A few days ago I bought a copy of the Venezuelan daily, El Nacional, and asked God for forgiveness. Many years ago it was my favorite newspaper here. Now I feel I am sinning whenever I put two more bolivars into their coffers.

The June 29 coup in Honduras did not surprise me.

The Venezuelan newspaper I bought this morning in Caracas carried two pictures of demonstrators in Iran yesterday.

President Barack Obama said he went to the Fifth Summit of the Americas to listen but I’m not sure he heard or understood all that what was being said.

U.S. President Obama, Venezuelan President Chávez, and Bolivian President Morales will be together for the first time this weekend in Trinidad for the Summit of the Americas. I hope they will become friends for a number of reasons.

“Harvard! Goddamn. I just hope you remember your friends when you up in that fancy office downtown.”

If you are planning a trip to Venezuela, I wouldn’t recommend putting too much faith in LONELY PLANET’S Venezuela edition.

One day a U.S. college student asked if the Venezuelan programs giving subsidized food, decent housing, free eye operations and better all-round medical care, were not just a ploy by Chávez to win elections.

It is difficult to step out of a Metro station in Caracas these days without someone handing you a paper. Some say “Sí.” Some say “No.” But yesterday I received one that told me that Chávez loves me.

One afternoon in 1994 I, a Roman Catholic priest, said to my bishop that I planned to marry.