Venezuela

LUIS HERRERA CAMPINS, 82 Former president of Venezuela Former Venezuela President Luis Herrera Campins, part of a generation of political leaders who helped end a decade of dictatorship and usher in democracy in 1950s Venezuela, died Friday. A lawyer and a journalist, Mr. Herrera was jailed for four months in 1952 for pro-democracy political activism during the dictatorship of Gen. Marcos Perez Jimenez, and then expelled from the country. He returned from exile in Spain after the dictatorship fell in 1958 and went on to serve as a lawmaker and as president from 1979 to 1984.

On Halloween, one of my two girls will be deported to Venezuela. The other will return from a three-week trek in the wilderness to her satisfying career as a social worker. Amy, born in Boston in 1980, grew up with two parents, graduated from a Montgomery County high school and a liberal arts college in New England, earned a master's in social work and climbs rocks with at-risk kids. Emily, also born in 1980, was kidnapped from her mother in Trinidad at age 8 and taken by her Nigerian father to the U.S., where he started a new family and then left the country; his whereabouts are unknown.

CARACAS, Venezuela -- Voters handed President Hugo Chavez the central weapon of his touted "peaceful revolution" yesterday, agreeing to call a national assembly to rewrite Venezuela's constitution."

ON A STREET corner in the sleepy provincial capital of Guanare, a man tries to explain Venezuela by using a fresh pastry. From the outside, "it looks big and filled with promise," he says, before biting off a corner. "But look inside. It's less than half-filled." He pokes at the creamy cheese filling. "We expect more."The man whom Venezuelans expect to supply the missing cheese and everything else a country could want is President Hugo Chavez. Since he took office after running as an independent in December's elections, Chavez has promised to break the stranglehold of Venezuela's corrupt two-party system.

CARACAS, Venezuela -- The Spaniards are back.Their return has been called "the reconquest." It is the latest stage in the remarkable evolution of the complex, intense and increasingly lucrative relationship between Spain and its former Latin American colonies.Here in Venezuela's capital, Juan Carlos Zorrilla, stocky and urbane in an impeccable suit, overlooks the city from his top-floor office at the Banco Provincial, the Venezuelan bank purchased for $480 million in 1997 by his company, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya of Madrid.

CARACAS, Venezuela -- On the television screen in Jorge Navarro Diaz's small restaurant, a member of Venezuela's shuttered Congress was complaining that President Hugo Chavez had breached the rule of law and was leading the country into a dictatorship. But Navarro wasn't buying that argument."What those politicians need to do is shut their mouths, get the hell out of the way and let the constitutional assembly do its work," he snapped. "For 40 years, all they have done is rip off this country, and now that we finally have somebody trying to put things right, they are trying to block what needs to be done just to save their own skins."

CARACAS, Venezuela -- The voting table judges break into big smiles as the world's most famous election observer marches up to shake their hands."Mr. Carter! What a great pleasure to meet you," says one young man, pumping former President Jimmy Carter's hand.Voters, particularly the older men and women who still recognize his well-creased face, smile, point and push forward scraps of paper for autographs. Carter tries not to look too eager to sign, but it's clear he loves the attention.More important, his presence in the polling stations of the Venezuelan capital had made a difference.

Saudi Arabia, Venezuela and Mexico, in a surprising show of cooperation, said yesterday that they would cut crude oil production and had received pledges from other countries to make similar cuts in a move that is expected to reverse the sharp decline in oil prices.The cutbacks are likely to contribute to a jump in gasoline prices, which have fallen below $1 a gallon in some parts of the United States.Oil industry analysts said the agreement was significant because Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil exporter, and Venezuela, one of the largest, were leading a unified effort to rein in production.

OVERTHROWING elected governments with bullets is wrong. Hugo Chavez tried in Venezuela, failed and spent two years in prison. Overthrowing them with ballots is approved. Mr. Chavez did that in Sunday's presidential election.For the country of 23 million that sells one-tenth of the oil consumed in the United States, this looks like out of the frying pan, into the fire. The masses, getting poorer for years, rebuked the two-party system that kept them that way. The root cause is plummeting oil prices caused by the failure of the international oil cartel, OPEC, which Venezuela largely invented in 1960.

CARACAS, Venezuela -- If one were looking for hell on earth, the Reten de Catia prison would not be a bad place to start.A vile stench cloaks the jail where inmates wander amid scattered garbage, many of them half-naked. This is a place where food and water are scarce. The world within is violent and anarchic, the arsenal of weapons so vast that guards stay clear of some areas.As crime rises in Latin America, frighteningly overcrowded prisons have become flash points for violence and human rights violations.

