Hugo Chavez Admits He Has Cancer, And Life Is About To Get Interesting In Venezuela

The Devil's Excrement carries the story in English.

Here's the video of Chavez's announcement. He seems, well, rather less ebullient than in times past.



Of course, the obvious problem with someone who sets himself up as 'President for Life' is the inevitability of death, often with a decline preceding the departure.

People possessed of the kind of arrogance that creates a Chavez tend to never think of this detail, or other details, like just what the hell happens to TheGloriousRevolution the day after TheGloriousLeader's funeral.

In the meantime, Hugo's gots-lots-of-'splainin'-to-do-Lucy. And a lot of power-hungry people circling his rowboat.

Wanna bet he ends up in Miami, getting the latest-and-greatest cancer treatments the evil capitalist system of the United States can provide? What if he dies on our soil?
Do we get to toss him back like the opposing team's home-run ball at Wrigley Field?

Meanwhile, In Venezuela, Vanguard Of The Western Hemisphere

They're suffering shortages of electricity....

But seem to have a surplus of Iranians looking to build missile launch platforms...

Gee, one could, say, control the sea lanes to the Panama Canal with that capability.

Nahhh, never mind. Back to the ball game and new episodes of 'Celebrity Apprentice'...

Venezuela Tidings: Blogger 'Diablo' (The Devil's Excrement) Relocates

It is a bittersweet essay, the lament of the exile.

Thirty three years ago I came back to Venezuela fresh from a Ph.D. in Physics from well-known US University. It was an exciting time, Venezuela was moving forward, we all felt we were ready to take the country to the next stage of development, you could get research funding and lots of people were either leaving to study abroad or coming back with degrees in many fields. The first few years were exciting, things went well, I came back to Venezuela to work in a lab which already had good equipment and I was able to get more, got grants in Venezuela and abroad, my career took off. I also helped start an engineering research institute.

Then came “El Viernes Negro” (Black Friday), when the country’s economy had its first large devaluation in decades. This was February 18th. 1983. Within months the Venezuelan currency had lost almost 60% of its value, things got more difficult. It was a sign of things to come.

Things began to oscillate a lot. There were good years and bad years. Not much new funding. I was working in a field that required ever more sophisticated equipment, lots of running expenses. It was hard to stay at the edge, but I gave it my best try for quite a while.

and later...

There were two main reasons for this tough decision, one that came from the mind, not the heart: Crime and the absence of the rule of law. I stared at both of these in the face and it is something I don’t wish on anyone. You feel like you are not playing on a level field. If the crooks don’t get you, the other “crooks” will and you have no way to defend yourself. There are no instances, no appeals, you have no rights. Time to leave.

OS's heart goes out to this gent. What would it feel like to have to leave a lifetime behind, in order to secure the future of your family and children?

The United States has always been one of the few safe places for people like Dr. Diablo. OS keeps typing away, pleading with one and all that we remain that place: A place with a rule of law, opportunity to prosper, freedom to associate, speak, work, vote, and worship.

OS hopes his readers read Dr. Diablo's essay, and take his words to heart.

Blessings on him.

Gadafi's Gulfstream Moment Approaches: Phone Up Hugo Chavez!

Having fled Tripoli for parts unknown, that golden moment now arrives for Colonel Gadafi: Where does one fly the Gulfstream, or in his case, the fleet of Gulfstreams.

There's the harem, and the gold reserves, and the family to load up.

And it's not just any harem, ya'll...

Charismatic and wildly unpredictable – almost to the point of madness – this is a man who clearly loves the company of beautiful young women (as illustrated by the 40 beauties of the notorious Amazonian Guard who act as his personal bodyguards) and yet leads one of the most conservative Islamic states in the Arab world.

That contradiction could prove to be a leading cause of his downfall.

The members of the Amazonian Guard have to be virgins. These brutal beauties are reportedly trained in martial arts and the use of firearms at a special academy, where they are turned into lethal and blindly loyal killers.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1358972/Libya-protests-Gaddafi-flees-Tripoli-parliament-building-set-alight.html#ixzz1EcHjbGax


It's not like he can book it to London--Gordon Brown's not there to welcome him anymore, and the families of all those people his agents murdered over Lockerbie are still, well, really unhappy about that day in 1988, and the subsequent release of his agent by the Scots. So, Edinburgh's out, too. Hmm....

