This ain't Hell, but you can see it from here

Category: Hugo Chavez

  • FARC, Chavez, Soros and Rice

    I just got this emailed from Kate;

    The US State Department is gifting the FARC a massive propaganda win-win by granting propaganda caravans for the FARC operatives to tour and visit their poor boys inside a US prison. Speaker of the US Congress Nancy Pelosi thinks this is a good idea. Her staffers, led by counsel to Pelosi and to the pro drugs funding George Soros insist that this is a good idea, never mind what U.S. and UN counternarcotics agreements and laws detail. So too, apparently, does Assistant Sec of State Tom Shannon. We do not know what, if anything.

    I’d read earlier that the talks with FARC had been delayed – because FARC demands the release of their members held in US jails. So, in effect they’re asking for a prisoner exchange in the middle of their war. According to El Universal, FARC puts the blame for failure of the talks on Uribe while the success will fall to Chavez;

    FARC, senior member “Iván Márquez” put the blame on Uribe for the failure to swap the people kidnapped for imprisoned guerrillas.

    “If no swap has been made and continues causing suffering, it has been because of the president’s wild intransigency and stubbornness,” said Iván Márquez, whose actual name is Luciano Marín Arango.

    “All of us really want the success of President Chávez’ important mediation for this to be possible,” he added.

    Commie bros keepin’ it real, I suppose. But eCrisis ties Pelosi and Soros to FARC;

    While we are aware that Pelosi’s legal counsel is a Soros man whose commitments to bringing down Plan Colombia and aiding and abetting the pro drugs agenda is well known, we are not aware that State Department must roll over and treat the FARC as if this is a legal state group of actors. For it is not. The FARC is a non state subset of narco terrorists whose legitimacy does not exist.

    BBC calls Columbian Senator Cordoba an “opposition senator” but she’s actually FARC’s representation in the legislature. She wants 500 FARC terrorists released in exchange for hostages;

    Colombian opposition Senator Piedad Cordoba, who has been acting as a mediator in the process, confirmed that elements were lacking to “complete the circle” and reach a deal.

    The proposed deal would see the 500 rebel prisoners exchanged for politicians, members of the armed forces, and three US citizens.

    The Miami Herald writes;

    Colombian Senator Piedad Córdoba told reporters she expects to meet Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice Friday and travel to a federal penitentiary in Texas to meet with Nayibe Rojas, a commander of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.

    Rojas is serving a 16-year jail term on drug trafficking charges.

    A meeting with Rice would signal that the Bush administration approves of the mediation effort launched by Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez and Córdoba to secure the release of 45 high-profile hostages held by the FARC in exchange for about 500 FARC rebels in Colombian jails. The Colombian government has blessed the effort.

    Three Pentagon civilian contractors — Keith Stansell, Marc Gonsalves and Tom Howes — have been held by the FARC since 2003.

    Córdoba said the State Department told her it is awaiting an offer by the FARC before deciding on a U.S. position.

    Córdoba met Wednesday with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. ”This gives us a sense of the importance that the United States has given to this process,” Córdoba said.

    ”The first thing we want to achieve is trust — trust among the FARC, but also the Colombian government and the U.S. government,” she said, adding that a meeting between Chávez and FARC leaders set for Monday in Caracas has been postponed until more details can be worked out. 

    If there’s any truth to this deal, the US Air Force should send in a J-DAM to the meeting and end the whole process. FARC is no less a terrorist enemy of the US than al Qaeda.

  • Hugo Chavez officially off his rocker

    I’ve written before that Chavez plans to move his clock ahead 1/2 hour but he let that idea fall off the radar until now (Pravda/AP);

    Hugo Chavez’s plan to turn back clocks by a half-hour has some Venezuelans pleased at the prospect of sleeping in. Others seem vexed that Chavez is making the entire nation change its daily rhythm. Some bloggers suggest Chavez wants to get out of Washington’s “imperialist” time zone, but Venezuela will be a half-hour apart from his Cuban allies as well.
     
    “It seems crazy to me,” says 38-year-old Maritza Mendoza, who sells orange juice from a sidewalk stand in downtown Caracas. “It’s a whim, just like the change of the currency.”

    Venezuela’s upcoming launch of the “strong bolivar” – eliminating three zeros and reducing bills to 2-, 5-, 10-, 20-, 50-, and 100-bolivar denominations – joins a growing list of changes promoted by Chavez. He’s transformed the national seal, the national flag and even the country’s name – now the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, after independence hero Simon Bolivar.

