Francisco R. Rodriguez, an expert on Venezuelan affairs, says the show of force by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez after the Colombian incursion into Ecuador is an attempt to bolster his declining popularity at home.

John M. Walsh of the Washington Office on Latin America says the failure of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’s major reform proposals at the polls was a surprise, and represents a “heavy defeat.”

Calls for more popular participation are not essential to populism; rather, they are a symptom of perceived exclusion (which might well be a reality, especially in Latin America). But cries for political inclusion are different from demands for direct democracy. Where direct democracy is very much a part of normal politics – in Switzerland, for example – populist parties have been doing better, not worse, than elsewhere.

This Foreign Policy article has an interesting take on Venezuela's President Hugo Chávez, saying he is not a threat for all the obvious reasons but for an overlooked one -- his "dangerous incompetence."

A discussion of the Venezuela economy and it's relationship to oil, and how the coming collapse could be seen either as a result of the oil market changing, or the result of the government's mismanagement of the economic policy.

“Chávez’s bark...is far worse than his bite,” says a new Council Special Report, which urges U.S. officials to “look beyond his blustery rhetoric…as long as Chávez does not take steps that fundamentally threaten essential U.S. interests in Latin America.” With polls showing Chávez strongly in the lead in the upcoming December 3 Venezuelan presidential election, the United States needs to prepare for another six-year term with the controversial leader.

Julia Sweig looks at Venezuela's upcoming presidential election through the lens of advertisements.

Julia E. Sweig argues the United States has been a marginal actor in Latin America, but this could change in the Obama administration's second term.

Joel D. Hirst says the strength of Venezuela's opposition is increasing through greater unity ahead of the battle to remove Chavez in 2012.

Joel D. Hirst discusses the results of a recent referendum in Ecuador and the rise of anti-institutionalism in the Bolivarian Alliance countries.

Joel D. Hirst argues that if elected as president, Ollanta Humala will likely have Peru follow the path of Venezuela.

Joel Hirst says that the United States cannot allow Hugo Chávez to use social movements, such as the Bolivarian Alliance of the Americas, to facilitate the interaction of terrorist organizations.

Joel D. Hirst says the Obama administration must move with urgency to secure the extradition of Walid Makled García "el Turco" from Colombia to the United States.

Joel D. Hirst discusses the hunger strike by nine Venezuelan students and their demand for action by the Organization of American States (OAS) on the state of democracy in Venezuela.

Joel D. Hirst says an opportunity exists for the United States and the Organization of American States (OAS) to address Venezuela's faltering democracy.

Joel D. Hirst discusses Hugo Chavez's attacks against Globovision, the only independent television news station left in Venezuel.

Joel D. Hirst says the decision by Colombia to send drug kingpin Walid Makled to Venezuala and not the United States is a mistake, but one that can be corrected.

Joel D. Hirst discusses recent arrest of Venezuelan drug lord Walid Makled, and the implications of his extradition from Columbia to the United States.

Joel D. Hirst discusses the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA) and its ambitious plan to control information across Latin America.