Bahrain! Let's head to Bahrain! Well, no...looks like they're loading the Gulfstreams there themselves, and Riyadh ain't looking too friendly either.

There's always Indonesia--buy a small island and hole up with the harem/bodyguard corps. And it's a Muslim country. They can be bought off. But it's so...Indonesia.

Singapore? Just show 'em the money, honey! But, they do have that thing about being respectable...extradition laws, courts, British-style justice system....hmmm....

Malaysia? Any friends in Malaysia? But, you can't drink...

Burma? They understand what it means to be a murderous pariah dictatorship--it can be lonely, you know. Unlimited cash and a harem do help though. But, they could take all the money and the girls, and what's a poor despot to do then?

What to do? What to do? Gotta call on an old friend when the rain begins to fall...

Chavez!!! Hugo-baby!!! Que pasa?

After all, the Colonel awarded Hugo the Gadafi Prize for Human Rights in 2004.


Really...can't make it up. The Gadafi Prize for Human Rights, awarded to Hugo Chavez...

So, looks like he'll have to ditch the Gulfstreams, grab the private 747, load the bullion and the harem, and arrange for a refuel in the Canaries. Betcha Hugo has a nice private island off the coast for his homeboy.

Of course, the question arises: When the Gulfstream moment arrives for Hugo, where does he go? Can he take Mohamar with him?

Now, OS has one thing to say in the wake of all these surreal events.

For a long long long time, a lot of sober people have been saying, repeatedly:

We need to supply our own needs for oil, coal, gas and electricity domestically, here in the US. If we are dependent upon places like Venezuela, Libya, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Indonesia, Angola--need we go on?--we are going to be in a world of hurt one day.

We need to supply our own needs for oil, coal, gas and electricity domestically, here in the US. If we are dependent upon places like Venezuela, Libya, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Indonesia, Angola--need we go on?--we are going to be in a world of hurt one day.

We need to supply our own needs for oil, coal, gas and electricity domestically, here in the US. If we are dependent upon places like Venezuela, Libya, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Indonesia, Angola--need we go on?--we are going to be in a world of hurt one day.

That day may be upon us. We have allowed people, in both parties, but especially amongst the Dems, who are willfully blind and negligent, to set policy, and to endanger our lives by refusing to make obvious choices.

Chin-straps on, ya'll...we may be approaching a moment when a bunch of Gulfstreams will be aloft, looking for places to land.

Venezuela Posts Always Strike A Nerve

Every time OS posts anything about Venezuela, the page views jump dramatically. He doesn't understand exactly why, except that it's like watching, from a long distance, two freight trains approaching each other on the same track. Nothing to be done except watch in morbid fascination.

What does one say about a country with the world's largest oil reserves...


...that has to ration gasoline for its own use?

Perhaps, there is a useful object lesson here: Socialism kills liberty, and leads to poverty. Everywhere and each occasion it's attempted.

And, let's remember, the Hopey-Changeys love Chavez and Castro.

Maybe, that explains it.

Venezuela: The Cracks In The Economy Are Beginning To Show

We must remember that the HopeyChangey folks love Chavez, and Castro, just as the New York Times loved Stalin in the 1930's. (That worked out well, did it not?)

The two most recent posts from The Devil's Excrement are illustrative.

First, the food shortages are showing up on grocery store shelves, as are shortages of other basic necessities of life. Like diapers and cleaning products.

The author reports:

I don’t know if I have been distracted lately or if I was just not paying attention. I have been hearing for weeks about the problems with shortages of diapers and sanitary napkins (an almost daily topic of discussion by the women in my office), but to tell you the truth, I was stunned when I went to the supermarket on Tuesday and saw all the empty or semi-empty shelves. Thinking that it was just coincidental, maybe the shelves had not been replenished from the weekend, I thought by today things would go back to normal.

No such luck, the shelves looked even worse. On the left you can see the paper products shelf, looking truly empty, only one brand of diapers available.

OS looked through the comments section on this post, and saw a most poignant comment left by one CarlosElio. Well worth the time invested to read.

The second post is an eye-wateringly detailed account of the Venezuelan bond market, and how it is now used by businesses as an end-run around currency controls imposed by Chavez.

