National Electoral Council ready for referendum on constitutional reform

President of the National Electoral Council, Tibisay Lucena, stressed that the body is ready to conduct a referendum on the changes to the Constitution proposed by Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez.

Second discussion about Constitutional Reform planned for September

The National Assembly will start in September the discussion about the Constitutional Reform Project presented by the President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Hugo Chávez Frías.

National Electoral Council updating voter registration ahead of referendum

Venezuela's National Electoral Council is updating voter registration as it readies for a referendum on a project to reform the 1999 Constitution.

National Assembly promises to listen to the opposition

National Assembly chair Cilia Flores reported on an upcoming meeting with Julio Borges, the coordinator of opposition Primero Justicia party, National Electoral Council director Vicente Díaz and Catholic Church representatives.

Some aspects of Chávez's constitutional reform

President Chávez proposed 33 changes to the Constitution among them a proposal that the president be elected for seven years and as many times as the Venezuelan people wish it. 'A play to perpetuate himself in power,' some say. What they don't say is that Chávez leaves his re-election in the hands of the people.

Venezuela's Constitutional Reform remains subject to the will of the people

President Hugo Chávez has proposed a constitutional reform, which will also be subject to the Venezuelan people's will.

Constitutional Reform project proposes extensive system of property

President Hugo Chávez said once again that the Constitutional Reform project proposed a very extensive system of property, which includes the social, collective, communal, state and private property.

The National Assembly has handed the National Electoral Council its timetable for a national consultation process on constitutional reform proposals.

Venezuelan communities take centre stage

In classrooms, town halls and squares across Venezuela, people are coming together to talk about their communities. These are the 26,000 communal councils that are becoming the new power base in Venezuela.

Actor Sean Penn tours Venezuela

Sean Penn is the latest in a series of U.S. celebrities and public figures to visit Chávez, including actor Danny Glover, singer Harry Belafonte.

The PSOE see a major criticism of Chávez in the Media

According to the PSOE in Venezuela it isn't the Government that harasses the media, it is the media that harasses President Hugo Chávez.

Public Consultancy will define the regulation of Television by Subscription

President of the Venezuelan Chamber of Television by Subscription explained that it was agreed to assign a group of lawyers experts in cable and satellite television to work as advisors of Conatel in the creation of the regulation.

Hugo Chávez by Ignacio Ramonet, Le Monde Diplomatique

Few governments in the world have been victims of devastating campaigns full of hatred. The Venezuelan government, led by President Hugo Chávez, is one of those victims.

As a part of recent attempts to reach an agreement between the Colombian government and the Colombian guerrilla, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez met with the President of Colombia Álvaro Uribe.

As part of his South American tour, Venezuela President Hugo Chávez signed several economic agreements with Bolivian President Evo Morales as well as with Argentinean President Nestor Kirchner.

Venezuela's state oil company PDVSA will begin manufacturing drilling rigs in mid-2008 through its new subsidy PDVSA Industrial, PDVSA president and energy and oil minister Rafael Ramírez said in a statement.

Thanks to a deal between the Venezuelan government and the mayor of London, the English capital began offering half-price bus fares to poor residents of the city this week.

The Chávez government's program of massive spending on social programs and public works is helping fuel sustained economic growth. Such social spending is a key part of the Bolivarian government which seeks to redistribute the nation's significant oil wealth to eradicate poverty and develop the nation

The Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela Proms debut was one of the most remarkable occasions of recent years, as the reviews have reflected: they played, they swayed, they danced, they did Mexican waves with their instruments and threw their colourful Venezuelan jackets to the thrilled Prommers. But they also played Shostakovich and Bernstein at the very highest level.

The Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela is the flagship of an education system which gives 250,000 young people the chance to learn an instrument, getting them away from drugs, guns and crime in the barrios. There are lessons here for Britain

The big noise at the Proms last weekend was provided by the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela under conductor Gustavo Dudamel, who blew into town like a force of nature and nearly blew the roof off the Royal Albert Hall.

Gustavo Dudamel is the greatest advertisement for Abreu's system, which caters largely for children from poor communities where drugs and crime are frequently rampant.

The review's fifth star is awarded for the orchestra's encore party. They wore bright Venezuelan jackets, twirled their instruments in the air, danced the mambo, bowed to the audience seated behind them, and generally sounded as gobsmackingly bright at a quarter to eleven as they had been almost three hours earlier.