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Friday, August 28, 2026
News and Views from the Global South
VENEZUELA: Caribbean Town Declares Plastic Bags Non Grata
A Venezuelan municipality where the main industry is oil refining, and that has an import-export "free zone", is set to become a plastic bag-free area.VENEZUELA: Inmates Surrender after 27-Day Prison Standoff
Worn down by hunger, thirst and a military cordon, more than 1,000 prisoners involved in a 27-day standoff with the authorities in the El Rodeo 2 prison, 30 km east of the Venezuelan capital, finally surrendered and handed over their weapons Wednesday.VENEZUELA: Chavez Returns Amidst Continuing Uncertainty
The pieces on Venezuela's political chessboard have shifted as a result of President Hugo Chávez's illness and convalescence in Cuba. His surprise return to Venezuela Monday has opened questions as to how the game will be played in future.VENEZUELA: Ambitious Promises of Affordable Housing
"I want my own roof over my head, my own home. I don't want to live in a curtained-off cubicle surrounded by masses of people," says Elena Díaz, who does ironing for a living and lives in a temporary shelter in the centre of the Venezuelan capital.New Ministry to Tackle Venezuela’s Notorious Prisons
Venezuela's prisons are considered to be among the most violent and dangerous in the world. But the country now has a new ministry specifically tasked with improving conditions in the penitentiaries and making them fit for inmates.
Biodiverse Venezuela Flunking Basic Conservation
Threats to biodiversity, spreading pollution, degraded river basins and disappearing forests are problems in oil-rich, megadiverse Venezuela, where climate change is knocking on the door.
ENVIRONMENT DAY: Heavy Rains Expose Venezuela’s Improvidence
Unseasonable rains falling for months and months in much of Venezuela have taken lives, destroyed homes, damaged crops and affected huge numbers of people. Experts blame the high level of damages on the improvised actions of citizens and the state.VENEZUELA: Long on Weapons, Short on Accountability
Venezuela has been a major arms purchaser from Russia, China and other suppliers in the last five years, but has failed to acquire the necessary competence to deal with hypothetical conflicts, says a non-governmental organisation specialised in security and defence.
Will the Libya Syndrome Spread in OPEC?
The combination of a leader in power for 42 years, underground political forces bursting on the scene with violence, fractured armed forces and a fast-developing civil war would appear to be a specifically Libyan phenomenon that is unlikely to expand to the rest of OPEC.
Saudis to Offset Libya Oil Shortfall
Saudi Arabia has increased oil production to compensate for the fall in output from Libya, as the popular uprising against the regime of Muammar Gaddafi continues to grow in that North African country.VENEZUELA: Government Yields to Student Hunger Strikers
For the first time in over 20 years, a Venezuelan government gave in Tuesday to the demands of students, more than 60 of whom were on hunger strike, and released or promised better conditions for members of the opposition who are in prison.VENEZUELA: Biopiracy Leaves Native Groups Out in the Cold
Millions of cancer patients around the world benefit from a medication called Paclitaxel (Taxol), which may begin to be produced from a new source: fungi found at the summit of Venezuela's flat-topped mountains. But the indigenous communities who have lived in that area since time immemorial will receive no benefits, and were not even consulted on the matter.VENEZUELA: Socialism as Counterattack
Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez began the new year with special powers to implement his "21st century socialism", while the opposition returned to the legislature Wednesday after a five-year absence.VENEZUELA: New Rules to Rein In the Internet
Controversy has flared up in Venezuela over planned reforms to the law on online media, especially because restrictions that already apply to the content of radio and television broadcasts would be extended to the internet. Portals and networks that transmit messages deemed to be illegal may face heavy fines, or even be shut down.
VENEZUELA: More Protests – and More Crackdowns
Rubén González, a 51-year-old welder who is the secretary general of the Sintraferrominera ironworkers union, has spent over a year in prison in Venezuela for leading a strike by hundreds of workers outside the San Isidro mine in Ciudad Piar, 550 kilometres southeast of the capital.
Brazil’s Capitalist Invasion Builds Socialism ‘a la Venezuela’
Bridges, railroads, petrochemicals, steel mills, electricity, aqueducts, agriculture, meat-processing plants, ship building and even cable cars: Brazil's powerful entrepreneurial arm is reaching towards the Caribbean, via Venezuela, where the Hugo Chávez government is working to build what it calls "21st century socialism."
Heat Rises, Fishing Falls in the Venezuelan Caribbean
In the Southern Caribbean, along the Venezuelan coast, fishing is on the decline, surface waters are warming, rivers discharge tonnes of waste into the sea -- the waves seem to be licking the wounds left by these phenomena and devastating fishing practices like bottom trawling.
VENEZUELA: Hunger Strike Off as Gov’t Agrees to Talks on Native Demands
An 81-year-old Jesuit missionary in Venezuela ended a week-long hunger strike Monday after the government agreed to high-level talks to negotiate the release of three indigenous prisoners facing murder charges and to discuss land claims by Yukpa communities.VENEZUELA: Chavez Revving Up Revolution with Land Takeovers
Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez announced the expropriation of a subsidiary of the British Vestey Group, and of Agroisleña, a major agricultural firm founded by Spaniards half a century ago, indicating that he is radicalising his Bolivarian revolution in spite of a drop in support for him in the recent parliamentary elections.VENEZUELA: Opposition Comeback Presages New Political Crisis
The vigorous comeback of the opposition in Venezuela's newly elected parliament strengthens pluralism in this oil-rich country, although it may presage a new political crisis in the medium term, according to analysts.
VENEZUELA: Chavez Allies Set to Win Majority in Congress
The opposition is getting ready for a comeback in Sunday's parliamentary elections in Venezuela, although President Hugo Chávez's allies seem set to win a comfortable majority, perhaps as much as two-thirds of the seats.« Previous Page — Next Page »
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