A small change

Now as you probably know by now, Hugo Chavez Watch doesn't get a lot of comments. Nevertheless, we do get comments every once in a while, usually brought about by Scatbug's quips. So it's important for you, our reader, to know that the comment arrangement has been changed.

I signed up with HaloScan and put up Comment and Trackback links provided by them. If you want to comment all you have to do is click on the link at the top of the post.

Reporters without Borders slams Chavez

The international group Reporters without Borders has slammed yet another instance of the erosion of freedom in Hugo Chavez's Venezuela:

CARACAS, Venezuela — The press freedom group Reporters Without Borders on Friday condemned a decision by President Hugo Chavez not to renew the broadcast license of an opposition-aligned TV station, saying it will be a major setback for the Venezuelan media.

The Paris-based group called it a "serious attack on editorial pluralism" in a statement e-mailed to journalists, and urged the Venezuelan government to "reconsider its stance and guarantee an independent system of concessions and renewal of licenses."

The same disturbing trend continues in Zimbabwe:

The government of Robert Mugabe has, in an attempt to silence one of the president's fiercest internal critics, stripped the owner of Zimbabwe's largest private newspaper group of his citizenship.

The Zimbabwe registrar general said Trevor Ncube, publisher of South Africa's Mail and Guardian newspaper, was not entitled to Zimbabwean citizenship.

Video: Chavez and Castro, a love story

Glenn Beck uses his weekly podcast to declare 2006 the "year of the Wackjob." Amongst the nominees were the likes of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Glenn Beck himself and, of course, none other than our beloved Pirate Boy. The video is too priceless, and you'll love it. As Scatbug knows by now, Chavez provides easy satire.

When metaphors come true

Alright kids. Time for a pop quiz. Ready?

Fill in the blank: Conservatives often refer to big government with the disparaging term, _____ state.

Need a hint? The missing word can be found in the following quote from a story on Venezuela's shift to socialism. And yes, I think the irony was lost on the reporter...and Hugo, for that matter.

Others say they have seen life-changing help from the state program Mission Negra Hipolita, named after the nanny of Simon Bolivar, the South American independence hero who is idolized by Chavez.

How did Latin America perform in 2006?

Steve Chapman's article "2006 was not a banner year for freedom" observed the problems faced by freedom and democracy throughout the different regions of the world. Surprisingly, Chapman cites Latin America as a region of progress (at least comparatively with the likes of Russia and the Middle East):

Things looked better in Latin America. Mexicans narrowly elected Felipe Calderon to the presidency, but opponent Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador claimed fraud and carried out a self-styled inauguration ceremony -- though polls indicated that 85 percent of Mexicans accepted Calderon as the rightful victor. Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua, loser of two presidential elections since being evicted by the voters in 1990, finally won by getting 38 percent of the vote -- less than in his original defeat.

Chileans witnessed the death of a despot, Augusto Pinochet, who let himself be voted out of office, while Cubans waited for the death of a seriously ill one, Fidel Castro, who didn't. Castro continued to serve as an inspiration to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who used his successful re-election campaign to warn critics, "There is no room in Venezuela for any project other than the Bolivarian revolution."

Uncle Raul might not be so bad

A change of direction in Cuba? MKH doesn't think so. I personally think things there will get bad in a different way.

Nevertheless, Raul Castro seems to be trying to appear cuddly:

Raul Castro has set a surprising new tone for Cuban politics, telling university students in Havana that they should debate "fearlessly" and bring their concerns directly to him.

Shit, students in America aren't even free to debate fearlessly. Dissent isn't exactly the socialists' cup of tea.

Scatbug Update: Tagging on to what Gildersleeve posted...Before everyone gets too excited about this Raul character, keep in mind this bit of info provided by the AP:

"Fidel is irreplaceable, save that we all replace him together, each one in his place," Granma quoted Raul Castro as telling the closing session of Cuba's University Student Federation annual congress. "The only substitute for Fidel can be the Communist Party of Cuba."

So much for openness to new ideas. And has anyone bothered to ask Raul if his push for new ideas includes releasing political prisoners? Or perhaps just letting the Red Cross visit them? Or perhaps just letting them see daylight?

What's true for our politicians is true everywhere

While reading this essay by Dean Barnett over at Townhall, I couldn't help but think of Pirate Boy and his gang of populist leaders sweeping through Latin America:

POPULISM IS THE LAZY POLITICIAN’S way to seek power. If you assume the populist’s mantle, it’s not like you actually have to know anything. All you have to do is demonize the rich and tell people that you want to help them. Empower the rubes with the sense that their misfortunes are due to forces beyond their control, and suggest you’ll bring those forces to their knees. Populism is a cheap, tawdry and condescending kind of politics.

