Wednesday - January 31, 2007

Latin Nazi

A rigged election and a populace cowed by secret police. Nationalizing everything in the country in a “socialist” revolution. Passing laws to make the President a lifetime leader. Buying up arms from all over the globe and building a strong military presence. Drafting citizens into national military units. Stirring up trouble in neighboring democratic countries and forming alliances with neighboring dictatorships and socalist friends.

Sound familiar? All this bastard needs is a tiny mustache and a German accent. National Socialism is experiencing a rebirth right here in our own back yard.

Mark my words, there is real trouble brewing in South America. How long before Chavez decides to take his poison across the hemisphere? What will Chavez’ friends Jimmy Carter, Danny Glover, Cindy Sheehan and Harry Belafonte say then? Stay tuned ....

Venezuela Poised to Hand Chávez Wide-Ranging Powers
_{CARACAS, Venezuela (WASHINGTON POST) - Wednesday, January 31, 2007}

The line forms every day after dawn at the Spanish Consulate, hundreds of people seeking papers permitting them to abandon Venezuela for new lives in Spain. They say they are filled with despair at President Hugo Chávez’s growing power, and they appear not to be alone. At other consulates in this capital, long lines form daily.

Two months after Chávez was reelected to another six-year term by an overwhelming margin, Venezuela is experiencing a fundamental shift in its political and economic climate that could remake the country in a way perhaps not seen in Latin America since Fidel Castro took power in Cuba in 1959.

On Wednesday, the National Assembly is expected to entrust him with tremendous powers that will allow him to dictate new laws for 18 months to transform the economy, redraw the structure of government and establish a new funding apparatus for Venezuela’s huge oil wealth.

Chávez’s government announced earlier that it intends to nationalize strategic industries, such as telecommunications and electric utilities, and amend the constitution to end presidential term limits.

The new, more radicalized era is enthralling to the president’s supporters. To them, Chávez is keeping the promise he has consistently made over eight years in office—to reorganize Venezuelan society, redistribute its wealth and position the country as an alternative to U.S. capitalist policies.

“This is a moment that could be key in the history of Latin America,” said Joanna Cadenas, 36, a teacher in the state-run Bolivarian University. “I never thought you could love a president.”

But the moves—which opponents say are marked by intolerance and strident ideology—are prompting some Venezuelans to leave the country and others to prepare for a fight in the last battlegrounds where the opposition has influence. A few are trying, against the tide, to remain apolitical in a country marked by extreme, even outlandish rhetoric.

“What we’re seeing happen here is not good,” said José Manuel Rodríguez, 42, an accountant seeking travel documents at the Spanish Consulate. “What we see here is the coming of totalitarianism, fewer guarantees, fewer civil rights. I want to have everything ready to leave.”

Chávez’s moves are worrying Bush administration officials, who have voiced concern over the ideological nature of nationalization plans that have targeted companies such as CANTV, the dominant provider of fixed-line telephone service, and the utility Electricidad de Caracas, both of which have stakeholders in the United States. U.S. officials have also expressed concern that the government will not renew the broadcast license of RCTV television, which Venezuelan officials charge supported a short-lived coup against Chávez in 2002.

“We should all be concerned about the direction President Chávez is taking his country,” Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.), chairman of the Senate Appropriations foreign operations subcommittee, said in a statement this week. “Any leader who tries to tighten his grip on power by destroying the institutions of democracy, curtailing press freedom and using his office to intimidate pro-democracy opponents is setting in motion a dangerous process with potentially ominous consequences.”

Venezuelan government officials argue that the president’s moves are the will of the people and that his latest electoral victory is a mandate for Chávez to deepen what he calls his Bolivarian revolution.

“We cannot disqualify Hugo Chávez as social leader who, with the support of big majorities, makes decisions,” said Haiman El Troudi, a former chief of staff to Chávez who now works at the International Miranda Center, which is funded by the government. “I don’t see people moving forward against this. I see the same old opposition groups.”

- More ...

Posted by The Skipper     on 01/31/2007 at 11:46 AM   
Filed Under: • Latin-America •  
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Not that very many people ever read this far down, but this blog was the creation of Allan Kelly and his friend Vilmar. Vilmar moved on to his own blog some time ago, and Allan ran this place alone until his sudden and unexpected death partway through 2006. We all miss him. A lot. Even though he is gone this site will always still be more than a little bit his. We who are left to carry on the BMEWS tradition owe him a great debt of gratitude, and we hope to be able to pay that back by following his last advice to us all:

1. Keep a firm grasp of Right and Wrong
2. Stay involved with government on every level and don't let those bastards get away with a thing
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4. Keep talking to each other, whether here or elsewhere

It's been a long strange trip without you Skipper, but thanks for pointing us in the right direction and giving us a swift kick in the behind to get us going. Keep lookin' down on us, will ya? Thanks.

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