President Hugo Chavez

President Hugo Chavez said Cuba's ailing former president is alive and active -- dismissing rumors that Fidel Castro is gravely ill or dead. Concerns over Castro's health have grown since he sent a terse, one-line message to the Cuban people Jan. 1, his revolution's 50th anniversary. Chavez said last week that it was unlikely Castro would be seen in public again.

President Hugo Chavez threatened to imprison the popular governor of Venezuela's western Zulia state for allegedly plotting to kill him. Chavez leveled the accusation against Manuel Rosales -- one of Venezuela's four opposition governors -- just weeks before Nov. 23 gubernatorial and municipal elections. Rosales, the two-time governor of Zulia, is running for mayor of Maracaibo, Venezuela's second-largest city. He ran against Chavez for the presidency in 2006, but Chavez handily defeated him.

President Hugo Chavez has made a show-business appearance singing on a new compilation of revolutionary songs released by his United Socialist Party of Venezuela. Chavez, who is prone to belting out folk songs during his frequent TV appearances, sings an ode to a 19th century rebel leader on the album, "Battle Music," released to coincide with the last weeks of campaigning to elect governors and mayors. His familiar baritone rolls over a traditional harp-led joropo backing in the song, which praises the exploits of Maisanta, a rebel from whom Chavez says he is descended.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad shored up opposition to a U.S. drive to curb his country's nuclear program as he began a two-day visit to Venezuela. Ahmadinejad's first trip to the South American nation highlighted Iran's backing for the fellow OPEC country's bid for a U.N. Security Council seat that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez would use to challenge Washington's campaign for international sanctions against Tehran. Chavez cast the binational friendship as "two revolutions ...

THE L.A. Times says there is more to Venezuela than "Bush-bashing" [Wildlife and Wild Night Life," Postcard From Venezuela, Aug. 20]. I don't care what President Hugo Chavez thinks of President Bush, but I do care that he also bashes my country, America. Because Chavez does not like me, I will spend my travel dollars somewhere other than Venezuela. MARVIN H. KLAPMAN Northridge

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said the United States was planning to assassinate him, but offered no evidence to support his allegation. "I know I am condemned.... I'm sure in Washington they are planning my death," Chavez said in his regular Sunday broadcast. "If anything happens to me, you can forget about Venezuela's oil, Mr. Bush." Venezuela is a top oil supplier to the U.S. Washington has often criticized Chavez's leftist government.