Video: Jeane Kirkpatrick

As you may have heard, former UN ambassador Jeane Kirkpatrick recently passed away. This relates directly to our humble little blog. Kirkpatrick first gained the attention of Ronald Reagan when she wrote an article called "Dictatorships & Double Standards" in 1979. The article argued that while right wing dictatorships tend to evolve, left wing dictatorships decay. When comparing the dictatorships of Augusto Pinochet with that of Fidel Castro, it's hard to say she wasn't on to something.

The entire article is available at Commentary Online. Just warning you, it is a bit on the long side.

Let's get this party started...

And so Venezuela begins the journey to tyranny:

Venezuela Moves to Create Single Party

CARACAS, Venezuela — Venezuela's ruling party took the first step Monday toward creating a single pro-government party, a move opponents criticized as a push to consolidate more power in the hands of President Hugo Chavez after his landslide re-election.

Ruling party leader Willian Lara said the Fifth Republic Movement was being dismantled in order to merge with other parties in the new Unified Socialist Party of Venezuela. Before he was re-elected Dec. 3, Chavez proposed the new party to consolidate and unify a collection of loosely allied parties as he steers the oil-producing country toward socialism.

"It's a new party that is born out of the revolutionary process," Lara said.

Ah yes. The revolutionary process. It's done so much for the world since 1917. Next they'll be telling us one party rule is demanded by the people. Oh...It looks like Chavez already has:

In a speech Friday, Chavez said Venezuela needs a governing party that is "at the service of the revolution and the people _ not at the service of the political parties." He said parties will be free not to join if they wish.

"Those parties that wish to preserve themselves, they will leave the government,"he said.

Does anyone else besides me get a chill when reading that last sentence? Uncle Fidel must be very proud.

Slavery in Venezuela?

A return to slavery? That may be what Hugo Chavez has in mind for his people. Here's the lowdown, via Publius Pundit:

Slavery, and human sacrifices, are the two great historic curses of our hemisphere that took vast amounts of blood and treasure and time to wipe out after great struggles.

But amid these eradications, which were thought to be for good, the seeds of these evils apparently still exist. That’s why we are seeing slavery recrudesce. Who should be the caudillo to first to re-introduce that to our hemisphere? Why, the leader most in touch with his inner barbarism - Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez.

Chavez is proposing to rope in every Venezuelan from ages 18 to 60 to “contribute” free labor to his favored shantytown projects. Whether he wants to or not. It’s not a voluntary program, but a forced one, under the socialist guise of ‘everyone pitch in together’ - something which works but only when it is voluntary, not compulsory. And it will be in the slums, at the direction of the nearest chavista commissar. Don’t like the area you are posted to? Too bad, the biggest dissidents will get the scariest slums, as an unofficial means of executing dissidents through the good offices of Venezuela’s abundant criminals.

Paging Dr. Chavez...Paging Dr. Chavez (Part Dos)

A while back I posted a ridiculous story about Hugo Chavez visiting the ailing Fidel Castro. After meeting with the son of a Cuban leader, Chavez provided the AP with his medical opinion regarding Castro’s prognosis for returning to his old jaunty self. I found the whole thing quite absurd and wrote a short post with appropriate levels of scorn, derision and sarcasm.

Well...I have an update for you from the good doctor, courtesy this time from Reuters:

Castro does not have cancer, seriously ill: Chavez

CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - Cuban leader Fidel Castro does not have cancer, but is fighting a "great battle" against a "very serious" illness, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said on Friday.

In the most extensive account of Castro's condition following weeks of rumors that he has cancer or is even dead, Chavez said he remained optimistic and that his close ally had been in good spirits when they spoke by telephone on Thursday.

"Some comments have come out, that Fidel has a terminal cancer -- Fidel does not have cancer," Chavez told supporters in a celebration of his December 3 reelection.

[...]

Chavez did not say Castro's health was improving, as he has repeated in recent speeches, but said he was optimistic about his recovery.

Hmmm…I leave it to medical experts to debate how someone recovers without his health improving. In the meantime I’ll assume Dr. Chavez knows what he’s talking about. So how is this strange medical phenomenon accomplished? Perhaps Chavez has found some rare healing orchid while clear cutting rain forests. Or perhaps it’s something else:

"I'm going to send him some chocolate, he likes Venezuelan chocolate," Chavez said. "He's eating, little by little he's feeding himself. We have a lot of faith that those 80 years will become 90, 100 years."

If you’re a tender hearted sort like me and cry whenever you see Brian’s Song, I’m sure you’re dabbing the tears laughing at this jackassery. Anyway, there’s one last question I had from reading this story. Chavez: “We have a lot of faith that those 80 years..." Considering that the man they hope to live to 100 is the Atheist in Chief of a communist prison-state, what spiritual entity are they having faith in, exactly?

Left shifting right?

Trending left?

Or not?

The Oppenheimer Report, appearing in the Miami Herald, examines the current spate of elections in Latin America and concludes the the Latin American Left is moving right.

He reports some interesting findings.

Maybe my paranoia is misplaced.

Or maybe polls cannot be believed.