Remember, ya'll. The Left loves Chavez and Castro. This is what they have in mind for us here, if we allow it. A friend just returned from a visit to Cuba. He loves the friends he has made there, but the poverty and lack of freedom are just stunning.

OS hopes one and all take time to read these posts, and pass them along.

Chavez Achieves Rule By Decree

What could possibly go wrong?

HT Reuters....

Let's Remember, Ya'll: Himself Really ADMIRES Chavez

This from a English-language Venezuelan blog OS has been following of late, The Devil's Excrement.

Last May, Hugo Chavez ordered the expropriation of a dairy farm, Hacienda las Carolinas, stating that the 'land was unproductive, and its owner, Diego Arria, used it solely to invite his friends over to drink whiskey'.

(OS reads a bit of Spanish, and was stunned to read that line in the announcement, so he's including the quote below, just to be certain his old eyes weren't deceiving him.
El primer mandatario aseguró que las tierras estaban improductivas y que su dueño, Diego Arria, las utilizaba “sólo para invitar a sus amigos a tomar whisky.)

The first link is one to click, fer sure, fer sure. It's the 'before and after' pictures of the hacienda: before, when Mr. Arrias was inviting his mates over for whiskey, and after, six months after the great socialist hero Chavez heroically confiscated it on behalf of the proletariat.

Hmmmm.....

A couple of points immediately come to mind.

(1) If, indeed, Mr. Arias were using the farm as a gentleman farmer operation where he could invite his mates to visit, drink, hunt, play cards, etc.--all of them legal activies--then that's his own business, and not the business of any arm of the government, anywhere, anytime. If Mr. Arrias wished to abandon it and let it go fallow, well, that's his business as well. That's how a culture operates under a sane rule of law that deliberately limits the power of the state.

(2) Obama, and a lot of the folk around him, really admire Chavez, and Castro, and Mao, and Stalin--all of whom engage(d) in wholesale expropriation of property from private hands in order to 'redistribute' it to their own favored constituencies. In every case, poverty resulted. Along with a lot of starvation, prison camps, etc. Remember Stalin and the kulaks? Millions died, and a great nation that once exported grain to the world became a massive importer, just to keep the population fed.

The pictures of this farm are illustrative, and powerful, because they can easily be understood. ThePeopleInCharge, having already expropriated some big chunks of the economy, will be very tempted by our houses and lands, our savings accounts, our pension savings, our small businesses, if the crunch really comes. And OS, hoping he is wrong, suspects we are in for one.

OS hopes ever'body keeps them in mind as November approaches, 'cuz that's future we face unless we all stand up and say Hell, No!. We need to do this now, while we still have a ballot box, and the ability to make use of it.

Stick A Fork In It, Betty-Lou! I Gets The Feeling El Socialismo Cubano Is Done

If one lives long enough, and pays a bit of attention, all manner of wondrous events can occur.

In this case, we have Fidel and Raoul Castro, each in their own way, admitting that the socialist state they erected, enforced (generously propped up with Russian money), built a police state for, and attempted to export at the point of the gun for the past fifty or so years is, in fact, an abject failure.

They, in contrast to Our Beloved Leader, are laying off government employees in large numbers--500,000 on the first round, with more to come. They are encouraging the formation of small businesses, and beginning to take their boot-heel off the neck of the country.

From The Wall Street Journal:

Cuba will lay off more than half a million state workers and try to create hundreds of thousands of private-sector jobs, a dramatic attempt by the hemisphere's only Communist country to shift its nearly bankrupt economy toward a more market-oriented system.

The mass layoffs will take place between now and the end of March, according to a statement issued Monday by the Cuban Workers Federation, the island nation's only official labor union. Workers will be encouraged to find jobs in Cuba's tiny private sector instead.

"Our state can't keep maintaining...bloated payrolls," the union's statement said. More than 85% of Cuba's 5.5 million workers are employed by the state.

Well, cut my legs off and call me Shorty! Obamanomics, modeled on Fidel-o-nomics, sucks, creates poverty, malaise, and despair. And the government of the Worker's Paradise admits it! Within a couple of years, OS predicts the only remaining socialist true believers left in the US will reside in the White House, Harvard, Yale, UC Berkley, Plains Georgia, and Miz Nancy's and Mr. Harry's unsold autobiographies in the sale bins of discount bookstores in strip malls.

