Hugo Chavez Watch

Farewell

2007-09-28T12:48:00.000-07:00

Hugo Chavez Watch is defunct. My interest in analyzing the Venezuelan dictator has dissipated quite dramatically since I started this blog, as I think it has for a few of our contributors. It was a good run, and was enlightening.

If there are anti-Chavez writers that are interested in taking up the mantle of this blog, I will be very willing to hand over this domain to them. Otherwise, consider this blog defunct.

Thank you for reading.

Video: Bolivian President Evo Morales on The Daily Show

2007-09-26T22:50:00.000-07:00

Hugo latching onto power

2007-09-05T22:15:00.000-07:00

It's hardly news to anyone following the man's career, but it appears that Hugo Chavez plans on lengthening his stay in order to build the socialist economic framework for his country ( a feat that would take a long, long time, since socialism doesn't work). From Fox News' political grapevine:

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez — who has likened President Bush to the devil — wants to eliminate presidential term limits so that he can remain in power for another 20 years.

In his weekly radio and television program yesterday, Chavez said he needs more time in office to establish a socialist economic model in Venezuela and that if voters approve his constitutional reforms, he could continue governing until the year 2027.

Government opponents are crying foul, accusing Chavez of trying to become a dictator like his close friend Fidel Castro. Venezuela's National Assembly is expected to approve the proposals in two to three months, after which they'll be presented to voters.

Castro's acolytes in the Western Hemisphere

2007-08-26T17:19:00.000-07:00

Evo Morales.

Hugo Chavez.

Daniel Ortega.

Rafael Correa.

And now, if the American Left has it's way: Sen Barak Obama.

What do all these men have in common?

Apparently they all think the U.S. is far too mean to that noble democrat Fidel Castro. (They also think the U.S. is imperialist).

I exaggerate.

I hope.

Overblown Ego

2007-08-17T06:14:00.000-07:00

Quiz time...Study the following AP photo carefully:

Ready? Okay...Which of the following two captions appeared with the photo?

1. Aug. 15: Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez smiles prior to delivering a speech to the National Assembly in Caracas.

2. In a speech to the National Assembly President Hugo Chavez compares his love of Venezuela to that of a father to his baby: "Who's my cute little bootsy-boo...goochy, goochy, goochy..." (Rough translation).

The answer is of course #2. (I'll make the next quiz a little tougher.) You see, Papa Hugo gave a speech last night to "his people" informing them that they are not ready to live on their own, away from his protective embrace. To keep a watchful parental eye on their development to "21st Century Socialism", Hugo has presented a plan to the "legislature" for perpetual "reelection". While critics claim this stunt is nothing but a naked power grab in a string of such grabs, supporters agree with Hugo or wind up in prison.But...the most important development last night was the unveiling of the first ever literal demonstration of an inflated ego:

Ahead of Chavez's speech, actors sang in the National Assembly as they performed a scene from the life of South American independence hero Simon Bolivar, the spiritual father of the socialist movement that Chavez calls the Bolivarian Revolution.

Crowds of red-clad supporters cheered outside the National Assembly, holding flags and signs reading: "Yes to the reform, on the path to 21st Century Socialism." Giant video screens were set up, and folk music blared from sound trucks near a two-story-tall inflatable figure of Chavez.

BBC

Here's to hoping the Venezuelan people reach adolescence quickly and steal daddy's car keys.

The "hero of Latin America" continues media consolidation

2007-06-05T11:03:00.001-07:00

It's been over half a month since I've updated this blog, and even that last post was the first in a previous absence. There has been plenty of news swirling around that tied in with the ghoul in Caracas, most notably the shutting down of a major private news source in Venezuela by the Chavez government.

The Paris group Reporters Without Borders condemned the action, claiming that Chavez is seeking media "hegemony:"

"It was a political move, one that establishes government hegemony over the broadcast media and constitutes a grave danger for editorial pluralism," the Paris-based group said.

The organization said Chavez's decisions "were conducted outside of all regular legal channels and in defiance of the jurisprudence established by the Organization of American States."

HCW regular Scatbug also posted on this story over at his Townhall.com blog.

Meanwhile, this cartoon was delivered to me via commentor Pedro Morgado:

Chavez Government to Finance Glover Film

2007-05-18T18:30:00.000-07:00

Here's the story:

Venezuela's Congress says it has approved financing for two films by actor Danny Glover, a close supporter of President Hugo Chavez.

The lawmaking body, which is closely allied with Chavez, said in a statement on its Web site Thursday that it approved $20 million for two Glover productions.

They include "The General in His Labyrinth," which deals with the life of South American liberator Simon Bolivar. It is based on a novel by Colombian Nobel Prize-winning writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez and will be directed by Venezuela-born director Alberto Arvelo.

The other is "Toussaint," which the statement said Glover plans to direct documenting the life of Haitian revolution leader Toussaint Louverture.

Government officials and Glover's representatives were not immediately available for comment.

The statement said that the funds will come from proceeds Venezuela obtained from a recent bond sale with Argentina.

Glover is among a number of high-profile U.S. supporters of Chavez. The group also includes singer Harry Belafonte and Princeton University scholar Cornel West, who have defended the Venezuelan president against accusations of democratic abuses.

Glover has met Chavez during visits to Venezuela and even appeared on his television and radio talk show, "Hello, President."

