Medical Emergency in Manuas

20th September 2004 Tony Phillips 0

Manaus, Amazonas; but all was not well in my world. I started to experience what I first thought was severe indigestion. By 4 A.M. back in my not-so-posh hotel my temperature reached 102 degrees Fahrenheit and I relented. Waking my […]

Gian AntEater

Roraima, British Guyana and Chávez in Manaus

15th September 2004 Tony Phillips 0

Manaus had been chosen for this celebration because of its proximity to Venezuela. The Amazon poses a formidable barrier to land transportation in the north of Brazil; it may never be bridged. However one working road, BR-174, connects Manaus with […]

Aug 8th 2004 Caracas

Recall referendum: all over Bar the shouting

15th August 2004 Tony Phillips 0

Accusing the national election board (CNE by its Spanish initials) of “Gigantic Fraud,” opposition leaders this morning called for the population to protest the results in the streets! After an exhausting day of long voting lines in the heat, and […]

Chavez supporter

Recall Referendum Countdown

14th August 2004 Tony Phillips 0

Outside my small apartment in downtown Caracas, the countdown continues to the 15th. of August, Venezuela’s, and possibly the world’s, first presidential recall referendum. The Venezuelan opposition forces are fragmented into various parties with one aim to oust Chavez. One […]

Gran Melia Hotel Caracas

Venezuela votes with its feet

8th August 2004 Tony Phillips 0

With one week until the recall referendum on August 15th, the people and the pollsters have taken to the streets of Venezuela. Today, Sunday, marches were held in cities and towns all over Venezuela. The biggest demonstrations were in the […]

Driving Andes in Venezuela

Driving Rivers in the Venezuelan Andes

4th July 2004 Tony Phillips 0

The town of Biscucuy is quiet this morning, the wind still. There are many levels of cloud but they move slowly over the steep Andean foothills that surround us. Touching the lowest peaks the rain-bearing clouds move quietly northward toward […]

Flying Fish & Chips

29th June 2004 Tony Phillips 1

The islands of Trinidad & Tobago (T&T) form a small republic just off the Venezuelan Coast at the bottom of the Lesser Antilles, an Island Archipelago arcing north-south through the Caribbean from just below Cuba in the north to the […]

Mind The (Darien) Gap

15th June 2004 Tony Phillips 0

There is no way to drive from Central America to South America because the Darién jungle separates the southern tip of the Panamanian isthmus from Northern Colombia and no road passes through. Though insignificant when compared with the tens of […]

Chavez Castro

Caracas Marches

6th June 2004 Tony Phillips 1

Updated (postscript below: 2004/6/28) The results came back from the voting commission and the independent observers Thursday as promised. Over 2,500,000 signatures were shown to be valid. That number is sufficient to launch the recall referendum, a vote planned for […]

Chavez and the Sheikhs

Tense Week in Caracas

2nd June 2004 Tony Phillips 0

It is Wednesday and all is quiet on the Western front; the Eastern front is quite another matter. Caracas, the divided city, is in a state of suspended animation; the silence eerie, the tension tangible. The black market still functions […]