Hell's-Bells, ya'll! Even Fidel admitted it to Jeff Goldberg of the Atlantic Monthly last month. In the presence of credible witnesses, unprompted and unbidden:

Even more striking was something he said at lunch on the day of our first meeting. We were seated around a smallish table; Castro, his wife, Dalia, his son; Antonio; Randy Alonso, a major figure in the government-run media; and Julia Sweig, the friend I brought with me to make sure, among other things, that I didn't say anything too stupid (Julia is a leading Latin American scholar at the Council on Foreign Relations). I initially was mainly interested in watching Fidel eat - it was a combination of digestive problems that conspired to nearly kill him, and so I thought I would do a bit of gastrointestinal Kremlinology and keep a careful eye on what he took in (for the record, he ingested small amounts of fish and salad, and quite a bit of bread dipped in olive oil, as well as a glass of red wine). But during the generally lighthearted conversation (we had just spent three hours talking about Iran and the Middle East), I asked him if he believed the Cuban model was still something worth exporting.

"The Cuban model doesn't even work for us anymore," he said.

This struck me as the mother of all Emily Litella moments. Did the leader of the Revolution just say, in essence, "Never mind"?

I asked Julia to interpret this stunning statement for me. She said, "He wasn't rejecting the ideas of the Revolution. I took it to be an acknowledgment that under 'the Cuban model' the state has much too big a role in the economic life of the country."

Game, set, match. Stick a fork in it, Betty-Lou, 'cuz I think it's done. Someone get on the phone to Himself, and let him know he better come up with some other plausible verbiage to spout, 'cuz what he's saying now won't pass the laugh test no more.

Now, if they could just get around to freeing the remaining political prisoners, and let Chavez know...

On The Death Of Franklin Brito, A Voice From Venezuela

OS ran across an English-language blog from Venezuela: The Devil's Excrement.

It is a chilling journal of life in Venezuela under Comrade Chavez. Considering how the Obama Administration fawns over Chavez, it should serve as a warning to us. If we don't stand tall now, this could be our future.

Better words than OS could ever conjure to memorialize Franklin Brito's death:

Franklin Brito’s death is a failure not only of Venezuela’s Government, but also of the multilateral organizations which are funded and financed to protect human rights across the region, but are incredibly incompetent and inefficient in achieving these goals. From Orlando Contreras Zapata to Franklin Brito, they are just a simple failure. Money ill spent on paying the salaries of ambitious politicians or beaurocratic bon vivants in the name of the people of the Americas.

There is little to be said that has not been said beyond the internal outrage we all feel inside. But throughout the day, I have been utterly amazed at a single fact: How a revolution that claims to want to create a better, more humane society, has shown no compassion for Mr. Brito.

There is no humanity in the Government or a political system that has spent the day blaming Mr. Brito for his own death. There is no compassion in saying Mr. Brito was not in his right mind and this led to his death, without looking at how he got to the point that he got. There is no compassion in trying to use legalese to say why Mr. Brito was right or wrong in his claims against the Venezuelan State.

And it is totally despicable to suggest that Mr. Brito’s death was planned to occur before the election, some writers in Aporrea even giving it the name the “Britazo” or Government officials suggesting that Mr. Brito was used by the opposition.

Because in the end it was the Government that kidnapped Mr. Brito against his own will and that of his family and held him in a military hospital until he passed away. Supposedly this kidnapping was done to protect his life, a claim that now sounds absolutely empty given his tragic death under the watch and supervision of this heartless Government. It would have been more dignified for him to die when and where he wanted.

More News On Franklin Brito

It is a hopeful sign that this tragedy is not going unnoticed.

The Venezuelan Government came out swinging, blaming Mr. Brito for having the temerity to insist that he be restored clear title to the land his family owns.

CARACAS, Sept 1 (Reuters) - Venezuela's government accused opposition parties on Wednesday of desiring the death of hunger-striker Franklin Brito to maximize political damage to President Hugo Chavez ahead of a parliamentary election.

"Like vultures, they desired and hoped for his death," a government statement said of the Brito case, which has stirred up Venezuelan politics before the Sept. 26 vote.

