In a forward looking move, Hugo Chavez condemned the military action in Lybia, calling for “a return for the path of peace”. He must mean to allow his buddy to continue killing the people who oppose him.
If anyone out there is surprised, just remember, Hugo is a Fidel Castro supporter and admirer, a Gaddafi admirer, a former Saddam admirer, a Mugabe supporter and the author of one bloody coup attempt in which innocent civilians were killed and openly backed another coup in which supersonic aircraft was used to threaten civilian populations. He also ordered the deployment of “Plan Avila” in 2002, a plan that had been classified as being in violation of human rights by the OAS.
Just Hugo being Hugo.
The Devil's Excrement 
March 22, 2011 at 10:51 pm
The final verdict of history on this action will probably hinge on whether or not it was too late. If it had been done just a week before, the opposition might have been emboldened to feel it could overthrow Gaddafi. As it was it barely saved them from obliteration. I think the chances of regime change now hang in the balance, and if this dictator survives it will be bad news indeed for the whole world, barring Chavez, Assad, Mugabe, and a few others, who will be breathing a sigh of relief.
March 22, 2011 at 7:35 am
chávez never in a million years thought that the international community would react in unison to blow gaddafi to smithereens. I bet he thought he would get away with his “peace” circus, like he is been able to do time and time again.
This is a game changer for the robolusión bonita. Now chávez is not so sure his oil money will necessarily buy him his seat in Miraflores in 2012 AND his threats with the “revolución pacífica pero armada” sound somewhat more desperate in the light of recent developments. His warnings about a US conspiracy to create violence during the elections are just so lame. He is surely looking at Yemen, and how the allied attack in Libya has sped up things there.
Libya could, of course, go all wrong, but let’s just try to be optimistic. The opposition in Venezuela should be able to profit from this new reality if they do their job properly: Ganamos, cobramos y, si se pone cómico, tomahawk tu yuca.
March 21, 2011 at 3:53 pm
Oh yes, he is importing Cuban and Iranian sponsored operatives… people who probably would have no trouble shooting Venezuelan citizens.
March 21, 2011 at 3:49 pm
Chavez’s position is not surprising to me. First of all, Chavez has been arming his militias while disarming the police. Second, according to news reports, he has also been retiring “professional” army officers while promoting officers who have sworn loyalty to him. Third, his investment in weapon systems and his rhetoric seem to me to be oriented toward a Gaddafi-styled government. Why is anybody surprised?
March 21, 2011 at 8:02 am
Thanks, :-).
Only I would like NOT to see so many widows around.
March 21, 2011 at 4:49 am
A_Antonio in the name of 21st Century Socialist I am Expropriate your words with no hope of compensation for you.
They are frustrated ignorant widows of an ideology that fails soundly in History and everywhere.
Dang… I mean… Just Dang!
March 20, 2011 at 6:55 pm
Simple answer Ira…. Chavez is an egomaniac and the crooks around him keep feeding him that shit while they steal the country blind with fake deals and commissions. His Patron in Libya is much the same and far more vicious as this is only the most recent and most violent purge. We will just have to see what Hugo does when they haul Omar off to the Hague.
March 20, 2011 at 6:42 pm
Ira, “Chavez has reasons that reason cannot know?”
Well, Chavez more than money wants stay in power; socialism is only a mirage to fool somebody. After this, anything goes.
Next time, try to use multiple choice questions to easy the job to the trolls.
March 20, 2011 at 5:53 pm
Hola Miguel,
Sorry that I give you an ignorant in the person of Rudy.
I think he took the link from my blog.
And… yes I blocked this ignorant idiot on my blog.
On one thing, I must admit, he was definitely right for the first and only time, I blocked him. Yeap…!!!!
Go Kepler 🙂
Saludos
Alpha
March 20, 2011 at 5:08 pm
Okay–can some of you guys who I respect give me your perspective(s) on this, and you guys know who you are:
We all know that Chavez is a loose cannon, but what’s his end game with his position on Libya? It makes no sense. Here are the four points I’m trying to clarify:
1) It’s totally clear that the U.S. and others didn’t take this action or past mideast actions to steal oil–so is he claiming this just to address his ignorant base of support? Even so, what difference will this make?
