InfoAnda - Analysis: Allies to lose socialist patron if Venezuela's Chavez goes |

Pakistanis angry over detentions in Times Sq. case
Monday, May 24, 2010
ISLAMABAD – Relatives of three men detained by Pakistan for alleged links to the suspect in the attempted Times Square bombing say the men are innocent.
They

Taiwan denies boycotting Australian film festival
Thursday, August 6, 2009

AFP - Thursday, August 6TAIPEI (AFP) - - Taiwan's Beijing-friendly government on Wednesday denied boycotting an Australian film festival amid a row over the e

Merkel's support dips, regional ally resigns International
Thursday, September 3, 2009

By Sarah Marsh and Noah Barkin

BERLIN (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel suffered a double blow on Thursday as a senior party ally in east German

Minister seeks closure of anti-Berlusconi websites
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
ROME (AFP) - – The Italian government moved Tuesday to close down Internet sites encouraging further violence against Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who

Asian markets mixed after Wall Street rally
Wednesday, March 18, 2009

By ELAINE KURTENBACH,AP Business Writer AP - Wednesday, March 18SHANGHAI - Asia's stock market rally seemed to be running out of steam Wednesday, despite an

Venezuela rethinks cheap gasoline | 18 March 2009
Nepal bans tobacco use in all public places | 8 August 2011
Al Gore Calls For 'Bold Action' Ahead Of Copenhagen Climate Change Conference | 29 January 2009

Hollywood eyes records as blockbuster season begins | 1 May 2009

Forum Views () Forum Replies ()

Read more with google mobile : Analysis: Allies to lose socialist patron if Venezuela's Chavez goes |

