CARACAS, Venezuela - Humbled by his first electoral defeat ever, President Hugo Chavez said Monday he may have been too ambitious in asking voters to let him stand indefinitely for re-election and endorse a huge leap to a socialist state.

Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez likes being president so much he’s arranging to stay in charge indefinitely, much in the manner of his hero and mentor, Fidel Castro. While this may be good for Chavez’s boundless ego, it’s bad for Venezuela.

CARACAS, Venezuela - President Hugo Chavez proposed sweeping constitutional reforms that would allow him to be re-elected indefinitely and tighten government control over the economy in the Western Hemisphere's largest oil exporter.

CARACAS, Venezuela - President Hugo Chavez threatened on Sunday to seize control of businesses caught hoarding products, and set his sights on Empresas Polar - Venezuela's largest food producer and distributor.

It’s probably only fair to warn Hugo Chavez of this, but the French tried the same thing he’s trying and it didn’t work for them either.

Venezuelans go to the polls Sunday to vote in a referendum that would effectively decide whether their country becomes a Cuban-style dictatorship with their current strongman president, Hugo Chavez, playing the part of Fidel Castro.

CARACAS, Venezuela - Hugo Chavez has called President Bush a devil, a donkey and a drunkard. But on Wednesday the Venezuelan leader said his comments were "nothing personal."

PARAGUANA, Venezuela - Venezuela's Hugo Chavez and Colombia's Alvaro Uribe mended relations Friday after months of sniping that threatened trade and unleashed a diplomatic crisis between Latin America's top U.S. opponent and closest U.S. ally.

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — Police and soldiers clashed with thousands of protesters outside Honduras' national palace Monday, leaving at least 15 people injured, as world leaders from Barack Obama to Hugo Chavez demanded the return of a president ousted in a military coup.

HAVANA - Cuba's Communist daily published new photographs of ailing leader Fidel Castro on Monday, showing him in bed on his 80th birthday during a visit with his brother Raul and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

Hundreds of years ago, Machiavelli advised rulers facing unpopularity at home to consider picking a fight with some other city-state or nation, noting that a threat, even a phony threat, from some foreign power tends to unite people and help them to forget their differences (and discontent with the ruler).

CARACAS, Venezuela - President Hugo Chavez said Sunday that Russian bombers would be welcome in Venezuela, but the socialist leader denied that his country would offer Moscow its territory for a military base.

CARACAS, Venezuela - President Hugo Chavez won a referendum to eliminate term limits Sunday and vowed to remain in power for at least another decade to complete his socialist revolution. Opponents accepted defeat but said Chavez is becoming a dictator.

HAVANA - Cuban state television Tuesday showed a video of a healthier looking Fidel Castro meeting with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and saying his recovery was "far from a lost battle," in the first images of the ailing leader in three months.

CARACAS, Venezuela - President Hugo Chavez echoed Fidel Castro's cry of "socialism or death" as he was sworn in for a new six-year term on Wednesday, promising to accelerate Venezuela's transformation into a socialist state.

MAR DEL PLATA, Argentina - A crowd of 10,000 protesters chanting "Get out Bush!" swarmed the streets of this Argentine resort Friday, hours before the hemisphere's leaders sat down to debate free trade, immigration and job creation.