Héctor Timerman, the foreign minister, sent a cable to ambassadors explaining details of the vote, which he has branded illegal, and outlined instructions for responding to a probable adverse result for Argentina.

Around 1,800 eligible islanders are expected to choose overwhelmingly to remain an overseas British territory. In a 1986 referendum, 96 per cent of islanders voted for British sovereignty.

The cable, seen by La Nación newspaper, reveals the foreign ministry in Buenos Aires fears the referendum will divide the United Nations’ ‘decolonisation committee’ where President Cristina Kirchner presented the Argentine claim last year.

It accuses Britain of trying to force Argentina into a “role of rejecting the wishes and desires of a people” and warns that the UK wants to “resolve the sovereignty dispute once and for all.”

Ambassadors are urged to take steps personally before parliaments, foreign ministries and NGOs to reiterate the “illegitimate nature” of the referendum.

The Kirchner administration considers the ... Read More

aIn recent years, Brazil has been lauded as an emerging economy success story. Leading the BRICS countries with an average real GDP growth rate of over 4 percent from 2004 to 2010 and whopping 7.5 percent GDP growth in 2010 despite the global downturn, Brazil has attracted investment and attention as the poster child for high-growth emerging economies. Add in unemployment below 5 percent, rising wages, and an expanding middle class and Brazil looked like it was poised for long-term economic growth and prosperity.

But according to the recently released government numbers, GDP in 2012 was down to .9 percent, the lowest among the BRICS, and inflation of 6 percent neared the top of the Central Bank’s targets for the third year in a row. Brazil’s nascent consumer class had been supporting growth here for the last several years, aided by record low interest rates and the expansion of consumer credit. ... Read More

BY ÁNGEL GONZÁLEZ

Venezuela’s battered oil industry bore the burden of Hugo Chávez’s socialist dream. Now the charismatic leader’s death gives his successors the opportunity to unlock its potential, but few in the oil industry expect an immediate renaissance.

Under Mr. Chávez’s rule, a huge oil-sector strike, the firing of thousands of top engineers, poor maintenance, frequent refinery accidents and the diversion of oil revenue into social programs and subsidies to foreign allies crippled Petróleos de Venezuela SA, the national oil company.

Despite arguably having the world’s largest oil reserves, Venezuela’s oil output fell by nearly a third to about 2.5 million barrels—about a quarter of Saudi Arabia’s output—a day since Mr. Chávez took over 14 years ago, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. PDVSA, as the oil company is known, maintains it produces closer to three million barrels a day.

A toughening stance on foreign companies through Chávez’s presidency also pushed Exxon ... Read More

Playing basketball with locals and shuttling between slums, Venezuela’s opposition leader, Henrique Capriles, exuded youth and energy in last year’s punishing presidential race.

Yet he ended up exhausted, quaffing Red Bull to keep going – and ultimately devastated at his loss to Hugo Chavez.

Now Capriles, 40, has to do it all again.

The governor of Miranda state, a centrist who sees Brazil’s mix of economic and social policies as the model to follow, is the overwhelming favorite to represent the opposition Democratic Unity coalition in an election following Chavez’s death from cancer.

He will face Chavez’s preferred successor, Nicolas Maduro.

If beating Chavez – whose legendary charisma, connection with the poor and oil-financed state resources made him near-invincible – was a Herculean challenge, defeating his anointed heir in a highly emotional atmosphere may be just as hard.

Some are even comparing Chavez’s death with the passing of Eva Peron, Argentina’s adored first lady whose 1952 ... Read More

Even in death, Hugo Chavez’s orders are being followed. The man he anointed to succeed him, Vice President Nicolas Maduro, will continue to run Venezuela as interim president and be the governing socialists’ candidate in an election to be called within 30 days.

Foreign Minister Elias Jaua confirmed those plans Tuesday, just hours after Maduro, tears running down his face, announced the death of Chavez, the larger-than-life former paratroop officer who had presided over Venezuela as virtually a one-man show for more than 14 years.

It was not immediately clear when the presidential vote would be held.

Considerable funeral pageantry was expected to honor Chavez, the political impresario widely adored among Venezuela’s poor for putting the oil-rich state in their service.

Seven days of mourning were declared, all school was suspended for the week and friendly heads of state were expected in this economically challenged and violence-afflicted nation for an elaborate funeral Friday. No ... Read More

BY JORDAN FABIAN

The death of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez removes one of the United States’ foremost geopolitical foes from Latin America, sparking hope among U.S. officials that the ensuing changes could lead to improved relations in the region. But it won’t be easy.

