Bush gang shows their contempt for democracy again. How to win friends and influence people. *************** Chavez Calls Bush '*******' as Foes Fight Troops By REUTERS Published: February 29, 2004 Filed at 8:40 p.m. ET CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez called President Bush an ``*******'' on Sunday for meddling, and vowed never to quit office like his Haitian counterpart as troops battled with opposition protesters demanding a recall referendum against him. Chavez, who often says the U.S. is backing opposition efforts to topple his leftist government, accused Bush of heeding advice from ``imperialist'' aides to support a brief 2002 coup against him. ``He was an ******* to believe them,'' Chavez roared at a huge rally of supporters in Caracas. The Venezuelan leader's comments came as fresh violence broke out on the streets of the capital, where National Guard troops clashed with opposition protesters pressing for a vote to end his five-year rule. Military helicopters roared in low runs overhead as soldiers fired tear gas and plastic bullets to repel several hundred opposition demonstrators who threw stones and set up burning barricades in eastern Caracas late into the night. Troops and opposition activists also skirmished in other cities. ``We call on the country to continue with peaceful resistance,'' opposition leader Enrique Mendoza said. ``This fight will last as long as necessary.'' A soldier and a cameraman were shot and injured during the clashes and an opposition protester was wounded in the head by gunmen firing from motorbikes, witnesses and officials said. Electoral authorities, citing the need to preserve peace in the country, said they were postponing until Monday the preliminary results of their verification of the opposition's petition for a recall vote. One demonstrator carried a banner reading: ``Bye bye Aristide, Chavez you're next,'' referring to Haiti's leader Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who fled into exile on Sunday in the face of an armed rebellion. TENSIONS AHEAD OF POLL RULING But the firebrand populist vowed to defeat any attempt to unseat him and threatened to cut off oil supplies to the United States from the world's No. 5 crude oil exporter should Washington try an invasion or trade sanctions. ``Venezuela is not Haiti and Chavez is not Aristide,'' he said. Tens of thousands of Chavez supporters marched earlier on Sunday to protest what they condemned as U.S. meddling in Venezuelan affairs. The State Department routinely dismisses the president's accusations. The referendum campaign is the latest political fight for Chavez, who survived the short-lived 2002 coup and a strike last year by opponents who fear his self-styled ``revolution'' is slowly turning Venezuela into a Cuban-style communist state. Since his first election in 1998, the president has vowed to improve the lives of the impoverished who see little of the country's oil wealth. But his opponents say he has failed and has instead pushed the country into economic ruin. Political tensions have flared again recently as setbacks delayed a ruling by the National Electoral Council on whether to allow the recall referendum to go forward. Two protesters were shot and killed on Friday during an opposition march. The Organization of American States (OAS) and the Carter Center, which are observing the referendum process, appealed for calm on Sunday ahead of the council decision. Electoral authorities said they would make a preliminary ruling Monday on whether the opposition collected the minimum 2.4 million valid signatures required for a vote. The opposition says it handed over 3.4 million signatures. Opposition leaders accuse pro-government officials in the electoral council of trying to block the poll by disqualifying many valid signatures. Chavez says his opponents' petition is riddled with forgeries. link
While I'm normally ready to jump on all things anti bush, Chavez himself is quite the ******* and is in no way a friend to democracy from what I've read.
<a HREF="http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-3798959,00.html">Tear Gas Fired at Protestors in Venezuela</a> <i>........Manuel Cova, head of the Venezuelan Labor Confederation, and other opposition leaders said the protests would continue. Chavez insists an opposition petition for a recall referendum - being scrutinized by elections officials - is ridden with fraud. Elections officials have suggested they may toss out the petition for technical reasons. <b> The Organization of American States, the European Union and the U.S.-based Carter Center have urged Venezuela to ignore technical glitches in favor of voters' apparent intent.</b> Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, once considered a close ally of Chavez, urged Chavez recently to respect the will of voters. Chavez was elected in 1998 and re-elected in 2000 to a six-year term........</i>
Triple-A. Bush is American League. A real professional. (Chavez is bad news... Bush is such an easy target, though)
fine...lets just go back to being isolationists. the world was much better off when we weren't involved.
Even during our period of pre-WW2 isolationism, South America has always been within our sphere of influence.... I'm not sure what to think of this issue. The US did back a botch 2 day coup last year, but the elections were rigged. I'm getting weary of another land grab for OPEC oil and whether it will further the interests of the Venezuelan people more than a corrupt Castro loving politician.