2) Monetarily, and project-wise, what does Chavez personally have to lose by the vaporization of Ghaddafi, and the installation of an opposition government? Does he have money stashed there?
3) He followed this same pattern with Sadaam, so didn’t he learn ANYTHING from the past? Or what did he fail in THERE that he hopes to succeed HERE? Or is it just all about hearing himself talk?
4) Are his threats against the U.S. preparing a VZ invasion–which we all know is a ridiculous possibility–simply about his paranoia? Or again, just verbose bullshit so he comes across as sounding tough?
Make no mistake about it:
I watched an interview today with Jack Keane, who’s a retired General on the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff. I’m paraphrasing, but this is what he said that sums it up:
“Regardless of what you may be seeing from many media outlets…regardless of people’s and experts’ interpretations of U.N. Resolution 1273 and Obama’s and other world leaders’ comments….and regardless of what you hear about the situation on the ground…this is a fact:
“Ghaddafi has no longer than two, maybe three weeks in power. The aim of these military actions is to remove him, and it’s going to happen in one of svereal possible ways.”
So, one would think that Chavez has the intelligence or common sense to realize this, but then again, maybe not.
And once again, Chavez is betting on the losing horse.
March 20, 2011 at 4:24 pm
Oh yeah! I forgot the worst corruption in the planet!
March 20, 2011 at 4:18 pm
Trolls seem to eat well on Sundays.
In the meantime, Chavez is on the wrong side of history, as usual. There will be fantastical stories told about the corruption of the Chavez era that will go down in history books as some of the worst corruption of mankind ever. There will be studies about how a country so rich in resources and beauty fell to a pitiful third world example of how not to run a country.
March 20, 2011 at 4:02 pm
Well, my usual response is simple:
Read almost nine years of my blog, economic destruction, soaring crime, human rights violations and despite the oil windfall the poor are standing income-wise on the same spot as in 1998, except the quality of life in terms of infrastructure has deteriorated significantly around them.
March 20, 2011 at 3:39 pm
Here is the source for housing construction. If anyone has a more recent one, please post.
Rudy’s ignorant spiels reminds me of an ignoramus who claimed that Thugo brought electricity to the previously unlit slums of Caracas.
March 20, 2011 at 3:30 pm
Rudy
untill now nobody in the world can change a country that lives in misery like Venezuela did before 1999 in 12 years
To add to Kepler’s valuable contributions:
According to the Chavistas and their PSF allies, the Chávez government vastly improved health care in Venezuela with the misiones and other programs. A good way to broadly measure that improvement is to see how Venezuela’s ranking changed compared to other countries in Latin America during the Chávez has been in power. If Venezuela’s ranking in health parameters has gone up during the time Chávez has been in power, that would indicate that the Chávez government has been doing a superior job in health care compared to other countries in Latin America.
Life expectancy and infant mortality are the most commonly used statistics for determining how a country’s health care system performs. In 1998, the year Chávez was elected, Venezuela ranked 9th in Latin America in life expectancy. In 2008, Venezuela ranked 10th in Latin America in life expectancy. In 1995 and in 2000, Venezuela ranked 7th in Latin America in infant mortality. In 2008 and in 2009, Venezuela ranked 8th in Latin America in infant mortality.
That doesn’t sound like earth-shaking improvement, unless you happen to be an ignorant PSF.
For big improvements in health care: from 1975 to 1989, Chile went from 11th to 3rd in Latin America in life expectancy. From 1975 to 1990, Chile went from 10th to 3rd in Latin America in infant mortality
Just wondering, how does a tripling –or more- of the murder rate make a country less miserable?
How does increasing the housing deficit make a country less miserable? Per capita housing construction for the ten years from 1999-2008 was half of what it was from 1989-1998.
Rankings derived from downloading World Development Indicators at the World Bank website.
March 20, 2011 at 3:21 pm
I am sorry but this Rudy is the typical revolutionario que sabe tanto que sabe a ….da!