Sale of Cubs before Opening Day up in air baseball The Cubs are likely to remain under the ownership of Tribune through the early part of the season. Cubs chairman Crane Kenney said yesterday that it "will be a challenge" to complete the sale of the team by Opening Day on April 6 and that talks between the Ricketts family and the Tribune are ongoing. Tribune owns The Baltimore Sun. He said that none of the remaining issues "are in any way fatal to the transaction." The Ricketts family won exclusive negotiating rights on Jan. 22 in a deal worth about $900 million.

Brian McNamee says he injected Roger Clemens with drugs in a hot tub at Yankee Stadium and that among the needles he gave government investigators was one he used to inject the then-star pitcher for the New York Yankees in the summer of 2001 at Clemens' Manhattan apartment, according to the Web site sportsimproper.com. McNamee previously described injecting Clemens at the pitcher's apartment to baseball investigator George Mitchell. In addition, he told the Web site: "Sometimes it was in the Jacuzzi at Yankee Stadium."

Alex Rodriguez will have arthroscopic hip surgery today and is expected to miss six to nine weeks. The New York Yankees slugger will need further surgery after the season. The diagnosis by Dr. Marc Philippon yesterday was yet another jolt to Rodriguez during a tumultuous month in which the three-time American League Most Valuable Player admitted using steroids from 2001 to 2003 while with the Texas Rangers. Philippon spoke from Vail, Colo., on a conference call with Yankees general manager Brian Cashman.

With big league stars on both sides and national pride at stake, the United States and Canada gave their World Baseball Classic opener an October feel. Adam Dunn and Brian McCann each hit a two-run homer, and Team USA held off feisty Canada, 6-5, yesterday in Toronto to avenge a surprising loss three years ago. "This is a playoff atmosphere," U.S. pitcher Jake Peavy said. "Everything is on the line." Kevin Youkilis added a solo shot and J.J. Putz closed it out in a nervous ninth inning for Team USA, which was upset by Canada in the inaugural WBC. Former Oriole LaTroy Hawkins worked a scoreless inning for the win, and Putz earned the save after allowing Joey Votto's broken-bat RBI double in the ninth that cut it to 6-5 with one out. Putz then retired Justin Morneau on a grounder and got Jason Bay on a fly to right.

CARACAS, Venezuela -In the final days before a referendum that will determine whether President Hugo Chavez can run for re-election indefinitely, the campaign has an ugly edge. Anti-government protests have intensified in some cities, despite government pressure, and pro-Chavez vigilantes have attacked institutions such as the Caracas mayor's office and the Vatican's diplomatic mission. The chief of a leading opposition party, Democratic Action leader Henry Ramos, said a hand grenade exploded late Saturday, shattering windows and damaging the facade of its Caracas headquarters.

32 are selected as Rhodes scholars PHILADELPHIA : A University of Pennsylvania student who organized an exhibit about Lenape Indians living quietly in the state is among this year's winners of Rhodes scholarships. Abigail P. Seldin of Tierra Verde, Fla., curated the exhibit Fulfilling a Prophecy: The Past and Present of the Lenape in Pennsylvania. She is one of 32 men and women from across the United States to win the prestigious scholarships for study at England's Oxford University. The winners' names were announced early yesterday.

BOGOTA, Colombia -- Files provided by Colombian officials from computers they say were captured in a cross-border raid in Ecuador on March 1 appear to tie Venezuela's government to efforts to secure arms for Colombia's largest insurgency. Officials taking part in Colombia's investigation of the computers provided The New York Times with copies of more than 20 files, some of which also showed contributions from the rebels to the 2006 campaign of Ecuador's leftist president, Rafael Correa.

The Columbia Association's board of directors has accepted an invitation from General Growth Properties to meet to discuss various issues, including the redevelopment of downtown Columbia. The discussion is expected to cover the company's plans for the Lakefront, Symphony Woods and other CA properties; plans for properties adjacent to CA; and how to collaborate on the future of downtown Columbia. Also on the agenda will be presentation by the company's consultant on its Regional Storm Water Management Plan.

Success In Style fashion show is set Success In Style, a local nonprofit organization that provides free business wardrobes and coaching to disadvantaged women seeking employment, will hold its seventh annual Fashion Event at Nordstrom at The Mall in Columbia. The event, which includes a Continental breakfast, a spring fashion forecast with beauty consultations and prizes, will be held from 7:30 a.m. to 9:45 a.m. tomorrow. The cost is $40. Proceeds go to Success in Style. For information, call Nordstrom customer service, 410-715-2222.

WASHINGTON -- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's stunning loss in a constitutional referendum Sunday has dealt a severe and possibly fatal blow to his ambitions to spread his political ideology and succeed Fidel Castro as the leader of Latin America's anti-American left, analysts and U.S. officials said yesterday. Few analysts were willing to bet that Chavez won't recover and try again to strengthen his grip on power in Venezuela. But the rejection of his proposed constitutional changes hurt Chavez because it came on top of a string of international gaffes and missteps that have made him look erratic and even buffoonish.