U Go Hugo

[Lefty]

Chavez aims to repel US 'invasion'
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez extended his verbal war with Washington, likening US President George Bush to Hitler while saying he was considering buying enough rifles to arm one million Venezuelans ready to repel a possible US invasion.

Speaking on Saturday at a mass rally commemorating a failed 1992 coup he led as a lieutenant colonel, Chavez warned that Washington was considering invading Venezuela and the country needed more weapons to defend itself.

"We still need a higher number of rifles," he said. "The 100,000 Russian rifles are not enough. Venezuela needs to have one million well-equipped and well-armed men and women."

Relations between Washington and Caracas have been tense in recent months, in part due to US criticism of Venezuela's purchases of military equipment, including 100,000 Russian-made Kalashnikov assault rifles.

Chavez told the crowd of cheering supporters he had started making contacts with other countries that would be able to supply the additional rifles.

During Saturday's marathon speech, the Venezuelan leader also responded to comments made on Thursday by US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who compared Chavez to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler and warned about populist leadership in Bolivia and Cuba, both close allies of Venezuela.

"The imperialist, mass-murdering, fascist attitude of the president of the US doesn't have limits," Chavez said. "I think Hitler could be a nursery baby next to George W. Bush."

Earlier on Saturday, tens of thousands of Chavez supporters wearing replicas of the president's trademark beret marched through the Venezuelan capital, shouting: "Yankee Imperialism, No! Revolution, Yes!"

"Chavistas," as the president's backers are known, accused the US of conspiring to overthrow Chavez, saying US spies have attempted to stir discontent within the military in hopes of ousting him.

Chavez has repeatedly accused the US of plotting to overthrow him, or even invade Venezuela. Washington has strongly denied any such plans.

Robertson apologizes for assassination call
Broadcaster finds thread from Saddam to Chavez
After two days of criticism, Christian broadcaster Pat Robertson apologized for his controversial suggestion that the United States should assassinate Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

"Is it right to call for assassination? No, and I apologize for that statement," Robertson said. "I spoke in frustration that we should accommodate the man who thinks the U.S. is out to kill him."

But he compared Chavez to Iraq's Saddam Hussein and Adolf Hitler and quoted German Lutheran theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer: "[That if a madman were] driving a car into a group of innocent bystanders, then I can't, as a Christian, simply wait for the catastrophe and then comfort the wounded and bury the dead. I must try to wrestle the steering wheel out of the hands of the driver."

Bonhoeffer was hanged by the Nazis for his involvement in a 1944 plot to assassinate Hitler.

Robertson's rationale for his statement remained unchanged.

"I said before the war in Iraq began that the wisest course would be to wage war against Saddam Hussein, not the whole nation of Iraq," Robertson said. "When faced with the threat of a comparable dictator in our own hemisphere, would it not be wiser to wage war against one person rather than finding ourselves down the road locked in a bitter struggle with a whole nation?"

So far there has been no reaction from Venezuela to Robertson's apology.

Earlier Wednesday, on his "The 700 Club" program, Robertson said the media had taken his remarks out of context.

"I didn't say 'assassination.' I said our special forces should 'take him out.' And 'take him out' can be a number of things, including kidnapping; there are a number of ways to take out a dictator from power besides killing him. I was misinterpreted by the AP [Associated Press], but that happens all the time," Robertson said. (Watch video)

The controversy began Monday when Robertson called Chavez "a terrific danger" bent on exporting Communism and Islamic extremism across the Americas. (Full story)

"If he thinks we're trying to assassinate him, I think we really ought to go ahead and do it," said Robertson Monday. "It's a whole lot cheaper than starting a war." (Watch Robertson's comments)

"We have the ability to take him out, and I think the time has come that we exercise that ability," he said. "We don't need another $200 billion war to get rid of one strong-arm dictator. It's a whole lot easier to have some of the covert operatives do the job and then get it over with."

Chavez, a close ally of Cuban President Fidel Castro, has said in the past he believes the United States is trying to kill him and vowed that Venezuela, which accounts for more than 10 percent of U.S. oil imports, would shut off the flow of oil if that happened.

Tuesday, the Venezuelan leader shrugged off Robertson's comments during a trip to Cuba.

"I don't know who that person is," he said. "I don't know him, and as far as his opinion of me goes, I couldn't care less."

And Venezuela's ambassador to the United States, Bernardo Alvarez, said Robertson was "no ordinary private citizen" and demanded the White House strongly condemn the remarks.

