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As Nepal struggles to revive from the catastrophe caused by the April 25 earthquake that registered 7.8 on the Moment Magnitude Scale and its aftershocks, Latin America's socialist governments are busy soothing the wounds of the Nepalese people. The orange-coloured team of Venezuelan aid workers and white-coloured medical team from Cuba have brought to the people of Nepal the spirit of Argentine-born Cuban revolutionary Che Guevara and Venezuela's late revolutionary president Hugo Chavez.

The Nepal Venezuela Solidarity Network organised a condolence ceremony at Maitighar Mandala, Kathmandu, on March 6 to mark the death of the Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez. Fifty-eight candles were lit and 58 seconds of silent mourning was observed.

Jed Brandt, a member of US Kasama Project, is in Katmandu reporting on the ongoing struggle between Nepal’s poor majority, led by the Unified Communist Party of Nepal-Maoists (UCPN-M), and the US and Indian-backed elite that removed the UCPN-M-led government last year.

On May 1 in Kathmandu, in a dramatic show of force by Nepal’s Maoists to demand a return to civilian rule and a democratic process of creating a new, pro-people constitution. With the government refusing popular demands for its resignation, an indefinite general strike has been called from May 2 in what the Maoists are calling a “final push” to resolve the struggle for power between the poor majority and Nepal’s elite.

With the Maoists no longer heading up the government, the Nepalese elites have collectively let out a sigh of relief.

Nepal’s political stalemate of sorts continues.

Less than two weeks after the Unified Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (UCPN-M) won by-elections in six constituencies across Nepal, it is facing fresh resistance by the old elite.

For a country among the world’s poorest, Nepal has some impressive architecture.

On March 3, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), which fought a 10-year war against the Nepalese monarchy, started recruiting new soldiers to fill vacancies.