Tag Archives: Hugo Chavez

Colombia on the International Stage

By Sebastian Chaskel | Published: March 7, 2012
Today, Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos travels to Havana to meet with Cuban officials and Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, currently convalescing in a Havana hospital. This hastily planned visit will last just a few hours,but the main item on the agenda holds broader regional significance. Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, and Nicaragua have pledged to boycott the [...]
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The FARC’s announcement to halt kidnapping: why?

By Sebastian Chaskel | Published: February 27, 2012
The FARC’s announcement last Sunday that the organization will no longer kidnap civilians was a surprise to most observes and experts of the region. The mainstream media has reported on the event, but has been unsuccessful at explaining why the FARC would do this. In the past 48 hours, online media and blogs have [...]
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Venezuelan-Colombian Relations at World Politics Review

By Eliot Brockner | Published: March 11, 2010
Diplomatic relations between Colombia and Venezuela have been at the front lines since a Spanish judge accused Venezuela of assisting FARC rebels on March 1, two years to the day after a raid by Colombian soldiers in Ecuador prompted one of the worst regional diplomatic disputes in recent memory. The accusations are hardly new; in fact, [...]
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Venezuelan Influence in Nicaraguan Media

By Eliot Brockner | Published: January 29, 2010
Another opposition media outlet has fallen. And it’s not in Venezuela. Albanisa, a Venezuelan-owned conglomerate that controls below market-value Venezuelan oil imports in Nicaragua and has business ties to Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, recently announced the formal purchase of Canal 8, a leading anti-Ortega media outlet, for US$10 million. The deal, which went through in December [...]
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Venezuela Referendum 2009: Why it matters

By Sebastian Chaskel | Published: February 12, 2009
Some have argued that the upcoming referendum this Sunday in Venezuela is not all that significant, pointing out that if Chavez loses he will simply try again until he succeeds or that Venezuela’s economic situation is so dire that even if he wins, the next few years will overshadow this particular referendum. While I believe [...]
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Chavez and Anti-Semitism in Venezuela

By Sebastian Chaskel | Published: February 3, 2009
In the past few days Venezuelan President Chavez has been accused by many of instigating the attacks on the oldest synagogue in Caracas last Friday, which left damaged Torahs and graffiti on walls with statements such as “Get out, Jews!” While the accusations have focused mostly on Chavez’s statements on the recent events with Gaza [...]
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The Role of the State and the Black Markets of La Guajira

By Sebastian Chaskel | Published: January 14, 2009
Riding in an old Renault at night in La Guajira, Colombia’s northernmost state, our driver, Edison, recognizes an opportunity to fill up his tank not by Chevron, Shell, or Texaco signs over a gas station, but by the sight of a large red plastic container under the only lit lightbulb in sight on the side [...]
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2 Weeks and Counting: Venezuelan Regional Elections

By Eliot Brockner | Published: November 9, 2008
On 23 November, less publicized but nonetheless very important elections are slated to take place in Venezuela. Many important positions are up for grabs in these regional elections, including 22 governors, 233 state legislators, 326 mayors, and the mayor of Caracas, one of the most influential political positions in the country. The elections come at a [...]
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The Crisis Has Been Overcome?

By Sebastian Chaskel | Published: March 9, 2008
After six days of tension which led some to fear inter-state armed conflict in the Andes, the conflict was declared “overcome” by Presidents Uribe, Correa, Chávez, and Ortega on Friday afternoon at the Rio Summit in the Dominican Republic. After a week of insulting each other, the Presidents reacted positively to Dominican President Fernandez’s [...]
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Civil Society Reacts in Latin America

By Sebastian Chaskel | Published: March 7, 2008
This week has been characterized by a lot of saber-rattling and microphone diplomacy by the region’s dignitaries. At the OAS, virtually every country in the region took a stance on the conflict between Ecuador and Colombia. Today, civil society reacted to recent events. As the screenshot above from Ecuador’s El [...]
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