Giuliani pounds Chavez

2007-05-01T23:06:00.000-07:00

I haven't endorsed any presidential candidate over at my blog, but I like hearing comments like this from those that are seeking the highest seat in the land:

"Isn't it annoying, upsetting and even in some cases a matter of national security that we have to send money to our enemies?" Giuliani asked. "We need a president who knows how to get things done so we don't have to be sending money to Chavez."

Giuliani called for the United States to develop alternative energy sources and take advantage of oil already in its control. He said that antagonistic leaders of oil-rich nations, like Chavez, would have "little power" if the United States could stop buying oil from them.

Too true, and most likely there would be no need for such blogs as these if we stopped giving money to countries that hate us.

Chavez: "No possibility" of understanding with Washington

2007-04-14T12:40:00.000-07:00

It's been a long time since an update here at Hugo Chavez Watch, but fortunately Chavez keeps making the news waves.

Chavez has said there is no possibility of diplomatic understanding between him and the United States. Does this extend to a Washington ruled by Democrats? My instinct says it does, because none but the most left-wing Democrats will make moves to "spread the revolution," as Chavez would put it.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, threatening to cut off oil shipments to the U.S. if its government supports any efforts to oust him, said that reconciliation with Washington was impossible.

Chavez said a thirst for oil motivated both the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and a failed 2002 coup against him. The outspoken leader has often accused the U.S. of being behind the coup, and Washington has repeatedly denied the allegation.

A young supporter of Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez cheers as she waves a flag reading in Spanish "The people are still in the streets, now on the path to socialism" outside Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas, Friday, April 13, 2007, during a rally to celebrate the fifth year anniversary of Chavez's return to power after a coup that briefly toppled him in 2002.

"There is no possibility of understanding for our revolution with the government of the United States, with U.S. imperialism," Chavez said during a news conference to mark the fifth anniversary of his return to power two days after the coup.

Venezuela's National Animal, Two Versions

2007-03-22T19:24:00.000-07:00

Got this neat little comparison from Michael Medved's weekly e-mail newsletter. Good way to end the week. On the left, the Capybara, the world's largest rodent. And on the right, President Hugo Chavez, an even larger rodent.

Full 20/20 interview with Chavez

2007-03-18T18:05:00.001-07:00

Hugo Chavez on 20/20

2007-03-16T21:38:00.000-07:00

In a couple minutes at 10:00, Hugo Chavez will be interviewd by Barbara Walters. To my knowledge, it's the first major American interview (aside from super-left outlets like Democracy Now!) that Pirate Boy's done.

Watch this space for update and analysis an hour from now.

UPDATE: Alright, so Hugo showed alot of his soft and tender side, knowing full well who the audience would be for an ABC News Interview. When asked about his calling President Bush a "donkey," a "devil" and other such epithets, he said that those comments may have excessive, and even that he "may apologize." Without batting an eye though, he referred to Bush as a "political corpse" when answering the very next question. Talk about diarrhea of the mouth.

After a whole waste of time with Walters asking him about marriage and coffee, the interview ended and we saw her rain him with the compliments in the ABC studio. Like Mike Wallace after his interview with Iranian President Ahmadinejad, where Wallace espoused that Ahmadinejad would be a harbringer of world peace if it weren't for the "Zionist entity," Walters become doughy eyed and swallowed the notion that this tyrannical madman would turn into a dove if only the Democrats were back in office.

Watch the video for yourself.

Terry McAulliffe on Pirate Boy

2007-03-15T16:20:00.000-07:00

According to the account of Bryan Preston, McAulliffe blamed the rise to prominence in the South American continent of Hugo Chavez on - well, you guess:

Also during Q&A, several liberals in the audience came at McAuliffe from the left, giving him the chance to burnish his nutroots credentials. He took the opportunity and ran with it. One asked him why the US is so unpopular with Hugo Chavez, prompting McAuliffe’s BDS affliction to come out in full glory. Keep in mind that Chavez is turning all of Venezuela into an armed camp as he cozies up to the Iranian mullahs and turns himself into a clone of Fidel Castro. Keep in mind that Chavez calls himself an enemy of the US, and keep in mind that Chavez currently rules Venezuela by dictatorial decree as he nationalizes (a fancy way of saying “steals”) private companies. Keep in mind that Chavez was kept in power, in all likelihood, by a sham election certified real by Jimmy Carter. Keeping all of that in mind, McAuliffe actually blamed Chavez’s actions and attitudes on George W. Bush.

Which, if he’s being logically consistent, means Castro is entirely the fault of John F. Kennedy.

Read the rest of the article, which is a bit lengthy but worth it nonetheless.

Oh, and just because I feel like it, the best book cover ever:

Giuliani Law Firm Lobbies in Texas for Chavez-Controlled Citgo

2007-03-14T11:24:00.000-07:00

If it weren't enough that he has a record of being more socially liberal than Bill Clinton, it has now been revealed that presidential candidate and former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani has ties to Venezuela's Pirate Boy:

March 14 (Bloomberg) -- Rudolph Giuliani's law firm lobbies for Citgo Petroleum Corp., a unit of the state-owned oil company controlled by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, the U.S.'s chief antagonist in the Western Hemisphere.

Bracewell & Giuliani LLP registered to lobby for Citgo in Texas on April 26, 2005, less than a month after the former New York mayor joined the firm and became a name partner, state records show. Citgo renewed the contract in 2006 and 2007 and pays the firm $5,000 a month to track legislation. Giuliani doesn't lobby, the firm says.