To know what is going on in any country you have to leave there,work there for a long time…so go back to Venezuela, rent an apartment in some place in the west side of Caracas…, get a job that pays in Bolivares fuertes, and get in the metro every day to get to work leave your euros where ever you live now…for at least 2-3 years and then tell us about your experiences and compare them with your cozy life in Europe!
Go Kepler!
March 20, 2011 at 2:37 pm
MO you should read the Venezuelan news today, we have new invention from revolution: carni-bus and arepa-bus.
March 20, 2011 at 2:22 pm
Sorry Miguel, didn’t mean to misspell moctavio.
March 20, 2011 at 2:05 pm
mocatavio-
That American oil companies are presently pumping Libya’s oil is not the point I was making; the same can be said of Venezuela to an extent.
So say half the oil profit leaves Libya, and half stays behind. Presently Gaddafi controls the half that stays behind. Who is he allied with? Who would rather have someone else in power who was more amenable to their point of view?
March 20, 2011 at 1:55 pm
Rudy, Kepler said it already, but you addressed me so I will reply.
The reason I said you are on the wrong blog is not because you are not or would not be welcome to debate here. I said it because there are many well-informed readers here who actually know Venezuelan history, and to them anyone saying that Chavez has done more for this country than any other president is simply laughable.
Another thing you may wish to know: As was mentioned, over 90% of Venezuela’s foreign exchange comes from selling oil. And who is that oil sold to? The Americans. So all of the money that has financed the glorious revolution has come from the evil empire. No oil sales to the USA, no revolution, period.
Anytime the US really wanted to get rid of dear Esteban they would not need to invade; all they would need to do is quit buying oil.
March 20, 2011 at 12:56 pm
I support the intervention but I don’t like to talk about war b/c it really depress me….. So I took something funny from all these terrible news that are around us….: Does anyone have seen the new Chavez’s carrito…. My god, that is really hilarous!!! So now, in addition to the Turpial(????), we will have a new Venezuelan model (?????) which was introduced to us in a scaled version…on television by HIM… There are any research in Venezuela about how much does it cost to produce each of these “Venezuelan” cars? My guess is that to import Bentlys from England instead produce this shit (if there is really a “production”), could be less expensive (per unit).
March 20, 2011 at 12:55 pm
Rudy,
Ik ben een Venezolaan. OK, your Spanish is not as good as your English…it doesn’t matter, we are not here on a competition to get a job as UN translators.
What matters is that you are talking rubbish and use no arguments. I listed some of the arguments you need to deal with firstly. You can verify the facts I mentioned just by checking out UNO sites and official statistics (on murder rates, on illiteracy and so on, even on HDI, where Venezuela has been overtaken by 5 other Latin American countries since 98 – and no, you don’t just compare absolute HDI across years but positions, pendejo!).
I told you: you don’t even know about such basic things as oil prices and the amount of money Venezuela got on a given year thanks to those prices. Your knowledge about “Venezuelan history” is as good as Leopold II’s knowledge of the Kingdom of Luba.
You obviously don’t know what “rate” is.
You wrote you had X years of paratrooper “studies”. That explains a lot, also why you still don’t get it about rates and about the numbers I mentioned.
Ik weet zeer goed wat voor een niveau het Belgische leger heeft, Rudy.
I know a little bit about what makes Flanders’ economy run now, in the sixties and centuries ago. At least I made the effort to read a bit from different sources about Belgium’s history – social and economic and otherwise-. Still, I do not go to Flemish or Walloon blogs to post rubbish about things I don’t really understand well.
Really: you speak so much rubbish. It is as if I were saying Julius Caesar fought the Chinese in Tongeren, Belgium was a communist country until Leterme came to power en de smerfen wonen in het Zoniënwoud. Manneke: you really have no idea about Venezuela.
There was a dictatorship in Venezuela until 1958, when Pérez Jiménez, a right-winged dictator openly praised by Chávez on many occassions, had to run away to the USA. The autocracy came back with Chávez even if Chávez himself was voted several times initially (not the first time an autocrat comes initially through elections).
OK, please, go to some PVDA blog, a.u.b.!
And fuck off.
