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

Category: Hugo Chavez

  • Mini-Chavezes work against liberties, too

    More Chavez news as opposition leaders call for the release of protesters from the past weeks’ demostrrations against Venezuela’s government crack down on oppostion media outlets. From the Associated Press today;

    Former presidential candidate Manuel Rosales said protests over the government’s move to halt the broadcasts of Radio Caracas Television show that “freedom cannot be negotiated nor bargained.”

    Protesters have filled the capital’s plazas and streets since the opposition-aligned channel went off the air at midnight Sunday. Chavez refused to renew its broadcast license, and police have clashed with angry crowds hurling rocks and bottles.

    A total of 182 people — mostly university students and minors — have been detained in nearly 100 protests since Sunday, Justice Minister Pedro Carreno said late Tuesday. At least 30 were charged with violent acts, prosecutors said, but it was unclear how many remained behind bars.

    Manuel Rosales also pointed out that Globovision, Chavez next target, is running some disturbing home videos;

    Rosales noted that a home video broadcast on the Globovision network showed unidentified men in the doorway of a government office — apparently Chavez allies — firing guns at unseen targets. “For that there is no justice?” he said.

    Meanwhile, the Bolivian Senate is condemning Chavez publicly for interferring in that country according to El Universal.com;

    The Bolivian Senate, with a majority of opponents of President Evo Morales, accused Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez of interfering with Bolivian domestic affairs, and demanded the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to make the relevant protest.

    The Washington Times’ Martin Arostegui reports today that Evo Morales and Rafael Correa of Equador also have plans to shut down their opposition media outlets;

        Bolivian President Evo Morales and Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa both announced steps to crack down on independent broadcasters within days of Mr. Chavez’s closure on Sunday of Venezuela’s main independent television station, RCTV.
        Speaking before an international gathering of leftist intellectuals in Cochabamba last week, Mr. Morales proposed creating a tribunal to oversee the operations of privately owned press and broadcast outlets. Mr. Correa announced over the weekend that he would order a review of the broadcasting licenses of opposition news channels in his country.
        Both leaders have drawn support and inspiration from Mr. Chavez’s increasingly authoritarian government since coming to power in the past 18 months, and both are drafting new constitutions that would greatly increase their own powers.
        Mr. Correa has ousted 51 opposition deputies from his nation’s Congress and Mr. Morales this week ordered the arrests of four high court judges after they issued rulings that challenged his government.
        “The main adversaries of my presidency, of my government, are certain communications media,” Mr. Morales said at the Fifth World Conference of Artists and Intellectuals in Defense of Humanity, a Venezuelan-backed group supporting “the process of change in Latin America.”
        Appearing alongside Cuba’s minister of culture, Abel Prieto, Mr. Morales suggested “drawing on the experience of our friends in Venezuela and Cuba” to establish closer controls over the press.

    And why wouldn’t they? What price has the international community foisted upon Chavez for his stunning moves in the last few months? He promises to aid terrorist-enabling Iran, supports Iran’s nuclear program, pays for the election of Chavez-friendly dictators in nearby Bolivia, Equador and Nicaragua and cavorts with the Cubans-arguably the worst human rights offenders in the hemisphere. And the world stands by, shaking it’s collective head.

    From the WashTimes piece;

       “Morales identifies his enemies,” read a banner headline in the Santa Cruz newspaper El Mundo, which pictured a newsroom in the cross hairs of a telescopic rifle.
        Mr. Morales tried to deflect mounting protests on Sunday by saying that he had no immediate plans to close down any TV station and that his criticism was aimed at owners of news organizations and not at individual journalists.

    And Correa targets Equadorian media;

     In Ecuador, meanwhile, Mr. Correa issued a statement saying that “radio and TV frequencies have been granted in ways that are frequently dark and it’s time to analyze the matter.”
        He accused owners of major news outlets of using political influence to get their broadcasting licenses and using the press “to defend private interests that are often corrupt.” He also announced legal action against Ecuador’s opposition newspaper La Hora.

    Spain, in the meantime, is negotiating for the release of political prisoners in Havana. This link is a few days old from my guilty pleasure Uncommon Sense.

    And still, the American Left remains silent on the civil rights of brown people.

  • Not much news out of Venezuela, huh?

    Funny how there was a flurry of news reports the other day from Venezuela after Hugo Chavez ordered opposition TV station RCTV closed and Venezuelans took to the streets, but now there’s barely a peep.

    Chavez decision apparently is effecting the financial markets there, according to Bloomberg;

    Venezuela’s bonds fell to an 11-month low after the government’s shutdown of Radio Caracas Television sparked clashes between police and protesters.