    So by adding a 1/2 hour to the time will make Venezuelans more productive and knocking off a few zeros, will save the bolivar, and Venezuela will be a paradise – well, except for the evil CIA (AP);

    President Hugo Chavez accused the U.S. on Wednesday of trying to spur a military rebellion, saying the CIA is behind the distribution of leaflets inside army barracks calling for his ouster.
     
    Speaking to dozens of army officers at Venezuela’s largest military base, Chavez urged soldiers to resist calls for a coup from “oligarchs and their imperialist masters,” a reference to the United States.

    “They will always try to divide us and confuse us to weaken us, and thereby dominate us,” said Chavez, who weathered a short-lived coup in 2002.

    Noting that leaflets calling for a rebellion have been circulating in army barracks recently, he said: “That’s why they have the CIA.”

    I’m pretty sure that if the CIA got inside the Venezuelan Army barracks, they’d do a little more than leave pieces of paper laying around.

    Jungle Mom at The Jungle Hut writes that Venezuelan Jews are more than a little worried about Chavez’ threat to close down schools which don’t teach the chavista party line. Julia at The End of Venezuela as I Know It gives a glimpse of what’s inside her 11-year-old niece’s textbooks – complete with anti-Bush cartoons.

    Daniel at Venezuela’s News and Views asks “Where is the success of Chavez’ economic  policies?” The Devil’s Excrement questions the Venezuelan government’s report that inflation was at 1.3% for September charging that food and beverages are increasing at 25%. The chavistas claim it’s because food and bevergaes aren’t controlled by the government;

    According to the Central Bank of Venezuela, inflation for September was largely driven by the increase of prices on products outside of government price controls, which rose by 2 per cent, whereas products under government price controls rose only 0.5%

    But, hey, that one day the clocks change, you’ll get an extra half-hour sleep. Yay!

  • The Axis of Ultimate Evil

    Well, you’ve got Hugo Chavez buying weapons from Russia, drilling oil with China (who is, by the way, drilling oil off the coast of Florida in cahoots with Cuba) and forming alliances with Iran and Nicaragua (not to mention Chavez coming out against boob jobs), Syria getting weapons technology from North Korea. And now Gateway Pundit reports that  Ahmadinejad is proposing an alliance with Robert Mugabe – the guy that even Poodle Chirac reprimanded. Given Mugabe’s record on human rights, I wouldn’t think anyone would take his side (Although Parade Magazine only ranks him number 7 in world’s worst dictators this year – down from number 4 in 2006, apparently. He’ll just have to starve more people to catch up to Kim Jong Il, I guess.).

    I’m starting to see a pattern here. This growing alliance is cartoonishly evil – like some kind of alliance of fiends set against the Justice League or Superfriends. Except there isn’t any Justice League or Superfriends – there’s just us. Well, some of us.

    Isn’t there anyone on the Left willing to admit that these people are just evil, that their intentions have to be evil and that maybe there’s just a little more danger in the world than they’ve been able to admit up to this point? Doesn’t anyone on the other side of the aisle see anything bad in all of this?

    Update: Then again, as long as they make “retard” missiles, they can’t be all that dangerous, can they? Photo from Kamangir;

  • Chavez the gladiator battling the evil oppressor

    While the Ahmadinejad play fades into history, the other dwarf on the world stage is busy pumping up his stunted image with the willful assistance of the Associated Press;

    “‘Gladiator’ — What a movie! I saw it three times,” [Hugo Chavez] tells an Associated Press reporter traveling with him in a Toyota 4Runner, along with his daughter and a state governor. “It’s confronting the empire, and confronting evil. … And you end up relating to that gladiator.”

    The parallel is unstated but clear. To Chavez, the United States is the empire, and he is the protagonist waging an epic struggle to bring justice to the oppressed of Venezuela and the world.

    Yes, the United States and George Bush, in particular, have so interferred with Chavez plans to conquer South America, haven’t they? He’s a brave soul to stand up to such a fearsome enemy. Dumbass. So interferring are we that we’ve sent hack-actor Kevin Spacey to undermine Chavez’ grip on power (h/t A Columbo-Americana’s Perspective) ;

    Actor Kevin Spacey met privately Monday with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, one of Washington’s most outspoken critics in Latin America.

