Chavez weekend antics

Apparently, Hugo Chavez backed away from a weekend debate with Peruvian Vargas Llosa and broke his promise of a four-day-log marathon installment of “Alo, Presidente”, according to AFP/Breitbart;

For Saturday, a debate had been scheduled between Chavez and conservative Peruvian author Mario Vargas Llosa, a novelist who ran for president in 1990.

But by late Friday Chavez was backtracking.

“I can help by moderating, but the debate is between intellectuals and I am simply a president, a soldier,” he said. The dialogue should be with “revolutionary and socialist” thinkers, he said.

Vargas Llosa and other Latin American intellectuals in Caracas for a separate event on democracy said they were not interested in debating other thinkers.

Our buddy Kate sends this cartoon which might explain why the debate was cancelled – Chavez was ill-equipped for intellectual give-and-take apparently;

(In the cartoon, Llosa is saying “I said debate, imbecile” – “debate” and “bat” sound similar in Spanish)

Meanwhile, the New York Times reports that Chavez is rounding up dissident military officers – among them, his old friend Raul Baduel;

They say prison life can be lonely, but not for Raúl Isaías Baduel, Venezuela’s former army chief and once one of President Hugo Chávez’s confidants, who was detained last month.

Mr. Baduel is held with other former officers in Los Teques.

Among his cellmates in the Ramo Verde military prison here are a former admiral, Carlos Millán, and Wilfredo Barroso, a onetime general arrested along with Mr. Millán on charges of conspiring to oust Mr. Chávez.

Since February, Mr. Chávez has moved against a wide range of domestic critics, and his efforts in recent weeks to strengthen his grip on the armed forces have led to high-profile arrests and a wave of reassignments.

So who is surprised that Chavez promised yet another thing he couldn’t deliver – a simple four day broadcast cut short. Criticism against Chavez increases as the oil prices fall. The only thing Chavez intends to deliver to Venezuelans is “Chavismo”.

Oh and the word is that Chavez wants to give Obama another book – this time by Lenin. He can save his money, I’m sure Obama already has a dog-eared copy in his library.

Category: Foreign Policy, Hugo Chavez