Chavez?? - what do you think of venezuelas president.

[Kingnothing]

I am quiete interested in many of the reforms Chavez has taken upon, both politcally and ecnomically. Waht do you guys think?

[alphaq]

I think he started out promising but Im afraid hes been buckling under US and local media pressure. He also seems to be somewhat anti-union, as the passed a law which gave him the right to declare any strike that he deemed threatening to the national economy as illegal. He also passed that law where companies had the right to fire pregnant women without notice as long as the recieved severance. He has performed some promising actions such as his land/agrarian reform bill, speaking out against the US (he called the Afganistan campaign "fighting terror with terror" ) and he is vocaly anti-neoliberal. All in all i guess hes one of the best we have there in South America (as far as socialist/socialist programs go) but with mounting US and local pressure im not entirely certain he'll last.

(Edited by alphaq at 3:28 am on April 5, 2002)

[Kingnothing]

I agree with you... in everything you said except for that about him calling illegal a strike. He did do that, but it wasn´t an anti worker manouver it was an anti capitalist. You see, the CTV which the the supposedely workers oragnization represnts only 12% of venezuelas workers and it is controlled by Accion Democratica, a neoliberal elitist party, and by Fedecamaras whcich is the league of top venezuelan industrialists. So, by calling the strike illegal he was stopping an anti worker movement (that he is a pro worker was clearly seen by the enourmous amount of venezuelan people especially lower class that gathered infront of the government house to show there support for chavez estimated at 1.5 million).

[alphaq]

By Adam Easton
BBC correspondent in Caracas

Venezuela's largest union federation has called a 24-hour general strike in a show of support for striking managers from the country's state oil company.

The Confederation of Venezuelan Workers will hold the nationwide work stoppage on Tuesday.

Oil workers from the state-owned PDVSA are on the third day of a partial strike which has already disrupted fuel and gas supplies in the world's fourth-largest oil exporter.

The union's decision marks the biggest challenge to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez since he came to power three years ago.

A general strike last December virtually paralysed the nation's economy.

Supplies hit

Union leader Carlos Ortega said the constant persecution of the country's workers by the government was sufficient reason to call the action.


Chavez: Not seen since strike began


He warned the 24-hour stoppage could be extended, depending on events on Tuesday.

The one million member union federation had been planning a general strike for later this month to call for higher public sector salaries. But the date was brought forward to coincide with the oil sector dispute.

Managers from PDVSA, marked the third day of their strike with demonstrations outside the company's buildings.

The oil strike was called to protest against the company's management board, which workers say President Chavez has filled with his supporters.

The progressive strike has shut down one of the company's refineries and affected fuel and gas supplies in the country.

Oil tankers are not being loaded, which may already have begun to affect the country's exports.

Falling popularity

This is a particular blow for the economy, as oil brings in almost half of the government's revenues.

The strike has also caused clashes between supporters and opponents of the government, culminating in the deaths of two oil workers last week.

If successful, the general strike will be a massive personal blow for Mr Chavez.

The president's popularity has plummeted in recent months following a successful nationwide strike last December.

Mr Chavez has not been seen in public since the oil strike began, and negotiations have broken down.

The government has taken a hard line against the oil workers so far. But this latest challenge may force them back to the table.

[Kingnothing]

Did now all that... i feel kind of stupid. Anyways, i think many of his politcal reforms have been very promisng and also he has built many shcools and hopsitals in rural venezuela.. but i do deslike his authoritarianism

[alphaq]

Chavez just resigned under enormous protests and the massive, paralyzing strike.

[Guest]

Chavez like so many promising leaders buckled to US and became a monkey.

We need to bring people back like Salavador Allende of Chile!

[Edelweiss]

http://www.indymedia.org/front.php3?articl...2&group=webcast (http://www.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=170082&group=webcast)
http://www.indymedia.org/front.php3?articl...8&group=webcast (http://www.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=170068&group=webcast)

If Chavez would have buckled to the USA that much the USA wouldn't have a reason to let the CIA support the coup! This is just one more example of the never ending criminal foreign policy of the USA in Latin America!

[Guest]

I was just about to write "could be possibly become the next Jacob Arbenz of Guatamala in 1954?"
Someone ironically who Che fought for.