    Neither Spacey — who has won Academy Awards for roles in “The Usual Suspects” and “American Beauty” — nor Chavez spoke to the press after the nearly three-hour encounter in the presidential palace in Caracas. They shook hands warmly on the red carpet as Spacey left after a dinner with Chavez.

    Another in long line of failing Hollywood-types dipping their toe in world politics half-assed understanding the causes they’re supporting – or not supporting. I guess all that’s important is that Chavez calls President Bush “The Devil” – that’s as deep as they go.

    And honestly, that’s as deep as Chavez goes, too. He’s made shallow promises to nearly every nation in South and Central America none of which have come to fruition. Of course this all the fault of the United States;

    Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Sunday denied media reports that he clashed with his Brazilian counterpart Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva at a Thursday meeting, saying the United States was behind the reports.

    “That is the handiwork of the Empire, but it will never achieve its goal of making us fight,” Chavez said during his Sunday radio and TV show “Hello, President.”

    Chavez promises are now extending to Europe as well;

    Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez will visit France in November to discuss the fate of hostages, including prominent Franco-Colombian Ingrid Betancourt, held by Colombian Marxist rebels, the French President said Monday.
        “Mr. Chavez will visit France in November. I have spoken with him by phone three or four times over the past 15 days,” President Nicolas Sarkozy told reporters on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session.
        Chavez has offered to mediate between Colombian President Alvaro Uribe and the Marxist rebels who are holding 45 hostages including Betancourt, who has dual citizenship, and three Americans.
        “France’s obsession is to have Betancourt returned to her family as soon as possible,” he added.

    And don’t forget that he’s still best buds with Ahmadinejad;

    President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his Venezuelan counterpart Hugo Chavez, in a telephone conversation on Monday, called for further promotion of Tehran-Caracas cooperation.

    President Ahmadinejad is currently in New York to attend the 62nd session of the United Nations General Assembly to begin on Tuesday.

    “Ahmadinejad and Chavez are two brothers who have joined hands at international arena to establish peace and tranquility,” the Iranian president said.

    Of course – that’s why Chavez has tossed out Christian Missionaries from the Venezuelan interior but allows Hezzbollah (the Syrian client terrorists of Iran) to recruit there.

    The Devil’s Excrement explains why Chavez makes long term plans with foreigners instead of his own people;

    The first few years of Chavez’ presidency, you could tell he was frustrated with economic issues, he did not know how to manage them, did not understand them and could not control them, in contrast with social and political issues where he could really understand what the people wanted and used it to his advantage, blaming the previous forty years for all the problems.

    Since then, Chavez has learned that you can lie, exaggerate and make up numbers on just about any subject, but it is precisely in social issues where he has to walk a very fine line, because the people are not dumb. You can’t fool people into believing there is no crime or it has not increased, no inflation and he has stopped it, no shortages or a boom in housing. Thus, Chavez avoids these subjects. Chavez never says “we have built so many housing units…”, he knows that if he exaggerates, some people will feel that they were left out, so it is better to say “We will build so many thousand units…”. In a year, nobody will check anyway.

    And that’s how he manages his foreign policy – he deals in vague statements, empty promises, crowd pleasing emotional outbursts. Full of sound and fury signifying nothing. Chavez is more like Alonso Quixano (ingenious hidalgo Don Quioxte, knight errant) than a gladiator and socialism is his fair and elusive Lady Dulcinea.

    Bloodthirsty Liberal just cracks me up with his Chavez posts – everytime.

  • Chavez takes over the school system

    Hat tip to Atlas Shrugs for alerting us that Chavez is doing to the school system what he did for television in Venezuela – and just like when he warned private communication companies, he’s warning private schools;

    Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez threatened on Monday to close or take over any private school that refuses to submit to the oversight of his socialist government as it develops a new curriculum and textbooks.

    Not bizzare enough for you? How about this quote;

    “Society cannot allow the private sector to do whatever it wants,” said Chavez, speaking on the first day of classes.

    Beautiful, huh? AP reports;

    But one college-level syllabus obtained by The Associated Press shows some premedical students already have a recommended reading list including Karl Marx’s “Das Kapital” and Fidel Castro’s speeches, alongside traditional subjects like biology and chemistry.

    The syllabus also includes quotations from Chavez and urges students to learn about slain revolutionary Ernesto “Che” Guevara and Colombian rebel chief Manuel Marulanda, whose leftist guerrillas are considered a terrorist group by Colombia, the U.S. and European Union.

