BARCELONA, Venezuela - President Hugo Chavez's government took over Venezuela's last privately run oil fields Tuesday, intensifying a power struggle with international companies over the world's largest known single petroleum deposit.

Newly bought Russian-made fighter jets streaked through the sky as Chavez shouted "Down with the U.S. empire!" to thousands of red-clad oil workers, calling the state takeover a historic victory for Venezuela after years of U.S.-backed corporate exploitation.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070501/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/venezuela_oil_takeover;_ylt=A0SOwmq2IThGDjgB2xPuOrgF

CARACAS --There wasn't one particular event that made Arturo Araque decide to leave Venezuela with his wife and two children. It was an accumulation of President Hugo Chávez's politics, increasing crime and growing economic insecurity.

''My sense is that we're trapped with this man in power,'' Araque told The Miami Herald. ``I doubt that Venezuela will have another government anytime soon.''

http://www.miamiherald.com/583/story/92081.html