Bush administration critical of Chavez
Chavez has built ties to Cuba since he was elected in 1998, becoming a close friend of Castro's and selling oil to the communist island at preferential rates.

The colorful former Venezuelan army officer has the widespread support of his country's poor.

His opponents, largely drawn from the country's middle and upper classes, accuse him of undermining democratic institutions.

Chavez was re-elected under a new constitution in 2000. In 2004, he won a recall referendum with the support of 58 percent of voters.

He has become an increasingly outspoken critic of the United States, which he accuses of having been behind a 2002 coup attempt that forced him from office for two days.

The Bush administration denied involvement but refused to condemn the attempted coup.

Assassinations of world leaders have been forbidden since President Ford signed an executive order in 1976. The rule came after congressional hearings in the 1970s documented CIA attempts to kill Castro and U.S. interference in the politics of other Latin American countries.

This month, Chavez warned that U.S. troops would be "soundly defeated" if Washington were to invade Venezuela. (Full story)

Administration officials have been sharply critical of Venezuela, the fourth-largest supplier of oil to the United States.

During her confirmation hearings, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice singled out Venezuela as a "negative force" in the region, and Rumsfeld has suggested Chavez's government has interfered with the internal affairs of other countries in the region.

Controversial statements are not new to the 75-year-old Robertson.

He has suggested in the past that a meteor could strike Florida because of unofficial "Gay Days" at Disney World and that feminism caused women to kill their children, practice witchcraft and become lesbians.


Don't mess with me, Chavez warns US
Email Print Normal font Large font February 20, 2006 - 7:14AM
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez warned US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice not to "mess with" him days after Rice described Venezuela as a menace to regional democracy.
"Don't mess with me Condoleezza. Don't mess with me, girl," Chavez said during his weekly Sunday broadcast, sarcastically offering her a kiss and jokingly referring to her as "Condolence".
The warning comes days after Rice described Venezuela as one of the "biggest problems" for the Western Hemisphere and promised to develop regional alliances as part of an "inoculation" strategy to expose what the State Department calls anti-democratic behaviour in Venezuela.
Chavez has repeatedly accused Washington of trying to topple him, and says the United States will attempt to sow chaos this year as he launches a re-election bid.
Diplomatic relations between the United States and Venezuela, the world's No 5 oil exporter, have been strained since Chavez accused the United States of plotting a coup d'etat that briefly ousted him in 2002.
Chavez, a former soldier turned populist leader, has promised to create socialist revolution in Venezuela and promote regional integration in Latin America to roll back US-supported economic reforms.
The State Department says Chavez is using the nation's bountiful oil wealth to meddle in the affairs of neighbouring countries, and has slammed him for boosting ties to US foes like Cuba and Iran.
Tensions between Washington and Caracas increased in February after Chavez expelled a US naval attache for alleged espionage. The State Department responded by expelling a top Venezuelan diplomat.

Aside From Pat Robertson pissing on himself in public, again, this could develop into a situation. I feel the CIA has it's hand far enough in this whole thing from the start that Chavez could be a puppet making noise to distract from other things, w/o even being aware of it, but one is never sure where the stain is until the rinse cycle. Chavez may well become just that.

[Hippie3]

he sure is starting to sound a lot like his buddy castro.
i'd bet those millions rifles get used on his political enemies at home.

[dead_diver]

I don't know much about the politics in Venezuala or about Chavez but I do know it is a beautifull country and the people were very friendly to me (an obvious gringo). It's a shame things are getting fucked up there. I wonder if Campo Alegro, better known worldwide as "the happy camp" is still open in Caracas?

[pskovinsky]

The State Department says Chavez is using the nation's bountiful oil wealth to meddle in the affairs of neighbouring countries, and has slammed him for boosting ties to US foes like Cuba and Iran.

I love it, how dare they meddle, meddling is out job!

That said, i don't really think them having 1.1m ak's is a terribly good thing either.

[maynardsdick]

countries have to have well-equipped armies. no one can fault chavez for that.

[maidenofiron]

im glad chavez is doing what hes doing. its a smart move to widely publicise that the US wants to assasinate him. after all no doubt its true with all the meddleing they do in south america when they cant completely profit or exploit the marginalized or poor people. he even helps out the poor in our country which is something we cant even say for our own leaders.

plus we are a nation addicted to oil (bush even said so), so for him to stop exporting it to us should be looked at as a favor. maybe well get a clue and realise that the answer to an addiction is not to increase consumption.