Edition: U.S. Arabic Argentina Brazil Canada China France Germany India Italy Japan Latin America Mexico Russia Spain United Kingdom Home Business Business Home Economy Technology Media Small Business Legal Deals Earnings Social Pulse Business Video The Freeland File Aerospace & Defense Investing Simplified Markets Markets Home U.S. Markets European Markets Asian Markets Global Market Data Indices M&A Stocks Bonds Currencies Commodities Futures Funds peHUB Dividends World World Home U.S. Brazil China Euro Zone Japan Africa Mexico Russia India Insight World Video Reuters Investigates Decoder Politics Politics Home Supreme Court Politics Video Tech Technology Home MediaFile Science Tech Video Tech Tonic Social Pulse Opinion Opinion Home Chrystia Freeland John Lloyd Felix Salmon Jack Shafer David Rohde Nader Mousavizadeh Lucy P. Marcus Nicholas Wapshott Bethany McLean Anatole Kaletsky Zachary Karabell Edward Hadas Hugo Dixon Ian Bremmer Lawrence Summers Susan Glasser The Great Debate Reihan Salam Frederick Kempe Mark Leonard Steven Brill Breakingviews Equities Credit Private Equity M&A Macro & Markets Politics Breakingviews Video Money Money Home Tax Break Lipper Awards 2012 Global Investing MuniLand Unstructured Finance Linda Stern Mark Miller John Wasik James Saft Analyst Research Alerts Watchlist Portfolio Stock Screener Fund Screener Personal Finance Video Money Clip Investing 201 Life Health Sports Arts Faithworld Business Traveler Entertainment Oddly Enough Lifestyle Video Pictures Pictures Home Reuters Photographers Full Focus Video Reuters TV Reuters News Article Comments (0) Full Focus Editor's Choice Our best photos from the last 24 hours. Slideshow Best photos of the year 2012 Download our Wider Image iPad app Follow Reuters Facebook Twitter RSS YouTube Read Analysis: Boehner has few options in fiscal cliff mess 20 Dec 2012 First major storm of winter pelts Midwest 20 Dec 2012 Boehner abandons fiscal cliff plan as Republicans balk | 20 Dec 2012 Stock futures drop after Boehner "cliff" vote falls short | 12:23am EST NASA posts YouTube video debunking Maya 'Armageddon' 20 Dec 2012 Discussed 123 Republicans put squeeze on Obama in ”fiscal cliff” talks 111 Connecticut gun rampage: 28 dead, including 20 schoolchildren 84 U.S. ”fiscal cliff” talks turn sour, Obama threatens veto Pictures Reuters Photojournalism Our day's top images, in-depth photo essays and offbeat slices of life. See the best of Reuters photography. See more | Photo caption Prepping for the apocalypse "Preppers" work to be self-sufficient for threats like nuclear war, natural disaster, famine and economic collapse. Slideshow Miss Universe pageant Highlights from the Miss Universe pageant in Las Vegas. Slideshow Sponsored Links Analysis: Allies to lose socialist patron if Venezuela's Chavez goes Tweet Share this Email Print Related News Venezuelan official suggests Chavez's inauguration could be delayed Wed, Dec 19 2012 Chavez "stable" after respiratory infection Tue, Dec 18 2012 UPDATE 3-Venezuela's Chavez 'stable' after respiratory infection Tue, Dec 18 2012 "Chavez is life!" - adulation in overdrive on Venezuelan media Tue, Dec 18 2012 UPDATE 2-Venezuela vote triumph a "present" for sick Chavez Mon, Dec 17 2012 Analysis & Opinion Why Chavez keeps his cancer under wraps What to watch in 2013 world news Related Topics World » A supporter of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez holds a picture of him, as she attends a ceremony to pray for his health in Caracas December 20, 2012. Credit: Reuters/Carlos Garcia Rawlins By Andrew Cawthorne CARACAS | Fri Dec 21, 2012 1:05am EST CARACAS (Reuters) - Murals adorning a Caracas slum that has given militant backing to President Hugo Chavez over the years are a virtual pantheon of international radicals. From Colombia's FARC guerrillas to the Palestine Liberation Organization and Ernesto "Che" Guevara, the images and slogans on teeming slopes above Chavez's presidential palace hail socialist revolutionaries the world over. Beside them are tributes to Chavez himself - testimony to the Venezuelan leader's bid to place himself at the front of global "anti-imperialism" in his ever-controversial 14-year rule. Now, though, as Chavez battles cancer in a Cuban hospital, his role as garrulous international activist and rich godfather to fellow leftists around Latin America is under threat. "All Venezuelan revolutionaries, and all people of good faith around the world, are praying for his recovery," said Greivis Garcia, a 26-year-old mechanic at a vigil for Chavez in the January 23 slum full of revolutionary images. "We need him so much. And so does the world. But whatever happens, Chavez will live forever, damn it!" GLOBAL 'PROVOCATEUR' Should he die or be forced to stand down, faraway friends from Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Belarus's President Alexander Lukashenko and Syria's President Bashar al-Assad would lose a loud and highly visible supporter. Chavez has provided some concrete help to such allies - skirting Western sanctions to send a few controversial fuel shipments to Tehran and Damascus, and doling out home-building contracts to Chinese and Belarussian companies. Yet his international role has been mainly symbolic. From visiting Iraq's Saddam Hussein in 2000 to cheering Libya's Muammar Gaddafi during his final days in 2011; from calling former U.S. leader George W. Bush "the devil" to hailing the veteran Marxist militant known as Carlos the Jackal, Chavez has never lost an opportunity to goad and shock the West, and the United States in particular. "Venezuela used to be known only for two things: oil and beautiful women. Now, it is famous the world over for just one: Chavez," said a senior Western diplomat in Caracas. "He has deliberately courted controversy from day one. It is hard to imagine that booming voice falling silent." Chavez has influenced some election campaigns around Latin America in recent years by showing support for leftist candidates and making clear that their victory could bring economic support from his government Unlike former Cuban leader Fidel Castro during the Cold War, however, Chavez has not committed troops to foreign wars or helped train Marxist guerrillas to fight right-wing governments in their home countries. He does not have a nuclear weapons program and he has continued to sell oil to the United States even when fiercely criticizing its policies. In geopolitical terms, he is much more a man of