March 20, 2011 at 12:35 pm
Rudy: If you did not notice. The people in this blog are not especially impressed by the progress made with your ideology in countries like Cuba, Venezuela or North Korea.
March 20, 2011 at 12:11 pm
Rudy says: “Robert Fisk and Noam Chomsky are very interesting to reed!” (sic), or yes RED,
They are frustrated ignorant widows of an ideology that fails soundly in History and everywhere. Now soundly fails in Venezuela. In the present time, there is nothing of good development, human development and there in nothing more than a failed country.
I hope things beginning to change after 2012. But the damage this century made by Chavez is made, and it will take all 21st century to recover.
21st Century socialism (communism) will be a good name to historian, to call a century lost in the development of a country.
March 20, 2011 at 12:08 pm
Rudy Verbuyst: A new addition to the list of Pendejos sin Fronteras.
March 20, 2011 at 12:07 pm
To M_astera, why should i be on the wrong blog, is this a home for people with mental incapacity, where it is forbidden to speak about some things in order not to disturb there memory’s, to swallow 3 times a day there M&M’s? and where averybody has to kwak at the same tonality?
March 20, 2011 at 11:59 am
To Kepler, is the system in place in your country better, where are you from?
March 20, 2011 at 11:52 am
To kepler: before asking my study’s at least present yourself and your studies, your nationality, i have a variety of studies my last was Spanish in Venezuela, spanish is my 5th language, altough not so good as The 4 others , Dutch, French, German and English, all commercial and technical! I travelled a lot in my live, in the US everything is more beautifull but on rates, hundreds of people live in the sewers of las vegas, untill now nobody in the world can change a country that lives in misery like Venezuela did before 1999 in 12 years, in europe we needed 100 years so don’t ask for miracles! Don’t explain my about arms, i had 9,5 years of paratroopers and Special Forces!
March 20, 2011 at 11:35 am
Ojo, A quote from the internet:
“Fisk has said that journalism must “challenge authority, all authority, especially so when governments and politicians take us to war.” He has quoted with approval the Israeli journalist Amira Hass: “There is a misconception that journalists can be objective … What journalism is really about is to monitor power and the centres of power.”
The tendency to always question authority on a psychological level, is the flip side of those who are quick to follow it.Some people are more oriented to authority than others: which sometimes manifests as counter attacking, and other times manifesting as blind obedience.
Contrary to this type of person, is the independent thinker : one who does not AUTOMATICALLY criticize power and authority, and one who does not automatically embrace these manifestations.
Fisk belongs to the rebellious type.One who automatically questions authority and power.This is not trustworthy.His identification with the underdog does not allow him the detachment required to see a situation with objective clarity.His psychological profile is one of someone who could easily identify with the enemy in order to avoid fear.His thinking is highly dependent.
We should question, but we should also judge with objectivity.The underdog is not always right.
March 20, 2011 at 11:35 am
Your al so nice with a foreigner, that wants good things to Venezuelians, to be polite is an other thing, i at least i have the fairness to post under my own name dont have to use fake names, especially those from the dutch ” so called ” free opinion” they don’t want even to communicate they barred me immediatly, nice free opinion! 1 question, if the money from Venezuelian petroleum would go to exxon, Texaco er others in the US would this be bether for venezuela. Something is special, this site is going over wordpress, the same as for the dutch free opinion is it structured and paid as from the us and from what service! or is this an other free and democratic blogsite with secret names and financial support just indicating things that go wrong and looking the other way for the good things, so compare with the US, is it going that well overthere? Many thanks in advance! Btw Robert Fisk and Noam Chomsky are very interesting to reed!
March 20, 2011 at 11:10 am
There are many inconsistencies in when to intervene or not, but oil is not one of them, Lybian oil is extracted by mostly US companies already, so that is a dumb argument.
Wonder why Hugo does not criticize Saudi Arabia?
March 20, 2011 at 11:07 am
The suggestion that “It’s all about oil” is actually a stealth argument. What is meant is that the UN Security Council may intervene anywhere to protect world peace–as per the UN Charter–EXCEPT for where a concentration of oil has led to an autocratic dictatorship.