    So I guess the students’ education won’t focus on the three “r”s. Bloomberg writes;

    Teachers and academics may see the measure as an attempt to politicize the classroom, speeding up a brain drain that has been underway for years as educated, skilled workers move abroad to escape Chavez’s “Bolivarian” revolution, said Ercilia Vasquez, director of the school of education at the Universidad Catolica Andres Bello in Caracas.

    “This ideology is very strong,” she said in a phone interview. “We’re going through a process where a lot of people are looking for other alternatives outside the country. This could accelerate it.’”

    The AP story continues;

    Venezuelan officials defend the program at the Latin American Medical School — one in a handful of state-run colleges and universities that emphasize socialist ideology — as the new direction of Venezuelan higher education.

    “We must train socially minded people to help the community, and that’s why the revolution’s socialist program is being implemented,” said Zulay Campos, a member of a Bolivarian State Academic Commission that evaluates compliance with academic guidelines.

    “If they attack us because we’re indoctrinating, well yes, we’re doing it, because those capitalist ideas that our young people have — and that have done so much damage to our people — must be eliminated,” Campos said. 

    Typical communist rhetoric – and it’s becoming too late to stop to stop Chavez. The left is so adoring, so emotional over the idea of an oil-rich communist empire that they forget the 100s of millions who’ve already been sacrificed at the altar of Marxism. Venezuela is beginning to look more and more like the Lord of the Flies. 

    From The Devil’s Excrement, a Venezuelan’s view of Chavez latest endeavor;

    But much like in Hitler’s Germany, Fidel’s Cuba or Franco’s Spain, Venezuela will now have official textbooks for all subjects, guaranteeing no impure ideas get through to the kids and all information gets the imprimatur from Bolivarian officials. I wonder if they will be signed by a Bishop or a General as a sign of approval or by the autocrat himself maybe.

    Because according to the autocrat, texts used to preach the theories of the Empire, whether the North-American or Spanish one (Did Chavez look up pre-1724 textbooks?), but then the ranting got better when Chavez truly and really said:

    “First, it was an ideologic education, the euro-centric vision, colonial, which taught us to admire the conquerors and then the cult to the animated characters of Superman, Mandrake or the Phantom, denying us the knowledge of Guicapuro, Negra Hipolita or Sucre”

    Jeez, I wonder where he heard about these, as I do not recall learning about any of these characters in school, but I do remember learning about Guicaipuro, Negra Hipolita and Sucre, and was always taught a very negative view of the Spanish conquerors which cost me quite a few expulsions from class when I lived in Spain.

    So where’s Jimmy Carter now that Venezuelans really need him? He’s busy bashing Jews and Israel on public access – apparently Chavez is off his radar now that Carter has insured Chavez’ employment for life. I’ve asked before – where are the human rights Democrats? Where are these so-called socially liberal conservatives?

    Well, they’re all for taking education out the hands of the public sector, too. They want to indoctrinate students into Marxism – more overtly than they can now. The left wants to shut down news sources that they think oppose them. They want the wide latitude that Chavez enjoys – he’s running their dream nation where the only choice is the choice they offer.

    But Chavez’ choices will be bathed in blood eventually.

  • Chavez plans a “Simon Bolivar Satellite”

    Over the past few weeks, I written about Hugo Chavez squandering his petro dollars on 5000 sniper rifles from Russia, subsidizing bus fares for Londoners and paying for elections in Argentina. Today he announced that China is building a “Simon Bolivar satellite” (Washington Times’ Martin Arostegui);

    Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez says his nation plans to launch “the Simon Bolivar satellite” now being built in China as part of plans to develop an integrated ground- and space-based air defense — presumably against the United States.

    “We have 100 satellite technicians training in China who be back in the next few months. The radars, tracking stations and air defenses are being installed right now,” Mr. Chavez said this week on his television talk show, “Hello President.”

    With the Chinese ambassador present for the performance, Mr. Chavez made extensive comments on Venezuela’s growing ties with China in areas such as oil exports and national defense.

    But that’s not all;

    Mr. Chavez, who claims the U.S. has attempted to assassinate him and often warns of an Iraq-style U.S. invasion of Venezuela, already has the most powerful air force in South America with his recent acquisition of 24 Sukhoi Su-30 fighters from Russia.

