Chavez losing his grip

Hugo Chavez seems to be losing his grip on events in Venezuela – in more ways than one. Associated Press reports that his latest fixation is on some 180-year-old bones;

President Hugo Chavez said Monday that Venezuela should open the coffin of independence hero Simon Bolivar to examine the bones, saying there are sufficient doubts about his death in 1830 to warrant a full investigation.
 
Although history books maintain Bolivar died of tuberculosis, Chavez said doubts exist because some writings suggest it is possible the South American “Liberator” might have been murdered.

Chavez has raised this theory before, but went further during a speech on the anniversary of Bolivar’s death.

“Who knows if they even made Bolivar’s bones disappear? We have to determine it now,” Chavez said. “We have the moral obligation to dispel this mystery, to open … this sacred coffin and check the remains.

Nevermind the poverty in his country, nevermind that he’s spreading cash across the continent to fix elections and then sending thugs to silence his bagman. Let’s start worrying about some bones and events that happened a long time ago – which we can’t change anyway.

Daniel at Venezuela News and Views goes into Chavez’ comments more deeply;

The Spanish version of the news gives us more details. Apparently Chaevz talked for 4 hours to tell us that the US, already becoming an evil empire in 1830 started circulating rumors about Bolivar to start a psychological warfare. There must have been a FOX like network then, no? Never mind that psychology had not been invented yet, and that the Evil Empire was barely reaching the Mississippi with a few log cabins and mud huts.

Kate watched the cadena, too – for some reason I get the impression she wasn’t pleased;

For the past half hour, I’ve heard national anthems of Venezuela, Colombia, and Ecuador; heard him refer to Bolívar as “nuestro padre” at least five times; heard him compare Ché and Bolívar to Christ, saying they all died in the same way; and he said something about Batman and Robin (I kid you not), but I didn’t catch what he said because I was too busy looking for a blunt object to insert into my eye

The Devil’s Excrement’s Miguel wrote more on Chavez’ latest bout against reality;

The thing is, in contrast with problems like shortages or inflation of which he is clueless, Chavez does have a plan on how to find out how Bolivar died, his theory being that he was assassinated by the Colombian and Venezuelan oligarchy.

UPI says the Bolivarian Revolution is coming off the tracks;

Former supporters of leftist Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez are beginning to raise questions about corruption in his administration.

Officials and activists that once backed Chavez have made statements about alleged improprieties in his government and insist the president do something about it, El Nuevo Herald reported Monday.

A group of councilmen from one Venezuelan municipality alleged that $18 million in taxes that were in municipal coffers has gone missing, the newspaper reported.

Bloomberg reports that even his closest allies are questioning the revolution;

Caracas Mayor Freddy Bernal, an ally of President Hugo Chavez, said the government’s loss in a national referendum this month merits a “severe” internal review of the so-called Bolivarian revolution.

Political leaders at government institutions and in regional governments need to get rid of Chavez “brown nosers” and assess why voters rejected the government’s proposal to overhaul the country’s constitution on Dec. 2, Bernal said today in comments broadcast by state television.

“The time has come to carry out a revolution within the revolution,” Bernal said, according to state news wire Agencia Bolivariana de Noticias. “We need to review ourselves. We have to monitor the teams we have surrounded ourselves with.”

Well, I think it’s more important to dig up those bones.

Category: Politics