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Paris makes Mandela honorary citizen, refuses honour for Chavez

March 25, 2013 17:47
The city of Paris on Monday made anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela an honorary citizen but refused to grant an honour to Venezuela's late leftist firebrand leader Hugo Chavez. Mandela was "an emblematic and historic human rights figure," deputy mayor Pierre Schapira said in a speech to a meeting of the city council that bestowed the title on the Nobel peace prize winner. But the council refused a request from communist councillors for a place in Paris to be named after Chavez.

Did Venezuela's Chavez nudge Christ to pick South American pope?

March 25, 2013 14:16
By Ana Isabel Martinez CARACAS (Reuters) - Late Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez may have had a hand in Christ's decision to opt for a Latin American pope, acting President Nicolas Maduro said on Wednesday. "We know that our commander ascended to the heights and is face-to-face with Christ," Maduro said at a Caracas book fair. "Something influenced the choice of a South American pope, someone new arrived at Christ's side and said to him: 'Well, it seems to us South America's time has come.'"

Capriles faces Chavez's ghost in Venezuela vote

March 23, 2013 21:45
Henrique Capriles lost his last presidential bid to Hugo Chavez, and as he prepares for Venezuela's April 14 elections, his main rival appears to be the ghost of the late leader. Capriles, 40, is the candidate of the unified opposition in the race to succeed Chavez. He is running against former bus driver, ex-foreign minister and acting President Nicolas Maduro, the hand-picked successor of the "comandante." Campaigning officially begins on April 2, but the candidates have already started courting votes in a highly confrontational pre-campaign.

Brazilian firms root for Chavez's man in Venezuela vote

March 21, 2013 14:47
By Esteban Israel SAO PAULO (Reuters) - If Brazil's business leaders could vote in Venezuela's election next month, they would cast their ballots for Hugo Chavez's political heir, acting president Nicolas Maduro. They never supported the anti-capitalist bluster of Chavez, who died of cancer last month, but they hope to hold on to lucrative contracts for food exports and construction projects that he signed with Brazil's former leftist leader Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and his successor, Dilma Rousseff.

Venezuelan police fire tear gas during clash ahead of vote

March 21, 2013 14:47
By Deisy Buitrago and Efrain Otero CARACAS (Reuters) - Police fired tear gas in downtown Caracas on Thursday as anti-government student protesters clashed with supporters of late President Hugo Chavez in an increasingly volatile atmosphere ahead of next month's election. Several hundred students were marching to the election board's headquarters to demand a clean vote when they were blocked by government supporters who hurled stones, bottles and eggs at them, a Reuters witness said.

How to keep Chavez memory alive? Name him 200 times a day!

March 21, 2013 13:31
By Andrew Cawthorne CARACAS (Reuters) - Hugo Chavez's protege and the new flagbearer of socialism in Venezuela has lost no time proving his loyalty in public - in fact, 3,456 times in just 16 days. That is the number of times acting President Nicolas Maduro has mentioned Chavez in speeches since his mentor's death from cancer on March 5, according to a local tracker.

Chavez successor leads opponent in Venezuela vote

March 20, 2013 00:31
Nicolas Maduro, who succeeded the late Hugo Chavez as Venezuela's interim president, has an 18 point lead over the opposition's Henrique Capriles ahead of mid-April elections, a polling firm said Tuesday. The private Venezuelan pollster Hinterlaces said 53 percent of Venezuelans would vote for Maduro -- Chavez's vice president and hand-picked successor -- while 35 percent would vote for Capriles. That's an even bigger lead for Maduro than in the last poll, published weeks before Chavez lost his two-year battle with cancer.

Capriles barbs unite "Chavistas" in Venezuela - strategist

March 19, 2013 11:00
By Andrew Cawthorne CARACAS (Reuters) - Supporters of late president Hugo Chavez will punish opposition leader Henrique Capriles for his anti-government barbs at a vote next month likely to produce a bigger win for the socialists than last year, a campaign strategist for Capriles' rival forecast. The build-up to Venezuela's April 14 vote for a successor to Chavez, who died of cancer two weeks ago, has been characterized by acrimonious personal attacks between Capriles and acting president and Chavez protege Nicolas Maduro.

Venezuela's Capriles vows to halt oil aid to Cuba

March 18, 2013 16:30
By Brian Ellsworth CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan opposition presidential candidate Henrique Capriles on Monday vowed to end the OPEC nation's shipments of subsidized oil to communist-run Cuba, slamming acting President Nicolas Maduro as a puppet of Havana. Capriles has berated Maduro as a weak imitation of the late Hugo Chavez, whose death two weeks ago convulsed the country and triggered the April 14 vote. The opposition also accuses the government of failing to fight crime and control inflation.

Venezuela airs re-runs of Chavez's 'Alo Presidente'

March 17, 2013 20:00
Venezuela's late president Hugo Chavez is back on the air just like the old days on Sundays, in reruns, as the country prepares for a quick election to replace the firebrand leftist leader. The first episode of Chavez's weekly television show "Alo Presidente" ("Hello Mr. President") to be re-broadcast was an episode from 2000 in which the man who led Latin America's left for over a decade appears with Cuba's then-leader Fidel Castro, Information Minister Ernesto Villegas said.
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