These guys are exempt from the law.
March 20, 2011 at 10:42 am
Nuke ’em again Kepler. 🙂
March 20, 2011 at 9:48 am
Excellent post, 100% agree and felling alike.
Last Keppler comments are jewels.
March 20, 2011 at 7:40 am
Kepler, no te arreches. Es sólo un pobre troll, que encima escribe peor que el Google translator.
March 20, 2011 at 7:01 am
Look what this guy writes at Alpha’s site:
“I was for 5 months in Venezuela from August 2009, one month is Caracas, 1 month in Margarita, I have visited 12 states, never had a problem, I suggest anyone to go there on vacation, friendly people, the country is between the norms of an European country and a developing country…they work hard to correct the situation created by the dictators who were supported by the Americans, my daughter-in-law is now there for 14 days”
Well, this can be used to show even a guy as stupid as this can afford to visit Venezuela…thanks to the system in place in his country.
Rudy:
You can go to Somalia and nothing happens. You can take a gun, push 3 bullets inside, click a couple of times against your head and still be alive.
Do you know what probabilities are? Jesus, do you know how to count?
Do you understand the concept of ratio? Do you know what it means that 45 people or more are murdered by each 100 000 people in a country?
I see you are a Flemish from Sint Niklaas. For a moment I thought you were a Dutch but I should have known better as your family name is typical from East Flanders. What kind of studies did you follow in Flanders? Flemish education is going to hell, you alone will pull down the standards.
March 20, 2011 at 6:45 am
Rudy, a.u.b: je hebt geen idee.
Rudy: oil prices provide for 92% of Venezuela’s foreign revenues. Venezuela now has to import more than ever. Oil prices were on average under $20 per barrel in the nineties, $12 in 1998. Since then they have increased by several times. In spite of that real salaries for the poor stopped going up in 2007 and now are on the downside, the murder rate has increased since 1998 in over 300%, the military and pseudo-commies are the ones getting rich now, education – in spite of the bullshit you swallow- is even worse now (forget about UNESCO-certified literacy programme, illiteracy remains like in 1998 in 7% and Venezuela doesn’t take part in an open evaluation test of its schools since then).
Rudy,
Ik spreek je taal. I have lived for years in your country. I know much more about the economic structure and development and history of your country than probably you do. I have been everywhere. Still, I am not as fucking arrogant as you are, you who come here to give us lessons about our country.
Piss off.
This Rudy guy is apparently one of those useless idiots still lingering around. The guy is not even useful as he does not have any clout in his country.
March 20, 2011 at 6:34 am
As a European in know Venezuela rather good, i stayed in the last year and a half in total 5 months ik know pro and contra chavez, i visited 12 different states in VE and i See it is good, never in history of venezuela there was a government that did so much for is population, even a friend that works in a anti chaves newspaper must admit! Bravo Venezolanos(as) Suerte!
This is his own text we all have to know about his visits to his Communist Party-members in Venezuela the rest is copy and paste from the propaganda-program. ik know has to be I know Rudy or are you using a small i to inform us about your intelligence? Please write a book and find a publisher stop trolling.
March 20, 2011 at 6:33 am
“As a European in know Venezuela rather good, i stayed in the last year and a half in total 5 months ik know pro and contra chavez, i visited 12 different states in VE and i See it is good, never in history of venezuela there was a government that did so much for is population, even a friend that works in a anti chaves newspaper must admit! Bravo Venezolanos(as) Suerte!”
Rudy, no offense but I think you may be posting on the wrong blog.
March 20, 2011 at 6:25 am
Good link, Kepler. Thanks.
Not much detail; it isn’t needed for those who have been watching the show long enough and paying attention.