[revolutionary spirit]

he's resigned now

[Kez]

They claimed he was gonna build a CUba Style Dictatorship, well, with so much money from Oil, it wudda been one amazing country, oh well

Whos taken his power now?

comrade kamo

[CheGuevara]

I saw something that said a business leader named Pedro Carmona was going to take his power. This whole thing stinks to high mother fucking heaven of the US.

[Edelweiss]

http://www.zmag.org/content/LatinAmerica/w...ilpertvenez.cfm (http://www.zmag.org/content/LatinAmerica/wilpertvenez.cfm)

[vox]

A note about Chavez and the unions, from the article at Z Magazine Malte linked:

"The conflict between Chavez and the old elite has recently come to a head. First, when Chavez passed a slew of 49 laws, which, among many other measures, were supposed to increase the government’s oil income and redistribute land. The chamber of commerce vehemently opposed these laws and decided to call for a general business strike on December 10.

"Venezuela’s labor union federation, the CTV, decided to join the strike, supposedly out of concern for the harm the laws did to the business sector and thus to employment in Venezuela.

"More likely, though, the CTV’s support of a general strike was in retaliation for Chavez having forced the unions to carry out new elections of the CTV’s leadership and for not recognizing its leadership, due to charges of fraud, when the old guard union leadership declared itself the winner of the election and refused to submit the official results and ballots to the government."

And a little more about the strike itself:

"Following a two weeks of protest and of labor slowdowns within PDVSA, mostly on the part of management, the labor federation leadership of the CTV, who all belong to the discredited old elite, decided to join the conflict in support of PDVSA’s management, arguing that it was acting in solidarity with PDVSA workers in its call for a day-long general strike.

"The chamber of commerce rapidly followed suit, seeing this as another opportunity to humiliate and perhaps topple Chavez, and supported the strike as well. Considering the first day a complete success, the CTV and the chamber of commerce have decided to extend the general strike another 24 hours. However, as PROVEA, Venezuela’s human rights agency has noted, even though Venezuela’s constitution guarantees the right to strike, the strike is completely illegal because it bypassed the legal requirements for democratic legitimation of such a strike."

vox


(Edited by vox at 7:04 am on April 13, 2002)

[Guest]

Why is there an overlaying assumption that this is the US' doing. Is it unfathomable to you people that the general populous of venezuela opposed chavez' rule. That he was a tyrant, and after these protests a murderer, who was destroying his country. Do you think that the people of venezuela are so enfeebled that they need the US and the CIA to liberate them from the clutches of chavez. They did this themselves, the people and the military, who should be praised for looking out for the interests of the general will.

[Dhul Fiqar]

Look, there was a plot afoot to overthrow his government by violent means, organizing an armed group of people to prevent such an event is completely normal under any circumstances.

Now, that he is suddenly under arrest for murder, just after he was removed by the same people that arrested him, strikes me as rather convenient for the new leaders, who by the way are all connected to big business and industry in varyingly overt ways.

Thirdly, the "militia" that tried to protect the legitimate government of their country would not have had to do so if the army had done it's job and left policy making to civilian institutions. Military dictatorship is something nobody would vote for, it's forced uppon a civilian population by the armed minority of corrupt soldiers who choose to disobey their constitution.

Things are rarely black or white, Chavez was no angel, but this new government will doubtlessly be no more free, fair or democratic than any other right-wing military dictatorship.

--- G. Raven

[kingbee]

i was wondering if it was cia planned, like the rest of samericas "vicious communist dictators". saw a pic of a guyholding a sign sayiing- "bush we are sorry, we want chavez out"- shows somes determinations for independance. the rest of samericas leaders have come together to denounce the coup- shows hes got friends in close proximity

[Kingnothing]

The man who will succeed him is a known leader of the empresarial elite of venezuela. Of course, he is a neoliberal and will very probably remove the Ley de tierras and other laws passed by Chavez that were very promising. Also, the new leader will probably bow to the USA and crack down heavily on the bolivarian movement. Elections are programmed for december 2002.

[CheGuevara]

Some BAD news out of the country is that the new government is arresting a lot of Chavez supporters, both those in the government and ordinary citizens.

