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Updated at: 0906 PST, Saturday, December 26, 2009 CARACAS: Nine sailors were killed and five were burned in a Christmas Day blaze aboard a Greek freighter in waters off a Venezuelan Caribbean island, the official Venezuelan news agency reported on Friday. It quoted Admiral Carlos Maximo Aniasi, commander of Venezuela's navy, as saying the blaze broke out in an engine room of the "Aegean Wind" before dawn and spread upward on the vessel, which was carrying iron ore from Brazil to Houston and had a 24-strong crew. "Nine bodies were found in different compartments of the Greek ship," the admiral said. The bodies belonged to nine sailors reported missing earlier in the day on the ship 33 nautical miles (61 km)northeast of the island of La Blanquilla, Aniasi said.

Sunday, December 13, 2009 HAVANA: Latin American allies Venezuela and Cuba have strengthened their relations by signing cooperation agreements worth of 3.2 billion dollars. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and his Cuban counterpart Raul Castro on Saturday signed some 285 cooperation agreements that will go into effect in 2010. Chavez, who arrived in Cuba on Friday, said that the nations began increasing cooperation in 2000 with 17 modest projects worth some $30 million. "This is a mechanism of cooperation, which has no other precedents in the world. It is unbelievable in the way it has been forged over the last 10 years," the president added. Meanwhile, President Castro said that Venezuela would remain the primary trade partner for Cuba. Trade between Caracas and Havana has reached $8.7 billion, mainly in the health, education, agriculture and energy sectors. The two presidents on Sunday will attend a summit of the ALBA, a leftist bloc Chavez founded in 2004 as a counterweig...

Sunday, December 13, 2009 HAVANA: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez signed 3.2 billion dollars' worth of cooperation agreements with Cuba and said former Cuban leader Fidel Castro was in great health, after visiting him at his home.Chavez arrived Friday in Havana for a meeting Sunday of the regional ALBA group, and met shortly after landing with President Raul Castro, who took over from his now 83-year-old brother Fidel after the longtime Cuban leader underwent surgery in 2006."Fidel is better than all of us... I told Raul that Fidel will bury us all," Chavez said after his meeting with the Cuban president. Recently there were rumors Fidel Castro was close to dying.Chavez and Raul Castro, 77, on Saturday signed some 285 cooperation agreements worth 3.2 billion dollars, which will go into effect in 2010.Close political partners Cuba and Venezuela have expanded their economic ties since 2000, reaching a cumulative exchange of 8.7 billion dollars, said Chavez' Oil and Ene...

Saturday, August 08, 2009 CARACAS: Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez on Saturday ordered his ambassador back to Colombia a few days after withdrawing him amid a crisis over plans to increase the number of U.S. troops in the neighboring country. In a surprise announcement after an hours-long late-night meeting, Chavez delighted a group of left-wing Colombian peace campaigners by reversing the decision. "Nicolas, our ambassador Gustavo has given you all the reports he was going to, let him go back to Bogota. Return to Bogota Gustavo," Chavez said to his Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro and the ambassador, Gustavo Marquez.