Hugo Chavez gains dictator-like power

[The_Dot]

For the next year and a half, Hugo Chavez is effectively the dictator of Venezuela.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/12/17/venezuela.chavez/index.html

I cannot see any way this ends well.....

[Michael]

For the next year and a half, Hugo Chavez is effectively the dictator of Venezuela.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/12/17/venezuela.chavez/index.html

I cannot see any way this ends well.....

Probably not, but to put this in perspective, dictators have always been a dime a dozen down in South America - and most South American 'democracies' aren't very democratic anyway.

I'm no fan of Chavez, I think he's an idiot who will waste Venezuela's oil wealth. But at the same time, I don't see Chavez (or Venezuela) as a threat to anyone either (other than to Venezuelan political opposition).

Indeed, I've always wondered why so many American conservatives think Hugo Chavez is so important or significant to anyone since strikes me as a buffoon. :shrug:

[Americano]

China is now Venezuela's strategic and economic partner for Venezuelan oil development and production. US oil interests and their subservient state department/congress have to be boiling over with hatred. Nobody likes to lose business. It'll be difficult to find a Western media source not condemning Chavez for waking up each morning.

[The_Dot]

Probably not, but to put this in perspective, dictators have always been a dime a dozen down in South America - and most South American 'democracies' aren't very democratic anyway.

I'm no fan of Chavez, I think he's an idiot who will waste Venezuela's oil wealth. But at the same time, I don't see Chavez (or Venezuela) as a threat to anyone either (other than to Venezuelan political opposition).

Indeed, I've always wondered why so many American conservatives think Hugo Chavez is so important or significant to anyone since strikes me as a buffoon. :shrug:

I'm not sure Venezuela isn't a threat to it's neighbors. Chavez has spent a lot of money on military hardware, and made noises about Colombia in particular. Chavez seems a very paranoid sort, and as his country continues to decline, he might just need a scapegoat.

Mostly, I think of him as comic relief on the world stage, sort of a jester who pops in from time to time.

[Michael]

China is now Venezuela's strategic and economic partner for Venezuelan oil development and production. US oil interests and their subservient state department/congress have to be boiling over with hatred. Nobody likes to lose business. It'll be difficult to find a Western media source not condemning Chavez for waking up each morning.

Yes indeed, the Venezeula episode was one of the US State Department's low moments - rather like the foolishness of Cuba.

Basically, Venezuela used to the number one largest supplier of oil to the US. When Chavez came along, US threatened to boycott Venezuela because of Chavez being one of them nasty socialist-types. Basically, the upshot from that was Chavez got way more powerful (being hated by USA is usually good for domestic political success outside the USA) and the US lost its best source of cheap and easy oil.

And now US conservatives tend to see Chavez as a 21st century Castro. Which means the USA playing the same games as in Cuba - endless assassination attempts and supporting failed coups, etc.

Looks rather like a comedy sketch to me, but the joke is on the USA, despite Chavez being a buffoon.

[Americano]

Not much different than the US embracing Saudi Arabia's brutal theocracy and Egypt's police state while attempting to destroy Iran and others. "You're either with us or against us" is solely defined by US special interests who dictate US foreign policy.

[Donkey]

I'm not sure Venezuela isn't a threat to it's neighbors. Chavez has spent a lot of money on military hardware, and made noises about Colombia in particular. Chavez seems a very paranoid sort, and as his country continues to decline, he might just need a scapegoat.

Mostly, I think of him as comic relief on the world stage, sort of a jester who pops in from time to time.

There was never any real danger of conflict between Colombia and Venezuela. And now with Colombia's new President (even though he is the direct tapped successor to Uribe), Chavez has made nice.

He has wasted a lot of cash on weaponry, but doesn't really have anything to use it on.

Colombia is the country that has had an internal war for the last forty years, and is almost certainly the most destabilizing country in the region.