Global Voices Online

Simón Bécquer from the Alternative Reality blog in his post The Converse Shoes of the Socialist Youth [es] shows us the images for the new campaign for Venezuela's Socialist Youth, in which young people are asked to step into socialist shoes. However, these shoes, modelled and shown by President Chávez himself are oddly familiar: they are a red knock-off of the popular US brand Converse Chuck Taylor All Stars, with the PSUV logo instead of the traditional red and blue star. The author wonders where these ironic and “original”  Venezuelan shoes could  be purchased.

Luis Carlos Díaz of Periodismo de Paz [es] writes about the recent workshop of the use of web 2.0 in the community of Carabobo, Venezuela. Here, students learned the use of Google maps, Wikipedia and other participatory media tools.

arubagirl blogs about everything from Sarah Palin to Hugo Chavez' expulsion of the US Ambassador to Venezuela.

Luis Carlos Díaz of Periodismo de Paz [es] writes about the lack of activity from the student movement in Venezuela, but that they have returned to make statements regarding the political situation in the country.

RomRod [es] writes that Venezuela is a petroleum state, yet he does not have gas in order to cook. The cost of gas is inexpensive, but it is difficult to obtain.

Cuban blogger Babalu thinks that the latest decrees by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez sound awfully familiar…

Cuban bloggers Babalu and Ninety miles away…in another country focus on U.S. Republican senator Arlen Specter's upcoming Latin American trip, during which he hopes to meet with both Raul Castro and Hugo Chavez: “The Cuban government has made clear that the only thing it is interested in is the unilateral lifting of the embargo…as for the overtures some purport to have seen in regime pronouncements, I fear that they are but olive branches of the mind.”

Notes From The Margin is monitoring the “strident” tone of an article in the Venezuelan media which deals with the South American country's claim of Barbados’ waters: “Barbados has little reason to take on Venezuela’s claims other than Venezuela has the means to aggressively enforce its claims on the area by force of arms. Hopefully this will not go that far.”

LJ community Politika v Rossii (RUS) conducts a survey on whether Russia should pick up on an offer by Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez to build military bases in Venezuela. So far, the results are that some 70% of respondents have been positive to the idea.