Venezuela has been, without a doubt, my greatest professional and personal challenge," writes Maria Isabel Sachez, who has just finished a 3.5 year posting as AFP bureau chief in Caracas.

"It is a country where calm is suspect and chaos is the norm. This is a country of constant political rhetoric, day and night," she writes.

That and the "constant fear that I'd be stalked by a guy on a motorbike who would point a gun at me to steal my cell phone."

Read here: http://u.afp.com/JYXk

www.handsoffvenezuela.org