Chavez’s whistle-stop world tour

In the course of the past six weeks, Venezuela’s left-wing President Hugo Chavez has been on a dizzying round of travel, taking in a dozen countries.

His interest in international players like Russia and China may seem obvious, but Mr Chavez also found time to call in on minnows like Benin and Angola.

We asked Larry Birns, director of the Washington-based think-tank Council on Hemispheric Affairs (COHA), to assess his itinerary.
BBC