HAVANA, Cuba (Reuters) -- Cuba has chosen to pay a steeper price than it has to for Venezuelan oil so it can discourage itself from becoming too dependent on one source for energy, a senior Cuban official said on Friday. The Caracas agreement, begun in 2000 when oil prices were below $20 per barrel. read more...

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BOGOTA, Colombia (Reuters) -- Spying charges, troop movements and mysterious killings along the border between Venezuela and Colombia are stoking a long-running diplomatic dispute that some are calling the "Cold War" of the Andes. The feud between the two neighbors has usually stopped at sabre-rattling. read more...

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PORLAMAR, Venezuela (Reuters) -- International oil companies have formed at least five consortiums to bid on the massive Carabobo project in Venezuela's Orinoco heavy oil belt, sources involved in the process said. Carabobo is eventually expected to produce 1.2 million barrels per day. read more...

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CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) -- Venezuela's consumer prices climbed 1.9 percent in October but were at their lowest monthly rate since June, the central bank said Thursday. Inflation has soared 20.7 percent in the first ten months of this year, four percentage points lower than the same period last year. read more...

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CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) -- Venezuelan Energy Minister Rafael Ramirez said on Wednesday that the OPEC nation would like to see a minimum oil price of $80 per barrel for 2010. When asked by reporters about goals for next year, Ramirez responded: "A floor of $80 and stability." read more...

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BOGOTA, Colombia (Reuters) -- Colombia's President Alvaro Uribe on Wednesday urged Venezuela not to create divisions like the "Berlin Wall" between the feuding neighbors as he sought to cool a crisis fueled by border violence and espionage charges. Ties between the countries have frayed over recent murders. read more...

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PORLAMAR, Venezuela (Reuters) -- Venezuela's energy minister on Tuesday lowered the South American OPEC member's 2015 oil capacity target by 13 percent, but remained upbeat on expansion overall, especially in the Orinoco heavy oil belt.  Venezuela's capacity should rise from 3.0 million barrels per day. read more...

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SAN ANTONIO, Venezuela (Reuters) -- Venezuelan soldiers blocked the main border crossing with Colombia on Tuesday after President Hugo Chavez's government said paramilitaries were behind the killing of two soldiers. Venezuela blamed Colombian paramilitaries for the murders. read more...

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CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) -- Central Bank President Nelson Merentes said on Monday that Venezuela's inflation rate, one of the highest in the world, was his top concern and he hoped it would be down to single digits by 2012. The government forecasts 26 percent inflation this year. read more...

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HAVANA, Cuba (ACN) -- Cuba’s access to master’s degrees and postgraduate courses in Venezuela was highlighted at the 9th Joint Commission on Higher Education, held at Pueblo Guri, in the Venezuelan state of Bolivar. At the meeting the participants also acknowledged Cuba’s collaboration in the project. read more...

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CIUDAD OJEDA, Venezuela (Reuters) -- Five months after Venezuela nationalized dozens of oil service contractors in Zulia state, the once-bustling industrial dock on Lake Maracaibo is nearly abandoned, and the 16 red flags raised to celebrate the takeovers are already tattered and faded. read more...

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SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AFP) -- Venezuela's state-owned oil giant PDVSA has agreed to buy nearly half of the government-owned Dominican Oil Refinery for 131.5 million dollars, Dominica's finance minister said. Talks to sell 49 percent of the refinery shares concluded late Thursday. read more...

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CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) -- Venezuela said on Friday it had arrested eight Colombians and two local residents suspected of paramilitary activities on the border between the two feuding South American neighbors. The arrests in Venezuela's western Tachira state were the latest incident. read more...

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BRASILIA, Brazil (Reuters) -- Brazil's Senate foreign relations committee approved Venezuela's request to join the South American trade bloc Mercosur on Thursday despite concerns over President Hugo Chavez's thwarting of democracy. The committee voted 12 to 5 in favor of Venezuela joinin.g read more...

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CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) -- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said on Thursday three men charged with spying for Colombia will be prosecuted and accused Washington of complicity in a case inflaming tensions between the neighbors. Bogota and Caracas often squabble about Colombia's internal conflict. read more...

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CARACAS, Venezuela (AFP): Oscar-winning actor and political activist Sean Penn may film a movie in Venezuela, according to the country's firebrand President Hugo Chavez. Penn "told me was very interested in a film project ... that would most likely be shot in part in Venezuela," Chavez. said. read more...

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CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) -- Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez blamed Dutch company Philips on Tuesday for problems the country's health network has had with medical equipment and said the government reserves the right to take legal action. Chavez's comments echoed those by Cuba's Fidel Castro. read more...

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TORONTO, Canada (Reuters) -- Gold Reserve said on Tuesday that Venezuela had seized control of its Brisas gold property, deepening a dispute between the miner and Hugo Chavez's government and pulling the company's shares down 13 percent. Gold Reserve's rights to much of the deposit were taken away. read more...

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CARACAS, Venezuella (Reuters) -- Venezuela said that it had captured Colombian security agents it said planned to destabilize the government, heightening tensions in the ongoing diplomatic row between the Andean nations. Tensions were reignited over the weekend after the murders of 10 Colombian football players. read more...

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CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) -- Venezuela filed a complaint on Monday accusing Colombia's state security agency of spying in its territory in the latest salvo in a simmering diplomatic spat between the Andean neighbors. Venezuela gave no details of how Bogota's security agency had been spying. read more...

