Venezuela

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez was back in Cuba on Wednesday for cancer-linked medical treatment that revived questions about the viability of his socialist rule and left Venezuelans again guessing about his exact condition.

After years of defeats at the ballot box by President Hugo Chavez, Venezuela's opposition supporters used to say the only thing worse than him was their own incompetent leaders.

Demoralized by their failure to unseat President Hugo Chavez, Venezuela's opposition hopes to bounce back in December state elections that provide a chance to curb the socialist president's power.

President Hugo Chavez's re-election on Sunday means Venezuela's state oil company PDVSA will remain highly politicized and will continue its discount supply deals with his socialist allies.

The Venezuela electoral council has declared that Hugo Chavez has won the presidential race on Sunday, Oct. 7.

Venezuela's presidential election looked headed for a close finish on Sunday with President Hugo Chavez facing an unprecedented challenge to his socialist rule from a young rival tapping into discontent over crime and cronyism.

Venezuelans are gripped by uncertainty over President Hugo Chavez's re-election chances on Sunday but another looming worry is whether they will see their top baseball players on home turf when the season starts four days later.

President Hugo Chavez vowed on Sunday to run a more efficient government if he wins Venezuela's election next weekend while rival Henrique Capriles demanded justice for the shooting of two opposition activists.

A fire caused by lightning at Venezuela's 146,000-barrels-per-day El Palito refinery should be out later on Thursday and operations remain unaffected, a senior official at state oil company PDVSA said.

Facing his toughest-ever re-election challenge, socialist President Hugo Chavez teared up during a campaign speech on Saturday, lamenting his lost freedom to roam anonymously through Venezuela's towns and countryside.

Rival supporters in Venezuela's presidential election fought and threw stones on Wednesday before a campaign stop by opposition leader Henrique Capriles less than a month before an October 7 vote.

Venezuelan firefighters put out a blaze at the country's biggest oil refinery on Tuesday, paving the way for a restart of the facility and an investigation into the world's deadliest refinery accident in fifteen years.

A huge fire burned for a third day in two fuel storage tanks at Venezuela's biggest refinery on Monday, putting in doubt plans to quickly restart the facility after one of the worst accidents to hit the global oil industry in decades.

Venezuelan firefighters struggled on Sunday to put out a blaze at the country's biggest refinery sparked by an explosion that killed 41 people in one of the global oil industry's deadliest accidents.

Sitting in front of a mural of Jesus and the Virgin Mary armed with AK-47s, three red-shirted children are clutching assault rifles and copies of Venezuela's constitution.

Two U.S. diplomats on Wednesday visited an American man jailed in Venezuela whom President Hugo Chavez says he suspects of being a mercenary, the U.S. Embassy said.