    * * * * *

    “Venezuela is underperforming, reflecting the latest move against the television station,” said Alberto Ramos, a senior Latin America economist with Goldman Sachs Group Inc. in New York. “Every single iteration reminds us of the moves against institutions that erode checks and balances in Venezuela.”

    That prompted Venezuela’s announcement that they’ll be selling joint bonds with Bolivia this year, as reported by Dow Jones;  

    Venezuela’s government plans to sell $500 million in bonds through a joint issue with the Bolivian government, as the country extends its debt issuance program, Finance Minister Rodrigo Cabezas said Wednesday.

    The bond with Bolivia could be sold in the first half of this year, Cabezas told reporters after a finance commission meeting.

    President Hugo Chavez’s administration is also looking to sell another joint bond with Argentina, dubbed the Bond of the South III, for between $500 million and $1 billion, Cabezas said.

    What bubblehead would risk their capital in South American debt given the current climate?  Evo Morales, President of Bolivia and Chavez’ poodle, throwing his country’s treasury in with Chavez’ is guaranteeing a massive meltdown when those interest payments come due.

    Bonds are only as good as the debtor’s ability to pay, and the investors’ willingness to buy debt – and things ain’t looking so good down there. Seizing oil fields and gas fields isn’t going to make foreigners want to buy – especially buy debt. Of course, it’ll somehow be the US’ fault.

    And Chavez isn’t done destroying the infrastructure in Venezuela yet, either, according to Reuters today;

    As tens of thousands of people marched here Tuesday in protest of President Hugo Chavez’s closure of opposition television station RCTV, the leftist leader called the news channel Globovision an enemy of the state.

    The protests were in their fourth consecutive day, but state television showed hundreds of government supporters marching in downtown Caracas to celebrate Chavez’s move.

    “Enemies of the homeland, particularly those behind the scenes, I will give you a name: Globovision. Greetings gentlemen of Globovision, you should watch where you are going,” Chavez said in a broadcast that all channels were required to show.

    “I recommend you take a tranquilizer and get into gear, because if not, I am going to do what is necessary,” he added.

    Chavez accused Globovision of trying to incite his assassination and of misreporting protests over the closure of Radio Caracas Television in a manner that could whip up a situation similar to a coup attempt against him in 2002.

    But that hasn’t stopped Globovision from reporting favorably on the anti-Chavez protests today;

    A las 11:00 de la mañana se concentraron en la Plaza Brión de Chacaito jóvenes estudiantes de las universidades Católica, Central, Santa María, José María Vargas, UNEFA, Metropolitana, con la intención de marchar a la Defensoría del Pueblo, donde exigirían al organismo defender sus derechos fundamentales.

    (A rough translation: At 11 am this morning a concentration in [some town square] young students of [some universities] assembled with the intention to march on People’s Defense Office organized to defend the  fundamental rights of citizens.)

    From Venezuela’s English-language newspaper, The Daily Journal;

    Information Minister Willian Lara on Monday accused Globovisión of encouraging an attempt on Chávez’ life by broadcasting the chorus of a salsa tune – “Have faith, this doesn’t end here” – along with footage of the 1981 assassination attempt against Pope John Paul II in St. Peter’s Square.
    “They incite the assassination of Venezuela’s president,” he said.
    Globovisión director Alberto Federico Ravell denied any wrongdoing, calling the allegations “ridiculous.”

    Today’s La Voz (The Voice) headline reads; “Estudiantes no abandonan las calles” (The students won’t give up the streets) 

    Chavez needs enemies, either real ones or pretend ones to circumvent the laws – that’s why he needed Bush as his chief boogieman and he fired up the crowds with Bush’s evil intentions to assasinate him. Of course, his strut around the UN last year was just playing to the cameras for folks back home – just like Chavez’ pledge of support for Iran was playing to the US cameras for the anti-Bush Left.

    All ya’all Venezuelans better not be around when Chavez runs out of enemies.

    According to AP;

    The State Department on Tuesday called on the Chavez government “to reverse policies that limit freedom of expression.”

    However, I haven’t heard any of the so-called “liberals” condemning the loss of freedom for Venezuelans to hear an opinion that might be opposed to the government’s. Where are they? In fact, the usual suspects are strangely quiet given the extent of the news coverage last weekend and the holiday.

    Great background on RCTV’s closure by Fausta Wertz at Pajamas Media.

    Fox News’ Adam Housley still has a live blog from the protests up over there. Strangely, he hasn’t been blogging today although the Venezuelan press reports that protests are in their fourth day.

