Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez says Cuban President Fidel Castro has almost fully recovered from last July's intestinal surgery.

Cuban state television says Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has made a surprise visit to Cuba to meet with his friend and ally, Cuban leader Fidel Castro.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice expressed concern about press freedom in Venezuela after the closing of the nation's largest private television station. In Panama City, VOA's Brian Wagner reports Rice asked leaders of the Organization of American States to send a team to Venezuela to study the situation.

The U.S. State Department has issued a travel warning to Americans planning trips to Venezuela, urging them to avoid this week's demonstrations against the forced closure of a popular television network.

Venezuela's replacement of a popular opposition television station with a new state-backed network drew fierce criticism that President Hugo Chavez is curtailing democratic freedoms.

The Venezuelan Supreme Court has ordered a private television station to surrender its transmission equipment to the government, which is shutting the station down.

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte said Wednesday the populist economic policies of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez are not sustainable and eventually will fail. Negroponte begins a four-nation Latin American trip next week. VOA's David Gollust reports from the State Department.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez says he will pull his country out of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. Mr. Chavez accused the two Washington-based lenders Sunday of being tools of what he calls American "imperialism."

Chile's President Michelle Bachelet and Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez have agreed to ease political tensions between their countries. After talks in Caracas Wednesday, Ms. Bachelet said her country wants the best possible relations with Venezuela, while Mr. Chavez stressed the need for the two sides to resolve their differences.

Brazil defended its ethanol agreement with the United States despite efforts by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to undermine the deal using his country's vast reserves of oil and natural gas.