Venezuela’s political situation was kept stable in 2008. The United Socialist Party of Venezuela was born，local elections were carried out smoothly in November and results showed that the opposition was an increasing challenge to Chavez’s government. At the end of the year，Chavez tried again to amend the constitutional limit on presidential terms. The country’s economy kept growing although at a slower pace. Inflationary pressure haunted Venezuela throughout the year. Massive nationalization was realized among industries like cement，iron and steel，mining and finance. While dropping oil price affected the economy negatively，poverty reduction made remarkable advances reflected by constantly declining poverty and indigence rates. New “social mission” was underway；police forces were integrated by stronger efforts of the government to reinforce the fighting against crimes. During the year，Venezuela actively promoted regional cooperation by pushing forward the ALBA，the building-up of alternative mechanisms such as the Bank of the South. Bilateral ties with Russia were reinforced while relations with the US are permeated with contradictions.