Voltaire Network

Sarah Wagner

U.S. journalist living in Venezuela

89 articles

English 86 Español 3

Report Accuses Venezuelan Governor of Responsibility for Extra-Judicial Executions

by Sarah Wagner

Report Accuses Venezuelan Governor of Responsibility for Extra-Judicial Executions

Caracas (Venezuela) | 10 June 2005
Eduardo Manuitt
An eight month investigation conducted by the Venezuelan Nationa; Assembly’s Commission on Policies of the Interior concluded yesterday, establishing the responsibility of the Governor of the State of Guárico, Eduardo Manuitt, for the alleged human rights violations committed by police officers of that State.
Although fourteen National Assembly Deputies of the eighteen member Commission, including eight from the pro-government coalition and six from the opposition, (...)

Venezuela Confiscated Missile Parts at Airport, Launches Investigation

by Sarah Wagner

Venezuela Confiscated Missile Parts at Airport, Launches Investigation

Caracas (Venezuela) | 10 June 2005
Jorge García Carneiro
The Venezuelan Minister of Defense, General Jorge García Carneiro asserted that confiscation of the components of three Colombian air-to-air missiles in the Simón Bolívar airport in Caracas on Saturday warrants an investigation in cooperation with Colombian authorities and intelligence.
The missile components, carrying the shield of the Republic of Colombia, were found by the Disip, the Venezuelan equivalent to the FBI, during a routine examination of the hanger of (...)

Venezuela Denies Involvement in Bolivia’s Crisis

by Sarah Wagner

Venezuela Denies Involvement in Bolivia's Crisis

Caracas (Venezuela) | 8 June 2005
During a press conference during the 35th General Assembly of the Organization of American States (OAS), Venezuela’s Foreign Minister Alí Rodríguez asked Roger Noriega, the US Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, to back up his allegations that Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez is engineering the current crisis in Bolivia.
Earlier this morning, Noriega expressed his "concern" for the "role" of Venezuela’s President Hugo Chávez in the Bolivian crisis and claimed that "the (...)

20,000 Graduate from First Round of New Venezuelan Educational Program

by Sarah Wagner

20,000 Graduate from First Round of New Venezuelan Educational Program

Caracas (Venezuela) | 7 June 2005
Venezuela’s President Hugo Chávez presided over the first “Mission Ribas” graduation ceremony yesterday, awarding 20,686 Venezuelans their high school diplomas.
Recognizing that education is key to eliminating poverty, reducing inequality and "breaking the chains of capitalism," Chávez announced that in order to hasten the deepening of the educational missions and the transformation of the country, Mission Ribas’ budget would be increased to $50 million dollars a month.
The Venezuelan President (...)

Venezuelans March for Petroleum Sovereignty, Against Bush

by Sarah Wagner

Venezuelans March for Petroleum Sovereignty, Against Bush

Caracas (Venezuela) | 2 June 2005
José Vicente Rangel
Tens of thousands of Venezuelans rallied together in Caracas on Saturday to march in support for the sovereignty of the country’s state-owned petroleum company, PdVSA, and to protest the hypocrisy in the US’s decision not to extradite Cuban terrorist Luis Posada Carriles.
Beginning in the eastern side of the city in the barrio Petare, the march passed through dozens of signature collection points, allowing the people to voice their opposition to the then day-old US (...)

Mexico Supports Venezuelan Extradition Request

by Sarah Wagner

Mexico Supports Venezuelan Extradition Request

Caracas (Venezuela) | 31 May 2005
Despite the fact that Cuban terrorist Luis Posada Carriles illegally entered the US via the Mexican border in March, Mexico is not interested in prosecuting him for what Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Ernesto Derbez referred to as a relatively minor offense in a statement last week.
In the event that the US would deport Posada to Mexico, Mexico would turn the former CIA agent over to the Venezuelan authorities. "We would be practically obliged to do this," stated Derbez, explaining that, (...)

Venezuelan Economy Grew 7.9 percent in First Quarter of 2005

by Sarah Wagner

Venezuelan Economy Grew 7.9 percent in First Quarter of 2005

Caracas (Venezuela) | 27 May 2005
Nelson Merentes
Venezuela’s economy grew by 7.9 percent during the first quarter of 2005. Government officials have a positive forecast for the entire year, predicting that 2005 will close with an average growth rate of 10 percent. "This is now the sixth consecutive quarter of growth and, more importantly, shows that 2005 is going to be a growth year," affirmed Venezuelan Finance Minister Nelson Merentes at a press conference on Tuesday.
Due to both government and consumer spending as (...)

Venezuela: Knocking over Dominos in Latin America

by Sarah Wagner

Venezuela: Knocking over Dominos in Latin America

Caracas (Venezuela) | 27 May 2005
On Monday, May 16th tens of thousands of Bolivian Indigenous descended from the shantytowns surrounding La Paz, the capital, demanding that the government of Carlos Mesa increase royalties on foreign transnational corporations from 18% to 50%. By the time the march ended that night in a shower of tear gas, rubber bullets and water hosing, their demands had changed. Protesters, known as the “Pact of Unity,” were back on the streets on Tuesday, but now they demanded the outright (...)

