Venezuela, South America | featured news

President Hugo Chavez's crusade to transform Venezuela into a socialist state, which has bitterly divided the nation, was put to the stiffest electoral test of his nearly 14 years in power on Sunday in a closely fought presidential election.

A 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 for decades.

The suspension was announced Tuesday shortly before Ozzie Guillen was to hold a news conference to explain his remarks about Fidel Castro, which caused a public backlash.

A couple on a motorcycle fired shots into a bus carrying Venezuelan opposition presidential candidate Maria Corina Machado and her supporters Saturday, a campaign spokesman told CNN en Español.

Venezuelan police rescued Washington Nationals catcher Wilson Ramos on Friday, two days after he was kidnapped, officials announced....

The government sent top investigators Thursday to hunt for Washington Nationals catcher Wilson Ramos, whose abduction has shaken Venezuela's elite athletes and focused attention on the nation's sharp rise in kidnappings for ransom....

Venezuelan federal authorities on Thursday dispatched their "best investigators" to track the kidnappers of Major League Baseball catcher Wilson Ramos, the country's justice minister said.

Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez likely has less than two years to live, his former doctor said, as the ailing firebrand traveled to Cuba for a checkup following cancer treatment.

President Hugo Chavez will undergo a third round of chemotherapy for cancer at home in Venezuela beginning Sunday, he said, instead of traveling to Cuba where he had two previous rounds of treatment.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez revealed that he is fighting cancer after having a tumor removed in Cuba.