rhetoric than of action. The quietening of Chavez's voice might be a relief to Washington and local foes who see him as an embarrassing friend of dictators. But to many, especially round the Third World, he is admired - a bit like Castro - for standing up to U.S. power and daring to say what plenty of others thought. Chavez is due to start a new, six-year term on January 10, but he is still fighting to recover from his fourth cancer operation in just 18 months. He has named a preferred successor, Vice President and Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro, to be the ruling party's candidate in an election should Chavez be forced out. There is little sign that Maduro - a former bus driver, union activist and committed socialist who has faithfully echoed his boss's views around the globe for the last six years - would change Venezuela's foreign policies. Yet without the flamboyant personality of Chavez promoting these policies, the impact would be diminished. Under the many speculative scenarios - from death to a full recovery - one would be that Chavez takes a Castro-like role, leaving day-to-day affairs to Maduro but opining from behind the scenes as an elder statesman. AID FOR ALLIES In his Latin American backyard, where Chavez has led a resurgence of the left since his own rise to power in 1999, there is far more at stake from a possible end to his rule. Around the region, smaller nations whose governments are politically allied with Chavez - from Cuba and the Dominican Republic to Nicaragua, Bolivia and Ecuador - have come to rely on Venezuela's subsidized oil supplies and other economic aid. Communist-run Cuba, whose economy was tied to the Soviet Union for decades and then, when that nation collapsed, was perilously adrift in the 1990s before Chavez came to power, is particularly dependant. It receives more than 100,000 barrels per day of crude from Venezuela on preferential terms, covering 60 percent of its energy needs. Last year, Venezuela accounted for $8.3 billion of its $20 billion foreign trade - most of that as payment for more than 40,000 medical staff and other Cuban workers in Venezuela. While a post-Chavez government led by an acolyte such as Maduro would be unlikely to end such generosity, it might be tempted to roll it back at the edges given that many Venezuelans are not over-enthusiastic at the international solidarity. Opposition politicians play on that, saying Chavez has scandalously neglected local needs with politically motivated foreign patronage. During the recent presidential election, they showed pictures of a gleaming Venezuelan-sponsored hospital in the Dominican Republic next to a rundown medical ward at home. So there is little doubt that should the opposition win a new vote triggered by Chavez's departure, the aid would dry up. "We cannot afford these giveaways while Venezuelans still have so many problems," opposition leader Henrique Capriles has said. Though Chavez is the undisputed head of the ALBA bloc of leftist-led nations in the Caribbean and Latin America, his leadership role has arguably waned given the general preference for Brazil's "soft left" model over his more radical brand. "His regional and international influence shrank as the Venezuelan economy deteriorated and his seemingly endless energy and vitriol began to fade with his illness," said Peter Hakim, president emeritus of U.S.-based Inter-American Dialogue. "Chavez's death will not change the broad dynamics of regional affairs, but some things will change. Brazil's predominant role in South America will be reinforced. It will have less reason to compromise with Venezuela or its allies on the continent — and it may even feel freer to criticize Venezuela, whoever ends up in charge." Speculation is rife over who would inherit Chavez's mantle as the new firebrand on the block. Ecuador's President Rafael Correa seems to be the favorite - but insisted it would be teamwork. "There are lots of extraordinary leaders in the region," he said. "But careful, let's not kid ourselves. The historic changes in our nations are not because of Rafael Correa, (Argentina's) Cristina Fernandez, (Bolivia's) Evo Morales or Chavez. It's because our people said 'That's enough!'" To follow us on Twitter: @ReutersVzla (Additional reporting by Marc Frank in Havana, Alexandra Valencia in Quito, Deborah Charles in Washingon; Editing by Daniel Wallis and Kieran Murray) World Tweet this Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints We welcome comments that advance the story through relevant opinion, anecdotes, links and data. If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate, you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links. Views expressed in the comments do not represent those of Reuters. For more information on our comment policy, see http://blogs.reuters.com/fulldisclosure/2010/09/27/toward-a-more-thoughtful-conversation-on-stories/ Comments (0) Be the first to comment on reuters.com. Add yours using the box above. Edition: U.S. Arabic Argentina Brazil Canada China France Germany India Italy Japan Latin America Mexico Russia Spain United Kingdom Back to top Reuters.com Business Markets World Politics Technology Opinion Money Pictures Videos Site Index Legal Bankruptcy Law California Legal New York Legal Securities Law Support & Contact Support Corrections Connect with Reuters Twitter Facebook LinkedIn RSS Podcast Newsletters Mobile About Privacy Policy Terms of Use AdChoices Copyright Our Flagship financial information platform incorporating Reuters Insider An ultra-low latency infrastructure for electronic trading and data distribution A connected approach to governance, risk and compliance Our next generation legal research platform Our global tax workstation Thomsonreuters.com About Thomson Reuters Investor Relations Careers Contact Us Thomson Reuters is the world's largest international multimedia news agency, providing investing news, world news, business news, technology news, headline news, small business news, news alerts, personal finance, stock market, and mutual funds information available on Reuters.com, video, mobile, and interactive television platforms. Thomson Reuters journalists are subject to an Editorial Handbook which requires fair presentation and disclosure of relevant interests. NYSE and AMEX quotes delayed by at least 20 minutes. Nasdaq delayed by at least 15 minutes. For a complete list of exchanges and delays, please click here.