The law firm's representation of Citgo comes as Chavez's relations with the U.S. have grown increasingly hostile. He has called President George W. Bush a ``devil'' and a ``madman'' and staged a mass, anti-American rally in Buenos Aires during Bush's trip to Latin America, which ends today.

Not earth-shattering, I know, but hey. We've been running low on Hugo news lately.

Chavez's buying spree

2007-02-26T16:15:00.000-08:00

Guess which nation is the largest weapons buyer in Latin America?

Venezuela?

I have nothing against a nation properly supplying a well-trained military, especially in a region of the world constantly battling Marxist guerillas, narcotics cartels, and reactionary death squads. The problem I see is Venezuela's, I mean, Chavez's irresponsibility. Chavez is friendly with WMD proliferators and subsidizes brutal tyrants from Cuba to Massachusetts.

The scorecard:

...more than $US4 billion ($A5.05 billion) over the past two years...
...dozens of fighter jets and attack helicopters and 100,000 Kalashnikov
assault rifles...
...Venezuela's escalation of arms spending, up 12.5 per cent in
2006...
Since 2005, Venezuela has signed contracts with Russia for 24 Sukhoi
fighter jets, 50 transport and attack helicopters, and 100,000 assault
rifles.

Private propety is safe (for now)

2007-02-25T17:50:00.000-08:00

Chavez has no plans to eliminate private property.

In a normal country that is not a denial that needs to be made.

"While preserving private property, a revised Constitution would also protect
"social" and "collective" property, like the country's large oil reserves,
Chávez said, without giving further details."

There are multiple kinds of property, according to Chavez. These include, in addition to private property are, social and collective property.

In other news, Chavez questions the Venezuelan Central Bank's method of determining inflation and disputes the rate of poverty for his country (18.4% last month and 39.7% at the end of 2005, respectively). Such numbers aren't valid in Venezuela, you see. In the fantasy realm of Chavez, poverty rates are fictitious numbers created to denigrate his country and his "socialism". Inflation numbers are tools of evil capitalists to harm the "revolution".

Hugo Chavez Watch Official Video Spot

2007-02-25T12:33:00.000-08:00

Please spread this around!

From student to master

2007-02-23T13:35:00.000-08:00

It certainly does appear that Hugo Chavez’s visits to Fidel Castro’s beside have involved more than changing bed pans and wheeling the old guy out for some sun. Clearly there has also been some Master-Grasshopper tutelage going on, perhaps while swabbing the bed sores. Why, in just the last few weeks we’ve seen Hugo clamp down on political opposition, start issuing laws by decree, appoint himself Grocer in Chief, nationalize the red shirt manufacturing industry, etc., etc. We’ve also witnessed him use the time-honored commie rationalization of declaring that his thuggery is for the “people” and/or the “revolution.”

Well yesterday he further showed off his dictatorial chops with some old-school paranoid ranting. From the AP:

Hugo Chavez Accuses U.S. of Plan to Wreck Venezuelan Economy

CARACAS, Venezuela — President Hugo Chavez warned that the U.S. government, allegedly frustrated by failed assassination plots against him, was now planning to sabotage the oil-producing country's economy.Chavez, speaking Thursday on his newly scheduled prime-time TV talk show, predicted that "one of the fiercest battle fronts" was coming ahead as Washington readied to destroy Venezuela economically.

He said that recent comments by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice accusing Chavez of "destroying" his country's economy meant that "the imperialist plan of the moment" had turned to economic sabotage."

(That's) one of the plans. The other is assassination," he said, reiterating past claims that the U.S. government is plotting to kill him. "We've neutralized various attempts, and I have faith we will continue neutralizing them. But they won't rest."

Chavez said that recent urgings by President Bush for his country to reduce its oil dependency on unfriendly nations, including Venezuela, meant that Venezuela was already on "the drawing table" and Washington was laying its plans.

Great stuff, huh? To summarize…By offering the opinion that Hugo is ruining Venezuela’s economy, Secretary Rice was really stating that the US will do the wrecking with its “imperialist plan of the moment” because so many assassination attempts have failed. And this sabotage plan is laid bare through President Bush’s goal of reducing oil purchases from countries which hate the US. Or more concisely, Hugo is in effect saying, “You can’t buy oil elsewhere! I need your money to keep calling you the Devil and fly first class to Tehran!! Imperialist jackals!! Buy Venezuelan!!” Or something to that effect.

Fidel must be so proud of his little grasshopper.

Did Chavez rig elections?

2007-02-21T15:20:00.001-08:00

From a New York Sun article:

Hugo Chavez may have lost both the recall referendum in 2004 and the December 2006 presidential election, according to studies conducted by a distinguished multidisciplinary team in Caracas, Venezuela. The team includes the rector of Universidad Simon Bolivar, Frederick Malpica, and a former rector of the National Electoral Council, Alfredo Weil.

Astonishing as it may seem to Americans who believe the contention by Mr. Chavez that he won both elections by a landslide - 58% to 42% in the recall and 61% to 39% in the presidential election - the studies show that since 2003, Mr. Chavez has added 4.4 million favorable names to the voter list and "migrated" 2.6 million unfavorable voters to places where it was difficult or impossible for them to vote.

There was a report during the campaigning in Venezuela of Chavez's state run petroleum company blacklisting those that didn't support him. If it were to come out that his re-election were rigged, it would only be par for the course.

