Tag Archives: OPEC

Sep
19
2012
Posted by
admin
Comments

Venezuelan Band Claims Hugo Chavez Expropriated Song for Campaign Ad

Fox News Latino
September 19, 2012

Chavez Band BT Venezuelan Band Claims Hugo Chavez Expropriated Song for Campaign Ad

Courtesy of: AP / Ariana Cubillos

A Venezuelan pop group claims that their music is the latest prey of President Hugo Chávez’s campaign of expropriations.

Los Amigos Invisibles, a band that plays a blend of disco, acid jazz and funk mixed with Latin rhythms, claims that a state-owned radio station did not ask permission to run a remixed version of its song “Majunche” as part of a re-election campaign plug for Chávez, Reuters reported.

“They’ve expropriated Majunche, just what we needed,” tweeted bass player José Rafael Torres.

Released in 2004, “Majunche” – which roughly translated to the word “loser” – is an instrumental song which is occasionally broken up when the band shouts the song’s title. Venezuela’s state-owned radio station YVKE Mundial ran the song behind a speech by Chávez in which he says: “The loser won’t win elections in Venezuela … this year, or even in 2,000 years!”

Chávez is up for reelection this year against opposition candidate Henrique Capriles. The Venezuelan leader, who has been in power since 1998, faces his toughest reelection campaign since taking office.

Economic issues – much like the upcoming elections in the U.S. – are key factors in Venezuelan voter’s minds.

“A victory by Henrique Capriles would produce a very strong Venezuelan bond rally that would allow the country in the future to sell debt at substantially lower yields than it can today,” said Alejandro Grisanti, Latin America economist at Barclays, according to Bloomberg.

Besides dealing with a troubled economy, a major debt crisis and a turbulent oil industry, Venezuela’s voters are also concerned with Chávez’s health. The Venezuelan leader was diagnosed with an unknown form of cancer 15 months ago and has since made frequent trips to Cuba to have tumors removed from his pelvic region.

Despite declaring that he was cancer free back in July, doubts still exist about his health and ability to run the OPEC-nation.

“I love Chávez and I want him to remain in power for many more years, but I must confess that some people like me have suspicions that he hasn’t told us the whole truth about his cancer,” said Maria Lovera, a street vendor in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas. “The possibility of him getting sick again and having to step down exists.”

With the election less than three months away, Chávez’s rival Capriles maintains a slight lead in the polls over the current Venezuelan leader, according to Consultores 21, a Caracas- based polling company.

Capriles had 48.1 percent against 46.2 percent for Chavez in a poll taken at the end of August. The poll surveyed 1,000 people, was taken in the final two weeks of August and has a margin of error of 3.2 percentage points.

“If we were to make a linear projection for the election, it would be that Capriles will maintain an advantage of 2.5 percent over Chávez,” said Consultores 21 President Luís Christiansen, according to Bloomberg.

Other polls, however, favor Chávez. According to a Datanalisis poll of 1,288 people taken between July 16 and Aug. 9, Chávez would take 46.8 percent of the vote compared with 34.2 percent for Capriles.

To read this article on Fox News Latino, please click here.

 
Sep
17
2012
Posted by
admin
Comments

Venezuela’s Capriles slams Chavez for blocking broadcast

Reuters
September 17, 2012
Girish Gupta and Brian Ellsworth

download 300x200 Venezuelas Capriles slams Chavez for blocking broadcast

Courtesy of: Reuters

Venezuela’s opposition candidate Henrique Capriles slammed President Hugo Chavez on Monday for blocking a live broadcast of an opposition rally, highlighting criticism the leftist leader abuses state resources to guarantee his re-election.

Shortly after Capriles began speaking to thousands of supporters in a Caracas park, Chavez launched a “chain broadcast” across all public access television in which he celebrated his government’s achievements and extolled the virtues of socialism.

“Another radio and television chain broadcast to continue lying to Venezuelans just 20 days before the election,” Capriles said via his Twitter account.

Capriles has accused Chavez of using state institutions to tilt the October 7 election in his own favor, from giving supporters cash and apartments, to using state media to glorify his image.

Government officials dismiss those charges, saying the social programs are aimed at helping the poorest, not buying votes.

Chavez says he only uses “chain” broadcasts for state business, not to boost his re-election campaign, but they often last for hours, during which he usually berates his opponents.

Local broadcasters in the South American nation are forced to halt their programming to carry the speeches, although the system was originally designed for brief emergency messages.

After Capriles was told his rally had been taken off the air, he told the crowd: “My friends, people are allowed to be afraid if they want.”

Supporters responded with thunderous applause. The rest of Capriles’ speech was screened by opposition TV station Globovision after Chavez finished talking.

The election campaign was already drowning in a flood of accusations and insults. Just days earlier, Capriles fired a top aide who had been seen accepting an envelope of cash in a video made public by Chavez’s allies.

Chavez remains popular in the OPEC nation after 14 years in power, thanks largely to his self-styled revolution’s liberal spending of oil revenue on social programs ranging from free health clinics to subsidized supermarkets.