It is the same ol same ol in Latin America. A liberal or leftist gets in. democratically. He wants to actually tax the rich a very little bit or keep 14 families from owning all the land in a peasant society. The local rich are pissed. They protest democratically. They also do their usual thing. They boycott the country, move even more of their money than usual to Geneva or NYC. They talk to their fraternity bros at Skull and Bones and Chicago for help. They claim the democratically elected president is a Communist or an "imminent danger" or somesuch. They get US educated Chalabi like figures to mislead the US Congress and public. The IMF and Word Bank chip in by withholding help or demanding policies that at the very least keep the new democratic governbment from feeding the people which will feed their democratic support among the population majority. Eventually they might get into the CIA destabilization, probably death squads. They start with Institute for Democracy type funded demonstrations and payments to the opposition and work up the scale.. Any step by the government that doesn't meet the standards of American politics, (which by the way I am certainly grateful for ) is massively publicized by the organs of the right, the National Review, etc. the NYT goes along largely. The tactics of the rich opposition don't get the same treatment. . Sometimes the Times presents it all as just a bunch of Latin Americans and both sides are equally bad. Note I'm not condemning human rights violations by the democratically elected president, but the onus should be on the opposition to play fair and be good losers, first. The reaction of the rich in Latin America in their very few losses in a way mirrors the bad behavior of the right wing rich here when Clinton won, but the game is played rougher and they can call on the right wing rich here to fund some tactics that thankfully we don't have yet here in this country. The whole scheme is backed up to a certain extent by contented middle class conservatives in the US. They are contented because they have a few simple economic theories learned in business school that purport to show why any attempt to feed the poor Latin Americans will lead to less wealth in the long run. Their reaction to the poor in Latin America is similar to that of the poor in the USA. The contented tend to view them as being just middle class raised hippies on the Drag in Austin who have chosen their lifestyle-- or perhaps all craxzy or those who are just sinful and not exercising "personal responsibility".
You have no idea what you are talking about. Absolutely no idea. I was in Venezuela last year and spoke to the people. It's not only the "rich" who are pissed off. Everybody with an ounce of education and understanding of what is going on detests Chavez. The people who demonstrated for him actually got paid to do so. The economy in Venezuela is going down the drain, and that is Chavez' fault to a large extent. The elite of the country, the people who actually have the education to improve the state of the economy, are leaving, because of Chavez. I really hope he will be out of power soon. Can't believe you are quoting THAT guy to criticize Bush.
Can't you say that about every one of his posts? I can as it is glynch that we are talking about here - someone who from reading his stuff here (or trying) has to be one of the most miserable persons around.
if tyranical thugs like Aristide and Chavez are calling you names, you must be doing something right. Why do the liberals hate latin american democracy?
Hundreds of thousands of people have been tortured and killed by U.S. backed regimes in Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Honduras, etc. Do you remember the the U.S. nuns that were raped and murdered in El Salvador and the excuses the Reagan administration tried to make for the soldiers who did this? Do you remember the two, not one, but two, Catholic Archbishops in El Salvador who were assassinated for speaking up against human rights abuses, by the government we were backing? It was liberals in the U.S. who fought to try and change our foreign policy in Latin America. So please stop talking out of your @ss.
What typical, unalulterated BS. (for more unalduterated BS, courtesy of Alan Greenspan, seen today's Paul Krugman column from the New York Times. Krugman lays out Greenspan's BS in depressing detail) The US has a history, a long, sordid history, of propping up and supporting right-wing dictatorships that brutalized their people. We shouldn't have done that in places like Chilie and we shouldn't support a left-wing version of same in Chavez. Sometimes the labels don't fit, basso.
glynch where the f*** did you come up with this s***!!!! do you know anything about south american politics or only what other people tell you or what you see in the movies. you have your right to your own opinion but you make about as much sense as shrub talking about the poor or needy in this country.
The US does has a long, horrid history of meddling that needs to END. But we also cannot just assume, as some apparently do, that the US and our conservative middle class is behind every horrible ruler's troubles. And if it is apparent that a neighbor is in turmoil that is not of our making, and many civilians will likely be killed, do we step in at the last moment to help nature take it's course (i.e. end the ruler's term) and also avert a crisis? http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2002/03/12/MN110115.DTL Venezuelans convinced Chavez is doomed Resignation or ouster possible as support ebbs Phil Gunson, Chronicle Foreign Service Tuesday, March 12, 2002 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Caracas, Venezuela -- In bars and restaurants these days, the debate among Venezuelans is no longer whether or not populist President Hugo Chavez will finish his term, but when he will go and how. "At the rate of decline, it is hard to see him staying in power for more than 90 (more) days," said Eric Ekvall, a U.S. corporate consultant, who has lived for some two decades in Venezuela. The 3-year-old administration of the once seemingly invincible Chavez faces not only a precipitous drop in popularity -- in some polls lower than 30 percent -- but a severe crisis of governance and economic stagnation. In recent weeks, thousands of protesters from organized labor and the political opposition have taken to the streets to yell "Chavez, go now!" while several senior military officers have made impassioned public pleas for him to change course