Some GOOD news out of the country. It appears that there is a military rebellion AGAINST Carmona in the city of Maracay, where much of the Venezuelan army is located. Gunfire is also being reported throughout Caracas, mostly in the slums, where many Chavez supporters are located. Last time I heard, the Venezuelan army was still looking for 1,500 rifles taken from arsenals by Chavistas.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor...ge/venezuela_48 (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20020413/ap_wo_en_ge/venezuela_48)

[Kingnothing]

Where did you get the news about the military rebelion???? i´d really like to read it... thanx

[Kingnothing]

i was just re reading your post and saw where you got it from... sorry for the inconvenience...

[El Che]

The shit just fit the fan in Venezuela. For months now the army has been meassuring forces with Chavez, now I think they are arrested him and deposed his legitimate democratic goverment. Its too early to speculate over what the outcome will be, but anything else then freedom for Chavez and his return to power is an outrage, a subversion of democracy and a crime against the Venezuelan people.

[vox]

Published on Saturday, April 13, 2002 by Reuters

Venezuelan Slums Seethe at Chavez's Overthrow
by Jason Webb

CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - The sprawling slums of Venezuela's capital seethed with rage on Saturday at the military coup that toppled populist President Hugo Chavez as his political backers struggled to regroup and organize protests.

A wildly gesticulating group surrounded a Reuters crew at a market in the grimy working-class neighborhood of Petare, shouting that they would fight back.

"There's going to be a civil war here. The people are going to rise up," yelled Antonio Orellana, 65.

With the fiery former paratrooper in military custody, his supporters said they would try to take their seats in the National Assembly for a scheduled session on Monday even though the new military-backed interim government has decreed the parliament's abolition.

The armed forces said early on Friday morning that the democratically elected Chavez had resigned at their request after gunmen killed at least 11 unarmed demonstrators participating in a massive anti-government protest in Caracas the day before. Earlier reports had put the death toll at 15.

The interim government, backed by the armed forces and headed by 61-year-old businessman Pedro Carmona, read an announcement on Friday accusing Chavez of multiple violations of the constitution and saying he was responsible for the protesters' deaths.

ELECTIONS WITHIN A YEAR

The armed forces said they had not staged a coup, because they had been doing their duty by acting to protect the civilian population from a violent government.

The interim government said it would call elections for a new Congress and a new president within a year.

Chavez, who was re-elected with 60 percent of the vote in 2000 and had been due to serve until 2006, had about 35 percent support in the last opinion poll.

But discontent with him had risen steadily over the past year, with his critics accusing him of trying to turn Venezuela into a Cuban-style dictatorship.

The downfall of the 47-year-old former failed coup leader -- whose harsh rhetoric against the rich and the United States infuriated the wealthy and delighted many of the poor -- came after powerful state oil employees went on strike to protest his dismissal of petroleum executives.

"We say this is a coup d'etat and that it is a lie that Chavez has resigned," said Willian Lara, who had been president of the National Assembly, talking to Reuters by telephone from a hiding place. He said he feared for his safety and that he had narrowly escaped arrest.

U.S. SAYS THERE WAS NO COUP

There has been no word whether Chavez has been charged with a crime, but he was arrested and taken to a Caracas military base on Friday and has been kept incommunicado. Lara said he had since been transferred to the Caribbean island of La Orchila, but no military spokesman confirmed this.

The United States, which had long been irritated by Chavez's friendship with Cuba and worried about his control of the world's fourth-largest oil-exporting nation, has said that it does not consider his overthrow a coup. Instead it blamed his government for triggering its own downfall by ordering gunmen to fire on Thursday's protest.

Carmona met U.S. Ambassador Charles Shapiro on Saturday.

Venezuela is now a deeply divided country.

"Those who toppled him are thinking, decent people. It's the will of the people which was legitimized by the military action," said Adolfo Freites, a 49-year-old lawyer, speaking to Reuters in an elegant square in Caracas' upscale Altamira district, an anti-Chavez bastion.

But in the slums surrounding Caracas, spreading over dusty hillsides, Chavez is more of a hero than ever. He became famous in 1992 when he launched a failed military coup, accusing the then-government of President Carlos Andres Perez of corruption.

