National Assembly President: Venezuela will hold referendum on Constitution

National Assembly (AN) President Cilia Flores says a reform to the 1999 Venezuelan Constitution might be submitted to a popular referendum by year's end.

Venezuela gets ready for constitutional reform

According to Constitutionalist and MP, Carlos Escarrá, a prominent expert on the issue, President Chávez will submit in the next days his proposal to the National Assembly to begin the process formally.

President Chávez: Constitutional reform will respect private property

Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez said that the rights of private property owners will be guaranteed in Venezuela under constitutional reforms.

Strategic Alliance State-Private Sector, is one of the propositions of the constitutional reform

President Hugo Chávez announced that the approach between the private sector and the state is one of the proposals which would be put forward in the constitutional reform.

Director of Foreign Policy of the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Venezuela has every right to amend laws

“Any country is entitled to amend laws”, said the Director General for Foreign Policy of the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Rafael Dezcallar, in reference to a constitutional reform championed by Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez.

President Chávez: New Socialist party will move away from Marxism-Leninism

President Chávez assured that the new party will ‘move away from the Marxist Leninsm'. He clarified that he is not a partisan of Karl Marx.

President Chávez stressed the need to hear the middle-class

The President Hugo Chávez said, ‘we have to hear their values, their fears', with reference to the middle-class of the country.

OAS Secretary General: ‘Isolating Venezuela is juridically unfeasible'

José Miguel Insulza, the Secretary General of the Organization of American States believes democracy ‘is very much alive in Venezuela '.

Mercosur's head of the Commission of Permanent Representatives heralds press freedom in Venezuela

The head of the Commission of Permanent Representatives of the Common Market of the South (Mercosur), Carlos ‘Chacho' Álvarez, claimed in Brasilia that there is full freedom of the press in Venezuela

Law that applies to foreigners who criticize the national institutions dates back to 1942

The instrument that allows the deportation of those who break the law is the Law of Foreign Activities on Venezuelan Soil, approved by the Congress on 29 June 1942 and published in the official Gazette No. 20835.

Venezuelan communications magnate Gustavo Cisneros: TV must not replace political parties

Gustavo Cisneros said that television channels should not be used as instruments to achieve political objectives but rather must be ‘impartial and balanced' showcases for policy.

Center for Economic and Policy Research: The Venezuelan economy in the Chávez years

Government and business leaders commit to economic plan for Venezuela

The finance minister Rodrigo Cabezas met with more than 30 private sector business leaders to discuss the government's future economic plans. The minister considered the meeting to be ‘highly productive'.

Venezuela and Argentina deepen industrial integration

Delegations from Venezuela and Argentina met to discuss new cooperative projects between the countries.

Middle-class households prevail in Venezuela, Central Bank says

The Central Bank of Venezuela published its results on survey of household budgets showing that Venezuela is a country where the middle class is gaining ground.

Living Conditions of the Venezuelans have improved significantly

The index measuring the quality of living conditions of the Venezuelan people has improved in the last years, according to results of the III National Survey of Family Budgets produced by Venezuela's Central Bank with the National Institute of Statistics

More than 2 million new savers registered last two years

More than 2 million new bank savings accounts were opened by Venezuelans during the last two years, Venezuelan Central Bank (BCV) director Armando León, informed.

Social missions have benefited 47.4% of Venezuelan homes

Social missions, implemented by National Executive last years, have benefited 47.4% of Venezuelan homes, according to the results of the III National Survey about Family Budgets.

Venezuelan government assigns $128 million for the rehabilitation of schools

Government approved the exceptional Economical and Social Plan of Development for construction, refurbishment and repair of the education infrastructure in all the national territory.

President Chávez announces construction of 15 new hospitals in Venezuela

The new hospitals, along with the remodeling of existing hospitals, make up the third and fourth phases of the Barrio Adentro (Inside the Barrio) health program. The Chávez government's social programs, such as Barrio Adentro, have benefited nearly 50 percent of Venezuelan households.

BCV to accentuate anti-inflationary policy in second semester

The Venezuelan Central Bank expects to accentuate the anti-inflationary policy in the second semester of 2007, through the guidelines of the monetary policy in accordance with the resolution agreed in the Board.

60% of the earnings of CANTV will be reinvested back into the national sectors of telephone and internet.

The Minister of Communications and Information, Jesse Chacón, reassured that 60% of the earnings of the State Communications' Company CANTV will be reinvested back into the national sectors of telephone and internet.

Chinese company Huawei and Telecom Venezuela to manufacture mobile phones

The Venezuelan Telecommunications Minister has announced that a joint venture involving Telecom Venezuela and the Chinese company Huawei will produce approximately 2 million mobile phones annually in Venezuela.

Telephone competition amongst Movistar, Movilnet and Digitel motivates sector growth

Minister of Popular Power for Telecommunications and Information, Jesse Chacón said that in Venezuela continues a steady growth of all its telecommunication services.

PDVSA schedules US$10.07 billion for exploration and production projects

Venezuela's state-owned oil company, PDVSA, has scheduled this year investments of US$10.07 billion in exploration and production projects

Venezuela to agree with LUKOIL by year-end

Venezuela intends to agree with Russia's LUKOIL on joint production of crude by this year-end, President Hugo Chávez announced

At 26, he is principal conductor of the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, and was recently named as the successor to Esa-Pekka Salonen, the acclaimed musical director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Gustavo Dudamel and the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela will appear at the Proms on 19 August

The Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela is a phenomenon, its young musicians come for the most part from desperate shantytowns. The orchestra performs at the Edinburgh Festival on 17 August and BBC Proms on 19 August.

The President Hugo Chávez affirmed that in Venezuela ‘we decided to revert the culture crisis' when he referred to the decline of the book and of reading as one of the components of a worldwide problem associated with the modern world.