barriomulas.com - Latin America Update

Venezuelans have long been famous for their addiction to plastic surgery and weekend shopping trips to Miami, but thanks to newly available credit, interest rates that discourage savings, and restrictions on money that can be spent abroad, Venezuelans now have world-class shopping all over the country....
An increase in government spending, including monthly remittances sent to over two million Venezuelans, and the continued revenue from oil income have flooded the country's economy with cash.

Chávez's mandated 20 percent increase in the minimum wage has also injected more cash into the economy by increasing pay checks across the board...

Venezuela's consumer furor has also given the country a taste for luxury cars. Dealerships for BMW, Mercedes Benz, and Audi are popping up across Caracas, and US$93,000 Hummers are becoming popular.

"We never used to see luxury cars like Hummers in Venezuela," said Jorge García Tuñón, president of a luxury car dealership in Caracas. "Now, there are people that have the money to buy them." The Santiago Times

March 21 (Bloomberg) -- Venezuela's National Electoral Council approved requests for recall votes on 28 governors, mayors and congressmen.
The council said in a statement on its Web site tonight that it will announce next week the timetable for votes to recall four governors, all of whom support President Hugo Chavez. The include Tarek William Saab of Anzoatequi state, Francisco Rangel of Bolivar, Antonio Rodriguez of Vargas and Didalco Bolivar of Aragua.

Enrique Capriles, opposition leader and mayor of Caracas municipality Baruta, is among 20 mayors who will face a recall vote, along with four congressmen from Aragua state, the council said. Bloomberg

Interesting. The opposition boycotts the elections only to intiate a recall more than a year later.

LA PAZ, Bolivia: A top Bolivian energy official tacitly acknowledged Wednesday that Venezuela paid a U.S.-based law firm hired to help Bolivia through its petroleum nationalization.
The statement from Manuel Morales Olivera, head of Bolivian state energy company Yacimientos Petroliferos Fiscales Bolivianos, or YPFB, troubled opposition lawmakers who have accused Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez of interfering in Bolivian affairs and wielding undue influence over Bolivia's government. AP

And when the United States financially backs political groups in foreign elections?