Local news media, which are passionately anti-Chavez, have largely ignored the reaction of Venezuela's poor majority.

"What's going to happen to us humble, poor people? President Chavez helped us. The country is divided between rich and poor," said Jose Delgado, a 45-year-old cobbler.

But protests have so far been sporadic in poor neighborhoods, with only isolated cases of protesters throwing stones and trying to loot shops.


------------------------------------------------------------------------

vox

(Edited by vox at 6:52 pm on April 13, 2002)

[CheGuevara]

The people are mobilizing against the capitalist coup cocksuckers...Things look good for Chavez, or at least better

Go to this link....

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor...ca/venezuela_59 (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=514&ncid=716&e=2&u=/ap/20020414/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/venezuela_59)

[elizquierdista]

The provisional president RESIGNS. Chavez's vice president is the current president. The Bolivarian movement is in effect. Chavez still has the people behind him. CHAVEZ! CHAVEZ! CHAVEZ!

[Kingnothing]

It´s 00:30 in venezuela now... The national assembly has been restored a couple of hours ago and the Vice president of Chavez has sworn in a president whilst Chavez is away. Chavez has been set free from the military prison in an island of the coast venezuela and is presently the president of venezuela and is returning to exert his mandate. The bolivarian revolution continues!!
let´s hope for the best for the people of venezuela and i hope we now see a true bolivarian revolution improving the lifes of the poor and leading a nation in a more leftist path than ever before. We shall have to wait and see.

[Vostok]

This is a remarkable moment in Latin American history. Can the Venezualan people defeat the Yanqui stooges? YES THEY CAN!

[Dhul Fiqar]

All right!

I saw on CNN that people have taken to the streets chanting that they want Chavez back in the palace! So much for his ouster being a popular movement for change, it was nothing more than a military coup backed by big business, industrialists and quite possibly the CIA.
It's also doubtful that they'll change the name of the country like the interim scumbag wanted to.

Long live the will of the people!

--- G. Raven

[MJM]

He's back!
There's all sorts of shit going on, but they said he is to be reinstated.
VICTORY to the working class!!!!

[MJM]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/ame...000/1928700.stm (http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/americas/newsid_1928000/1928700.stm)


Sunday, 14 April, 2002, 06:32 GMT 07:32 UK
Chavez poised for comeback




Supporters of Venezuela's ousted President Hugo Chavez are expecting him to make a dramatic return to power following the resignation of the interim leader who replaced him.
Less than 48 hours after being appointed by the military, business leader Pedro Carmona stood down in the face of massive street protests in support of Mr Chavez.







Former Vice-President Diosdado Cabello has now been sworn in as president, but says he is simply waiting to return the country to his ally Mr Chavez as soon as he reappears.

The BBC's Nick Miles, in Caracas, says that Mr Chavez could arrive in the capital in a matter of an hour or two.

Mr Carmona, the 60-year-old leader of the Fedecamaras business chamber, had apparently lost the support of the military and the National Assembly.

After being sworn into office, he quickly dissolved the National Assembly and the courts, while promising elections within a year.

But he was soon forced to reverse his decision on the National Assembly after armed forces chief General Efrain Vasquez said he would only support Mr Carmona if the congress was restored.

He was then forced to suspend the inauguration of his new cabinet.

While this was happening, police were firing water cannon and tear gas to disperse tens of thousands of Chavez supporters who had surrounded the presidential palace which had been taken over by troops loyal to Mr Chavez.




Reports said at least nine people had died in clashes between the police and demonstrators.

It is still not clear whether General Efrain Vasquez will now back the return of Mr Chavez.

Several television stations in Caracas have been taken over by supporters of Mr Chavez.

He himself has not been seen since Friday morning, when the armed forces said he had resigned at their request.

Mr Chavez was initially held at the Fuerte Tiuna military base in the capital, but there are reports he was later moved to the Turiamo naval base on the coast, about 100km (60 miles) away.

Pro-Chavez crowds which gathered in Caracas and other Venezuelan cities said they were not convinced the president had stepped down.

Protesters said they wanted to see the letter of resignation which the provisional government said it had.




Mr Chavez's administration fell on Friday after violent street demonstrations triggered by a national strike left 13 people dead and more than 240 wounded.