Critics have seized on the emaciated farmer's death, in a protest over land he says was seized illegally in south Venezuela, as evidence of Chavez's abuse of property rights and cold indifference to opposition.

But the government says Brito's complaint had no basis in law and that his ownership of 717 acres (290 hectares) in Bolivar state had been repeatedly ratified by land authorities.

"We are obliged to reject the Phariseeism of the rotten media, the electoral opposition and the Catholic Church who encouraged Mr. Brito's extremism with the sole aim of having a death for their dirty banners," the statement added.


Then, of course, we are treated to this classic piece of moral courage from the Obama State Department:

Philip J. Crowley, Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Public Affairs, US Department of State, said on Tuesday that the United States is saddened by the death of Venezuelan farmer Franklin Brito, who had been on a hunger strike in protest for the expropriation of his lands by the government of President Hugo Chávez.

"We are saddened to hear of Mr. Brito's passing and we extend our condolences to his family," said Crowley, as reported by AFP. He stressed that Washington "did follow his case closely." But he simply added that the United States would "leave it to the Government of Venezuela to explain."

Given the other news that preoccupies us in the US, this may not rise far above the radar. But it is significant, as a regime fawned over by the Obama White House engages in blatant brutality with nary a murmur of protest.

The State of Arizona, on the other hand, is being hit with both barrels by the US Justice Department.

There is a terrible dissonance in all this. A terrible, tragic, disturbing dissonance.

Now, while we're on the subject of dissidents who have disappeared into the bowels of the Chavez regime, OS would be interested to hear news of the fate of Alejandro Pena Esclusa.

A recent statement was released by him from his jail cell.

Of course, our State Department stands by in silence.

And, in honor of President Chavez, a most appropriate portrait. Please feel free to distribute.

In Memoriam: Franklin Brito, A Farmer From Venezuela

As the press continues to lionize and never dare criticize Comrade Chavez of Venezuela, let us remember the latest of his victims, Franklin Brito.

This from today's Economist:

FRANKLIN BRITO is not well-known outside Venezuela, and the country’s government would like it to stay that way. Late on Monday night, the 50-year-old farmer and biologist died from a hunger strike in the military hospital in Caracas, the capital, where he had been held against his will, virtually incommunicado, since December.

Mr Brito’s sad saga started seven years ago, when his 250-acre fruit and vegetable farm in the south-eastern state of Bolívar was taken over by neighbours. He later discovered that INTI, the government’s land-reform agency, had granted them rights to occupy his land, in what he saw as an act of revenge by a corrupt local mayor.

He then began an extraordinary, and often lonely, fight to regain sole title to his farm. To raise awareness of his case, he staged six separate hunger strikes, amputated his little finger and had his lips sewn together. The government sometimes said it would meet his demands if he ended the hunger strikes, but inevitably reneged once he did. It also offered him $230,000 in compensation. But he turned down almost all of it, saying the payment was illegal and that he could be accused of corruption if he accepted it. Although the people occupying his farm left last year, their legal right to return at any time was never revoked.

In 2009 Mr Brito transferred his hunger strike to the pavement outside the offices of the Organisation of American States (OAS) in Caracas. This step, which led an OAS delegation to attempt to mediate, drew too much attention to the case for the government’s taste. In December it sent police to transfer him to the military hospital by force.

Despite pressure from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, the courts, which mainly do Mr Chávez’s bidding, refused to order his release. Government spokesmen said Mr Brito was mentally ill and needed to be detained for his own protection. But they never provided any evidence to support this claim. The authorities themselves undermined it when they filmed him without his permission, and then presented a crudely edited video that suggested he was trying to blackmail the government for money.

Mr Brito sealed his fate when he began refusing even liquids. In a statement issued shortly after his death, his family insisted that he would “live on in the struggle of the Venezuelan people for property rights, justice, freedom and human rights.” His widow, Elena, has vowed to continue the fight. “This is our only project in life,” she said last year, “and my four children depend on it.”

The government clearly could have stopped Mr Brito from taking his life by restoring his exclusive title to his land. But Hugo Chávez, the leftist president, seems to have calculated that standing firm against his demands would be more politically advantageous. Human-rights organisations in Venezuela say that around 2,500 people are currently subject to criminal proceedings for engaging in peaceful dissent. The space to do so is shrinking every day.