Nations that begin to exhibit pathologies such as demonization of the wealthy (or other convenient group associated with power), conspiratorial thinking, and the scapegoating of outside forces are hardly behaving as reasonable actors. Whether they are left or right, they are dangerous and potentially explosive.

Oppenheimer calls it petro-populism. One needs look no farther than Saudi Arabia to see how well that works.

Post-Fidel Cuba?

Over at Hot Air, there's a post detailing the head of US intelligence, John Negroponte, saying that Fidel Castro has "months" to live. Allahpundit analyzes what a post-Castro Cuba would look like and summizes that it may be more of the same:

What are they celebrating? Is it just the satisfaction of seeing the old bastard dead or do they really expect things will start to change in Cuba? Because if it’s the latter, they’re probably headed for a major disappointment.

Castro has lived to see countless coups and tin-pot dictatorships in his day, and I imagine he's figured out a strategy by now. If a democratic revolution were to explode in Cuba, I imagine we would have seen the starts of that now. Instead, it seems the transfer of power to Raul Castro went just fine.

Yet falls another?

Peru cuddles up to Ecuador and Venezuela.

Oh goody.

Bolivia, Nicaragua. The old stand-by, Cuba. Ecuador trending and now Peru trending. Just what Latin America needs: yet another nation rejecting the free market, in favor of a statist kleptocracy.

The death of Pinochet provides a unique starting point. Pinochet, a butcher, but like Franco, set his country up for economic success. And also, like Franco, managed a civil transfer of authority to democratic institutions. Their countries, Chile and Spain, respectively, are now successful and responsible nations.

(Ion Mihai Pacepa:
In my other life, as a Communist general, I lived under two tyrants who killed and jailed over one million people. Pinnochet saved Chile from becoming another Communist hell. God bless him for that, and may he be forgiven for his later aberrations. Not only in Chile does power corrupt.)

Counterparts, such as Mao, Ho Chi Minh, and Castro achieved far less. China's economy did not do anything until it unburdened itself of Maoist chains which suffocated its ingenuity and productivity. It is still recovering, and cannot fully recover until the communists are banished. Compare the per capita GDP of Taiwan ($27,500) and the People's Republic of China ($6,800). The PRC still has a long way to go.

Viet Nam still lags behind its east Asian neighbors ($2,800 per capita GDP). And Cuba was once the richest country in Latin America. To say that it is no longer is rather an understatement, to put it mildly.

And this is the model chosen by increasing numbers of nations in Latin America: statism and scapegoating; the abandonment of market economy; and idiotic and destructive economic "populism" (i.e. take other people's money, so that everyone is poor).

What was that about the Monroe Doctrine? A revival is needed, perhaps?

But honey...

The following imaginary conversation just popped into my head:

John: But honey. It's another country. I'm not sure what I can do.

Teresa: Goddamnit John! Your a %^&ing United States Senator for chrissakes! Get your ass on a plane and go do something about this!

John: But schmookums...

Teresa: Stop! Just stop with the schmookums $%#@! It's not going to get you out of this. I don't care what you do just get the $%^# down to Caracas and straighten this guy out.

John: Yes honey...I'll leave tomorrow. Should I bring back some coffee?
__________________________________________

Pretty rough stuff, huh? Well, based on this little news blurb, what do you think happened in the Heinz-Kerry household?

Chavez has been seizing rural estates and factories -- often through legal actions carried out by governors in his ruling coalition -- since last year.

Among those companies that have had property seized by Chavez are H.J. Heinz Co., the world's largest ketchup maker, and Lorenzo Mendoza, Venezuela's second wealthiest man.

"Buffoon With Money"

"Partly to laugh about, partly to cry about."

This video from FNC has Christopher Hitchens, the esteemed antitheist, commented on Hugo Chavez's performance at the United Nations back in September. It's a bit of an old video, I know, but well worth watching:

Don't open 'til Xmas. Love, Fidel

Augusto Pinochet died today. The AP's account recites his iron-fisted rule of Chile, complete with a full catalog of crimes. It left me wondering if they've got a similar obit on standby when Castro kicks it. It also left me wondering if they would have had a similar piece on Salvador Allende, the Marxist and Castro buddy who Pinochet overthrew. Obviously that's academic, but we shall see what comes out when Cuba's "leader" knocks on the gates of Hell.

How does Chavez fit in here? Well, a little paragraph got me thinking of whether Castro and Chavez do a holiday gift exchange:

Pinochet took power on Sept. 11, 1973, demanding an unconditional surrender from President Salvador Allende as warplanes bombed the presidential palace in downtown Santiago. Instead, Allende committed suicide with a submachine gun he had received as a gift from Fidel Castro.

Uh, Hugo? Be sure to save those gift receipts in case you need to return something.

