Do I have to make it rain?

I believe he hated our government and thought it was very corrupt and that they have no regard for poor people even if they have no heating oil.

and I posted a thread thanking Chavez for the heating oil he provided to the poor in this country.

I neither said or implied any such thing. duh.

technically supposed to be for the people and by the people. Yet, hasn't served the people for sometime now.

I don't blame any of the Latin and South American countries for resenting and resisting American influence. I hope they continue, and increase that resistance in the future. The world will be a better place.

After all, it was Nixon and Kissinger and the CIA meddling in Chile in the 1970s that unleashed the Chicago School of Economics on the world. That is finally starting to change.

And the sooner we end the Drug War, fought in and inflicting terrible suffering on some of these nations, the better.

And to add to that, I suspect that the cancer that killed this rather young man was akin to that type of poisoning that killed a few Russian dissidents a few years back (and probably Yassir Arafat too) what was that stuff they used... polonium was it? The new convenient way to get rid of opponents.

Remember, it was the austere wealthy that Chavez was against, he privatized the oil, probably because he hated the Kochs and their ilk. The only reason we've gone to war in the last two decades was over control of oil reserves that greedy oiligarchs in our country coveted.

I wouldn't be surprised. After all, our own best progressive leaders have a habit of dying young, too. But assassination is probably too obvious anymore.

being the same age (plus one day) myself (and still crazy after all these yearz - and not overweight).

Hell, now I think I might just go out tonight and see if I can't charm some ladies...

he will forever be remembered as a hero who championed independence, self-determination and justice for the poor and all those for whom there is no room in today's new economy - not only in Venezuela but throughout all of Latin America and indeed for the whole world. Peace be upon him.

history knows the CIA tried a few times to get him 'kicked out of office'. Why would I expect him to be benign toward that kind of country?

I have lived in South America and witnessed many revolutions going over the years. Unfortunately in SA effective revolutions do revolve around one person who displays strong leadership. Maybe that's why there have been so many and because they don't last, another revolution takes place. I lived on the other side of the Andes from Bolivia in Chile. At that time revolutions in Bolivia were almost a way of life with the same oligarches seizing power over and over again. Maybe Morales can change that and already has done a lot. I hope our government leaves him alone to accomplish what he's trying to do. However, it is the nature of the place. I don't have an answer other than the fact that each revolution was by the oppressed to better their lot in life.

Chavez was no saint, but a better alternative.

We were wrong to try and return Venezuela to that state. We were just concerned about oil, and not about feeding a kleptocracy.

He sure as hell shouldn't.

But he was a carajao cualquier. That was why he was so popular with the pueblo. For he was truly one of them. And he invested heavily in their neighborhoods at the cost of other constructions such as road repair, bridges, etc.

Remember that in 1976 Carlos Andres Perez "nationalized" the petroleum. But did they?

A lot of these countries began to believe that they did.

Otoh, Right Wingers everywhere viewed him as a threat. He did after all believe in sharing a country's resources with the people who owned them, providing for the poor, the elderly and the infirm. What Right Winger ever liked someone who actually helped the poor?

I think anybody would be instinctively suspicious and aggressively protective knowing there are some very, very hungry sharks in the water.

Otherwise, also ambivalent.

I can understand his distrust of Bush and the US, I'm afraid.

I haven't had time to fully research this work by John Pilger, but the first 40 minutes of this 1-1/2 hr documentary is about Venezuela and Chavez. It is quite riveting. I have an appointment now but later want to do some research on the National Endowment for Democracy, which is named in the film as providing some support for the 2002 coup against Chavez. It is a nonprofit funded through our government.

Pilger's interviews with some members of the "elite" class who hated Chavez (around 18:00) sure does sound like some of our annointed ones.

I will also watch this later.

Last edited Thu Mar 7, 2013, 02:36 PM - Edit history (1)

I learn so much on DU!

What a small world we live in. It's not surprising that BP and Exxon were ticked at Chavez, but I had no idea of the association of the Heinz family with Chavez (maybe I should say "dis-association.)

And after the kidnapping coup in 2002, our very irreverent Reverend Pat Robertson said:

"Hugo Chavez thinks we're trying to assassinate him. I think that we really ought to go ahead and do it."

...But why the Bush regime's hate, hate, HATE of the President of Venezuela?

...Reverend Pat wasn't coy about the answer: It's the oil.

"This is a dangerous enemy to our South controlling a huge pool of oil."
If we didn't kill Chavez, we'd have to do an "Iraq" on his nation. So the Reverend suggests:
"We don't need another $200 billion war….It's a whole lot easier to have some of the covert operatives do the job and then get it over with."