  • Jimmy, Cindy, Joe and Hugo (Updated 5-29)

    Fox News is broadcasting that Adam Housely (who live blogged the protest), on the scene in Caracas, Venezuela is reporting that the crowds fairly peacefully protesting Chavez’ decision to shut down the popular, dissenting RCTV television station are being fired upon by federal troops with rubber bullets, tear gas and shot guns are being fired over their heads. The reporter also said that the crowd wasn’t budging – which means that if Chavez intends to squelch this dissent he will have to ratchet up his response.

    Chavez claims were that RCTV was engaged in “subversive” activities. How many times have we heard that phrase used in the last 50 years?

    Housley made the point that international media is the only way to get word out about Chavez now because he’s shut down the last dissenting media voice in Venezuela. Housley also displayed what appeared to an expended low-base 12-guage shotgun shell he claims he recovered from the ground after federal troops fired it in the air (the video of Housley appeared to be via cell phone).

    There’s nothing to link here yet, just some background in a generic AP story on Fox News;

    Inside the studios of RCTV — the sole opposition-aligned TV station with nationwide reach — disheartened actors and comedians wept and embraced in the final minutes on the air.

    They bowed their heads in prayer, and presenter Nelson Bustamante declared: “Long live Venezuela! We will return soon.”

    Chavez says he is democratizing the airwaves by turning the network’s signal over to public use.

    Germany, which holds the European Union presidency, expressed concern that Venezuela let RCTV’s license expire “without holding an open competition for the successor license.” It said the EU expects that Venezuela will uphold freedom of speech and “support pluralism.”

    I’m sure Chavez is quaking in his stumpy little boots having seen the Euro-weenies “expect” all kinds of civilized behavior in the last few years.

    My question is how do Jimmy Carter, Cindy Sheehan and Joe Kennedy feel about their pal, Hugo now? Will they rush out to condemn, not only the poor treatment of protesters, but the silencing of opposition – which is a basic human right according to our own traditions. 

    I’d guess not. The Left in the United States kept silent about Stalin, Mao Tse Tung, Ho Chi Minh, Pol Pot, Fidel Castro, even North Korea for several decades. I’m waiting for evidence that our own administration has done things worse than Chavez has done. I guess the authors of the Black Book of Communism will be able to write a Hugo Chavez chapter, now. And Joe, Jimmy and Cindy will go down in history as Chavez’ enablers.

    Because, why should the Left acknowledge that socialism is a morally bankrupt philosophy that runs counter to basic human rights?

    A-ha! found the story at that CNN place. Must be new network, I’ve never heard of CNN before.

    National Guard troops fired tear gas and rubber bullets Monday into a crowd of protesters angry over a decision by President Hugo Chavez that forced a critical television station off the air.

    University students blocked one lane of a major highway hours after Radio Caracas Television ceased broadcasting at midnight and was replaced with a new state-funded channel. Chavez had refused to renew RCTV’s broadcast license, accusing it of “subversive” activities and of backing a 2002 coup against him.

    Two students were injured by rubber bullets and a third was hit with a tear gas canister, said Ana Teresa Yepez, an administrator at Caracas’ Metropolitan University. She said about 20 protesters were treated for inhaling tear gas.

    The new public channel, TVES, launched its transmissions with artists singing pro-Chavez music, then carried an exercise program and a talk show, interspersed with government ads proclaiming, “Now Venezuela belongs to everyone.”

    Got news for ya, pal. Venezuela only belongs to Chavez. Criticize him and see for yourself.

    With her usual clarity, The Anchoress picks apart the media’s coverage of Chavez’ “liberation” of the Venezuelan people from the truth.

    Update: Apparently, Chavez is in the process of tossing out the international press, too, according to AP:

    Venezuela said Monday it was filing charges against US cable network CNN for linking President Hugo Chavez to Al-Qaeda, and against a Venezuelan TV network for encouraging Chavez’s assassination.

    I guess it was only a matter of time.

    Not surprisingly, we read at the Daily Kos, (via Little Green Footballs) that the American Left – who like to call themselves “liberals” and “progressives” and the true defenders of human and civil rights, the inheritors of the Jeffersonian legacy – support Chavez’ actions of the type Thomas Jefferson had the foresight to preempt in the very first amendment.

    I guess the Left forget that our Constitution’s Bill of Rights was written to protect the minority from the heavy-handed majority in just such circumstances. And that the Constitution protects all citizens from government. It’s not to protect government from criticism – and the Declaration of Independence was a universal declaration for the liberty of all people, not just those living in the English colonies, to exercise the rights and protections given us by our Creator.

    It’s not a multiple choice test which has fluctuating correct answers depending on the season or culture.