Hugo Chavez has been Ahmadinejadized

Socialists and Islamists: Strange bedfellows

In today's Wall Street Journal, there is a very good article by Andrew Higgins on the strange alliance of communists and Islamic radicals. Titled "Anti-Americans on the March," this article didn't reveal any conspiracy that I had never thought of before, nor that anyone else at Hugo Chavez Watch has thought of. It's evident from the closeness of Chavez and Ahmadinejad to college campus sympathizing with Islamic militants that anti-American hatred can make strange bedfellows.

From the article:

In deeply Roman Catholic Latin America, Hugo Chávez of Venezuela has become the exemplar of a new populism that sees common cause with Iran and Hezbollah. Mr. Chávez, re-elected in a landslide last Sunday, has met Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad several times and this summer was given the Islamic Republic Medal, Iran's highest honor. Amid the rubble of Beirut's southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold, portraits of Mr. Chávez now hang alongside pictures of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. Hezbollah put them up after Mr. Chávez denounced President Bush as the devil in a September speech to the UN. "Gracias Chávez," they say.

The Spanish alliance with the Islamists continues outside of Latin America, as well:

In Spain, the socialist prime minister, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, has reached out to Muslims, propounding what he calls "an alliance of civilizations" and voicing sympathy for Hamas and Hezbollah. He has good relations with Mr. Chávez, Fidel Castro of Cuba and Bolivia's populist leader, Evo Morales.

Solidarity between Muslim grevance-pushers and the hard Left can be seen on the sidebar of this very blog. Tariq Ali has made a career of delivering anti-American speeches and ignoring the lack of reform within Muslim countries. His latest book, Pirates of the Carribean, portrays the leaders of Venezuela and Bolivia, along with the ex-leader of Cuba, as an "axis of hope."

Ruminations

While Iraq is half the world away from Venezuela, I have to wonder what Pirate Boy will is thinking right now as he watches what may be the neutering of the Bush White House. At this point, he has almost no reason to not be totally confident in his ability to shout whatever screeds he wants at the United States, all while using money he gets from us to help out his allies in Tehran.

Bushistas

Did I ever post this video? I don't remember, to be honest.

The Love Shack

I read another boring AP article today on Hugo Chavez's Great Victory...or so it seemed for the first three quarters or so. The story describes how Venezuela fits in with the leftist resurgence in Latin America, with the usual recounting of the largesse bestowed on the poor as a result. Then buried in the text the reporter mentions that with all of the free food, housing, health care, etc, unemployment remains a huge concern. Wouldn't you know...A big part of the worry is that foreign investors are leery of putting their money on the line with socialist control freaks. I'll venture a guess that another reason may be that when people are paid not to work, they generally don't. But that's beside the point, really.

Like I said, the story's a bore for the most part with that kind of mundane blather. But then we find this alarming passage:

Chavez told adoring crowds Sunday night that "socialism is love" and promised to take it further. How he'll do that isn't clear.

Hmmm....So would it be accurate to say he's buying Venezuela dinner before he...uh...you know...scores? And will he still be there in the morning?

More voices

As a couple of Gringos living in America, Hugo Chavez Watch feels like a little something's missing from this blog. That's why I'm sending out an invitation to any bloggers living in Latin America, with family/friends in Latin America or with deep knowledge of the region to come join this blog. If you are interested, you can contact us at hugochavezwatch@gmail.com or by leaving a comment with a way to reach you.

Thanks for reading!

Chavez gets mandate

As was expected by Hugo Chavez Watch and most observing the election in Venezuela, Hugo Chavez has won re-election. As with the recent election of Felipe Calderon in Mexico, the opposition in Venezuela seems to be contesting the results. Rosales only seems to have gotten 38 percent of the vote, making it far less narrow than the returns we saw in Mexico.

Simon Romero of the New York Times offered this analysis of what voters have given Chavez in re-electing him to a third term:

CARACAS, Venezuela, Dec. 4 — If President Hugo Chávez rules like an autocrat, as his critics in Washington and here charge, then he does so with the full permission of a substantial majority of the Venezuelan people, Sunday’s election here showed.

Sent to power for a third time, Mr. Chávez seems intent on assuming the mantle from the fading Fidel Castro of chief Latin American scourge of the United States. He also has made no secret of his intent to consolidate his power further through legal and personnel changes.

Romero goes on to note Chavez's spoken intent to alter legislation to allow himself to remain in power for the next 14 years. I recently posted on his worrying proposal to clamp down on private television stations that air dissenting voices.

From the man himself, Chavez reiterated his "devil" attack on President Bush:

Repeating an attack on the US President, George Bush, he said: "It's another defeat for the devil, who tries to dominate the world. Down with imperialism."

UPDATE: For a favorable take on Chavez's re-election, I went to a source I knew would be slanted in his way. If you're not familiar with them, Democracy Now! is a far-left news program and website hosted by Amy Goodman. Goodman interviewed sociologist Greg Wilbert, who seemed a bit gushing towards Chavez even through the transcript.