    He also is negotiating the purchase of nine Russian submarines.

    So with children starving, staples absent from supermarket shelves, and Venezuela’s trading paper struggling, Chavez is investing his new ill-gotten wealth in strengthening his military position in a relatively calm region – and attempting to strengthen ties with China in South America – all so he can stick his finger in the eye of the United States (which by the way is no threat to him) and wave the Uncle Sam boogeyman in the faces of his chavistas.

    China has invested heavily in Venezuela’s oil industry as part of efforts to gain ever greater access to energy sources.

    They are jointly planning a pipeline through Panama to pump 800,000 barrels of oil a day to Pacific ports. This would allow a vast increase in Venezuelan exports to China at the possible expense of the U.S.

    China is also assisting Cuba in oil exploration off the coast of Florida – another reason for them to build a pipeline through Panama. In Panama, they already control about 40% of the ports through their COSCO company (according my source there) and they’re assisting Panama in their endeavor to widen the Canal over the next 5 years.

  • Londoners get 1/2 price fare while VZ children scrounge for centavos

    I actually wrote about this a few weeks ago, but I got tipped to this blog story from Kate of A Columbo-Americana’s Perspective. It’s from a blog called Las Armas de Coronel – a relatively new blogger – who posted these two pictures yesterday;

    I’ll let the author explain the pictures;

    The text on the London bus is a bit hard to read but you can probably see how the Mayor of London and the “Bolivarian” regime of Hugo Chavez have joined forces to subsidize the “poor” people of London. For this initiative Venezuelans will always be “grateful” to Mr. Alfredo Toro Hardy, the Chavez Ambassador to England, one of the most sycophantic followers of the dictator. In the other picture a small Venezuelan child cleans windshields in a Venezuelan city to get a few coins to survive. There are thousands of abandoned children in my country who lack the most essential protection but Chavez is giving away money to rich nations to play the global defender of the poor for the uniformed populations of Europe and the United States. I find this a crime against my country, against decency and against principles. since the motivation behind the subisidy to Londoners is not altruistic but one of political propaganda. This is one small example of the disaster Chavez has rained on Venezuela.

    So let’s hear the Left defend Chavez from this abomination.

    Since I get traffic from Venezuela on occasion, they’ll appreciate this picture of chavistas I also got from Coronel’s blog;

    In the meantime, Fuerzas Aliadas PANAMAX 2007 finished up yesterday (h/t Western Hemisphere Policy Watch);

    More nations than ever teamed together in Fuerzas Aliadas PANAMAX 2007 to ensure the continued security of the Panama Canal , signs of both the multinational cooperative spirit and the importance of the waterway to worldwide commerce, high-ranking officials said Sept. 7.

    The participants exclude the Bolivarian Socialists;

    FA PANAMAX 2007 participating nations were: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Canada, Columbia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, France, Guatemala, Honduras , Nicaragua, Netherlands, Panama, Peru, the United States and Uruguay.Â

    Three nations acted as observers: El Salvador, Mexico and Paraguay.

    Well, Equador is in the mix – but I guess they’re not so Socialist that they want to chance trade with the US East Coast being cut off by the closure of the Canal. The exercise turned real on September 4th;

    PANAMAX this year demonstrated the real-world interoperability of the multinational civil and military forces, Stavridis said. Brazil and Peru Task Force Commanders took over command and control responsibilities when USS Wasp (LHD 1) was diverted to the coast of Nicaragua to offer humanitarian assistance after Hurricane Felix made landfall Sept. 4.

    I wonder if they brought the Hondurans the ever-essential Chavez brand tuna.

    But the best Chavez picture today comes from Jungle Mom at The Jungle Hut;

    She gets the Saturday Award for best chavista quote, too;

    There will be room for the opposition participation and feedback in the discussions on the proposed changes to the Constitution. However, “nothing expressed by the opposition is constructive or in the people’s interest.”
    Cilia Flores, chair of the Venezuelan Congress

    From the picture of Sra. Flores on The Jungle Hut, she looks like Nancy Pelosi, too.

  • 5000 new rifles, but no milk in Venezuela

    I read this statement from Venezuela President Hugo Chavez’ Alo! Presidente speech last Sunday as quoted by the Christian Science Monitor in the Washington Post today; 

    “I’m going to buy 5,000 Dragunov rifles from Russia…with telescopic sight, the best in the world, with infrared night-view. We will knock out any imperialist that approaches.”

