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In a widely anticipated press conference, Interpol Secretary General Ronald K. Noble said that the computer files found in a raid of a Colombian rebel camp in Ecuador last March 1st discovered no tampering of these. Venezuela’s Embassy in the U.S., though, says that the interpretation of these files has been manipulated by the Colombian and U.S. governments, even if the files themselves have not been altered.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez signed a collective contract with workers at the Sidor steel plant yesterday, formalizing an agreement reached between workers and the government last week. Also, Chavez signed the law-decree for the nationalization of Sidor.

A national poll conducted between April 24th and May 2nd by the Venezuelan Data Analysis Institute (IVAD) showed that 68.8% of Venezuelans believe the presidency of Hugo Chávez has been excellent, very good, or good. Opposition-sponsored polls, though, claim to show a completely different picture.

The United Socialist Party of Venezuela will be the first political party in Venezuela to hold democratic internal elections in a three-and-a-half-week process, in which all members of the new party will be eligible to nominate and vote for candidates for the upcoming state and local elections.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez warned opposition leaders against any attempts to break away from Venezuela on his weekly talk show Aló Presidente on Sunday and warned that any attempts at breaking away would be cause for war.

Last weekend marked the fifth anniversary of the national social programs known as “missions” in Venezuela, created by the administration of President Hugo Chávez. Chavez used the occasion to announce various expansions and successes of the programs.

After 58 years, the United States Navy will reactivate the Fourth Fleet, which will be in charge of patrolling Latin American waters.

Venezuela’s Minister of Energy and Petroleum, Rafael Ramirez, announced yesterday that the country’s proven oil reserves have been increased to 130 billion barrels, a 30% increase over previous official figures.

On Tuesday, state legislators from the opposition political party A New Time (Un Nuevo Tiempo) in the oil-rich state of Zulia, Venezuela, proposed a feasibility study for potential autonomy from the federal government, which they compared to the autonomy efforts in Bolivia’s wealthiest province.

According to former Attorney General Isaias Rodriguez, the so-called “final offensive” against Venezuela is being planned presumably from Colombia, and would be executed by that country’s army, according to agreements between Colombian President Álvaro Uribe and US Ambassador William Brownfield.