Goodman didn't ask Wilbert anything about Chavez's policy towards private television stations that broadcast dissenting voices, but she did ask him about Chavez's desire to be president for life (not in those words, of course!):

AMY GOODMAN: We're talking to Greg Wilpert in Caracas. President Chavez says that he is going to convene a commission, once he had won again, to propose constitutional reforms, among them to remove term limits. This would be the last time he could run again, in 2012, the next election.

GREG WILPERT: Yes. This is actually something that I think a lot of people are rather skeptical about. That is, there’s no real consensus, and Chavez himself in the past actually said he would not do such a thing and only has recently said that he’s thinking about removing these term limits. I’m not sure exactly how that will fare, as people in Venezuela -- I think there's a large segment of people who support him who are aware of Latin America's rather bad history with personalistic rulers, and that would not help in terms of lowering the dependency of Chavez's project on a Chavez the person. So I’m not sure if this will really pass. I’m kind of secretly hoping, actually, that people around him will convince him not to do this. He’s adjusted it several times. I’m not completely sure it will actually go through.

It started with the French Revolution...

...then on to the Communists and Fascists. Now Dear Leader Chavez utters the words that doom his people:

"Long live the revolution!" Chavez shouted from the balcony of the presidential palace. "Venezuela is demonstrating that a new and better world is possible, and we are building it."

The most influential political force in South America

shows off his diplomatic skills. This clip may be permanently put on our sidebar:

"On the Campaign Trail in Venezuela"

Slate writer Alexandra Starr has a good dispatch from the campaign trail in Venezuela. Worth reading:

CARACAS, Venezuela—During the 2004 U.S. election, the division between Bush-Cheney supporters and anyone-but-Bush voters set a high-water mark for political polarization. But compared to the electoral rift that exists in Venezuela, the U.S. populace may as well have been singing "Kumbaya" two years ago. On Sunday, Dec. 3, citizens in this South American country will decide whether to grant President Hugo Chávez another six years in office or replace him with the governor of Zulia state, Manuel Rosales.

Chávez—who has governed Venezuela since 1999—is favored to win, due to the strong following he commands among the poor, who make up about half of the population. That prospect has the country's middle class and wealthy residents breaking out in hives, not least because a landslide victory could pave the way for decades of chavista governance: The president has said he will eventually propose a referendum that would allow for unlimited re-election. One sign of how little the two camps mingle is that every Chávez and Rosales supporter I've spoken with here swears their candidate will come out ahead on Sunday (although Rosales boosters contend that Chávez will resort to fraud before he gives up his office).

Freedom not valued by Chavez

Chavez is headed for re-election, and he's laying out what he wants done in regards to freedom of speech:

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) -- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez backed the possibility of holding a national referendum, if he's re-elected, on whether to shut down private television stations that he has accused of subversive activities.

Chavez's comments late Thursday came amid rising tensions between the government and the country's largely opposition-aligned private media ahead of Sunday's vote.

Sigh. Fortunately, there are some developments coming for those whose voices are being silenced by autocrats. On Michelle Malkin's blog, Malkin cited a new software program called "Psiphon:"

Researchers at University of Toronto plan to introduce a software tool on Friday that aims to help people in countries that censor the World Wide Web.

Psiphon (pronounced sigh-fawn), a web-based utility, lets individuals in a country that censors the internet sign on to a server that gives them secure access to web pages anywhere, bypassing government restrictions.

Its creators plan to launch the software at the Protect The Net conference at the university's Munk Centre for International Studies, where psiphon emerged as a project of Citizenlab.

The voice of dissent cannot be stamped out.

Angel Castro

Back in my more liberal days, I heard alot of Tariq Ali lectures and read some of his stuff. Even in retrospect, he seemed smart and eloquent, though he is a classic example of a Muslim blaming the problems of the Muslim world on the existence of a tiny non-Muslim state the size of New Jersey. If guys like Ali would put half the energy they put in criticizing Israel into trying to reform countries like Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, etc. the Middle East would be a very different place.

Ali now has truly gone off the deep end. My jaw dropped when I saw the cover of his new book at a local bookstore:



No, you are not hallucinating. That is a halo over the head of Fidel Castro. Here's the synopsis of the book, via Ali's site:

A revolution is moving across Latin America. Since 1998, the Bolivarian revolution in Venezuela has brought Hugo Chávez to world attention as the foremost challenger of the neoliberal consensus and American foreign policy. Tariq Ali shows how Chávez's views have polarized Latin America and examines the aggression directed against his administration. Pirates of the Caribbean guides us through a world divided between privilege and poverty, a continent that is once again on the march.

I'm going to try to publicize this book as much as possible, since it reveals what the Left is really about without me having to say a freakin' word.

We need the atomic knee drop

Friends, to rectify the outrage of November 7, we need look no further than our friendly southern neighbor for guidance. As you may know, Mexico had a somewhat contentious presidential election recently, which saw the loser swearing himself in as president: sort of an advanced AlGore maneuver. Well today the losing party's congressional contingent carried on the fight...uh...quite literally. From the AP:

Leftist lawmakers threw punches and chairs at their conservative colleagues and some tried to block the doors of the congressional chamber Friday just an hour before incoming President Felipe Calderon was to take the oath of office there.