H/T: Greg Reeson

Ch-ch-ch-changes

2007-02-20T03:23:00.000-08:00

I'm making a few changes on the blog, so things might look a little different. Don't fret.

Chavez on Al Jazeera: America is "Count Dracula"

2007-02-16T00:52:00.000-08:00

The video is a couple of months old and was translated by the wonderful guys over at MEMRI. Make sure to check out their blog.

Kennedy a prop for Venezuela and Chavez?

2007-02-16T00:47:00.000-08:00

What's the price of a gallon of milk? Ask Hugo!!

2007-02-15T17:41:00.000-08:00

Feeding (as it were) off mgraves' last post....

Here are the AP's lead graphs on the supermarket story:

CARACAS, Venezuela -- President Hugo Chavez threatened Wednesday to nationalize any privately owned supermarkets and food storage facilities caught hoarding inventories or violating price controls imposed on basic goods.

Accusing private companies of hoarding beef and other foods, Chavez warned supermarket owners and distributors that he would nationalize their facilities as soon as they gave him "an excuse."
If they remain committed to violating the interests of the people, the constitution, the laws, I'm going to take the food storage units, corner stores, supermarkets and nationalize them," Chavez said during a televised broadcast. "So prepare yourselves!"

You know the first thought I had when I read that? Kulaks. What, or who, are they? The Wiki entry is here. The short answer is that they were Russians in the 1920s-30s who grew food and ate it. So they were killed. Why? Because they were hoarding and thereby violating the interests of the people. At least that's what the forebears of Hugo Chavez said.

Grocery stores up next

2007-02-15T16:55:00.000-08:00

Chavez now wants to nationalize grocery stores. Not exactly a high profit industry.

Venezuela continues to spiral down, under the jackboot of Chavez.

Middle Class flight

2007-02-15T16:45:00.000-08:00

Venezuelans capable of fleeing the country are starting to do so amid fears of a Chavez dictatorship. U.S. visa inquiries have doubled over the last several weeks. The U.K. reports a similar rise.

...
A website for would-be emigrants — mequieroir.com (I want to leave.com) —
reports that since Mr Chavez's December 3 election win, and his announcement
last month that he would nationalise the telecommunications and electricity
industries, its daily visits have soared from 20,000 to 60,000.
...
"Older people leave because they are concerned about the future of their
families," said Mr Barreiro, a graphic designer, "and younger people like us
leave because there is no future."
...

Chavez's promise of a perfect socialism is apparently not embraced by everyone.

Nationalization in Latin America

2007-02-11T16:47:00.000-08:00

Bolivia's little Chavez moves ahead of Venezuela's Chavez in the industry nationalization race.

Chavez felt the need to pay for his first acquistion, but while the terms of Morales' appropriation haven't been disclosed as of yet, they are likely not as generous as those Chavez granted to the American company he "bought" out.

There is something to be said for being a nation willing to use force: when flea-bitten dictators take your property, they feel compelled to pay for it (0n occasion).

Communism: wrecking economies for over 100 years.

2007-02-10T19:09:00.000-08:00

At least they're paying for the electric company they plan to nationalize. I can't say I blame Paul Hanrahan for selling out, if he waits he's liable to lose everything.

Obviously Chavez hasn't been studying his history of the Islamic revolution, or he'd know that he can just unilaterally take over inconvenient (or profitable) industries.

Good to know minority owner will have the option of selling their shares to Chavez...I mean the Venezuelan government.

This is just the start of Chavez's planned industry nationalizations.

It's nice to see two friends getting along

2007-02-10T19:01:00.000-08:00

Direct flights from Iran to Venezuela will commence next month.

Luckily, Iran doesn't have anything to do with terrorism. Luckily, Venezuela isn't in our backyard, making passage for potential terrorists a little bit easier.

Nevermind.

Nothing wrong with global connectedness. The problem lies in each regime's irresponsibility and oppression of their own people, which, when combined with each nation's missionary zeal, makes for a rather volitile situation.

Columbia

2007-02-05T18:25:00.000-08:00

I'd rather not be President Alvaro Uribe. He's surrounded by Chavez acolytes. He faces leftist terrorists. He faces right-wing militias. He faces massive drug cartels.

Columbia could certainly do a lot worse than President Uribe.

Hugo's "Old School" Aspirations

2007-01-29T19:20:00.001-08:00

There's nothing like beginning a new century with ambitions to turn to a failed economic ideology from the previous century. Hugo Chavez, whose first name appears to be an amalgamation of the words "huge" and "ego" is pledging to use his impending vast new powers to usher in a socialist worker's paradise:

During a live broadcast from a cattle ranch in Venezuela's central plains, Chavez inaugurated a series of centers where he said Venezuelans will study socialist ideals while undergoing job training.

As workers milked cows and showed Chavez how they produce cheese, the president asked them about their daily lives and warned against the evils of capitalism.

He urged all Venezuelans to embrace "the socialism that we are going to create." But Chavez denied that he was attempting to steer oil-rich Venezuela toward Cuba-style communism, as many critics allege.

Perhaps someone should ask Hugo the Magnificent why, if the socialist state he would like to create is so superior to capitalism, tens of thousands of Mexican immigrants are seeking entrance into the United States instead of getting in on the ground floor of the worker's utopia he aspires to create? Hugo's also trying to calm the upper class -- and probably also the middle class -- understandably nervous about his ambitions by telling what I certainly believe to be a pernicious lie:

President Hugo Chavez denied Sunday that his left-leaning government would seize private property - such as second homes or expensive cars - from the wealthy and called on Venezuelans not to fear his accelerated push toward socialism.

