, particularly irking Caracas.

Last week, Chavez said the US military was using Dutch islands off Venezuela’s Caribbean coast — Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao — as a staging area for a possible attack. The Netherlands has denied the claims. In November, Chavez called on his countrymen to “prepare for war” and Colombia’s defense minister announced Friday it would build a new military base near its border with Venezuela supplied with up to 1,000 troops, with two air battalions also activated at other border areas.
The two countries share a 2,000-kilometer border.

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US Spy Plane violated Venezuela’s airspace, President Hugo Chavez was first posted on December 21, 2009 at 11:07 pm.