Hugo Chavez (left) will face Henrique Capriles (right) in the October presidential election. 

The Colombian newsmagazine Semana recently published a cover story entitled "Chavez's challenger" saying that the defeat of Hugo Chavez in the upcoming presidential election is likely. 

In a lenghty article about opposition presidential candidate Henrique Capriles Radonski, the magazine stated that the confidence of Venezuela's opposition "has skyrocketed, and national and international analysts agree that President Hugo Chávez can be turned out of office through elections." The notion of a Chavez defeat, "which was deemed unthinkable until some time ago, is not at all absurd," the article added.

The article went on to say that "nobody foresaw the significance of Capriles' victory" in the recent primary elections.

The magazine noted that "Capriles was the least anti-Chávez candidate. From the ideological point of view, his profile has been apparently based on his political convenience," the weekly magazine noted.

Venezuela's opposition on Sunday elected Henrique Capriles Randoski as their presidential candidate. Capriles, who won 1,806,860 out of the 2,904,710 ballots counted, will face President Hugo Chávez in the presidential elections to be held on October 7. 

The three opposition primary candidates Enrique Caprilees (left), Maria Corina Machado (center) and Pablo Perez (right).

CARACAS - Turnout for Sunday's opposition primary election could be severely depressed due to threats against state employees that choose to cast a ballot, according to Teresa Albanes, president of the Electoral Committee of the Unified Democratic Panel, known by its Spanish acronym MUD.

On Wednesday, Albanes told Efe news agency that many threats against public servants that intended to vote had been widely reported. "If you plan to vote, you will be dumped, things like that," she explained. Albanes gave no details about the identity of the senders or recipients of the messages, for their personal security.

All Venezuelans have been encouraged by the MUD to show up on Sunday to vote in the opposition primaries to select the challenger to President Hugo Chávez, said Albanes, though many may fear repercussions. The presidential election between Sunday's winner and incumbent president Hugo Chavez is scheduled to take place on October 7th.

Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez (left) and opposition candidate Pablo Medina (right).

CARACAS - Venezuelan opposition candidate Pablo Medina delivered an affidavit to the Organization of American States (OAS) on Monday warning of the possibility that Hugo Chavez may execute what is known in Latin America as a "self-coup." A self-coup is when the sitting president dissolves the current congress and usually the supreme court, suspends elections, and basically declares an emergency situation in order to avoid being voted out of office. 

 
Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez's health condition may be far more grave than his government is reporting.

CARACAS - Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez has between nine and twelve months to live if he continues to refuse the necessary treatment for his cancer, according to a confidential medical report obtained by Spain's ABC news agency.   

The confidential report states that Chavez has so far refused to accept more intense cancer treatment, because it would force him to temporarily leave his presidential duties, according to the latest medical examination by specialists who are treating him.

From the medical tests that were administered December 30th, doctors concluded that "his health seems to be deteriorating at a faster pace, clearly there has been metastases into the bones and spinal cord."

Venezuelan operative Livia Acosta gives a solidarity fist pump to the Bolivarian Revolution.

CARACAS - The Miami consulate that serves as a governmental affairs liaison to thousands of Venezuelan expats living in the Southern United States will be shut down, according to Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez in an announcement on Friday. After Venezuelan diplomat Livia Acosta was recently expelled after a Univsion documentary played a recording of her conspiring with susected terrorists and radicals from Iran, Cuba and Mexico, that were allegedly plotting cyberattacks on U.S. installations, Chavez announced that he would not expel a U.S. diplomat in return, but would shut down the consulate "while we assess the situation."

A subsequent report revealed documentation that showed that Acosta was also a member of Chavez's secret police, and that her rise to a diplomatic post came in just eight years after starting out as a leader of Chavez's violent and illegal Bolivarian Circles, then subsequently receiving intelligence training in Cuba, before moving up the ranks to become a diplomat in the United States. 

Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez said he will not go away as soon as many imagine, but will stay until 2041.

"The bourgeoisie said:" Chavez is ready, he must be removed.' Now, more than ever, they're not going to get rid of me. Now I will not leave in 2021, but 10 years more until 2031, and if they continue with their plans, I'll stay until 2041," Chavez warned.

"They should leave me alone, they keep trying to get to me. I don't mess with anyone. What I do is work, work, work," he said.

Chavez also stated that the Venezuelan opposition thought he "was gone, finished". But, he said, "Here I am, recovered, ready to resume the gallop." Chavez has claimed that his cancer has been cured.

CARACAS - Latin America analysts are speculating that Hugo Chavez may be seeing a bit of unrest in the Venezuelan military, after he announced a 50% increase in their salaries today. 

During a meeting between Chavez and National Armed Forces today, Chavez said that the military "deserves" the pay increase. "You deserve it for all the work that you do, that is so hard to do," he added.

Chavez also said that the increase would be retroactive from September 1. "We have to pay September, October, and then comes the impact on bonuses and all that," he added, and also called for the elimination of downpayments when military families buy homes and cars.

(Reported by Bloomberg)

CARACAS - Venezuela’s electoral council will meet Sept. 13 to decide the date for next year’s presidential election, said Vicente Diaz, a council rector.

Diaz, one of five members of the committee, denied speculation that the council will set a date in March on the orders of President Hugo Chavez. March would be too early, given that the opposition plans to hold primaries on Feb. 12, Diaz said in a phone interview.

“We’re going to discuss it and I hope that on Tuesday we’ll be able to announce it,” he said. “It wouldn’t make sense to have primary elections on Feb. 12, to then have presidential elections a month afterwards.”

Nelson Bocaranda, a columnist for the Caracas daily El Universal, wrote on his Twitter account today that an order had been sent from the presidential palace, Miraflores, to hold the elections in March.

Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez holds a copy of the state-run English language newspaper.

CARACAS - Eva Golinger, the Venezuelan-American who serves as a prominent spokesperson for Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, has confirmed what human rights advocates and critics of the Venezuelan regime warned against late last year when Chavez passed a series of “organic laws” just before opposition lawmakers took their posts in the National Assembly.