What is the hottest global market so far in 2012? How about socialist Venezuela — where stocks rose 99 percent between Jan. 1 and this week. That might seem like an improbable surge in a country wracked by double-digit inflation, shortages of water, power and staple foods, and a dearth of investment — not to mention one of the world’s highest murder rates. But Venezuela’s markets are being moved by a strange but powerful force: the absence of reliable information about the health of President Hugo Chavez — and the growing speculation that his condition is rapidly deteriorating.
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