Military leaders blamed Mr Chavez for the deaths and rebelled against him.

Mr Chavez won a landslide election victory in 1998, but has recently been facing serious political problems.

The national strike had been called by business and labour leaders after the president appointed his supporters to head the national oil company. Venezuela is the world's fourth largest oil exporter.

After leaving office, Mr Chavez reportedly asked for exile in Cuba, where his friend and ally Fidel Castro is in power.

Leaders from Latin American countries have called meetings to discuss the situation in Venezuela and most have not recognised the change of government, although they were critical of Mr Chavez.



(Edited by MJM at 8:29 pm on April 14, 2002)

[vox]

Sweet Jesus on the Cross! Is this true?!?!?!?

*sniff* Melts my bitter old Leftist heart, it does. Seriously.

I just hope that this isn't an Aristede deal, where there are so many restrictions placed upon Chavez that he can't govern.

Regardless, this strikes me as a very good thing.

vox

[Revolution Hero]

The latest news- Chavez will be back to the office.

[El Che]

Great News. I`ll tell you one thing though, it was the people that saved him. The poor people who filled the streets demanding his return, those are the ones that stoped this terrorist action in its tracks. Non the less im sure he and his goverment will still have to face a great deal of opposition and trouble from the venezuelan right wing.

[Vostok]

Was the U.S. involved in the coup? Damn right they were, and now their strategy will be one of two things...trying to get Chavez to hold early elections which they will try to influence and subvert. Failing that they will consider rolling the tanks as Bush the Elder did in Panama.

Article by William Blum:


Hugo Chavez: A Servant Not Knowing his Place
by William Blum

How do we know that the CIA was behind the coup that overthrew Hugo Chavez?
Same way we know that the sun will rise tomorrow morning. That's what it's always done and there's no reason to think that tomorrow morning will be any different.
Consider Chavez's crimes:
Branding the US attacks on Afghanistan as "fighting terrorism with terrorism", he demanded an end to "the slaughter of innocents"; holding up photographs of children killed in the American bombing attacks, he said their deaths had "no justification, just as the attacks in New York did not, either." In response, the Bush administration temporarily withdrew its ambassador.
Being very friendly with Fidel Castro and selling oil to Cuba at discount rates.
His defense minister asking the permanent US military mission in Venezuela to vacate its offices in the military headquarters in Caracas, saying its presence was an anachronism from the cold war.
Not cooperating to Washington's satisfaction with the US war against the Colombian guerrillas.
Denying Venezuelan airspace to US counter-drug flights.
Refusing to provide US intelligence agencies with information on Venezuela's large Arab community.
Questioning the sanctity of globalization.
Promoting a regional free-trade bloc and united Latin American petroleum operations as a way to break free from US economic dominance.
Visiting Sadaam Hussein in Iraq and Moammar Gaddafy in Libya.
And more in the same vein which the Washington aristocracy is unaccustomed to encountering from the servant class.
The United States has endeavored to topple numerous governments for a whole lot less.
The Washington Post reported from Venezuela on April 13:
"Members of the country's diverse opposition had been visiting the U.S. Embassy here in recent weeks, hoping to enlist U.S. help in toppling Chavez.
The visitors included active and retired members of the military, media leaders and opposition politicians.
"The opposition has been coming in with an assortment of 'what ifs'," said a U.S. official familiar with the effort. "What if this happened? What if that happened? What if you held it up and looked at it sideways? To every scenario we say no. We know what a coup looks like, and we won't support it."
Right. They won't support a coup. So what happens when a coup occurs which they want to support? Simple. They don't call it a coup. They call it a "change of government" and say that Chavez was ousted "as a result of the message of the Venezuelan people." Veritable grass-roots democracy it was.
Opposition legislators were also brought to Washington in recent months, including at least one delegation sponsored by the International Republican
Institute, an integral part of the National Endowment for Democracy, long used by the CIA for covert operations abroad.
Overthrowing a man such as Hugo Chavez, guilty of such transgressions, was a duty so "natural" for the CIA that the only reason it might not have been intimately involved in the operation would be that the Agency had been secretly disbanded.