Other News on Friday, 21 December 2012
WikiLeaks' Assange says door open to end London stand-off |
South Africa's Mandela has steadily improved: Zuma |
South Africa's Zuma pledges ANC renewal to dispel doubts |
U.N. authorizes African force to take on al Qaeda in Mali |
Kenya approves new, more independent, head of police |
French national kidnapped in northern Nigeria |
U.S. government report faults Bahrain 2011 labor crackdown |
Deutsche Telekom finance chief to replace CEO Obermann |
Vatican takes first spot in Internet domain name draw |
Vatican says pope beats Justin Bieber on re-tweets |
Telenor warns Europe falling behind U.S. in telecoms |
Syrian rebels fight for strategic town in Hama province |
Analysis: Japan's new cabinet likely to be long on loyalty, short on reform |
Analysis: Allies to lose socialist patron if Venezuela's Chavez goes |
Jailed Briton seeks to overturn Florida murder conviction |
Mexican President Pena Nieto picks central bank deputy governor |
Israel complains to U.N. about rearming by Hezbollah |
Mandela has steadily improved: Zuma |
Panasonic to appeal EU ruling on cathode-ray tube cartel |
Apple presses case for Samsung sales ban in appeals filing |
Instagram retreats on some service terms after backlash |
Red Hat revenue beats estimates on subscription gains |
Mobile game companies race to make it to the holiday app charts |
RIM shares slump as service revenue, subscriber concerns weigh |
Facebook tests charging users to send certain messages |
It's a Wonderful Life is top Christmas film with critics |
Comedienne Rebel Wilson to host MTV Movie Awards |
Judd Apatow makes it a family affair in 'This is 40' |
Hundreds pay tribute to legendary Indian sitarist Ravi Shankar |
Clashes as Egyptian Islamists stage rally |
Italy Prime Minister Monti resignation expected on Friday |
Russian lawmakers back adoption ban in row with U.S. |
Public fury over New Delhi gang-rape sparks protest across India |
Sunni protests flare after Iraqi minister's staff held |
Raiders armed with machetes burn Kenya village, kill 30 |
Sarkozy under fire over 2012 campaign spending |
EU, Russia condemn Israeli settlement expansion plans |
South Africa's soothing Ramaphosa leads ANC charm offensive |
RIM shares fall at the open after earnings |
Nokia patent deal with RIM to lift finances |
Google executives acquitted in Milan autism video case |
RIM's new services model to pressure margins: analysts |
BT ordered to repay overcharged comms providers |
Cogeco to buy Peer 1 for C$526 million to boost data hosting |
Hutchison's Orange Austria buy clears last hurdle |
Moroccan road film subverts Hollywood stereotypes |
It's a Wonderful Life is top Christmas film with critics |
Soap operas give Brazil the edge in Mozambique rush |
Greece at new risk of being pushed off euro
Bodies of missing Tenn. mom, Jo Ann Bain, and daughter found
Female Breasts Are Bigger Than Ever
AMD Trinity Accelerated Processing Units Now in Volume Production
The Avengers (2012 film), made the second biggest opening- and single-day gross of all-time
AMD to Start Production of piledriver
Ivy Bridge Quad-Core, Four-Thread Desktop CPUs
Islamists Protest Lady Gaga's Concert in Indonesia
Japan Successfully Broadcasts an 8K Signal Over the Air
ECB boosts loans to 1 trillion Euro to stop credit crunch
Egypt : Mohammed Morsi won with 52 percent
What do you call 100,000 Frenchmen with their hands up
AMD Launches AMD Embedded R-Series APU Platform
Fed Should not Ignore Emerging Market Crisis
Fed casts shadow over India, emerging markets
Why are Chinese tourists so rude? A few insights

USD EUR - 1 year graph		BlogMeter 1.01