Hugo Chavez Loves Free Speech...

Dangerous to who? I used to create the most chavez criticism threads here. I never thought he was a danger to anyone except himself and his people.

During the oil bubble he was able to spend their money on "defensive" fighter planes and weaponry. However, the oil bubble is over and he's just another crackpot world leader of a country nobody cares about anyway again.


Are you suggesting than oil prices aren't going to skyrocket again?

Because Venezuela has large oil deposits and is a major oil supplier to the US, not to mention that Chavez is a socialist, it is very naive to claim that "nobody cares about" him!


Yes, sir. I am from Venezuela and despite this current social hell, I'm proud of being a Venezuelan.

I mean, this speaks for itself:

...

But it saddens me that we have to go through this

I just hung out with a friend of mine from Venezuela and she was telling me that in the last year she has been robbed thrice and kidnapped twice. On one of the occasions they beat her up.

And she's such a humble, beautiful, hard working human being.

I mean, WHY??


Which social class is your friend from?

Was life better for the majority of Venezuelans before Chavez came to power?
 
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I think its wrong to arrest him when he indeed only said what is claimed.



not true, even your article quoted another media outlet's critique :)
The only one left broadcasting.
 
I think it's because some people started attacking him in the beginning simply for nationalizing their oil company.
It's one thing to nationalize, it's quite another to do it by seizing private property without compensation. And his rhetoric made it clear this was the path he was going down, obvious to anyone but those with blinders on.

But he called Bush the devil, so he must be an OK guy!
 
Was life better for the majority of Venezuelans before Chavez came to power?
Yes, there wasn't a food shortage and hyperinflation for one. How are those price controls working?

Oh, and Caracas has the highest murder rate in the world. They stopped keepng track it was so embarrassing to Dear Leader.
 
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wikipedia (bolding mine):

Some of Venezuela's mass media are privately operated and derive most of their revenues from advertising, subscriptions, and sale or distribution of copyrighted materials. A substantial proportion of the Venezuelan television, newspaper, and radio markets is controlled by state-owned outlets. The government has its own news agency, Agencia Bolivariana de Noticias.

The main private television networks are RCTV; Televen; Venevisión; Globovisión. State television includes Venezolana de Televisión, TVes, ViVe (cultural network) and teleSUR (Caracas-based pan-Latin American channel sponsored by seven Latin American states). There are also local community-run television stations such as Televisora Comunitaria del Oeste de Caracas (CatiaTVe). The Venezuelan government also provides funding to Avila TV, Buena TV and Asamblea Nacional TV (ANTV).


Numbers from venezuelanalysis half a year ago:

Private owners control 472 of Venezuela's FM stations, 243 are local community-based operations and 79 are public, of the country's AM stations 184 are privately owned and 26 are public.

In television, more than 60% of broadcasting concessions (65 stations) are in private hands, while just under 35% (37) are community-based and six are state owned television stations.
 
An observation and prediction from Mark Weisbrot in the Guardian:

Venezuela has an election for its national assembly in September, and the campaign has begun in earnest. I am referring to the international campaign. This is carried out largely through the international media, although some will spill over into the Venezuelan media. It involves many public officials, especially in the US. The goal will be to generate as much bad press as possible about Venezuela, to discredit the government, and to delegitimise the September elections – in case the opposition should choose to boycott, as they did in the last legislative elections, or refuse to recognise the results if they lose.


But:

There's no need for conspiracy, since the principal actors all know what to do. Occasionally some will be off-message due to lack of co-ordination. A fascinating example of this occurred last week when Senator John McCain tried to get General Doug Fraser of the US Southern Command to back his accusations that Venezuela supports terrorist activities. Testifying before the Senate armed services committee on March 11, General Fraser contradicted McCain:

"We have continued to watch very closely … We have not seen any connections specifically that I can verify that there has been a direct government-to-terrorist connection."​

Oops! Apparently Fraser didn't get the memo that the Obama team, not just McCain, is in full campaign mode against Venezuela. The next day, he issued a statement recanting his testimony:

"Assistant Secretary Valenzuela [the state department's top Latin America official] and I spoke this morning on the topic of linkages between the government of Venezuela and the Farc. There is zero daylight between our two positions and we are in complete agreement.

"There is indeed clear and documented historical and ongoing evidence of the linkages between the government of Venezuela and the Farc … we are in direct alignment with our partners at the state department and the intelligence community."​

Well it's good to know that the United States still has civilian control over the military, at least in the western hemisphere.
 
:crazy:

You got some real live ones on this forum don't you?

America created the USSR.

War was never a possibility.

The US prevented the soviet union from collapsing.

Actually, Libman is now a dead one as far as this forum is concerned.
Last June, he was banned after he advocating the killing of Federal Law Enforcement officials in a post.
 
The Chavez defenders remind me strongly of those who in the 1930's could see no evil in the wonderful job that Comrade Joe Stalin was doing in the Soviet Union.
None is so blind as those who refuse to see for ideological reasons.
 
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Hooking people into an authoritarian regime with a few welfare programs is the oldest trick in the book.

Hamas and Hezbollah benefit the poor. Might as well support them too.
 
I think its wrong to arrest him when he indeed only said what is claimed.

not true, even your article quoted another media outlet's critique :)

Now RCTV are off cable and satellite he got what he wanted there eh?
 

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