Carlos Navarette, Senate leader for leftist Democratic Revolution, or PRD, said his party would do everything it could to keep Calderon out.

"We'll see if he can get in," Navarette said, adding: "If he does take office, it will be at his own risk."

I'm tellin' ya folks, this tactic just may work for us in January. Denny Hastert's an old school wrestling coach and McCain sure seems a scrappy fellow. I see them taking care of business pretty well. The only problem is how to take down Webb. I hear he's vulnerable to the full nelson or the atomic knee drop, but he is most certainly one tough hombre. Perhaps a tag team approach would work. Regardless, we'd better get cracking on the plans.

(Update: Rats...Calderon was successfully sworn in after all. We'll definitely need to study what happened. We can risk no repeat of the mistakes made by the Mexican leftists.)

Flash...Chavez heart defective!!!

News Flash from Reuters....

Chavez says Bush "devil" speech spur of the moment

CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - Venezuela's president calling his U.S. counterpart Satan in a U.N. speech seemed a devilish gambit in the nations' war of words -- but Hugo Chavez says he was shooting from the hip.

"The devil thing, I didn't have it on my mind. I swear, it occurred to me right there," Chavez said at a news conference on Thursday.

"I went out to say what my heart told me," he said. "It's possible that it's one of my defects."

We'll always have Caracas

If you’re like me and have long had a yen to jet down to Caracas, now’s the time. The joint is jumpin’ with some high times and high living. Here’s the scoop from the AP:

Venezuelans are swilling aged whiskey, snapping up luxury cars and treating themselves to plastic surgery in an oil-fueled spending spree worthy of one of the fastest-growing economies in Latin America.

Oh…It gets even better:

Venezuela's economy is expected to expand at least 8 percent this year, the fastest growth in South America, according to the U.N. Economic Commission for Latin American and the Caribbean. Government and industry figures show construction activity has spiked, car sales are at record highs and banks are earning record profits.
[…]
There are other signs of an economy surging with cash: banks offer loans for plastic surgery, property rentals in swanky parts of Caracas rival those in major U.S. cities and Venezuelans have imported more than half a billion dollars in cellular phones this year.

I mean, dig that rockin’ country! Loans for plastic surgery! If you’ve ever seen my nose and my depleted liquor cabinet, you’d understand my excitement. But again…Now’s the time to go, because the opportunity is fleeting.

Why? Well, as usual the reason involves a word that begins with S and ends with T. Yep, Socialist Hugo Chavez wants it all to stop. Why? Well, because Hugo’s a tyrant who’s full of a (different) word that begins with S and ends with T. Here’s the grim news:

Chavez, however, bristles at Venezuela's consumption boom, which he calls a symptom of a society corrupted by capitalist values."There will be no socialism unless every one of us has ... soaked ourselves to the marrow with socialist values," Chavez lectured in one televised speech. "We have to reflect on the way we're consuming."

"I was looking at the costs of whiskey imports ... exorbitant. We're one of the top consumers of whiskey in the world. What is this?" Chavez said, as he announced new tariffs on whiskey, pearls and other items.

That’s right folks. The Savior of Latin America has been reviewing the whiskey figures, and he’s not pleased. And his people, had better start soaking in the socialism or…well…he doesn’t exactly say. But considering he sports Che t-shirts and kneels before a Fidel shrine at bedtime, I have a feeling what the “or else” is.

So think about a trip south while you still can. If I see you in Caracas, the first drink’s on me. You’ll love my new nose.

Anti-capitalist trends in Latin America

Left wing candidate Rafael Correa wins the presidency in Ecuador. Rolling Thunder contributor MGraves sees this as a trend:

I’d wager that the election of Rafael Correa will lead to the reversal of Ecuador’s dollarization policy, wherein Ecuador has dropped its currency in favor of the U.S. dollar. Of more immediate concern to the U.S. is the march of capitalism rejection taking hold in Latin America. Evo Morales, Hugo Chavez, the return of Ortega, Obrador’s parallel government, and now, the potential elevation of a Chavez ally in Ecuador, are beginning to look like the head of a trend. This is not to say that Correa is an anti-capitalist in the vein of Chavez or Castro, as Correa has served as the finance minister of Ecuador during the dollarization, but his ties to Chavez are cause for concern.

Boycott CITGO

A Balanced Portrait, Part II

Here's the second part of the St. Louis Post Dispatch's profile on Chavez. I think right wing radicals have taken over my hometown paper. This story actually presents a critical view of socialist co-ops.

Oil fuels Chávez's economic shift

A Balanced Portrait

Something truly astounding happened this fine Sunday morning. My local paper, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, ran an even-handed, balanced story on Hugo Chavez.