‘MY REVOLUTION’

He leads the election race in most of the best-known polls, which are notoriously controversial and divergent in Venezuela. One major polling firm has Capriles ahead and his numbers have been edging up.

Chavez spoke for almost two hours on Monday at a school inauguration about how education has improved under his government. During the broadcast, several children thanked him for giving them laptops and ensuring access to education.

“Chavez, you are the heart of the people,” said one toddler, echoing the government’s principal campaign slogan.

Chavez, who won fame through a failed 1992 coup, has built up a strong emotional connection with the country’s poor that has made him a formidable candidate.

On Saturday, he tugged at supporters’ heart-strings by weeping during a speech at a campaign rally in which he lamented that he could no longer roam the country as in years past.

That may have been a reference to his cancer diagnosed last year. He says he is cured, but it has apparently limited his ability to campaign in the streets.

Opposition leaders described the scene as histrionic crocodile tears, saying he should have cried for the victims of delinquent violence rather than for himself.

On Monday, Capriles mocked Chavez’s triumphalist rhetoric in a swipe at the government’s struggle to control blackouts, rampant crime and deterioration of public services.

“My revolution is that the people will have water, power and good jobs,” Capriles told supporters. A day earlier, he led a rally through the Petare slum that was for years a bastion of Chavez support but in 2008 backed an opposition mayor.

Chavez has spent more than 70 hours in “chain” broadcasts since the start of the campaign on July 1, according to opposition activists that track the broadcasts.

The head of the National Electoral Authority has said that such broadcasts cannot be regulated by elections officials because they are used to inform the public about government projects and do not constitute campaign activity.

To read this article in Reuters, please click here.

 
Aug
17
2012
Posted by
admin
Comments

In Case You Missed It… Articles Roundup Week of 8/17/12

Venezuelan Ministry of Petroleum In Case You Missed It… Articles Roundup Week of 8/17/12

Courtesy of: El Universal

This week: Growing concerns about food shortages and all-time lows in agricultural exports heap pressure on the Chávez campaign. Compounding matters, OPEC reports that Venezuelan oil production has also seen a decrease — a bad sign for a debt-ridden nation that relies on oil as its chief source of revenue. An American man was apprehended trying to cross the border from Colombia; Venezuelan officials call him a “mercenary,” as Chávez stokes fears by announcing that he will prepare the nation for an American “invasion” by raising a one million man strong guerilla army. After a period of confusion, American officials were able to meet with the detainee. Finally, to facilitate Chávez’s election-year increase in spending, the friendly National Assembly approves an increase in borrowing authority.

Venezuelan food shortages bode ill for Chavez’s re-election, USA Today

A year ago, Romero’s fields overlooking the Tacarigua Valley were neatly lined with green onions, peppers and tomatoes.

Venezuela plans a million strong ‘guerrilla army’ against US invasion, The Telegraph

“Plan Sucre” – apparently crafted with input from close ally and fellow US foe Cuba – covers the legal, logistical and other angles necessary to “transform a professional army into a guerrilla army,” Representative Maria Corina Machado told El Universal newspaper.

Fear of Mercosur weakening Venezuelan chemicals industry, El Universal

The recent entry of Venezuela into the Common Market of the South (Mercosur) is a threat to Venezuelan chemical industry, warns the Venezuelan chemical and petrochemical industry association (Asoquim).

Venezuela Prison Violence Rises, Report Says, AP (Huffington Post, Washington Post)

The number of killings inside Venezuela’s notoriously violent prisons has increased this year even as President Hugo Chavez faces mounting pressure to curtail the violence as he campaigns for re-election, according to a human rights group.

ONGC Sees Start of Venezuelan Project Delayed by Election, Bloomberg

India’s Oil & Natural Gas Corp. (ONGC) expects the start of production at the Carabobo 1 block in Venezuela to be delayed until early next year as the South American country prepares for presidential elections in October.

OPEC: Venezuelan oil production down 2.4%, El Universal

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has reported that Venezuelan oil production dropped in July.

US Officials Confirm Arrest of Citizen in Venezuela, Wall Street Journal

U.S. officials on Tuesday confirmed that a U.S. citizen has been detained in Venezuela, just days after President Hugo Chavez announced the arrest and suggested the man may be a “mercenary” for the leader’s ideological foe.

U.S. officials see ‘mercenary’ suspect in Venezuela, Chicago Tribune (Reuters)

Two U.S. diplomats on Wednesday visited an American man jailed in Venezuela whom President Hugo Chavez says he suspects of being a mercenary, the U.S. Embassy said.

Venezuela’s Chavez says U.S. given access to ‘mercenary’ suspect, Reuters

U.S. officials will be allowed access on Wednesday to an American citizen arrested in Venezuela on suspicion of being a mercenary, President Hugo Chavez said.

2012 Venezuela’s budget expense exceeds last year total amount, El Universal

The Venezuelan National Assembly authorized on Tuesday USD 768 million for additional credits. Consequently, the extraordinary operations approved during the year increase to USD 20 billion.