| Venezuela is increasingly becoming a police state. The government is expelling foreign critics, and jailing or harassing domestic ones. President Hugo Chavez's brand of nationalistic socialism is ruining the economy and antagonizing neighbors. Chavez is trying to use oil income to buy the support of enough of the population to keep himself in power. Meanwhile, the United States has charged three senior Venezuelan officials with working for FARC, mainly in the area of money laundering, and arranging for FARC drugs to get smuggled through Venezuela. The U.S. has imposed sanctions on the three Venezuelans, restricting their access to the international financial system. The three men were also charged with trying to overthrow the Colombian government, as another way to aid FARC. Chavez took this personally, and the spat between the U.S. and Venezuela got nasty, with ambassadors being expelled. |