Chavez faces critics at home and abroad

While Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez says he is recovering well from a bout of cancer, netizens are carefully speaking out against what they say is a dictatorship hallmarked by corruption, disastrous economic policy, and aggressive suppression of citizens’ rights.

Using the Twitter hashtag #cosasProhibidasEnVenezuela (“Things Prohibited in Venezuela”), activists are criticising Chavez and his current administration, citing corruption and neglect to deliver on promises of social reform.

Critics find evidence of ongoing corruption in a recent move by the Chavez administration to bring government cash and gold from overseas accounts directly into Venezuela’s state banks. They say this move would make it easier for corrupt officials to siphon off funds. One former diplomat has called the bank shuffle a “slow-motion bank heist by a government known for its corruption.”

Chavez has said that he is trying to protect the country’s capital from market fluctuations abroad. His supporters point to the many improvements under his presidency, including a popular “one laptop per child” program the government began in 2009. The program plans to distribute 3 million free laptops to Venezuelan school children by 2012.

Despite the opposition, Chavez has given no hints that he intends to step aside, and elections are scheduled for late 2012.

These are some of the social media elements we've been following at The Stream.