Chavez is potent force

How can I say it was balanced? Well for starters, the story labels Chavez as a 'leftist'. I didn't know journalists could use that word correctly. Second, the story gives good space to Chavez's critics without painting them (too much) as wealthy robber barons. Third, it discusses his dictatorial leanings (comparisons to Stalin are even made), including his threats to Venezuela's independent media outlets.

The one criticism I have, however, is the way the story portrays Chavez's relationship with Castro. For example, the following quotes from a Chavez supporter goes unchallenged:

Luisa Nieves, 53, said a core of impoverished Venezuelans had waited for decades for a leader like Cuba's Fidel Castro to come to their rescue."I believe that Castro is a humanitarian," said Nieves, a coordinator for 15 free health clinics opened in her neighborhood since Chavez took power.

Like more than 400 others that have opened in Caracas since Chavez was elected, each of the clinics is staffed by a Cuban doctor sent as part of an "oil-for-doctors" agreement forged between Chavez and Castro, whose country remains under U.S. imposed economic sanctions.

"Since I was a small girl, I've listened to Castro's name and I've heard of him. If he were a bad person, the people would not be supporting him," she said. "We're headed toward 21st century socialism. It's a socialism of equality, with no racial discrimination."

All of that is of course BS, and the reporters could have at least pointed out that Castro may not actually be a humanitarian. At the same time, however, the Castro stuff does provide a revealing glimpse into the Latin American mind set and so helps explain Chavez's popularity.

Chavez Lite

Well, it looks like Hugo's got a little friend in Ecuador:

Ecuador's Leftist Candidate Slams Bush

Friday, November 24, 2006
By MONTE HAYES, Associated Press Writer

QUITO, Ecuador — Leftist economist Rafael Correa, in a tight race to win Sunday's presidential runoff, criticized President Bush Thursday for the Iraq invasion and claimed his policies led to the Republicans' congressional defeat.

"The American people have been the first to speak their minds in an overwhelming fashion on the errors committed by the Bush administration, above all in Iraq," he said. "I think all citizens of the world have a right to express ourselves about that mistake, which put world peace in danger."

If anyone can explain the connection between American Congressional elections, the Iraq war and Ecuadorian politics, I'm all ears.

Relying on the government for housing

Never a good idea.

Yes. Yes...Gildersleeve first made that comment in his food post below. But given who we're writing about, maybe we should just change the blog name to "Never a Good Idea Watch" because I'm sure the phrase will become standard.

Anyway, here's the housing story:

Chavez's Caracas Home-Building Sows Hope

The article describes a massive home building program run by Chavez. If you want to be bored to tears about all the wonderful things he's doing to make the poor comfortable instead of not poor, there's the link. Have fun. I, on the other hand, want to make just a few observations.

Observation #1...Every AP story has that signature "you can't be serious" (YCBS) sentence. Such a sentence is remarkable for an extra dose of left wing BS, and usually causes any right thinking person to slap his forehead, mutter obscenities, and then laugh for fear of punching his computer screen. In this story, the YCBS sentence offers a description of Chavez's project. See if you can think of more accurate phrasing. Here's the quote:

Chavez has opted for a government-centric approach.

Riiiiight...That's just what I'd call it. Good grief.

Observation #2....The article mentions that this "government-centric" home building project is behind schedule and will make small progress in addressing Venezuela's housing problem. So...People are waiting on homes from an inadequate program that is behind schedule. But the government has told everyone it's building them homes. In the AP's words, Chavez is "sowing hope." Well, guess what's not getting done in the meantime? Correct...Home building.

Observation #3...A fair amount of data accumulated over the years on the success of "government-centric" home building programs has lead to one conclusion: There isn't any (success, that is). Why would this attempt be any different? Sure, it may be sowing hope, but what will it reap? This may give us a glimpse:

Outside one housing office, scores of people sit in a parking lot in plastic chairs waiting for their requests to be heard by officials. "I've been coming here for six years, and they don't resolve anything for me," Victoria Yanez says angrily, holding a worn folder of documents.

Looking forward

In regards to Tuesday's election, Jed Babbin said it best on Friday's Hugh Hewitt Show: "That's past. Let's look to the future."

I worked for John Kerry and his 2004 presidential campaign. I know what it was like after he lost in 2004, and the conspiracies and paranoia that enveloped left-leaning media after his defeat. If you were to listen to Air America Radio, you would hear hosts talking about Ohio being "stolen" and voting machines rigging the elections as if it was fact. They even wrote books about it, expecting the same thing to happen in 2006. They really believed that garbage.

Now since the Dems now have the majority in the House and the Senate, all one has to do is listen to conservative talk radio, go to the blogs, or go right here at Townhall.com to see that none of that is present on the right. We certainly could. Conspiracies are a very good way to keep yourself from accepting what is right in front of you.

