Venezuelan news: the good, the bad, and the looney

Good news: On Friday, Nymex prices fell to an 11-month low below $57

Bad news: Venezuela Emerging as 'Potential Hub of Terrorism'; Hezbollah Crossed Border

The House report says "Venezuela is providing support - including identity documents - that could prove useful to radical Islamic groups" through "cedulas", which are the equivalent of social security cards, to people from Cuba, Colombia and "Middle Eastern nations that host foreign terrorist organisations."

Officials fear that the Venezuelan government, headed by Hugo Chavez, is issuing the cards to "people who should not be getting them" and they could be used to get visas and gain entry to the U.S. "Recently, several Pakistanis were apprehended at the U.S.-Mexican border with fraudulent Venezuelan documents."

"U.S. immigration and customs enforcement investigations have revealed that aliens were smuggled from the Middle East to staging areas in Central and South America, before being smuggled illegally into the US," it says. On Hezbollah, the House report declares that members "have already entered the U.S. across the southwest border."

Looney news: Venezuela's Chavez says he holds Bush 'by the tail'

CARACAS: President Hugo Chavez claimed Sunday he holds US President George W Bush by the tail, despite Venezuela's failure to capture a UN Security Council seat last week against US opposition.

(technorati tags Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, Latin America, UN, UN Security Council)