[Lefty]

I hear Chavez' wife had her visa revoked as a terrorist, seems to have to do with her penchant for screaming "Long live coca, Death to America!" State Dept. told her she is suspected of being a terrorist.
Chavez is real big on coca, was one of his election platforms. There is more out there about this, don't have time to find it right now.

[Hippie3]

chavez is robbing his own people,
time will tell...

[maidenofiron]

lefty- where did you get that article? its a shame the media and people get so wound up by words or quotes or whatever but they hardly care about whats really going on. like chavez's economic policies and the reason why washigton sees him as "dangerous". too many people i know assume chavez is the evilest thing since saddam because they often hear these buzz words on tv like "communist" or "enemy" or whatever. Surely multinationals are having a hard time profiting off of venezuela but us citizens are benefiting from his actions.

hippie- thats a pretty vague statement to throw out there. most leaders "rob" things from their own citizens. unless one specifies, that comment only puts him on the same level as our beloved george bush.

[Lefty]

http://aap.com.au/
U.S. newspapers didn't seem to carry it. Got the other two articles off google. This one is from Time Magazine...
Sky's the Limit: Chavez Swipes at U.S.-based Airlines
Political tensions take off again between Venezuela and the U.S. as President Hugo Chavez abruptly limits the number of U.S. flights into his country
By JENS ERIK GOULD/CARACAS, VENEZUELA
Posted Sunday, Feb. 26, 2006
Political tensions between Venezuela and the U.S. have been running high for years but now they’ve gone sky-high. Late Thursday, the government of left-wing President Hugo Chavez announced it would slash the number of flights to and from Venezuela offered by U.S. airlines—significantly trimming flights by American Airlines and banning those by Delta and Continental entirely. The policy goes into effect on March 30th.

The move is a belated retaliation for the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration’s refusal to upgrade Venezuela’s air safety ranking, which was downgraded by the FAA a decade ago and prevents Venezuelan airlines from expanding their own number of flights to and from the U.S. Venezuela says it has exhausted "all conciliatory avenues" with the FAA. Its National Civil Aviation Institute insists it has completed internationally-certified improvements that warrant the U.S. upgrade and claims the Bush Administration is ignoring an international air accord, signed by both countries, that guarantees "principals of equality" in air service. But the FAA says that Venezuela has yet to meet the standards set by the International Civil Aviation Organization, a United Nations agency based in Montreal. The State Department, meanwhile, warned it might consider an "appropriate response."

But it's difficult to decipher where the technical merits of each side’s argument end and the raw political motives begin. The Bush Administration considers Chavez a threat to stability in the region, while Chavez is a loudly outspoken U.S. critic who calls Bush "the greatest terrorist in the world" and says that the U.S. is poised to either assassinate him or invade Venezuela for its oil reserves.

The latest tit-for-tat spat appears to be the aviation equivalent of diplomatic expulsions. As Chavez’s cult of personality grows inside Venezuela and Latin America, the Bush Administration is increasingly trying to paint him as a region-destabilizing dictator. This month, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the U.S. needs to form a "united front" against Chavez as he seeks re-election later this year. Statements like this one have given Venezuela even more impetus to regard the FAA’s continued stance as political. And this latest fiasco may just be indicative of larger conflicts ahead.

[Dipole]

Venezuela spinelessly handed power over to the great hero, Chavez. Now the most popular TV station, with the bad habit of broadcasting criticism, has been shut down and placed under government control. That actually managed to piss off a large group of people.

Chavez is going to have so much fun spending all the oil revenue.

[syvel]

socialism is bad, mkay?

[Set]

Meh. It's not really that far different where I live. Although we still change out our "Bushes" every now and then.

[Dipole]

I wish we didn't have to buy oil from Venezuela.

[Hippie3]

just don't buy from Citgo
that's chavez's oil company.

[hyphaenation]

Theres a few oil companies about with baggage.

[Mortandello]

Chavez is Crazy, and i hope our president (Lula - Brazil) do something FAST before chavez can gather more resources under his control.
I am seeing a new cuba on my horizon here on brazil.
what people see out of Venezuela isnt 1% of that really is happening here.
Chavez is giving money and power to criminal factions, and "mutting" the media channels that daree his law.
Thats is sad, vbecause the venezuelan people are one of the best people here inmn south ameerica.
for real.
the people is suffering, and it will grow more and more and will affect all the near countries.
not joking.

