Political: Chavez's Win feeds Nations' Venezuela Addiction

what could shake things up far more than the elections in Venezuela is the little matter of the US’ Nov. 6 vote, with Republicans taking a seriously hawkish tone. “In the last three years, Venezuela has become a narco-terrorist state, turning it into an Iranian outpost in the Western hemisphere,” says the 2012 Republican Platform.

“The current regime issues Venezuelan passports or visas to thousands of Middle Eastern terrorists offering safe haven to Hezbollah trainers, operatives, recruiters and fundraisers,” the GOP claims. Were Romney to become president, the big question would be whether he would follow that campaign rhetoric with equally tough actions — or would he also continue the Obama administration’s policy of containing Chavez while keeping the oil flowing?

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Politics: Will a Chavez Victory Fulfill Nicaragua's Megaproject Dreams?

“Chávez needs to focus on increasing his country’s level of oil production and investing in logistics for the future. This project is a no-brainer; it’s the perfect arrangement because Nicaragua is an ideological ally and the refinery will give Chávez strategic access to the Chinese market, ” says Nicaraguan political analyst Arturo Cruz, President Daniel Ortega’s former ambassador to Washington and a professor of political science at INCAE.

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Politics: Venezuela's Chavez Wins Presidential Race

Since taking power in 1999, the flamboyant former soldier has become a global flag-bearer of "anti-imperialism," gleefully baiting the United States government while befriending leaders from Iran to Belarus whom the West views with suspicion.

At home, casting himself as an heir to independence hero Simon Bolivar, Mr Chavez has poured billions of oil revenues into anti-poverty programs, and skilfully used his humble roots and folksy oratory to build a close connection with the masses.

While that connection ensured his re-election, the opposition's big share of the vote reflected a real and growing anger at Mr Chavez's failure to fix basic problems such as violent crime, potholed roads, electricity blackouts and entrenched corruption at all levels.

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Politics: Could Nicaragua’s president survive a Chavez loss in Venezuela?

Six years on, the inner workings of ALBA in Nicaragua remain a mystery to all but a select coterie. That’s because Ortega’s inner circle of family members and confidants has privatized Venezuelan aid through a web of businesses linked to a main holding company called “ALBANISA,” short for ALBA of Nicaragua, S.A.

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Politics: Nicaraguan President Warns of Heathen 'puppets' on eve of Venezuelan Elections

Of course wealth is good, but the wealth of the few, at the cost of the immense majority of people on this planet who live in extreme poverty, who are living in hunger, who are dying due to lack of medicine, who can’t go to school, that is bad wealth.

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