The United States and Venezuela have shared a rancorous relationship since Chávez was first elected in 1998. Chávez angered multiple U.S. presidents by establishing ties to regimes in countries like Cuba and Iran that are hostile to the United States, and for fomenting anti-U.S. sentiment in other nations in the Western Hemisphere. And the Chávez regime repeatedly accused the U.S. of plotting to overthrow his rulership, fueling distrust between the two countries.

See Also: 10 Outrageous Quotes by Hugo Chavez

Relations have become so frayed that the U.S. and Venezuela have not exchanged ambassadors since 2010.

Those tensions were evident even on Tuesday, the final day of Chávez’s life. Venezuela expelled ... Read More

By Howard LaFranchi

The elaborate public funeral Venezuela will hold for President Hugo Chávez Friday will take place with already troubled US-Venezuela relations at a new low point.

The sour relations have US officials downbeat about prospects for a turnaround between the two countries anytime soon. Beyond that, the onset of a turbulent presidential election campaign that is likely to feature the US as an enemy of the deceased leader’s vision for Latin America will also feed Latin America’s deep divides, analysts say – and could complicate prospects for US relations with the region.

Political heirs of the fiery and anti-US leader made it clear in the hours following the announcement Tuesday of his passing that the forces of “chavismo,” Mr. Chávez’s brand of populist socialism, intend to stoke the flames of anti-American sentiment as a means of rallying Venezuelans left distraught and confused by the president’s demise.

Chávez’s hand-picked heir apparent, Vice President ... Read More

Hugo Chávez’s passing offers new promise for developing the world’s largest oil reserves, but most analysts expect that change will come slowly, if at all.

Production at the state-owned oil company Petróleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA) dropped by a quarter under Mr. Chávez, and some speculate the Venezuelan leader’s passing will usher in an era of stability for the country’s national oil company.

“The oil industry has been waiting patiently for Chavez to die with the hope that whoever came next would be more interested in building value rather than destroying it,” notes Forbes.

The potential value is enormous. Venezuela’s Orinoco Belt holds the world’s second largest reserve of tar sands (also known as oil sands) after Canada. Adding in its conventional oil, Venezuela has 296.5 billion barrels of oil reserves, the largest in the world, according to BP’s 2012 Statistical Review of World Energy. No. 2 Saudi Arabia has 265.4 billion barrels ... Read More

Anticipating the death of Hugo Chavez, the Obama administration began reaching out months ago to his designated successor, Nicolas Maduro, in the hope of bettering U.S.-Venezuelan relations. On Tuesday, that strategy absorbed a body blow: Hours before revealing that Mr. Chavez had died of cancer, Mr. Maduro tried to blame the United States for his illness, and he expelled two U.S. military attaches on charges of “proposing destabilizing plans” to the armed forces.

So much for the “reset” with Caracas. The ludicrous and crude propaganda launched by Mr. Maduro was a sign that Mr. Chavez’s successors will be more thuggish and less politically adept than he was — and, if anything, more inclined to scapegoat the United States and Venezuela’s democratic opposition for the horrendous problems the caudillo leaves behind.

Those troubles, it should be clear, are staggering, even more so when it is considered that Venezuela, a country of less than 30 ... Read More

BY EZEQUIEL MINAYA & DAVID LUHNOW

CARACAS—Shortly before announcing that Hugo Chávez died, Venezuela’s government resorted to one of the late president’s favorite ploys to try to unite his supporters: allege a conspiracy by the U.S. to destabilize the country.

Vice President Nicolás Maduro kicked out two U.S. military attachés for allegedly plotting against Venezuela and even suggested that Washington may have been behind Mr. Chávez’s cancer.

“Behind all of [the plots] are the enemies of the fatherland,” Mr. Maduro said on state television, flanked by the entire cabinet, state governors and Venezuela’s military commanders.

Mr. Maduro said that the U.S. Embassy’s Air Force attaché, Col. David Delmonaco, and another unnamed U.S. military official had approached members of the Venezuelan military and tried to recruit them into plans to “destabilize” the oil-rich South American nation. Mr. Maduro didn’t offer further details on the alleged plot.