The right to private property is essential to a free society. This is my land, and you can't have it unless I freely transfer it to you on terms agreeable to me. This is my house, my business, my copyright, my money, my body. It belongs to me, not to the state or the state's designated favorites.

OS is seeing this right beginning to erode here in the US. A friend and her husband resisted a state 'economic development commission' attempt to seize their farm for an industrial plant a few years ago, standing against massive arm-twisting by government at all levels. They just found out that it has all started again, via a zoning proposal that will effectively lower the value of their land to near zero, unless they buckle under at the next 'offer' to purchase. OS finds it hard to believe that this is an isolated occurrence.

Mr. Brito's refusal to buckle was extraordinary, some would say excessive. OS is not certain at all that he would show the same courage. He also hopes he is never put in position to have to make those kinds of choice.

From Sister Jail: Alejandro Peña Esclusa

OS, not certain why this story hits his buttons the way it does, searched for more news of Alejandro Peña Esclusa, imprisoned by the Chavez regime in Venezuela.

He found this letter, dated 17 July, and attributed to Mr. Pena.

It is obvious that his arrest was not surprise to him.

For two years I have been waiting for my imprisonment, due to the effective work I have been achieving against Mr. Chavez and his allies of the Forum Sao Paulo. In the coming days and weeks, the extent of this work will be disseminated.

Friends and acquaintances, and even fellow UnoAmerica across the continent, insisted I had to leave Venezuela and work from abroad. “From the outside you can be more helpful to the cause, because in prison you’ll be will be given up for lost” they said.

However, I answered: “Venezuela needs leaders willing to sacrifice themselves for their country. So much disappointment and dejection is present that we must provide the country with proof of love for Venezuela. It’s the only way to boost morale among the people” I told them.

I have also restated to my colleagues, that this struggle is not only a political one, but primarily spiritual. A materialist and atheist model cannot be overcome with political recipes; but transcendent values and principles embodied in leaders who with their example instill optimism and hope, can.

There's more at the link--and versions in Spanish,English, and Portugese

OS thinks this merits attention, to see if pressure can be brought to bear. Also, it will serve as a litmus test of the Obama administration's commitment to human rights. Its silence in the face of the human rights tragedies in Iran and Venezuela is pretty deafening. However, on behalf of Gaza, run by Hamas, it is relentless.

Something is deeply amiss.

More On Pena Esclusa: Video Posted Shortly Before His Arrest

Evidently, he saw events coming.

OS doesn't pretend to be an expert in the politics of South America, but this incident is troubling.



Comments and insights welcomed, in both English and Spanish.

Tensions Build Between Colombia And Venzuela: Colombia Accuses Chavez Of Harboring FARC Norco-Terrorists

It's getting interestinger and interestinger down there.

The story is surfacing in a number of places, including the BBC.

This from the Kansas City Star:

Venezuela called its ambassador home from Bogota for consultations Friday to protest accusations by the outgoing Colombian government that rebel leaders are taking refuge inside its borders.

Colombian officials have long complained, mostly in private, that President Hugo Chavez has harbored leaders of its two main rebel groups.

But on Thursday, Colombia's Defense Ministry showed video, photographs and satellite images to Colombian journalists behind closed doors that it said proved the presence of rebel leaders in neighboring Venezuela.

Colombia's hard-line president, Alvaro Uribe, leaves office on Aug. 7. He's been widely credited for seriously weakening Colombia's leftist insurgencies, one of which killed his father in a botched 1983 kidnapping.

Because he has frequently feuded with Chavez, many Colombians believe the renewed accusations show Uribe's dissatisfaction with the olive branch that Colombia's president-elect, Juan Manuel Santos, has extended to Chavez.

Trade between Venezuela and Colombia has fallen 70 percent in the past year since Chavez froze relations over Colombia's signing of an agreement with the United States granting Washington expanded access to its military bases.

Waiting to see how the White House and Foggy Bottom will hang the Colombians out to dry for having the temerity to actually oppose their boy Chavez to his face.

Not if.

How.

Links About the Alejandro Pena Esclusa Arrest: The Word Is Out

Latin America Herald Tribune


Associated Press

El Universal

VHeadline.com (appears to be a news and blog site about Venezuela)

And then of course, one can go to Google, type in the name, and watch the page light up.

