Good riddance

It has been a long time, but I did need to return to say, "Good riddance to bad rubbish".  He is being feted by all the "right" people, so it is fairly obvious what a heinous creature he was.

May G-d have mercy on his soul.

Farewell

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

Hugo latching onto power

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hugo Chavez on 20/20

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

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

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

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)

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

Please spread this around!

From student to master

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?

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