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CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) -- Venezuela said on Sunday at least 10 members of an amateur Colombian soccer team had been found dead after being kidnapped on its side of the border. Venezuelan Vice President Ramon Carrizalez told reporters the men were found with bullet wounds. read more...

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CARACAS, Venezuela (AFP) -- At least 10 bus passengers were killed and another 12 injured when their vehicle collided with a truck on a main freeway in the Venezuelan capital, rescue officials said. "Eight people died at the scene and another two" died at local hospitals on Friday, said Victor Lira. read more...

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CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) -- Venezuela's PDVSA has sold all $3 billion of 2014, 2015, 2016 bonds despite waning demand in the latest issue compared with other offers this year, sources at the state oil company said. Some market players had expressed doubt this bond issue would be successful. read more...

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GEORGETOWN, Guyana -- Guyana and its South American neighbour Venezuela have entered into a US$18.8 million (GY$3.7 billion) export deal that will see Guyana exporting over 50,000 tonnes of rice to Venezuela. The agreement was signed on Wednesday at a press briefing convened at the Ministry of Agriculture. read more...

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CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) -- Leftist President Hugo Chavez called on Venezuelans to stop singing in the shower and to wash in three minutes because the oil-exporting nation is having problems supplying water and electricity. Venezuela has suffered several serious blackouts in the past year. read more...

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CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) -- Venezuela's PDVSA will not lower the price of a $3 billion issue of 2014, 2015 and 2016 bonds launched this week, the oil company said on Wednesday, despite signs of low demand from traders. The issue comes just days after Venezuela sold $5 billion in sovereign debt. read more...

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NEW YORK, USA (Reuters) -- A fugitive Venezuelan businessman charged in the United States with defrauding a subsidiary of state oil company PDVSA out of $22 million was indicted by a US grand jury on Tuesday, according to court documents. His co-defendant, Nazly Cucunuba Lopez, 33, pleaded guilty. read more...

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CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) -- Glencore International, the world's biggest commodity trader, is negotiating a deal to buy 360,000 tonnes of primary aluminum over several years from Venezuela's state-run Venalum. A Venalum spokesman said on Monday the talks anticipated $100 million down-payment. read more...

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COCHABAMBA, Bolivia (Reuters) -- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said on Saturday Iran is helping his country explore for uranium, but stressed his government would only use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. President Barack Obama and other leaders have accused Iran of seeking to develop nuclear weapons. read more...

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MADRID, Spain (Bloomberg) -- Duro Felguera SA, the Spanish contractor that designs and builds power plants, is bidding for more contracts in Venezuela after winning a 1.5 billion-euro ($2.2 billion) order to build a power plant. Spain will account for less than 20 percent of sales next year, Torres predicted. read more...

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CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) -- Spain's Repsol YPF on Thursday confirmed a natural gas site off the coast of Venezuela contained reserves of between 5.6 trillion and 7.8 trillion cubic feet of gas, the largest such discovery in the country's history. Repsol says it is comfortable with its operations in Venezuela. read more...

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CARACAS, Venezuela (AFP) -- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has said he seized the landmark Hilton hotel on Margarita Island because its owners dared to impose conditions on its use by his government to host a summit there last month. Chavez said they had to ask permission to hold the conference. read more...

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WASHINGTON, USA (AFP) -- The US-based Hilton hotel chain is "evaluating" the Venezuelan government's seizure of one of its hotels on the Caribbean resort island of Margarita, a spokeswoman told AFP on Wednesday. President Hugo Chavez ordered the "acquisition by force" of the landmark hotel Tuesday. read more...

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CARACAS, Venezuela (AFP) -- Venezuela's Justice Ministry accused the deputy mayor of Caracas and leading opposition figure, of attacking a police officer and of incitement to violence during an August protest against a new education law. The ministry asked a court that Richard Blanco be kept in the Yare prison. read more...

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CARACAS, Venezuela (AFP) -- Installation of 1,630 kilometers of fiber optic cable between Cuba and Venezuela will start Wednesday, Venezuela's science and technology chief said. Caracas is communist Cuba's closest ally in Latin America, and a leading financial support through oil and trade deals. read more...

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CARACAS, Venezuela (AFP) -- President Hugo Chavez has ordered the "acquisition by force" of a landmark Hilton Hotel on Venezuela's Margarita island, the government's Official Gazette announced Tuesday. The facility, on the Caribbean resort island of Margarita in Nueva Esparta state, was targeted for state takeover. read more...

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PUERTO ORDAZ, Venezuela (Reuters) -- Venezuela's dream of a first World Cup finals appearance was shattered on Saturday when they lost 2-1 at home to Paraguay in their penultimate qualifier. Paraguay, already assured a place in their fourth successive finals, buried Venezuela's hopes with breakaway goals. read more...

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CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) -- Venezuela's socialist leader Hugo Chavez said on Sunday that US President Barack Obama had done nothing beyond wishful thinking to earn the Nobel Peace Prize. Chavez said he thought it was a mistake when he read the US leader had won. read more...

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CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) -- President Hugo Chavez's senior economic team is to unveil long-awaited economic measures on Thursday, aimed at spurring growth, curbing inflation and strengthening Venezuela's currency in the black market. Chavez and other officials have been flagging the measures for weeks. read more...

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CARACAS, Venezuela (AFP) -- Fifty-six people were murdered in Caracas over the weekend, in a wave of weekend violence that left the local morgue overflowing with bodies. News reports cited figures provided by the local morgue because the government stopped disclosing homicide statistics. read more...

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