William Blum is the author of "Killing Hope: US Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II" and "Rogue State: A Guide to the World's Only Superpower"
Portions of the books can be read at:
http://members.aol.com/superogue/homepage.htm (with a link to Killing Hope)

[I Will Deny You]

Quote: from Vostok on 11:16 am on April 14, 2002
Visiting Sadaam Hussein in Iraq and Moammar Gaddafy in Libya.
That's probably the only thing he's done that I strongly disagree with. Overall, I wish that he had done more, but he was a good leader and I hope that he will continue to be a good leader once he's fully reinstated. Especially when compared to his predecessors and the men who took his place, he was a good man. I'm glad to hear that he'll be back.

[CheGuevara]

Yeah, god forbid you visit Saddam Hussein or Moamar Khadafi. geeze....

[Kez]

Yeah, he needs to find allies, even if it be from Saddam or Gadayifi

As long as the people support Chavez, he has a chance to push CIA out. Let us hope the govt gets stability and on the road to the bolivian revolution

VIVA CHE!
VIVA REVOLUTION!

comrade kamo

[El Che]

Did you hear the US reaction to the reinstatement of Chavez? lol, god I hate the US. They talk like they own the world and they dont even realise it. Its insulting thats what it is.

But anyway they recognised Carmona, the boss of the bosses as he is called in Venezuela, immediatly after he toke power. Something the other states did not do, for caution if not for anything else. But the US entusiasticly aplaudid the deposition of a democratic goverment and recognised the new unelected goverment as legitimate. It would later regret the precipitation, it started the fire works before the party had begun as we say in Portugal. And it also showed us its true face, its true ugly face, the face of the monster, the beast. The face palestinians see, the face iraqui and cuba childern see, the face vietanam, nicaragua, cambodia,honduras,columbia, east timor and the curds see or saw. All this and much more just in terrorist actions.

And its this same terrorist, that just embarrassed it self for recognising an ilegitimate goverment too soon, that I see on TV saying Chavez better watch his step. The fucking nerve.

[liderDeFARC]

I stayed up late watching and waiting while he got into the plane...

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

YYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

YEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

¡CHAVEZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!!!!!

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

[Revolution Hero]

Do you know that Fidel Castro is the closest friend of Chavez?
Cuba still have a big influence on the countries of Latin America. The South America is the place where the new proletariat revolution will take place. I wait for that moment.....

[chupacabra]

Why do u think Fidel is still in power? Hello? Why is there always upheavel in Latinoamerica? Because of the corruption, corruption, corruption!!! Stemming from governments who use $$ and leave the people with nothing! South America is too chummy with the US I think to ever turn Socialist or Commmunist. It is run too easily by military governments.
I only hope that I live long enough to see my country with equality for my people and for all the poor of latin america. I would like to see land-ownership for the campesinos. VIVA LA REVOLUCION!

[vox]

The other strand in a Bush policy toward Venezuela will be internal subversion of the Chavez regime. According to the [New York Times]: “The next administration is also expected to solidify contacts within the Venezuelan military, which is increasingly uncomfortable with Mr. Chávez, the Republican experts say. Unlike Mr. Chávez, many Venezuelan officers studied and trained in the United States and do not share his suspicions, they said.”

In plain language, this means that if Chavez does not toe the line, the US government will seek to organize a military coup against him. Even before Bush takes office, the US State Department has begun investigating charges by three South American countries—Colombia, Ecuador and Bolivia—that Chavez is providing material support to leftist guerrillas or organizations of the indigenous peoples.

Full Article (http://www.wsws.org/articles/2000/dec2000/bush-d30.shtml)

That was from Dec. 30, 2000, and the NYT article referenced was published on Dec 28, 2000, close to a year and a half ago. Just a little recent history for those interested.

vox

[chupacabra]

Chavez had irritated the United States by strengthening Venezuela’s ties with states openly hostile to Washington, such as Fidel Castro’s communist Cuba, Iraq and Iran.
He infuriated the Bush administration late last year by criticizing the war in Afghanistan, which he said was killing innocent civilians.
Venezuela supplies the United States with 1.5 million barrels of oil a day and has the largest reserves outside the Middle East.

....Now, is it clear why the US has to control Venezuela?