[hyphaenation]

A repeat of Panama invasion could be coming to Venezaula soon.

[Dipole]

Well it won't be the USA doing any invading. What are the odds of the next president being as dumb as Bush Jr.?

[Hippie3]

What are the odds of the next president being as dumb as Bush

pretty damn good i'd say, close to 100% certain
judging by the last several presidents.

[FrenchSocialist]

Chavez is the man. He represents 80% of the population.

[FrenchSocialist]

Originally Posted by Mortandello

Chavez is giving money and power to criminal factions, and "mutting" the media channels that daree his law.

WTF? Do you have ANY proof for that AT ALL?

[Hippie3]

how could he ?
chavez has already shot or imprisoned
anyone with the evidence on him.

i saw the people in the streets,
chavez doesn't have everyone on his side.
not by a long shot.
but i reckon he will
be needing those million rifles he wants
just not to fight the yanqui invaders,
more his own people.

[FrenchSocialist]

Originally Posted by Hippie3

how could he ?
chavez has already shot or imprisoned
anyone with the evidence on him.

Actually he allowed total freedom of speech until the coup'de tat, even though the 7 publically owned news stations broad casted inaccurate propaganda against him.
BTW, he hasn't shut down a single station. He has only taken away the rights of a single private station to broadcast on public airwaves for not complying with media regulations (and for supporting the military coup against him).

RCTV still has the option to operate on satellite and cable, services that reach a small audience in Venezuela. Currently, they have not chosen to broadcast on paid services. Without its public broadcast frequency, RCTV will lose most of its audience.[3]

They can still operate on private channels. They just have to pay for it with private money.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RCTV

Originally Posted by Hippie3

i saw the people in the streets,
chavez doesn't have everyone on his side.

The people protested on both sides, however the privately owned stations only showed one. Sure some people are against him, but like I said he represents 80% of the population.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...90545689805144
I think a lot of people are just biased against socialists, and will make accusations against them on principle.
Also the people protesting that decision aren't worried about free speech, they are worried about losing their soap operas:

Datanalisis found almost 70 percent of Venezuelans would rather RCTV kept broadcasting, but worried more about the loss of their favorite soap operas than free speech.

Venezuelans protest opposition TV channel closure
Remember the most cherished freedom of all is the freedom not to get involved.

[Dipole]

Well that's good. I hope.

Socialism or not, anybody who idolizes Fidel Castro shouldn't have the keys to the country handed over to him.

[Hippie3]

damn straight that many people dislike so-called 'socialists'-
the soviet union and other 'socialist workers' ' paradises
like cambodia and north korea
left quite an impression of what socialism really means-
slavery to the state.
who needs that.

chavez is building his
cult of personality
just like his socialist predecessors-
fidel castro, kim jung il, pol pot, stalin.

he & his socialist sympathizers just
brush aside any criticism by claiming that
"a lot of people are just biased against socialists,
and will make accusations against them on principle" ,
i.e. they are all liars.


those who aren't liars
are morons who are more
"worried about losing their soap operas"
than abstract principles of free speech
and thus as morons
what they feel about it
just doesn't matter.

so shut up
and praise the fearless leader-
socialism is paradise.
don't ever forget that.
or else.

[hyphaenation]

I'm not taking any sides, just curious. Was Chavez legally elected?

[FrenchSocialist]

To my knowledge.

[Hippie3]

in August 1999, the Constitutional Assembly established a special "judicial emergency committee" with the power to remove judges without consulting with other branches of government—over 190 judges were eventually suspended on charges of corruption. In the same month, the Constitutional Assembly declared a "legislative emergency," resulting in a seven-member committee that was tasked with conducting the legislative functions ordinarily carried out by the National Assembly. Legislative opposition to Chávez's policies was immediately disabled. Meanwhile, the Constitutional Assembly prohibited the National Assembly from holding meetings of any sort

of course in history there are examples
of leaders that gained power thru legitimate channels
and immediately set about to re-write the constitution
and grab more power.
hitler did it too.
another socialist,
as in 'national socialist german workers' party'
the NSDAP, otherwise known as the Nazi party.

[hyphaenation]

I see a fair leap from Chavez to Hitler , but I see where your going with the train of thought...

P.S: do see the democtats and their supporters as Socialists ? Just curious.