Venezuelan leader Hugo Chávez has tried for 10 months to conceal the fact that he is losing his bout with cancer, determined to appear in command of his revolutionary regime and the nation's future. So why isn't anyone outside Venezuela paying attention?

What does China stand to lose when Chávez dies, and what will Beijing do to preserve its sweetheart oil deals with Venezuela? Join a panel discussion on this timely and significant topic.

Followers of cancer-stricken strongman Hugo Chávez are stunned after nearly 3 million Venezuelans voted Sunday to select a unity candidate to compete in presidential elections scheduled for October. If the opposition has any real hope of defeating Chavismo, they will have to be prepared for dirty tricks, provocations, and even a narco-coup in the months ahead.

Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chávez told a gathering of regional heads of government in Caracas on Saturday that, “Roger Noriega wants me to die.” That’s not quite true. Even less true is Chávez’s unbelievable assertion that four rounds of chemotherapy left him “without a single carcinogenic cell” in his body.

Diplomats must move quietly but quickly to coordinate a regional response to Chávez’s death that will press for a genuine democratic transition, and not the succession Chavistas have in mind.

The Venezuelan opposition must begin to prepare for a future without Hugo Chávez. The same is true for the U.S.government, which has been all but ignoring Venezuela for the last five years.

Venezuelans may have to wait to sift through the rubble of the Chavez regime before they get a clear explanation for Mr. Chavez's recent reckless decisions. In the meantime, regardless of whether Mr. Chavez knows he is dying sooner or hopes he is dying later, it is apparent that he doesn't give a damn about the harm he is doing to the Venezuelan people or the mess he will leave behind.

U.S. policymakers must kick-start a Latin America policy to be prepared to clean up the toxic waste left by 14 years of Chávez's anti-American activism.