We have always been at war with Eastasia, right? 🙂
March 20, 2011 at 5:47 am
Walk like a duck, quack like a duck routine. This guy is a terrorist coupster fascist (FARC, Norberto Ceresole and 4 february 1992)
March 20, 2011 at 4:52 am
I find that Venezuela is going good forward, wathever some say, probably there subventioned by one ore another US programm from NED, via us aid or the CIA, some are angry on chavez because USAID hat to move abroad so the intox and desinformation about Venezuela couldened continue!For what Africa concerns is it my opinion that de US and Europe want to colonize again african because there in urgent need of primary goods, like petroleum and minerals, they make there governors slaves from the worldbank and IMF, no western oriented policy, no money! The UN is a mess! Look for different african states and the turmoil, this isn’t by accident, for instance Ivorycoast, they wanted to block financially GBagbo and Gadhaffi helped , this weekend the same in Senegal, every where the us and Europe corrupt people, there responsable via the banccrisis for the actual worldproblems and exesive prices on the worldmarket. As a European in know Venezuela rather good, i stayed in the last year and a half in total 5 months ik know pro and contra chavez, i visited 12 different states in VE and i See it is good, never in history of venezuela there was a government that did so much for is population, even a friend that works in a anti chaves newspaper must admit! Bravo Venezolanos(as) Suerte!
March 20, 2011 at 4:18 am
22,
Please, read:
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-first-it-was-saddam-then-gaddafi-now-theres-a-vacancy-for-the-wests-favourite-crackpot-tyrant-2246415.html
The guy knows history. He knows the present. Unlike BBC/CNN journalists he has been there for decades and knows the different relationships and shades and influences of different powers in that region for a long time now.
March 20, 2011 at 2:46 am
Doesn’t anyone remember the protests in support of Saddam Hussein? Manuel Noriega?
Of course this time there is no vital national interest at stake for the US, so why are we involved at all? Is Libya any worse than China (Tiannamin Square?) or North Korea where reading a balloon dropped pamphlet means public execution and your extended family sent to death camps (children included)?
22 is wrong, these people are very happy to see dictators take over the world. They all love Castro, China et al.
Somehow the same governments that were praising Ghaddafi and giving Libya human rights award weeks ago. So, I guess he outlived his usefulness to these governments.
March 20, 2011 at 2:40 am
“The affairs were handled much more quickly and peacefully than in LIBYA.”
Sorry…
March 20, 2011 at 2:38 am
@m_astera: There was no external involvement in Tunisia and Egypt because the dictators didn’t go batshit insane and start ordering their own people bombed; The affairs were handled much more quickly and peacefully than in Egypt.
Sometimes I swear people are willing to let the world be taken over by dictators just because of 2 bit conspiracy theories they thought up on the spot. Reminds me of that whole HARPP ordeal… Like fucking earthquakes never happened before, for crying out lout!
On a side note, you guys might want to check this video out if you already haven’t: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePSqOsMskWQ
March 20, 2011 at 2:14 am
I don’t feel it’s so easy.
The water reservoir discovery has more than TEN years. Oil has been opened to foreign invesment for a long time ago, by Gaddafi himself.
In tunisia and Egypt, there was no army killing civilians…
March 20, 2011 at 12:57 am
It’s my impression that Libya has a far higher grade of crude than Venezuela does, and easier to get at. Also I was reading recently about the discovery of a huge reservoir of fresh water underlying part of Libya.
NATO and the UN didn’t get involved in Tunisia or Egypt, so I’m willing to concede those might have been real uprisings of the young. Whatever this started out as in Libya, it’s now about oil and who gets the money from that.
May 3, 2016 at 10:52 pm
Venezuela is 2 behind Saudi Arabia Libya is 7 so no Venezuela has more
March 19, 2011 at 11:24 pm
Chavez buying supporters, foreign governments and weapons all these years now becomes clear as we watch Gaddafi. A very important point is that Muslims are not Communists of any type. It just does not fit with the religion. Just plain old warlords like Chavez. Whether this will be the fate of Venezuela the day after the 2012 election or if the economy will implode before then remains to be seen. I am however sure that this “revolt of the young” that we are seeing in Arabia will increase in LatAm and other areas.
March 19, 2011 at 10:22 pm
Of course my dear Miguel, he’s just being himself…. a man who didn’t hesitate to raid Caracas not once but twice!
The itsy bitsy detail, -tiny but important- is where he was found the first time he did it. The same type of place his friend in Libya must be now…