Then there's this howler:

Chavez has raised concerns by repeatedly saying he wants to continue governing Venezuela until 2021 or longer. He was re-elected to a second, six-year term in December - his last under Venezuela's Constitution. But Chavez has proposed a constitutional reform that would allow indefinite re-election.

Why even bother stating a date? Surely his ambition is to govern Venezuela until he dies, after which he will limit himself to one term in recognition of the challenge of facing such a workload at such an, ahem, advanced age. I fear that this guy won't be going anywhere for a long, long time.

Video: Despotism

2007-01-26T13:02:00.000-08:00

Since one of our largest concerns about Hugo Chavez is his movement towards consolidated control over the government and what media is allowed in Venezuela. This video from the late 1940s illustrates the traits that a democracy and a despotism show. We already see Chavez engaging in media suppression similar to what's in the video.

Chavez Threatening To Expel U.S. Ambassador

2007-01-26T07:23:00.000-08:00

Hugo the Magnificent is once again rattling his butter knife, this time at U.S. Ambassador to Venezuela William Brownfield:

President Hugo Chavez warned he could expel the U.S. ambassador if he keeps "meddling in Venezuela's affairs," saying the diplomat went too far by suggesting U.S. investors should receive fair compensation when Venezuela nationalizes its largest telephone company.

"Mr. ambassador, go meddle in the affairs of your own country," Chavez said during a speech Thursday night, referring to Ambassador William Brownfield.

Chavez then whipped out his legal credentials -- probably those which he obtained via mail order -- and promptly accused the United States of violating the Geneva Accord:

"If you continue meddling in Venezuela's affairs, first of all, you are violating the Geneva accords and getting yourself involved in a serious violation and could ... be declared persona non- grata and would have to leave the country," Chavez added.

All this uproar just because Brownfield essentially suggested that Chavez shouldn't steal from the shareholders of Verizon Communications. Since Verizon is a New York-based company, it will be interesting to see what Senators Clinton and Schumer have to say about the nationalization. Brownfield also had the audacity to do the following:

A Texan with a penchant for understatement that at times verges on sarcasm, Brownfield has drawn Chavez's anger not only by raising Washington's concerns but also by handing out donations to youth baseball leagues and other charities in slums that are pro-government strongholds.

This is all a tad bit confusing. Chavez has sought to support his arguments for socialism partly through claims that Jesus Christ was a socialist. Chavez subsequently advocates a nationalization policy that would have him stealing money from shareholders. As if that weren't enough, he takes great offense when the U.S. Ambassador gives money to Venezuelan charities and other non-political causes. Maybe I have to read my Bible more thoroughly, but I'm pretty sure that Jesus was against stealing and supportive of charity. Ah, but what do I know.

New voice at Hugo Chavez Watch

2007-01-25T18:03:00.000-08:00

Joe McCoy of Dictator Watch fame will be joining the Hugo Chavez Watch team. I'm proud to see this blog grow in scope and opinions, and I think Joe will add greatly to this blog.

Joe's primary blog, Scottish Right, can be found here.

Low levels of Venezuelans protest Chavez power grab

2007-01-24T22:21:00.000-08:00

Joe at Dictator Watch posted this story:

Hundreds of Venezuelans have protested in Caracas against a congressional measure that would grant Hugo Chavez, the country's president, unbridled powers to pass laws by decree.

The protest came as the pro-Chavez National Assembly said it would postpone granting final approval to allow him to enact laws by decree for an 18-month period.

Raising their hands in the air, some 400 to 500 protesters stood in a plaza and shouted in unison: "Faced with authoritarianism - more democracy."

I have to agree with the assessment that Joe gives:

Hopefully this number is underreported or just the start of mass protests. It would be highly disturbing if tens of thousands don't take to the streets.

It is as clear as day that Chavez intends to become the Castro of the 21st century, an oppressor of his own people acting as a thorn in the side of freedom and democracy.

"Bush Likes Chavez’s New Venezuelan Tourism Slogan"

2007-01-21T19:21:00.000-08:00

From Scrappleface:

(2007-01-21) — U.S. President George Bush today said he thinks Venezuela’s new tourism slogan, unveiled during President Hugo Chavez’s weekly broadcast, “really captures the appeal of the place for American travelers, and makes a bold call to action.”

Within the past two weeks, Mr. Chavez received authority from parliament to rule by decree, announced plans to nationalize several major industries and declared his belief that “capitalism is the road to the destruction of the world.”

However, a spokesman for Mr. Chavez denied that the Venezuelan president had introduced a new tourism slogan aimed at Americans, noting that the only remark in his speech directed to U.S. citizens was “Go to Hell, Gringos.”

Mr. Bush, when told of the denial, said, “My bad. It sure sounded like a Venezuelan tourism advertisement to me."

Paging Dr. Chavez...Paging Dr. Chavez (Part Tres)

2007-01-17T07:13:00.000-08:00

One of the more interesting aspects of the Fidel Castro health saga has been the emergence of Latin America's premier gastroenterologist: Hugo Chavez. As documented on this blog here and here, Mr. Chavez has routinely provided updates on Castro's recovery from intestinal surgery. And as you might expect, this charismatic leader has done so with a flair and panache unmatched by your typical PR flack or commie stooge. In fact, word has it that Chavez will lend his talents to Kim Jong-il when the North Korean leader has his annual colonoscopy next month.