PDVSA president testifies before National Assembly

Venezuela Says Transnational Oil Companies Owe Back Taxes and Have Violated Contracts

by Sarah Wagner, Gregory Wilpert

Venezuela Says Transnational Oil Companies Owe Back Taxes and Have Violated Contracts

Caracas (Venezuela) | 26 May 2005
Rafael Ramírez
Venezuela’s Minister of Energy and Mines, Rafael Ramírez, appeared before the Venezuelan National Assembly today in order to expose the abuses committed by transnational corporations in Venezuela’s oil sector and to inform the Venezuelan people that with the opening of the petroleum industry to foreign companies, during the 1990’s, "a true assault was carried out against Venezuelan petroleum."
Ramírez explained that over the course of the past decade and a half, foreign (...)

Venezuela Could Cut Diplomatic Ties if US Violates Extradition Treaty

by Sarah Wagner

Venezuela Could Cut Diplomatic Ties if US Violates Extradition Treaty

Caracas (Venezuela) | 24 May 2005
If Washington refuses to extradite Cuban terrorist Luis Posada Carriles Venezuela could severe diplomatic ties between the two nations, said Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez yesterday. “We can’t rush things, but if the United States does not extradite [Posada] we will be forced to reconsider our diplomatic ties,” affirmed Chávez during his weekly Sunday television address Aló Presidente.
Last week Caracas invoked a 1922 US-Venezuela extradition treaty to request that the US deport Posada-who (...)

Venezuela Denounces US Hypocrisy in Cuban Terrorist Case

by Sarah Wagner

Venezuela Denounces US Hypocrisy in Cuban Terrorist Case

Caracas (Venezuela) | 24 May 2005
On May 19th Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez denounced the Bush Administration’s decision to try Cuban terrorist Luis Posada Carriles for violating US immigration laws instead of recognizing him as a "self-confessed terrorist" and complying with Venezuela’s extradition request. According to Chávez, the US government will have to answer to the international community.
"Now [the Bush administration] is saying cynically and hypocritically that they are going to try Posada for having illegally (...)

Venezuela’s Black List Will Be Taken To Court

by Sarah Wagner

Venezuela's Black List Will Be Taken To Court

Caracas (Venezuela) | 20 May 2005
Luis Tascon
Venezuela’s Supreme Court of Justice (TJS) decided that it will take action in the case of National Assembly Deputy Luis Tascón, based on the charge that the "Tascón List" contained "information [that] violated the right to honor and to reputation." Tascón has ten days to present his case and defend his actions.
The "Tascón List" is a list of almost three million Venezuelans who signed a petition in support of the recall referendum in August, 2004 against Venezuelan President (...)

US Arrests Cuban Terrorist; Venezuela Promises not to Send him to Cuba if Extradited

by Sarah Wagner

US Arrests Cuban Terrorist; Venezuela Promises not to Send him to Cuba if Extradited

Caracas (Venezuela) | 19 May 2005
Cuban terrorist Luis Posada Carriles was arrested yesterday by US immigration officials shortly after giving a press conference in which he announced that he was withdrawing his request for political asylum. According to Homeland Security officials, Posada was taken into custody by federal immigration officials and flown to an undisclosed location.
Venezuela issued an extradition request to the US government in early May in order to retry Posada in a Venezuelan court for his role in (...)

Venezuelan Authorities Honor Colombian Extradition Request

by Sarah Wagner

Venezuelan Authorities Honor Colombian Extradition Request

Caracas (Venezuela) | 18 May 2005
The Venezuelan Ministry of Interior and Justice and Venezuela’s investigative police, DISIP, handed over José Martínez Vegas, alias "El Chiguiro," to Colombian officials. Martínez, one of the leaders of the 16th Front of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), was apprehended on February 18th, 2005 in the South-Eastern state of Bolívar in Venezuela.
The FARC member is suspected of orchestrating and participating in the kidnapping of Maura Villareal, the mother of Detroit Tigers (...)

Chavez Promises New Venezuelan Education Model to Combat Imperialist Values

by Sarah Wagner

Chavez Promises New Venezuelan Education Model to Combat Imperialist Values

Caracas (Venezuela) | 18 May 2005
During his weekly television program, Aló Presidente, Venezuela’s President Hugo Chávez announced yesterday the initiation of a new stage in Venezuelan education, based on “coexisting, knowing, and doing” and called upon the Venezuelan youth to reject "imperialistic anti-values" cultivated during previous governments and to "rescue the authentic Christian values, lost by the capitalist model."
Chávez affirmed that his government considers education to be a "vital aspect" of the Bolivarian (...)

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