'Your papers, please' must never be heard in America
Socialism has finally hit the fan in Hugo Chavez's Venezuela, though he checked out just in time to miss it. He left millions of Venezuelans struggling to clean up the mess.
First, milk, butter, coffee and cornmeal ran short. Now Venezuela is running out of the most basic of necessities — toilet paper.
A member of Venezuela's assembly appeared on state television with a bruised, swollen and bloody head Tuesday evening, after a brawl erupted among lawmakers in a heated session over post-election powers.
Slighting an old friend when there's a death in his family, sending a bouquet of wilted petunias by the chauffeur, is trashy behavior no matter who orders it.
Venezuela offers a classic study of how socialist regimes impose misery and mayhem but manage to fool or intimidate enough voters to keep the regime in power.
Voters who kept Hugo Chavez in office for 14 years were deciding Sunday whether to elect the devoted lieutenant he chose to carry on the revolution that endeared him to the poor but that many Venezuelans believe is ruining the nation.
Nicolas Maduro hopes to ride a tide of grief into Venezuela's special presidential election Sunday and win voters' endorsement to succeed the late Hugo Chavez, the divisive larger-than-life leader who chose him to carry on the messy, unfinished Chavista revolution.
"The president shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the Supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States. " -- Article II, U.S. Constitution
As the world focuses on the passing of Hugo Chavez and the impact of his socialist policies on oil-rich Venezuela, halfway around the globe a different kind of leader has been quietly transforming his country into a prosperous and reliable partner of the West.
Since 1999, the Venezuelan people have suffered under an oppressive, neosocialist dictatorship that disregarded human rights, the rule of law and freedom of the press. For 14 years, Hugo Chavez trampled over democratic order, jailed political prisoners and oppressed the Venezuelan people.
Venezuela's acting president said Wednesday that it is highly unlikely Hugo Chavez will be embalmed for permanent viewing because the decision to do so was made too late and the socialist leader's body was not properly prepared on time.
Henrique Capriles, the opposition leader in Venezuela, will face off against Hugo Chavez's hand-picked successor, interim President Nicolas Maduro.
IndyCar driver E.J. Viso isn't worried the death of Hugo Chavez will affect state sponsorship of Venezuelan drivers, including himself.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is under fire for an "un-Islamic" embrace of Hugo Chavez's mother, Elena Frias, at the late Venezuelan president's funeral Friday.
Venezuela on Saturday was awaiting a key ruling from the nation's elections commission about details of a vote to replace Hugo Chavez, including a possible date for the poll.
Venezuelans are afflicted by chronic power outages, crumbling infrastructure, unfinished public works projects, double-digit inflation, food and medicine shortages, and rampant crime — one of the world's highest homicide and kidnapping rates — that the opposition said worsened after Chavez disappeared to Cuba in December for what would be his final surgery.
Nicolas Maduro, Hugo Chavez's heir, to take over divided Venezuela →
He promised to expand a myriad of anti-poverty programs created by the man he called the "Jesus Christ of Latin America" and funded by $1 trillion in oil revenues during Chavez's 14-year rule.
Lead narrows for Chavez's heir on the eve of the elections in Venezuela →