Anyway, Dr. Chavez was at it again yesterday offering his prognosis for Castro's recovery and dispelling rumors that the Cuban "leader" has one foot in the grave. Oh...And naturally the good doctor blamed the US for everything, which apparently includes using the embargo to deny Castro a high fiber diet. As reported by Reuters:

QUITO (Reuters) - Fidel Castro's recovery from surgery is slow and has risks, his close ally Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said on Tuesday, but he denied a Spanish newspaper report the Cuban leader's condition was serious.
Chavez, who regularly visits or speaks with Castro and gives frequent updates on his health in speeches, was less upbeat than he typically is about his mentor's convalescence following surgery on his intestine last year.
Chavez accused the United States of being behind false reports exaggerating the illness, which has forced Castro to temporarily hand power over to his brother on the communist-run island. "The empire (the United States) is bent on killing off Fidel Castro," Chavez said.

Cuban Heroes

2007-01-16T18:18:00.000-08:00

My Spanish is ferocious bad, but anyone who speaks the language may want to visit PayoLibre.com. The site publishes news concerning Cuba.

Jay Nordlinger, of National Review, discusses several of Cuba's heroes.

Castro in "grave" condition?

2007-01-16T06:02:00.000-08:00

That's by way of Reeson, who has this to say about Fidel Castro's successor to power:

If Castro dies, there will be some weakening of the Cuban government, largely because it is centered on a Stalin-like cult of personality with Fidel. But his brother, and likely successor, is even more ruthless, despite some inclinations toward Chinese-style economic reforms.

I don't personally know much at all about Raul or what his Cuba would look like. The age difference between the two isn't that substantial though, and eventually there will be another transition of power.

Private industry becomes an endangered species in Venezuela

2007-01-15T15:49:00.000-08:00

Chavez aims to nationalize absolutely all of his country's energy sector, his own words:

Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez said on Saturday the country's entire energy sector had to be nationalized, reinforcing his socialist revolution and possibly giving himself more targets for state take-over.
But he said he would permit foreign firms to hold minority stakes in energy deals.

The anti-U.S. leader, in power since 1999, this week announced he would nationalize power utilities and the country's biggest telecommunications firm, confirming his status as the catalyst of Latin America's swing to the left.

"We have decided to nationalize the whole Venezuelan energy and electricity sector, all of it, absolutely all," Chávez said in his annual state of the nation address to parliament, potentially opening up more projects for state acquisition in the No. 4 crude exporter to the United States.

The president was reinaugurated this week for a term that runs through 2013.

It's so obvious to me, and it should be obvious to anyone paying attention, that Chavez is trying to consolidate his power in order to become the Fidel Castro of the 21st century. Let's hope the Venezuelan people see through the smokescreen and see that they are being manipulated.

Holy Crapola!!

2007-01-15T07:52:00.000-08:00

Thank the Lord for YouTube. I don't know where I would get my Hugo and Castro videos without it.

Mr. T talks about Hugo Chavez

2007-01-15T07:25:00.000-08:00

I came across this video while cruising YouTube. I think it's the first time I've ever heard Mr. T say anything remotely political.

Chavez, Ahmadinejad, and the root of all evil

2007-01-14T15:53:00.000-08:00

Ahmadinejad and Chavez are a bit upset about falling gas prices. I don't know about you, but seeing the price of unleaded under $2.00 has just about made me drive of the road (if you're not so lucky, you have my condolences--I'm giving credit to the nuclear reactor down the road: it may not make sense economically [to give such credit], but I don't care at the moment).

They're also looking to spread the joys of anti-Americanism and capitalism by spreading cash around the third world. [Anybody else having fond memories of the Cold War? Sure, Iran doesn't have nuclear weapons yet, but we're not doing anything to hinder them in their pursuit].

And by the way: everything wrong with the world is America's fault. Whether it is poverty, disease, conflict, mismanagement, or aggressive stupidity, the U.S. is behind it:

Mr Ahmadinejad focused on injustice and poverty in the developing world,
laying the blame at Washington's door. "All this is the work of the
superpower."

Ahmadinejad heads to Venezuela again

2007-01-13T22:28:00.000-08:00

Chavez and Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad are headed for another meeting, to kick off Ahmadinejad's tour of Latin America. Here's an excerpt of the WaPo article on the meeting:

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad left Iran on Friday for his second trip to Latin America in four months, starting with a visit to Venezuela and talks with its anti-U.S. President Hugo Chavez.
Ahmadinejad, who like Chavez peppers his speeches with statements against Washington, will also visit Nicaragua and Ecuador, where presidents opposed to U.S. policies have also recently won elections.

"Iran and Venezuela are very good friends ... The aim of this trip is to follow up previous agreements and to reach new ones," Ahmadinejad told reporters at Tehran's International Mehrabad airport, the official IRNA news agency said.

The cult of Hugo

2007-01-10T13:10:00.000-08:00

Oh my stars... Check out this photo. I found it on an excellent Venezuelan blog. The post surrounding the photo concerns the wacky cult of personality developing around Chavez. And did you know he called the OAS secretary a pubic hair? Well he did. Go read that post.

