Is Chavez the next Castro

God I hope so.

I was in cuba 8 times (Irish/Canadian)

think he's the next Stalin. Or Hitler. Come to think of it, they think that way about Castro too.

You Americans - Jeez

I hope you were joking

n/t

The US will be a dump

Learn Mandarin

Actually it is a dump right now.
"Oh say can you see.........."

Read Gore Vidal

and then we will see. If the country side doesn't revolt first they will probably poison themselves. In any case, China lacks many of the social, governmental and financial structures a modern society needs to survive hard time. Lets see them get through their first recession in one piece before we start talking about the mighty Chinese.

Castro: seized power as head of a guerrilla army that defeated the US backed Batista dictatorship.

Chavez: democratically elected president, several times.

Castro: implemented classic marxist-leninist economic and political system, suppressed all opposition parties, free speech, etc.

Chavez: implemented democratic socialist mixed economy policies through a constitutional process within a vibrant democracy with all basic human and political rights intact.

Yes. The parallels are so clear. How could there be any doubt?

Chavez's predecessor is Allende, not Castro. Let's hope that the heavy hand of US authoritarianism is not used, as it has been so many times in the region, to suppress once again the popular progressive democratic socialist movement in Latin America.

Post election - vetted by Carter and others - Chavez said NO to the U.S.

Post revolution - Cuba in poverty situation. U.S. broke relations. Sales and trades suffered - decades long embargo - demanded by Cuban Americans in the U.S. Early on, the USSR seized the occasion until they withdrew.

Post revolution - Venezuela had desirable oil/gas - used profits to start raising up the poor who had been poor and were kept poor during presidencies that partnered with the U.S. i.e., the hit men were there, one right after another. No USSR, no no one.

Cuba - four decades of struggling, but with a lot of resources being spent on education.
Venezuela - now keeping and using the people's money - helped one of the So American countries get out of debt to the world banks - first time in decades. It was ALWAYS profitable to the U.S. and Europe to keep South America in debt.

So, why become like Castro when he's a step ahead of where Castro was and was kept and their ain't a USSR anymore?

And we shall be left with a gigantic cesspool of lawlessness where once stood Venezuela (or Pan-Venezuela, as it might soon be called.)

He's already introduced the idea that Venezuela isn't part of the US plantation. And that is why they'll try to kill him.

Chavez has certainly used Nationalism to his advantage and gathered the support of his people. I'm just thinking ahead.

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no you aren't.

and the Murican Empire is on its death spiral

Don't believe me... where is the Looney compared to the US dollar? That is a sign

Venezuela has oil - you connect the dots.
:popcorn:

Everyday there are numerous posts on this here forum regarding Hugo Chavez.

Invariably, most replies state that he's a dictator, megalominiac, Casto wannabe, someone our Librul brethern are "going to keep a sharp eye on".

And it saddens my heart.

It saddens my heart because I'd like to think that us progressives would have some clue as to what Democracy looks like.

Sigh.