Mr. Maduro also suggested that the country’s “historic enemies,” a ... Read More

The struggle for Venezuela’s future begins now — and the stakes couldn’t be higher. The Obama administration can either stand by and watch the country become a satellite of the Castro regime promoting instability and maintaining dangerous alliances with Iran and other U.S. enemies, or it can try to influence events in a positive direction, meaning a return to constitutionality and a reformed electoral system that allows the Venezuelan people to freely and fairly determine their future.

It will not be easy, given the amount of bad actors and levels of acrimony, polarization, and socioeconomic chaos that Hugo Chávez has left in his wake. Yet it presents an extraordinary opportunity to pull Venezuela back into the peaceful community of regional nations, after more than a decade of Chavez’s trouble-making that has set back regional prospects for stability and economic development.

What we know right now is that Chávez’s successors evidently have decided ... Read More

Por Roger F. Noriega

Durante dos largos años, el equipo medico cubano del líder venezolano, Hugo Chávez, ha perpetrado un engaño colosal al pueblo venezolano y al mundo sobre su batalla contra el cáncer terminal. Según fuentes bien informadas, los médicos cubanos cometieron errores en el tratamiento inicial que probaron ser fatales para Chávez, manipularon su ansiedad y paranoia para que el se conformara a un tratamiento medico deficiente en La Habana y le aconsejaron participar en la campaña electoral a pesar de las repercusiones para su salud.

Claramente, el régimen cubano sacrificó la vida de Chávez para asegurar su propia supervivencia – a sabiendas de que su débil economía depende de la generosidad venezolana. Por desgracia, la interferencia cubana en Venezuela aun no ha terminado – ahora enviarán a la Constitución de Venezuela al quirófano.

El articulo 233 de la Constitución dice, en parte: “Cuando se produzca la falta absoluta del Presidente ... Read More

SERGIO SARMIENTO

“Qué suerte para los gobernantes que los hombres no piensan”.

Adolf Hitler

Hugo Chávez murió ayer. Hasta un par de días antes los funcionarios del gobierno venezolano, y especialmente el vicepresidente Nicolás Maduro, descalificaban las especulaciones ante la evidente mala salud del Presidente. En un discurso Maduro acusó a los miembros de la oposición y a medios internacionales, como el periódico ABC de España y Cadena Caracol de Colombia, de promover una serie de “ataques y rumores acerca de la salud del presidente”. Afirmó que había “una campaña insana, inhumana, detestable de rumores y mentiras contra el presidente, que pone en peligro la estabilidad de Venezuela”.

El desenlace llegó pese a todo. Hugo Chávez falleció este 5 de marzo a los 58 años de edad. Su ausencia abre preguntas muy importantes acerca de su legado y otras más relevantes sobre el futuro de Venezuela.

Chávez protagonizó un intento de golpe de Estado en ... Read More

For two long years, Venezuelan leader Hugo Chávez’s Cuban medical team perpetrated a colossal deception of the Venezuelan people and the world about his bout with terminal cancer. According to knowledgeable sources, Cuban doctors botched the initial treatment that doomed Chavez, manipulated his anxiety and paranoia so he would settle for substandard medical care in Havana, and pushed him back on to the campaign trail despite the impact on his health.

Quite plainly, the Cuban regime traded Chávez’s life for its own survival – knowing that its bankrupt economy depends on Venezuelan generosity. Unfortunately, the Cubans are not done administering to Venezuela – putting that country’s constitution under the knife.

Article 233 of that charter says, in part, “When an elected president becomes permanently unavailable to serve prior to his inauguration, a new election by universal suffrage and direct ballot shall be held within 30 consecutive days. Pending election and inauguration of the new ... Read More

Con la noticia del fallecimiento de Hugo Chávez se abren un sinnúmero de incógnitas sobre lo que se avecina para el pueblo venezolano y para las ya de por si fracturadas instituciones con las que cuenta.

Después de que el gobierno le ocultara al pueblo venezolano el verdadero estado de salud de Chávez por casi dos años, la verdad por fin sale a la luz: El cáncer venció a Chávez y tanto los cubanos como el círculo chavista no pudieron ocultarlo.

Antes del anuncio de la muerte, el vicepresidente Nicolás Maduro se aventuró a decir que el cáncer de Chávez fue “inoculado” y que el presidente fue “atacado” por “enemigos venezolanos.” Con esta medida busca distraer la atención del pueblo y culpar a los supuestos enemigos de Venezuela.