Cindy Sheehan ignores appeals to visit Cuban prisoners

2007-01-10T13:01:00.000-08:00

We all know how much love St. Sheehan has for Hugo Chavez, so why on earth would she want to waste her time visiting the victims of Castro's Cuba when she can spend her time with victims of American imperialism?

Christopher Hitchens has said it many times, and it needs repeating. Those that call themselves anti-war are not anti-war. They are pro-war for the other side.

The Damas de Blanco, or Ladies in White, who march silently through the streets of Havana every Sunday in protest at the incarceration of political prisoners of the Castro regime, wrote a letter to Ms. Sheehan inviting her to visit Cuban prisons.

The Damas drew Ms. Sheehan's attention to the poor state of Cuban prisons, which they say lack clean drinking water and adequate food and where their relatives are imprisoned solely for speaking out against Fidel Castro's government.

The leader of Ms. Sheehan's trip, Medea Benjamin, said the American activists had not seen the letter and that they would be focusing solely on Guantanamo.

"It just so happens that this is where the [ Guantanamo] prisoners are," Ms. Benjamin said. That the group is visiting Cuba, where prisons define daily life for many, is "very incidental," she added.

Video: Chavez sworn in

2007-01-10T00:08:00.000-08:00

Adding to Scatbug's last post, here is a video from Fox on Chavez's promise of socialist revolution in Venezuela.

Hugo's idea man (Updated with a new quote and improved sarcasm!)

2007-01-09T18:22:00.000-08:00

I suppose you've heard that Hugo Chavez yesterday officially condemned the Venezuelan people to the prison of socialism. Here's the story:

Chavez Gets More Power by Nationalizing

CARACAS, Venezuela -- As Venezuela embarked on another six years under Hugo Chavez, the president announced plans to nationalize power and telecom companies and make other bold changes that will concentrate more power in his hands.

Chavez, who will be sworn in Wednesday to a third term that runs until 2013, also said he wanted a constitutional amendment to strip the Central Bank of its autonomy and would soon ask the National Assembly, solidly controlled by his allies, to give him greater powers to legislate by presidential decree.

"We're moving toward a socialist republic of Venezuela, and that requires a deep reform of our national constitution," Chavez said in a televised address after swearing in his new Cabinet. "We're heading toward socialism, and nothing and no one can prevent it."

Legislating by decree. "nothing and no one can prevent it." All that's missing (for now) is a pledge to re-educate those who don't have their minds right.

And in case you think the alarms being sounded over Chavez's power grab are an over reaction, familiarize yourself with Heinz Dieterich. He's the thug whisperer who's training the new breed of Latin American socialists. The term Chavez adopted, "21st Century Socialism"? Dieterich wrote the book (literally). And I'm not talking about European socialism lite. No, Mr. Dieterich is an old-school Leninist. Here are some of his thoughts from an interview in Unsere Zeit, the German Communist Party newspaper. (I found it on a different web site so click the first link for the full version.)

On what it will take for Chavez to be successful...

In my view, one can only do today in Venezuela what Lenin did in the New Economic Policy. Every other attempt to make steps toward socialism under today's conditions would lead rapidly to the collapse of the system because there is no basis of power from which to execute it. The bourgeois state has not been destroyed, it has merely reorganized itself into a new way of governing. The church has not lost its influence. Eighty percent of the mass media are in the hands of large companies opposed to the government. Also, the kind of correlation of power that would allow for a repetition of what happened in Cuba or the Soviet Union is lacking.

[...]

Lenin defined different requirements for different times. First, there was electrification. That meant the insight that the objective conditions for socialism did not exist -- they could be only created. That allowed for the collectivization of agriculture. The whole movement of farm collectives was a result of the political necessity, for the future of the revolution, of bringing under party control the potential within the population of making a decision for it. That was the deciding factor. And Lenin realized, of course, that the Soviet Union would remain bourgeois in the medium term if the peasants were not brought under the ideological direction of the party and the workers.

Of course as every schoolboy/girl knows (har-har), Lenin's New Economic Policy and collectivization killed people in the tens of millions either by execution, disease, or forced starvation...and sometimes all three for good measure. So it appears Mr. Dieterich fails to grasp that the term Great Famine -- just one catastrophic result of the NEP -- is not meant as a compliment to Lenin's skills as an economist and social organizer. If Dieterich has a similar favorable impression of the Great Famine Redux under Stalin, the interview doesn't say. But he does give some praise to Mao, so undoubtedly he has a soft spot for Uncle Joe as well.The whole interview is just more and more of that kind of rubbish.

However, at the end Mr. Dieterich at least supplies some comic relief...

But in any case it [socialism] must all be done democratically. If at some point the people say, "We have reached the level of development of Costa Rica and that's good enough for us, we don't want any socialist experiments in Venezuela," then there is nothing to be done. Democracy means that the majority rules. If the majority is satisfied with quasi-first world social conditions and does not wish to go any farther, socialism cannot be imposed.

Goodness...Many a collectivized field could be fertilized with that dung heap of a quote. Has Hugo Chavez given any indication he'd go along with a vote to remove him from power? What about Castro (Fidel or Raul)? Or Kim? And let's revisit the beginning of this post: legislating by decree; "nothing and no one can prevent it." That sure sounds like imposing socialism, no?

UPDATE: So Chavez was sworn in as tyrant...er...president today. I wonder if he ran this line from his speech past Heinz Dieterich: "Fatherland. Socialism or death — I swear it." Wow. That kinda adds a few more tons to Dieterich's dung heap, doesn't it.

