Simmering in Venezuela

If the Church keeps speaking up, there will be martyrs.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez accused a Roman Catholic cardinal Sunday of conspiring against him after the clergyman chastised the leftist leader for eroding democracy and abusing his power.

Local television on Sunday showed military officers walking out of the ceremony, spectators jeering and others applauding as Venezuela's highest Catholic prelate lamented the country's "grave situation."
"A government democratically elected seven years ago has lost its democratic path and shows signs of dictatorship, where all powers are in the hands of one person who exercises them in an arbitrary and despotic way," Castillo said.

The U.S. government has blocked a planned sale of 12 military aircraft from Spain to Venezuela on the grounds that the planes contain U.S. military technology, and cannot be transferred without approval from Washington, a U.S. Embassy spokesman told CNN.
The move was made amid concerns the United States has about Venezuela's government, considered authoritarian by the Bush administration.