Sunday, March 9, 2008

Reeling in Venezuela

Looks like fun and games time is over and the empire is getting restless. Used to be countries had to be 'pacified'. Now 'hard measures' such as regime change and bombing countries silly may be excused in the interest of 'fighting terror' (I suppose the joke of fighting terror with greater terror is lost on them who are embroiled in this noble cause). Case in point...

Our next regime-change project

Does Dubya have time to get rid of Hugo Chavez before he leaves office? Probably not -- but never fear! Both Dem candidates seem okay with the Bush policy toward Venezuela. After Colombia's recent cross-border incursion into Ecuador and Chavez' saber-rattling reaction, Obama issued a vague anti-terrorism statement, and Hillary sided strongly with our client state Colombia, while calling Chavez the provocateur. See http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/03/06/7520.

Underscoring this is an 'impartial' opinion from the people we can trust at the Latin American oil and gas industry's Petroleum World:

The Corrupcion of Democracy in Venezuela

Under Pres. Hugo Chavez's regime the last nine years, corruption has
 reached heights undreamed of by even the greediest of despots, as the
 people of Venezuela have been fleeced out of billions of dollars.


HUGO CHAVEZ was elected president of Venezuela in December 1998 on the strength of three main promises: convening a Constituent Assembly to write a new constitution and improve the state, fighting poverty and social exclusion, and eliminating corruption. Nine years later, it has become evident that the Constituent Assembly primarily was a vehicle to destroy all existing political institutions and replace them with a bureaucracy beholden to his wishes. Poverty and social exclusion remainas prominent as before, while the levels of government corruption are higher than ever.

Today, the nation is locked in an intense struggle between the defenders of democracy and a president intent on becoming a dictator bfor life. Chavez's latest attempt to push a constitutional reform that would have allowed him unlimited opportunities for reelection was defeated by a margin that official figures put at two points, but independent analysts place at five to 10 points. In negotiating the narrower margin with a National Electoral Council largely under his control, Chavez managed to appear magnanimous in defeat, but he is not a democrat, and he will keep trying to become president for life in any way he can...

Which in translation means they who remove him from power will be doing Venezuelans a big favor. Right...


Posted by Peacedream

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