Sabotage

2007-01-05T13:42:00.000-08:00

A teen managed to hack into Venezuela's government website:

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) -- A 17-year-old has been detained by Venezuelan authorities after hacking into multiple government Web sites and posting playful photos of President Hugo Chavez and his close ally, Cuba's Fidel Castro, on some of them.

The boy modified 23 Web sites -- including those of the vice president's office, the National Guard and the investigative police -- between December 30 and 31, Oswaldo Guevara, the investigative police's head of computer-related crimes, said Friday.

He signed off on the photo-postings and other cosmetic changes made to the home pages with his hacker name, "J41ber", and home telephone number. The modifications had included photomontages of Chavez and Castro, Guevara said.

Local media reported the boy, who was living in a poor neighborhood in western Carabobo state, was hoping his actions would win him a job with the private telecommunications company hosting the Web sites.

I wonder what the pictures looked like? Were they similiar to the ones we have at the top of this blog?

Prison Safety in Venezuela

2007-01-03T20:14:00.000-08:00

South America Daily, a repository of news articles primarily concerned with South America is one of my favorite news sources on South America. There are headings on each of eight major South American countries.

Today (03Jan07) has three articles concerning prison riots in Venezuela (of six ledes):

>Venezuela prison riot kills 16 inmates

>22 Inmates Killed This Week in Venezuelan Prison Riots

>Venezuelan prison riots kill 22 inmates this week

Remind me not to get arrested in Venezuela. (Although I think all three stories refer to the same riots, but from different newspapers).

Nutty S.O.B.

2007-01-03T20:08:00.000-08:00

From the Japan Times:

Revolution was good for Cuba.

The author, Grant Piper, demonstrates that he is a communist by praising the Bolshevik Revolution and the Chinese Communist Revolution as the best things to happen to those countries in modern times.

This guy belongs at a U.S. college teaching "journalism".

Get well...uh...eventually.

2007-01-01T11:58:00.000-08:00

With everyone zigging on the Saddam rope-a-dope, I thought I'd zag with an Uncle Fidel update. It seems the old rascal has issued a New Year's greeting to "his people". In the message he thanks them for their "courage" and their "calm and maturity" during his long illness. He also assures them that he still has a finger in the blood pudding through regular updates from his henchmen. And of course no Fidel message would be complete without the obligatory harangue against global imperialists for consuming things and destroying the environment (as if greater Havana's anything to brag about).

But what I found curious about the story, was the accompanying photo:

According to the caption, the graffiti translates as: "Long live Fidel and his recuperation". Hmmmm. Not exactly "Get well soon", is it. Maybe it's just a Commie thing. They're like totally into heroic struggles, so that must apply to getting sick too. And actually, I share the sentiment. I hope the recuperation lasts the rest of his life.

(Cross-posted at Scatbug's Scatterings)

A small change

2006-12-31T05:10:00.000-08:00

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

2006-12-30T18:27:00.000-08:00

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

2006-12-26T21:30:00.000-08:00

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

2006-12-26T19:13:00.000-08:00

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?

2006-12-24T05:34:00.000-08:00

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

2006-12-22T07:57:00.000-08:00

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

2006-12-22T03:52:00.000-08:00

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

2006-12-20T03:27:00.000-08:00

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...

2006-12-19T16:43:00.000-08:00

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?

2006-12-18T15:57:00.000-08:00

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)

2006-12-16T16:46:00.000-08:00

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?

2006-12-16T14:50:00.000-08:00

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?

2006-12-15T20:54:00.000-08:00

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?

2006-12-13T20:37:00.000-08:00

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...

2006-12-13T17:36:00.000-08:00

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"

2006-12-12T11:28:00.000-08:00

"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

2006-12-10T12:20:00.000-08:00

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

2006-12-09T19:42:00.000-08:00

Socialists and Islamists: Strange bedfellows

2006-12-09T08:31:00.000-08:00

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

2006-12-07T08:03:00.000-08:00

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

2006-12-06T05:53:00.000-08:00

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

The Love Shack

2006-12-05T14:45:00.000-08:00

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

2006-12-05T02:07:00.000-08:00

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

2006-12-05T01:35:00.000-08:00

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...

2006-12-04T10:33:00.000-08:00

...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

2006-12-03T23:04:00.000-08:00

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

"On the Campaign Trail in Venezuela"

2006-12-03T18:45:00.000-08:00

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

2006-12-03T18:13:00.000-08:00

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

2006-12-03T17:10:00.000-08:00

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

2006-12-01T09:17:00.000-08:00

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!!!

2006-11-30T21:14:00.000-08:00

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

2006-11-30T20:26:00.000-08:00

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

2006-11-28T18:29:00.001-08:00

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

2006-11-28T10:22:00.000-08:00

A Balanced Portrait, Part II

2006-11-27T06:08:00.000-08:00

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

2006-11-26T06:40:00.000-08:00

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

2006-11-25T19:56:00.000-08:00

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

2006-11-22T15:40:00.000-08:00

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

2006-11-22T13:07:00.000-08:00

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

2006-11-22T02:21:00.000-08:00

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

2006-11-21T19:38:00.000-08:00

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

2006-11-21T18:41:00.000-08:00

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 Â 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

2006-11-21T18:17:00.000-08:00

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?

2006-11-19T20:57:00.000-08:00

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.