Communist won over Wall Street

TEODORO Petkoff, a giant of Venezuela’s politics, who led a band of communist guerrillas before becoming a critic of socialist president Hugo Chavez, has died.

Despite the communism of his youth, he won the praise of Wall Street in a top government post and then launched a newspaper that fearlessly attacked Mr Chavez.

Mr Petkoff, who died after a long illness at the age of 86, was celebrated as a critical thinker who maintained his political independence within an opposition movement weakened by cronyism and infighting.