La sucesión por el poder y la pugna que se dará dentro del círculo chavista podría traer consecuencias aun más graves para los venezolanos. Es bien sabido que ... Read More

ANDRES OPPENHEIMER

La muerte del presidente venezolano, Hugo Chávez, marcará probablemente el principio del fin de la influencia política de Venezuela en América Latina, pero es probable que su influencia dentro de Venezuela se mantenga durante décadas.

Contrariamente a la suposición generalizada en los medios de prensa internacionales de que Chávez fue el heredero político del otrora líder guerrillero de Cuba, Fidel Castro, es muy posible que el difunto presidente venezolano pase a la historia como un fenómeno político más cercano al del hombre fuerte argentino Juan D. Perón.

Lo mismo que Perón, Chávez fue un oficial de las fuerzas armadas y un maquinador de golpes de estado que coqueteó primero con el fascismo, luego se inclinó a la izquierda, y una vez en el poder dio millones a los pobres gracias a un boom mundial de los precios de las materias primas, lo cual lo distinguió de presidentes venezolanos anteriores que solamente ... Read More

When Hugo Chávez was elected President of Venezuela in December 1998, the country had endured nearly two decades of political and economic turmoil, including violent rioting, high inflation, huge foreign debts, a president impeached on corruption charges, and two failed 1992 coups—one of them led, and the other inspired, by a brash and ambitious army colonel named Hugo Chávez.

Yet when the Chávez era finally drew to a close Tuesday with his death from cancer at age 58, life for Venezuelans had only become worse. As life stories go, the lesson of Chávez’s is to beware charismatic demagogues peddling socialist policies at home and revolution abroad.

That’s a lesson one would have thought the world had learned by the time Chávez came to power. By 1998, the Soviet Union was a memory, Latin American countries from Mexico to Chile were successfully adopting free-market policies, and Chávez’s friend and role model—Cuba’s Fidel Castro—was ... Read More

Ángel Carromero, a leader of Spain’s ruling party, was visiting Cuba last July when a car he was driving crashed, killing Cuban dissidents Oswaldo Payá and Harold Cepero. Mr. Carromero was convicted of vehicular homicide; in December, he was released to Spain to serve out his term. This week he agreed to be interviewed by The Washington Post about the crash. Mr. Carromero, 27, holds a law degree and has taken a business course at Fordham University in New York.

What happened that day?

Oswaldo Payá asked me to take him to visit some friends, since he didn’t have the means to travel around the island. There were four of us in the car: Oswaldo and Harold Cepero in the back, [Jens] Aron Modig [of Sweden] in front, and me driving. They were following us from the beginning. In fact, as we left Havana, a tweet from someone close to the Cuban ... Read More

IN OCTOBER 2003, the Cuban dissident Oswaldo Payá wrote a letter from Havana to his mentor Vaclav Havel, the former Czech president and one-time dissident playwright who fought to throw off communist rule. At the time, Mr. Payá’s hopes for greater freedom in Cuba were being crushed by Fidel Castro in a wide-ranging crackdown. Dozens of his friends and colleagues were being thrown in prison. “I still live in an environment formed by the culture of fear that the communist regime generates throughout society,” Mr. Payá lamented in his letter.

Nearly nine years later — on July 22, 2012 — Mr. Payá, 60, was killed in a car accident in Cuba’s eastern Granma province near the town of Bayamo, along with another activist, Harold Cepero. Both were passengers in the back seat of a rented vehicle. Mr. Payá’s family has challenged the official version of the crash: The car was speeding ... Read More

By Moisés Naím

Even before his death, Hugo Chávez had joined Fidel Castro and Ernesto “Che” Guevara in the pantheon of Latin American leaders who enjoy instant global recognition. And, like Castro and Guevara, Chávez is more than controversial. He is the subject of deep admiration that easily morphs into passionate worship, and antagonism that often mutates into equally intense hatred. Chávez, 58, died Tuesday, after two years of cancer treatments, according to Venezuelan Vice President Nicolás Maduro.

Inevitably, his legacy will be as hard to assess objectively as that of all other deeply polarizing leaders—from Mao to Perón. Nonetheless, even if Chávez’s deeds will be the fodder of endless debate, there are some incontrovertible aspects of his legacy.

The Good Chávez’s most enduring and positive legacy is his shattering of Venezuela’s peaceful coexistence with poverty, inequality, and social exclusion. He was not the first political leader who placed the poor at the center ... Read More