....US should stay out of Latin America!

[vox]

"Venezuela supplies the United States with 1.5 million barrels of oil a day and has the largest reserves outside the Middle East.

"....Now, is it clear why the US has to control Venezuela?"

Without a doubt. Add to that what Chomsky calls the threat of a good example, a country in which social reforms are given a chance to work, and there's no doubt that the US position on the Chavez government would have to be antagonistic.

Personally, I find it amazing that Chavez is going to reclaim power. As he said, "This was a lesson from God. This is nourishment for the soul."

vox

[chupacabra]

I only hope he does not become another one of Bush's poodles like Tony Blair!

he should learn to create a strong movement and filter out those unfaithful.

[El Che]

>>>>liderDeFARC
"YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

YYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

YEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

¡CHAVEZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!!!!!

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS"

My sentiments exactly :)


>>>>Vox
"Without a doubt. Add to that what Chomsky calls the threat of a good example, a country in which social reforms are given a chance to work, and there's no doubt that the US position on the Chavez government would have to be antagonistic.

Personally, I find it amazing that Chavez is going to reclaim power. As he said, "This was a lesson from God. This is nourishment for the soul.""

Indeed, the main reason why Chavez is threat to the US is the fact that he is a good example. Or he might become one if he was allowed to work. This is truly amassing but something tells me this will not last, Chavez wont back down from doing what has to be done and everyone knows the US will not allow his social reforms to continue. It harms their imperialistic interests, and that is the reason I get beyond my self in contempt and disgust when I hear US officials warn Chavez to change his course. Both because I know what he does and because I know the [US] threat is niether empty nor distant. They will do it, and if they have to murder one third of the Venezuelan population in the process so be it. This is one of the reasons why I think this coup happened without the direct involvement of the US. Surely they helped create problems but if they were the ones behind this Chavez would not have come through. Maybe they thought the situation would solve its self, but it didn`t. And I have a strong feeling the will not leave it at that.

[chupacabra]

(NY Times) - Senior members of the Bush
administration met several times in recent months
with leaders of a coalition that ousted the
Venezuelan president, Hugo Chávez, for two
days last weekend, and agreed with them that he should be removed from office, administration officials said today.

[chupacabra]

Venezuela needs the people’s power to have a country that is free of exploitation, oppression,
backwardness: a free, progressive, and independent country!


"Nobody needs a man, but there’s always one of them running after you. The only thing women need men for is martyrdom."
(Claudia, Guatemalan ladina, in Hooks 1993:81)

[liderDeFARC]

Yes Chavez and Castro are very close. I mean Chavez is the only other leader in their hemisphere that Castro has support of which is sad. Where is the support from other south american countries? ( o right i forgot they have been brainwashed or froced to obey the U$) ayways they get along very well . ANd i am so happy they act like brothers you know Venezuela sharing the oil with Cuba ... so beautiful the love..

Im glad Che ;)

[elizquierdista]

¡Viva Chávez!
¡Viva la revolución bolivariana!
Chávez is back democratically and by pouplar demand. The Bush supported coup is a failure!
¡Viva el socialismo!

[chupacabra]

This is why I have admiration for Fidel Castro. There is no other leader in the world who can look at Washington in the face and tell them to f--k off!
I only wish there was another man/woman like Che who could wake up the programmized robots of latin america. Why do they turn a blind eye to what is happening to them?
i wish there was a way to give them $$ to buy arms so they can militarize the campesinos. But there should be no neutrals only black and white and that is how you would keep those faithful to the cause!

[Kez]

ditto

[vox]

I just saw the semi-liberal columnist for the New York Times, Paul Krugman, characterize Chavez as a "bad guy" and a "dinosaur" on CNN. Typical.

vox

[Vostok]

Anyone who badmouths neoliberal globalization is a bad guy to these MEDIA WHORES like Krugman.

Check out:

www.mediawhoresonline.com

[lacha]

VIVA CHAVEZ
VIVA FIDEL
VIVA LA REVOLUCION
HASTA LA VICTORIA SIEMPRE

www.bolivarianfund.org

[Borincano]

He started out good, but became too hard headed, especially with his coalition. He needs to improve if he wants to stay.