So much for that 'dark of night' thing...

Let's see if the US MSM will bother to ask any questions of Chavez's fans in the White House. (..sound of crickets chirping...)

A Portrait Of Hugo Chavez: Art At Its Most Expressive And Effective

Who sez the spirit of Free Enterprise is dead, or that we've lost our sense of humor?

From UnoAmerica: (haltingly translated by OS)

Wednesday 14 April, 2010

The idea occurred to to Cuban entreprenuer Maria Vasquez, who lives in exile in Venezuela, to bring to market a new line of toilet paper branded 'Socialism in the Twenty-first Century'. The idea has met with success,and the theme of the marketing campaign is 'Make your dream come true'.

Whoo-wee, ya'll! Genius is found in all corners of the earth!

Maria Vasquez, hands-down the winner of the 2010 OldSouth Creative Vengeance Award.

(Other faces do float to mind as well...)

Miércoles, 14 de Abril de 2010

La idea surgió de la empresaria cubana María Vásquez, quien vivió exiliada en Venezuela y que saco al mercado una linea de papeles higiénicos llamados "el socialismo del siglo XXI". La propuesta ha tenido exito y el tema de la campaña es "haz tu sueño realidad"

Chavez Begins Rounding Up The Opposition: The Arrest of Alejandro Pena-Esclusa

Somewhat below the US radar is news of the arrest of Venezuelan opposition leader Alejandro Pena-Esclusa.

This from CNN, yesterday:

Venezuelan authorities arrested an opposition politician and former presidential candidate on explosives charges Monday night, the government news agency reported.

Alejandro Pena Esclusa, a 1998 presidential candidate and political opponent of leftist Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez, was arrested at home by agents from the nation's intelligence service, the official ABN news service reported Monday. Pena was taken to the intelligence service headquarters for interrogation, ABN said.

Opposition groups say Pena was arrested for political reasons. Unoamerica, a group headed by Pena, said Tuesday his arrest "is part of a Cuban operation that looks to link opposition leaders with terrorist acts."

Chavez critics have said Cubans are heavily involved in the Venezuelan military and also are playing a key role in intelligence, communications and other areas.

Authorities say they found material of "an explosive nature" when they searched Pena's home in Caracas, Venezuela.

"We have obtained ... some small capsules, more than 100 capsules, which are presumed detonators, some thermal, some electric," ABN quoted counterintelligence director David Colmenares as saying.

Officials contend Pena has been working with Francisco Chavez Abarca, a Salvadoran resident arrested in Venezuela last week on charges that he was in the country to destabilize the government. ABN calls Chavez Abarca a "terrorist" and says he informed on some of his accomplices.

Pena is one of those accomplices, ABN indicated.

"Alejandro Pena Esclusa is a dark character of the Venezuelan opposition linked to fascist sectors and with a thick file of conspiratorial activities against the government of President Hugo Chavez," ABN said.

There will be other arrests in coming days as a result of the information Chavez Abarca provided, the news agency said.

Pena's strong opposition to the Venezuelan president has been lauded, even in the United States. The Alabama state legislature took up a resolution in March commending his actions.

"[A]t great personal risk to himself, Alejandro Pena Esclusa has stood firm in opposition to the spread of Marxism and totalitarianism in Latin America," the resolution states, adding that Pena "continues to serve as an ideological and symbolic counterweight to Chavez's grievance driven exploitation of the people of Venezuela and of broader Latin America in furtherance of the fomentation of authoritarian movements in the region."

Human rights organizations have frequently accused Chavez of intimidating or punishing citizens based on their political beliefs.

In June, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights sent a letter to Venezuela's foreign minister, criticizing the government on its record of freedom of expression.

In February, the commission issued a 319-page report accusing Venezuela of routinely violating human rights. The report said that a lack of independence by Venezuela's judiciary and legislature in their dealings with Chavez often leads to the abuses.

"The report finds that not all individuals are ensured full enjoyment of their rights irrespective of their positions on government policies," the human rights panel said. "The commission also finds that the punitive power of the state is being used to intimidate or punish people on account of their political opinions."

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights is an independent arm of the Organization of American States.

