Caracas

The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) is well-known for its mission to expose the Venezuelan government of President Hugo Chavez as a threat to free speech “all over the continent”.

Glued to the television, myself and my partner watched the entire July 5 showdown in the Central American nation Honduras play out from Caracas.

Speaking on behalf of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’s United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) on July 6, former Venezuelan interior minister Ramon Rodriguez Chacin called on United States President Barack Obama to clarify his government’s position on the coup d’etat in Honduras.

A huge mobilisation of up to a million workers took place in Caracas on May 1 — the international workers’ day.

“The country is not going to sink. Despite the world economic crisis, we will keep advancing in social and human development”, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said, inaugurating a new pharmaceutical plant at Las Adjuntas, Caracas, on May 3. He was speaking on his weekly TV program Alo Presidente.

The ninth Australian solidarity brigade to Venezuela, sponsored by the Australia-Venezuela Solidarity Network (AVSN), visited Venezuela from April 16 to 24. Participants saw first-hand the reality of the Bolivarian revolution, led by socialist president Hugo Chavez.

Nestled in the heart of Barrio 23 de Enero, a large impoverished neighbourhood in Caracas, among the man-made ranchos with red brick walls and metal roofing, stands the Ramon Ismael Ramos Infocenter.

“The great Latin American revolution began on April 13, 2002”, President Hugo Chavez said during a speech to tens of thousands of supporters in front of the Miraflores Presidential Palace exactly three years later.

Teachers’ salaries in Venezuela have increased 550% since 1999, education minister Hector Navarra said on March 23, according to the March 24 Diario Vea.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez argued on March 27 that the economic measures his government has adopted, to confront the global economic crisis, contain “not one neoliberal element”, unlike those adopted by the previous governments.

President Hugo Chavez announced on March 21 the takeover of all national and international seaports and airports, returning them to the direct control of the national government.

On March 21, President Hugo Chavez announced a series of economic measures designed to strengthen the Bolivarian revolutionary process in Venezuela, in the face of the challenges posed by the international financial crisis.