    I guess we know at which imperialists Chavez wants to aim his Dragunov rifles. Any soldier worth his salt would prefer a Remington to the clunky Dragunov, though – but Hugo isn’t a real soldier anyway – he just pretends to be one in his drama play for the world’s thugs.

    Regardless, his choice of weapons isn’t the subject of this post. It didn’t take me long to find something more worthy of Chavez’ money instead of rifles. Julia, a Venezuelan who blogs on The end of Venezuela as I know it writes about the shortages of staples in Caracas. In Part I there’s sugar;

    “This is flour!” – I said – “No… try it… it’s also sweet… it’s the snow sugar that your mom uses for decorate the cakes…” I thought the sugar shortage was extreme enough when I started to get used to the brown sugar. I was clearly wrong; you never know when it’s extreme enough because my dad couldn’t even find brown sugar that day so decided to buy the two kinds of sugar that remained in the supermarket just to, well, give us the option to decide between the worse of those two.

    In Part II it’s cooking oil and milk;

    Then I make a quick calculus, 1000 ml for six people (without counting my godchild who is three months old) it’s almost nothing and won’t last for long. Besides, the shortage now its just partial, but before we notice it, we are not going to be able to find not even that small package of normal milk in a while…

    But Julia will very happy to learn that Chavez will have 5000 new sniper rifles with which to fight those nebulous imperialists that will never come – irrespective of who owns the rifles.

    I almost choked on my beer while reading this piece of trash from some pencil-necked dork named Steve Lendman who claims that Venezuela is a more perfect form of democracy than the United States. Sorry, I’m not linking it – you can google the retard;

    Chavez wants his new United Socialist Party (PSUV) to drive the revolutionary process and continue his agenda of reform for all Venezuelans. He wants everyone to enjoy the benefits, not just a privileged few like in the past and in the US today. Under his leadership, their future is bright while in America poverty is growing, the middle class is dying, and the darkness of tyranny threatens everyone under George Bush with his agenda likely continuing under a new president in 2009.

    Governance differences exist between these two nations because their constitutional laws are mirror opposite, and America has no one like Hugo Chavez. He’s a rare leader who cares and backs his rhetoric with progressive people-friendly policies. In the US, there’s George Bush, and that pretty much explains the problem. Knowing that, which leader would you choose and under which system of government would you prefer to live?

    Well, Stevie, I don’t see Americans flocking to Venezuela – do you? And I think if you read Julia’s Part II, you’ll get a pretty good idea which Venezuelans prefer;

    I should be able to go protesting everywhere I want to without having the fear of being attack or/ and detained by the police. I should be able to go out and came back home at any time I want or I need to without taking the risk to be mugged or kidnapped or killed. I should be able to say whatever I want to say about the government out loud even in government institutions without being called oligarch, rich or imperialist just because I think different. I should be able to ask any government’ help or support in health, or education or whatever I need or have the right to request as a citizen without being forced to wear a red t-shirt.
    […]
    Sometimes I want to be like other young people are, of course they have troubles and concerns in their political systems but they don’t feel constantly threatened by it. Some people can criticize and oppose to their governments and continue having a normal life. They can go to the beach in their own countries and find some peace. Not halfway peace, but real tranquility. I should be able to go to have some drinks with my friends, concerning only about calling the attention of the guy I like; without saying good bye because they are leaving the country.

    Chavez promises refineries to Nicaragua and Panama, oil to the Caribe Basin, oil to Cuba, pays for his cohorts’ political campaign in other countries. Oh, and this from AP;

    Laid-off Brazilian factory workers have their jobs back, Nicaraguan farmers are getting low-interest loans and Bolivian mayors can afford new health clinics, all thanks to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

    Bolstered by windfall oil profits, Chavez’s government is now offering more direct state funding to Latin America and the Caribbean than the United States. A tally by The Associated Press shows Venezuela has pledged more than $8.8 billion in aid, financing and energy funding so far this year.

    Yet his own people don’t have staples. What a wonderful guy.

    Related; Mary Anastasia O’Grady reviews two new books about Chavez and Venezuela in the Wall Street Journal today.

    Hugo Chávez By Cristina Marcano and Alberto Barrera Tyszka Random House, 327 pages, $27.95

    ¡Hugo! By Bart Jones Steerforth, 570 pages, $30