Chavez's opponents say his government represses political opponents and the expression of free ideas by jailing critics on trumped-up charges or pulling licenses for TV and radio stations and shutting down newspapers. There are about 40 such political prisoners in Venezuelan jails, the critics say.

Most of those prisoners, Chavez critics say, are journalists and former military and police officials and others associated with a short-lived coup against Chavez in April 2002.

Some of the prisoners have been held for long periods without trials or during proceedings that have dragged on for months and even years, the critics say, and they say other prisoners have received harsh sentences under questionable charges. Many of the detainees are held at the secret police headquarters rather than a prison.

"Attacks on journalists were widespread," said Amnesty International's 2009 Report on Human Rights in Venezuela. "Human rights defenders continued to suffer harassment. Prison conditions provoked hunger strikes in facilities across the country."

Human Rights Watch, an independent global organization, issued a 230-page report in 2008 that said Chavez has shown an "open disregard for the principle of separation of powers ... specifically, the notion that an independent judiciary is indispensable for protecting fundamental rights."

The Chavez government has routinely denied any allegations of human rights abuses, saying that authorities arrest citizens only on suspicion of breaking the law.

This matters to us, here in the US, a lot.

The Obama administration has tilted heavily toward Chavez. Not a peep about its seizure of foreign assets, human rights violations, its use of Cuban thugs as enforcers, chumming around with the Iranians, etc. etc. Obama and company have been vocal in their support of Chavez and company as they seek to hand the Falklands to Argentina.

More to come on this subject--in the meantime, for those who read Spanish, UnoAmerica provides more detail and support.

Also, the resolution from the Alabama legislature, praising Alejandro Pena Esclusa, and issuing him an invitation to address the body.

OS's Spanish isn't the greatest, but from what he's been able to gather, Esclusa is a faithful Catholic, and a tireless advocate of democracy, individual liberty and human rights.

For the simple reason that we need to stop this before it reaches our shores, OS hopes his readers will do what they can to contact their representatives and make them aware of the situation.

Sunlight is always the best disinfectant.

N.B. As CNN reports, Esclusa is only one example of the Chavez crackdown. 

This Is How Wars Begin: The Falklands And Obama's Cluelessness

This just over the transom.

Going largely unnoticed here in the US, Argentina is rattling the saber over the Falkland Islands again.

And the Obama administration has decided to remain neutral!

This from the UK Telegraph:

The Obama administration’s decision to remain neutral in the dispute between Great Britain and Argentina over the Falkland Islands is a shameful decision that will go down very badly across the Atlantic. As The Times has just reported, Washington has point blank refused to support British sovereignty over the Falklands, and is adopting a strictly neutral approach.
In the words of a State Department spokesman:

“We are aware not only of the current situation but also of the history, but our position remains one of neutrality. The US recognises de facto UK administration of the islands but takes no position on the sovereignty claims of either party.”

The remarks had echoes of an earlier statement by a senior State Department protocol official who, when asked about the shoddy treatment of the British Prime Minister in March last year, responded:

“There’s nothing special about Britain. You’re just the same as the other 190 countries in the world. You shouldn’t expect special treatment.”

[end quote]
WHAT???!!!???
WHAT IS GOING ON HERE? 
 
The silence of the Obama administration on this matter screams to the world about its amorality.

All that blather about 'self-determination' for this group and that around the world. The residents of the Falklands have made unmistakeably clear that they are British! And have zero desire to be joined to Argentina.

The UK has one destroyer in the port, and some troops on the island. They assumed they had an ally!

Obama's amorality will only embolden the hawks in a bankrupt Peronist Argentina, and strengthen Chavez's hand in South America. It's like 1937, all over again, only this time on the doorstep of North America. One timely visit by a US carrier group through the Gulf, and on down to the South Atlantic would save thousands upon thousands of lives.

Cowardice and amorality always pave the way to war. Always.

How did this country forget that?

Meanwhile, Back In Caracas

Hugo Chavez has suddenly discovered if you nationalize industries, suppress speech, and debase the currency...the economy tanks, and your hold on power weakens.

Hmm...I see a plane-load of bullion headed toward a safe location, and someone always making sure the Presidential chopper and executive jet are fueled and staffed.

Remember, as you watch the President hold forth tonight, he and his really admire Chavez!

**********

The Bernanke vote is tomorrow. Have you called your Senator?