Hugo Chavez Is Dead

[Amskeptic]

He was a bombastic blowhard, I'll give you that. He also championed the rights of his poor citizens and even had home heating oil assistance for United States citizens through Citgo.

Our corporate plutocracy/government did not much like him and, under George Bush jr, attempted to overthrow him in a coup, something we like to try and often botch.
Colin


http://tinyurl.com/ay6rbhv

[Reid]

I kind of liked Chavez. He won me over with his speech to the U.N. in 2006.

[ruckman101]

There are two sides to every story. A friend of mine who is Venezuelan spits fire at the mention of his name. Bombastic blowhard indeed. Should be interesting to see how things shake down. Hopefully peacefully and in the best interests of the people of the nation.


neal

[dingo]

championed the rights of the poor?...its more like they were his only constituency, and he kept them happy with just enough bread and circus so they would vote for him... while he siphoned off the lifeblood of the country. He was a sly manipulator, a buffoon in the classic Latin American mold...who bought allies with cold hard oil-cash .

...not to mention the environmental catastrophe he left in his wake...thanks Hugo !

[Bleyseng]

I agree totally Dingo and thank God he is gone. Maybe the Caribbean will now have some stabilization as his crack pot politics.

[Reid]

Explain the benefits to the Caribbean. It seems to me that their debts to could now be expected due, along with much higher petroleum prices.

[Bleyseng]

One of the exports is criminal Venezuelans to the islands of Aruba and Curacao as crime is way up there. Guyana is being flooded with them too while thankfully they haven't made it here (I am back working in Suriname). Illegal Americans and Brazilians are bad enough as wild cat gold mining is destroying the jungle and rivers in Suriname. In French Guyana the French army now is patrolling the jungle searching and destroying their mining camps.
Unfortunately, some of the Presidents of these small countries admire Chavez and have followed along with his attitude to Europe and the US so we/they have been turning ours backs to them. The locals I know would prefer to be have a closer relationship with the US especially since Obama is President. A financially strong, safe and stable Venezuela along the lines of Columbia, Peru would help the region vs keeping it unstable.
Oil prices aren't something I keep track off especially since Wall Street seems to have more control over them then anybody else.

[Amskeptic]

championed the rights of the poor?...its more like they were his only constituency, and he kept them happy with just enough bread and circus so they would vote for him... while he siphoned off the lifeblood of the country. He was a sly manipulator, a buffoon in the classic Latin American mold...who bought allies with cold hard oil-cash .

...not to mention the environmental catastrophe he left in his wake...thanks Hugo !

More info, please on:
environmental catastrophe
bread and circus so they would vote for him; Venezuela vs US

[hippiewannabe]

I never understood how he was allowed to run for office after he attempted to seize power in a coup in 1992. He was no friend of democracy. Then, or as he stole property and crushed dissent after gaining control..