or stand down before his term ends in 2007. The church, the media and business organizations are solidly in the opposition camp, and -- in the latest blow -- senior managers of the state oil company, Petroleos de Venezuela, or PDVSA, publicly complained last week after Chavez imposed a new board of directors and a new chairman, Gaston Parra. Parra is a longtime critic of PDVSA's relative autonomy and believes the company should be under the firm control of the Energy Ministry. CHAVEZ BLAMES THE RICH Chavez argues that the protests in this oil-reliant nation of 24 million inhabitants are led by the economic elite who have been against him all along for his pledges to govern on behalf of the poor. Chavez won a landslide victory in 1998 on promises of a "peaceful revolution" of radical social reforms. With his slumping popularity in mind, the embattled president announced a list of spending programs last week aimed at reducing unemployment and easing poverty. They include heavy state outlays for housing and further financing for small businesses, social and environmental projects. Angel Alvarez, director of the political studies institute at the Central University in Caracas, says Chavez has failed to deliver on his promises to improve living conditions and end corruption, and has no clear plan how to do so. "Chavez has shown no ability to maintain stable alliances and lacks an adequate policy toward the opposition," Alvarez said. Chavez, for example, won't talk to the powerful Confederation of Venezuelan Workers labor syndicate, whose leaders he says are corrupt and dominated by traditional parties. As a result, he refuses to negotiate the annual renewal of collective contracts, holding up agreed salaries and working conditions for hundreds of thousands of union members. PDVSA managers publicly accused Chavez of pushing the company "to the edge of operational and financial collapse" by asking them to maximize payments to the government to fund his revolution rather than maximize profits. His reply: "If they don't like it, let them go and get jobs at Shell or BP (British Petroleum)." MILITARY ASKED TO AID POOR Analysts say most of Chavez's critics are middle-class and include the bulk of the armed forces. Venezuela's 100,000-member military had been an important pillar of support for the former army lieutenant-colonel. Many officers are angry that the government has asked the military to perform such social work as repairing schools and hospitals and providing dental treatment and haircuts for the poor. "I hung up my uniform because the concept of the armed forces I was taught is no longer the one being applied," said Gen. Guaicaipuro Lameda, who was sacked by Chavez as head of PDVSA and recently resigned his commission. Last month, four uniformed officers, including a captain in the national guard, a rear admiral and an air force general, called on the 47-year-old president to resign. Senior officers are "under severe pressure from lower ranks frustrated at the lack of impact that peaceful dissent has had," said a source close to military dissidents. His implication was that a coup could not be ruled out. The political opposition, however, remains relatively weak and divided. Chavez has split society into two opposing and seemingly irreconcilable camps - - the haves and have-nots. This process, fueled by his relentless and extensive use of radio and television broadcasts and the insults he flings at his opponents, took on fresh momentum with the introduction last November of 49 "revolutionary" decrees. The package of laws -- affecting everything from land rights to fisheries to the oil industry -- provoked an unprecedented joint business and labor stoppage that paralyzed nearly all economic activity on Dec. 10. A Jan. 23 demonstration brought 200,000 anti-Chavez protesters into the streets of Caracas. The protests showed the potential strength of the still fragmented opposition. To be sure, Chavez still is popular with his bedrock supporters -- the poor. Most of his loyal fans are street vendors, the unemployed, the rural poor and others marginalized by the discredited two-party system that Chavez de- feated three years ago. In recent counterdemonstrations, the die-hard Chavistas can be heard shouting: "They shall not return!" But political analyst Alvarez says there is a growing consensus among experts that Chavez is likely to be forced to resign by referendum or impeachment, "unless the president performs an unforeseen U-turn." Chavez sucks w/o our help, and this loser's view of Bush is irrelevant.
This is silly, but I'll comment anyway...Chavez is the biggest a-hole ever and the way he treats his country/people is ridiculous...
http://www.ratical.com/ratville/CAH/RRiraqWar.html Interestingly, according to an article by Michael Ruppert, Venezuelan's ambassador Francisco Mieres-Lopez apparently floated the idea of switching to the euro approximately one year before the failed coup attempt. Furthermore, there is some evidence that the U.S. is still active in its attempts to overthrow the democratically elected Chavez administration. In December 2002 a Uruguayan government official exposed the ongoing covert CIA operations in Venezuela: "Uruguayan EP-FA congressman Jose Nayardi says he has information that far-reaching plan have been put into place by the CIA and other North American intelligence agencies to overthrow Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez Frias within the next 72 hours. . . . Nayardi says he has received copies of top-secret communications between the Bush administration in Washington and the government of Uruguay requesting the latter's cooperation to support white collar executives and trade union activists to `break down levels of intransigence within the Chavez Frias administration.'" [17] Venezuela is the fourth largest producer of oil, and the corporate elites whose political power runs unfettered in the Bush/Cheney oligarchy appear interested in privatizing Venezuela's oil industry. Furthermore, the establishment might be concerned that Chavez's `barter deals' with 12 Latin American countries and Cuba are effectively cutting the U.S. dollar out of the vital oil transaction currency cycle. Commodities are being traded among these countries in exchange for Venezuela's oil, thereby reducing reliance on fiat dollars. If these unique oil transactions proliferate, they could create more devaluation pressure on the dollar by removing it from its crucial `petro-recycling' role. Continuing attempts to remove Hugo Chavez appear likely.
