News

This Monday the Metropolitan Police of Caracas (PM) discovered and dismantled a secret bullet factory in an important step in the struggle against organized crime, according to the Minister for the Interior, Tarek El Aissami.

Venezuelan police officer Sofia Aguilar denounced the Vatican Tuesday for granting asylum to Nixon Moreno, the leader of a violent opposition student group called March 13th Movement (M13) that waged violent protests in 2006, during which Aguilar was assaulted and nearly raped, and Aguilar's police partner was left in a coma.

Investigators of the murder of Julio Soto, the student government president at the University of Zulia, have uncovered evidence linking the crime to Soto's illicit selling of government-subsidized student bus tickets and his affiliations with competing political parties within the Venezuelan opposition.

Ali Rodriguez, Venezuela's minister for economy and finances, announced the need for a tight 2009 budget on Sunday, but assured that Venezuela's international reserves are safe and the economy remains unaffected by the global financial crisis.

Nearly 5,000 former Coca-Cola workers in Venezuela have blockaded 23 bottling facilities since last Tuesday to demand compensation for having been laid off when the Mexican firm FEMSA took over the Venezuelan operations from Panamco in 2003.

During talks between French and Venezuelan government officials on Thursday in Paris, during which the two countries reached ten bilateral cooperation agreements, France asked Venezuela to facilitate dialogue between the European Union and Iran.

On Thursday, the Venezuelan government launched an investigation into the murder of Julio Soto, the president of the student government at the University of Zulia, and asked that the crime not be used as a pretext for violent destabilization as the November regional and local elections approach.

The presidents of Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, and Brazil met in Manaus, Brazil, on Tuesday to advance the economic and political integration of the South American continent. They discussed plans for expanded infrastructure, the formation of new banks among nations in the Global South, and the impact of the world financial crisis on their countries.

In a phone call, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez congratulated Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa for the ratification of a new national constitution by 63.9% of voters in a nation-wide referendum Sunday.

At the main national launch of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela's (PSUV) electoral campaign on Sunday Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez declared that it would be possible to win all the governor positions but warned against complacency and betrayal and also looked at the tasks of the revolution beyond the elections.