Obama's courtesy undermines Chávez

President Obama came under fire last month for sharing a smile with Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez at the Summit of the Americas. Critics say that Obama was wrong to be friendly with a foreign leader renowned for his anti-U.S. antics and authoritarian tendencies. Time may show that Obama did the right thing.

Already, Obama's overture has made it more difficult for Chávez to use his personal feud with the U.S. government to divert attention from his country's problems. It will also be easier for the Obama administration to pursue a serious multilateral effort to pressure the Venezuelan government to reverse its authoritarian approach.

Venezuela is a complicated country. To its credit, it has competitive elections and independent political parties, media outlets, labor unions and civil-society organizations. While Venezuela is plagued by chronic human-rights problems such as police killings and deplorable prison conditions, there is no systematic denial of fundamental freedoms, as in Cuba. Nor is there an armed conflict with widespread violence by illegal armed groups, as in Colombia.

Yet the Chávez government has actively undermined democratic institutions that are essential for safeguarding the rule of law. It has strengthened the state's power to curb media freedoms while abusing its regulatory power to threaten and punish critical media outlets. It has systematically violated workers' basic right to freedom of association and sought to undermine the work of local human rights advocates...

http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/other-views/story/1039510.html

It seems to me--from more widespread reading--that Obama was compelled to be nice to Chavez because the other leaders of South America have his back, are closely allied with him, consider him to be a democrat with a small d, and are fed up with U.S./Bushwhack coup/assassination plots, funding of rightwing political groups and gross violations of the sovereignty of Latin American countries. Obama would have had a political disaster on his hands at the Summit of the Americans if he had insulted Chavez.

The Miami Herald is spinning the truth 180, as usual.

:)

take action against this crap. Action announcement is posted on this list.

put out a political attack on anyone in the American press?

He just can't help himself.