Today Robert Amsterdam had the following opinion article published in the Washington Post.  To read more about the Russia-Venezuela relationship, click here, here, and here.  To read more about Eligio Cedeño, click here.

Partners In Crime
Why Lawlessness Works For Chávez and Putin

By Robert R. Amsterdam
Thursday, January 22, 2009; A17

The administrations of Hugo Chávez in Venezuela and Vladimir Putin in Russia are enjoying a robust, burgeoning friendship. Though they are separated by 6,000 miles, the two leaders’ bond is sealed not only by their similar tastes for repressive authoritarianism, oil expropriations and large arms deals but also by parallel trends of increasing violence and murder on the streets of their cities.