Wednesday, May 17, 2006

About Chavez

Robespierre (who has not yet assured me that he doesn't own a guillotine) complained about my labelling Hugo Chavez a despot. I explained myself a bit, and I suppose I should clarify things a bit. I don't think Chavez ranks up with Fidel Castro, and in fact Chavez had done a lot of laudable things since winning his first election in 1999. That said, recently things seem to have taken a turn in Venezuela, and it has me concerned.

Anyway, one thing we know for sure is that Chavez has far, far, FAR, fewer ties to terrorism (as in none) than Qaddafi's Libya.

Which must be why Venezuela is on the US list of Terror-supporting states, and Libya is not.

(Duck of Minerva had it first.)
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2 comments:

Robert McClelland said...

Chavez reminds me of a leftwing version of Bush. Both are democratic dictators who will bend and break the law in order to see their agendas fulfilled.

May 17, 2006 10:43 PM
Anonymous said...

Given the number of referenda Chavez has held, I'm not sure I'd call him a dictator.

While I'd be the first to admit that both Bush and Chavez may have broken a few laws, there's a huge difference between jailing a few (around 100?) political prisoners and holding thousands without trial in concentration camps in Guantanamo, Afghanistan and Eastern Europe. For Bush, there's also the little matter of an unprovoked aggressive war in Iraq in violation of international and American law. That needless war has resulted in well over 100,000 Iraqi civilian deaths (Lancet) and thousands of American and soldiers killed and wounded. With his illegal wiretapping, rendition to torture, threats of nuclear war, etc., etc., Bush is in a league all of his own.

Finally, given the Bush regime's ongoing campaign to vilify Chavez, I think you need to treat many reports in the MSM with caution. In fact, why is the MSM reporting on Chavez at all? With the exception of Lula, you don't see many stories on other South American leaders. Perhaps the word "oil" accounts for the difference.

P.S. I don't own a guillotine (not even a little cigar one). For what it's worth, I'm also strongly opposed to the death penalty.

May 18, 2006 2:53 AM

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