Hugo Chavez barking at the moon again
I see Hugo is now concerned that non-Venzuelans might criticise him while visiting Venezuela according to AP (by way of Fox News);
President Hugo Chavez said Sunday that foreigners who publicly criticize him or his government while visiting Venezuela will be expelled from the country.
Chavez ordered officials to closely monitor statements made by international figures during their visits to Venezuela — and deport any outspoken critics.
“How long are we going to allow a person — from any country in the world — to come to our own house to say there’s a dictatorship here, that the president is a tyrant, and nobody does anything about it?” Chavez asked during his weekly television and radio program.
The Venezuelan leader’s statements came after Manuel Espino, the president of Mexico’s conservative ruling party, criticized Chavez during a recent pro-democracy forum in Caracas.
That’s odd since Chavez came to the United States last year and said this about our government, according to CNN;
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez tore into his U.S. counterpart and his U.N. hosts Wednesday, likening President Bush to the devil and telling the General Assembly that its system is “worthless.”
“The devil came here yesterday,” Chavez said, referring to Bush, who addressed the world body during its annual meeting Tuesday. “And it smells of sulfur still today.”
Chavez accused Bush of having spoken “as if he owned the world” and said a psychiatrist could be called to analyze the statement.
“As the spokesman of imperialism, he came to share his nostrums to try to preserve the current pattern of domination, exploitation and pillage of the peoples of the world. An Alfred Hitchcock movie could use it as a scenario. I would even propose a title: ‘The Devil’s Recipe.’ ”
Chavez held up a book by Noam Chomsky on imperialism and said it encapsulated his arguments: “The American empire is doing all it can to consolidate its hegemonistic system of domination, and we cannot allow him to do that. We cannot allow world dictatorship to be consolidated.”
Notice he said “the American empire” not “the Bush empire”…so there is an equivalance. Did President Bush react by expelling Chavez? Did he pass free speech “reforms” like Chavez has done?
So who’s the dictator here?Â
Michael Moynihan recalls Daniel Ortega’s similar behavior more than twenty years ago.Â
Category: Foreign Policy, Hugo Chavez
Chávez está acabando con el pueblo venezolano!
Am in Managua, and immediately following this declaration, many Nicas with whom I spoke
made the same connection! I think what kills me the most is that many on the Left continue
to make excuses for Chávez, under the auspices that this will further his Bolivarian
(Bolibananian?) revolution…
Jonn Lilyea wrote: I guess the Left is determined to support socialism no matter how many lives are sacrificed in the interim. Especially if its only the lives of brown people.Â