chavez dont play
tripledouble
7,636 Posts
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4544390.stmd.c.'s been focused on middle east and they losing their grip on latin america.i'm leary of chavez' autocratic tendencies, but he is doing some huge gutsy things down there. we might be about to see south america finally shrug off yanqui influence. i'll drink to a future of real populist governments (ojala)-t
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is that coke on his head?
sayin'. that's the REAL snowman right there.
i find it very hard not to sympathize with whats happening in venezuela, but still i feel its important to read criticism as well.
chavezis a bit heavy handed and a lot of the change seems to be top down, but dude is pretty masterful with playing the game. offering cheap gas to poor new york city/chicago residents??? genius
If I could rain on the parade for a second. Chavez is a Fidel style autocrat and no serious liberal should overlook those flaws. In 2005 he enacted new media laws that made it illegal to broadcast news that would interfere with the ecucation of Venezuela's children; he has prosecuted civil society leaders who accepted money from National Endowment for Democracy grants on charges of treason; he nationalized the oil company in 2002 leading to naitonal strikes, which he put down with brute force. If you worry about Bush tapping the phones of some 7,000 al-qaeda linked dirty numbers in the states (and by the way I do), then you should check out the surveillance Chavez has done on his political opposition since the attempted coup a few years back. Unlike in America, this warrantless surveillance has not only been able to be used in courts, but has been the pretext for arrests. In anticipation of the 2004 referendum, Chavez created a nationalized paramilitary which distributes all of the social aid so many lefties celebrate. But guess what, if you are not a member of the ruling party, no cheese for you.
Despite all of his anti-colonial posturing, Hugo Chavez has done more for big oil than the regime he replaced. Not only has the Venezuelan leader auctioned off large natural gas blocks to the likes of BP and Conoco, but he has started gas and oil exploration in areas that were before off limits because of the impact they would have on native tribes. So good for the oil companies is Hugo Chavez, that Jack Kemp has personally lobbied Congress to drop the meager NED democracy grants whose recipients will likely go to jail. In his latest gambit, he has hired Iranian media advisers to help him launch a new satellite station throughout Latin America.
There is a temptation on both sides of the political spectrum to valorize nasty police states for ideological reasons. Reagan's supporters lied to themselves and the world about the benevolence of the Contras and UNITA in Angola, not to mention the pure and simple intentions of the Afghan Mujahadin. The left turned a blind eye to Stalin in 1940s and could not bring themselves to criticize the Khmer Rouge until most of the killing was done. I'm not saying Chavez is Saddam, but seriously he is turning Venezuela, a country with a long history of democratic politics, into a police state.
But the email list is great for pro-venezuelan news articles which are sometimes tough to come across.
It's amazing how much credentials you get when you genuinly try to help people.
If America wasn't isolated, filled with capital, and overflowing with natural resources we wouldn't be talking about it...
definitely good to have both sides of things...thanks vitamin.
from what ive read and been told by venesolanos...chavez is doing more than anyone has ever done for the country's poor...but it is not all been done effectively and it has been doled out very politically. big surprise there...its politics.
pre-coup, chavez tolerated a hell of a lot of abuse, slander and fomentation aon th epart of the golpistas without censoring them at all. since the coup, when most enemies of chavez exposed themselves, he has cut their influence from military and government. ive also read that he has used the list of participants as a means of blackballing them. he's consolidating power through some strong arm tactics and everything the opposition does at this point just backfires.
i have read many criticisms and have never seen mention of paramilitary squads. id be very interested in reading evidence of his giveaways to oil companies.
dude is a caudillo and is ruling like one. hopefully he will give up power soon and not try to cement himself into a populists vs. usa foxhole like fidel. The us just plays into this though (in castro's case) and like i alluded to, chavez oratory and "stunts" (gas for nyc) are masterful as far as shoring up his base of support. doesnt bush do the same? it is refreshing and inspiring for me that chavez actively professes to use resources for venzuelans and not american companies. i'm cautiously supportive
We've abandoned every country in Latin America politically except for Venezuela--it's not pointless to note how far America will go to secure existing resources rather than develop the technology needed to makes these countries financial and political importance obsolete.