Hell, a known leftist leader who openly hates President Bush is currently suspected of having ties to a software company involved in voting systems:

The federal government is investigating the takeover last year of a leading American manufacturer of electronic voting systems by a small software company that has been linked to the leftist Venezuelan government of President Hugo Chávez.

That's not the problem, though. And we know it. The Republican Party has had a falling out with parts of its base and with moderates. It's not all doom and gloom, since we have good men like Lieberman and Webb among the Democrats, who may annoy the Pelosis, Murthas and McDermotts of the party with their hawkishness. But it wasn't them that won, it was the Republicans that lost.

The GOP needs to look at what went wrong and how to keep it from happening again in 2008. I may not fall in to the Republican platform on many issues. I'm strongly opposed to the death penalty, for instance. However, I know that it is those that describe themselves as "conservative" in the United States that have any credibility in the fight against militant Islam. I'm not even sure that Speaker Pelosi acknowledges that radical Islam is at war with the entire western world.

(Originally posted November 13, 2006 at Deschamps Blog)

Relying on the government for food

Never a good idea.

Found this wire article to be very interesting. There's alot of information both on poor Venezuelans' opinion of Chavez, as well as the government run grocery stores put in place by Chavez's government.

This paragraph made me thankful to live in a country where I don't have to rely on beauracracy to get me lunch:

On one recent trip to the store, Oliveros found no tomato sauce, sugar, chicken or mayonnaise. A store clerk, speaking on condition of anonymity because he feared for his job, said an informal strike by unpaid truck drivers has kept some foods from being distributed, while corrupt officials have stolen some supplies.

Also:

It's a view often echoed in the poor barrios of Venezuela, where Chavez remains popular as he seeks another six-year term. He has pledged to eliminate poverty completely by 2021, when he hopes to be in office still.

Yeah, I bet he does.

Democracy in action: Venezuela

According to ABC News, the secret ballot is a freedom not endowed to employees of Venezuela's state-owned oil company. I wonder how this story will be reported by Democracy Now, the voice of the "true Left?"

According to an internal memo obtained by ABC News, workers at Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) were recently instructed to support Chavez's re-election campaign or else be terminated.

The penalties for failing to comply with these new directives are severe. Workers are threatened with the loss of their jobs if they do not cooperate.

One point, highlighted in capital letters, makes this crystal clear, saying "He who is not with Chavez should not be in PDVSA."

It gets worse. This sentence really struck out at me in its sheer Orwellian-ness:

It encourages workers to be vigilant of their colleagues and to turn in anyone who does not appear to be "identified with the process."

This shouldn't surprise many that know the history of hard-line socialist regimes. These populist leaders come to power promising to bring prosperity to their people, only to disenfranchise them.

Paging Dr. Chavez...Paging Dr. Chavez

One of my hobbies is trolling through the AP wire story archives. While to many this may sound rather geekish, I can testify to the hours of hilarity to be had. My favorite stories are the ones that scream, "Who the $%&# decided this was news?!?" For extra enjoyment I play a little mental role playing game of editor and reporter as they go through the process of polishing a story about voodoo spells on President Bush, or whatnot.

Well the Chavez Watch is now the beneficiary of my weirdness. Consider the following with no commentary from me except to repeat the Scatbug mantra, "Who the $%&# decided this was news?!?"

Chavez: Castro Out of Bed and Recovering

CARACAS, Venezuela — Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said Wednesday that Cuban leader Fidel Castro is no longer bedridden and is well enough to walk around.

"Fidel is no longer in bed,"Chavez said in a televised speech."Fidel is in full recuperation and is walking around more than he is in bed."

Chavez said the 80-year-old leader still faces a long convalescence with risks due to his age, but that his recovery"is going well."

After nearly a half century in office, Castro temporarily ceded power to his brother Raul in July after undergoing intestinal surgery.

The "Doh!" heard 'round the world

And so this morning a certain former veep -- over his coffee, Fruit Loops and New York Times -- gave himself a giant dope slap:

"Tipper!!! Why the $%^&* didn't someone think of this for me?"

Unelected Leftist Obrador Swears Self In as Mexican President

Tuesday November 21, 2006
Associated Press

MEXICO CITY — Leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador swore himself in as Mexico's "legitimate" president Monday, launching a parallel government he hopes will prevent President-elect Felipe Calderon from governing.


(Cross-posted at Scatbug's Scatterings)

What is Chavez Watch?

Welcome to Hugo Chavez Watch!

This blog will be a collection of all the Chavez related posts that accumulate while blogging at Deschamps Blog, Rolling Thunder and Scatbug's Scatterings. There were so many we figured they deserved a place all their own.

The blog will only be updated when there is noteworthy Chavez-related news. If there isn't any, there will be silence. If he goes up and calls world leaders names in front of the United Nations again, this place will be buzzing.

You can also consider this a Latin America Watch Blog. I'm not an expert on the politics of that region, but Chavez's buffoonery and the recent election in Mexico have peeked my interest. This blog will carry news of all notable anti-democratic moves in the region.