  • Jimmy Carter: Portrait of an abject failure

    There’s an old saying that goes: “Let your life serve as a warning to others”.  In Jimmy Carter’s case, that’s an understatement.  In the “worst president in history” category, it’s a tie between Jimmy Carter and Bubba Clinton. Neither was keen on national security, and both were dismal failures at foreign policy. They were however, adept at smooth-talking minorities and poor into believing that age-old myth of the “Democratic party being for the “working class”.  All one needs to do is study the history of the Unions in this country to see the result of that lie.
    The former Georgia peanut farmer never met a dictator he didn’t like.  His approach to foreign dictators is stomach-turning.
    Of Saddam Hussein, Carter said: “Even if his effort is successful [Colin Powell addressing the U.N. Security Council] and lies and trickery by Saddam Hussein are exposed, this will not indicate any real or proximate threat by Iraq to the United States or to our allies.”  Instead, Carter wanted a “a sustained and enlarged inspection team, deployed as a permanent entity until the United States and other members of the U.N. Security Council determine that its presence is no longer needed”.
    Evidently, 12 years of Hussein’s nose-thumbing trickery wasn’t convincing.
    During his disastrous administration he declared that Yugoslavia’s Marshall Tito was someone “Who believes in human rights”, and told Nicolae Ceausescu that “Our goals are the same: to have a just system of economics and politics”.
    Thanks to hapless foreign policy decisions which resulted in the abandonment of the Shah, mishandling of the Iranian hostage crisis, and botched rescue attempt, this myopic simpleton was responsible for thousands of deaths, and left the door wide open for a succession of Iranian Ayatollahs and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
    His antics with the former Soviets weren’t much better.  During Leonid Brezhnev’s tenure, the Soviet Union expanded militarily and engaged in several coups funded by the Kremlin. Carter’s reputation as a foreign policy wimp encouraged the Russians to install Communist regimes in Vietnam, Angola, Somalia, Mozambique, Ethiopia, Grenada, Nicaragua, and South Yemen.  All the while, the American military was underequipped, underfunded, and underpaid.
    As if Carter’s bumbling as President weren’t enough, it pales in comparison to his post-Oval Office behavior.  He cuddled up with Daniel Ortega’s Sandinista regime, wrote letters to members of the United Nations opposing any interference with Iraq’s aggression in Kuwait, traveled to Pyongyang and praised Kim Il-Sung, announcing that that Pyongyang was a “bustling city where shoppers pack the department stores”.  That’s great news of the rest of North Korea; since they have virtually no electricity and a diet consisting of grass soup.
    Included on Carter’s past and present A-list list of friends:  Yasser Arafat, Fidel Castro, Hugo Chavez, Syria’s late Hafez al-Assad, Ethiopian tyrant Mengistu Haile Mariam, and former Haitian butcher and junta leader Raul Cédras.  It reads like a who’s who of global despots.
    He refuses to let go of the office he was kicked out of in 1980.  His free-lance anti-American diplomacy is an embarrassment and a disgrace.  His arrogance and stupidity doesn’t just affect himself. The problem is that he gives aid and comfort to America’s enemies and there is a segment of like-minded sycophants who endorse his grotesque behavior.
    Do us all a favor, Jimmy.  Stick to building “Crack houses for humanity”.
          

    GI JANE

    sfcmac@wordpress.com

  • Diplomacy by other means

    Some Republicans warned President Bush that they don’t have the testicular fortitude to defeat terrorists, according to the Washington Post this morning;

    House Republican moderates, in a remarkably blunt White House meeting, warned President Bush this week that his pursuit of the war in Iraq is risking the future of the Republican Party and that he cannot count on GOP support for many more months.

    But the meeting between 11 House Republicans, Bush, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, White House political adviser Karl Rove and presidential press secretary Tony Snow was perhaps the clearest sign yet that patience in the party is running out. The meeting, organized by Rep. Charlie Dent (Pa.), one of the co-chairs of the moderate “Tuesday Group,” included Reps. Thomas M. Davis III (Va.), Michael N. Castle (Del.), Todd R. Platts (Pa.), Jim Ramstad (Minn.) and Jo Ann Emerson (Mo.).

    “It was a very remarkable, candid conversation,” Davis said. “People are always saying President Bush is in a bubble. Well, this was our chance, and we took it.”

    A bubble? The President lives in a bubble? After the grillings he gets from the press corps and the media’s 24/7 coverage of every malcontent in the country protesting Bushitler? Well, I could tell these linguini-spined Republicans were RINOs as soon as they placed the Party before our national security. That’s what Democrats have been doing for the last five years. It only stands to reason that RINOs would begin caving soon. Gutless cowards.

    Meanwhile, the Washington Times reports that Defense Secretary Gates told Congress that the debate over Iraq is aiding al Qaida (as if Congress didn’t know that already);

    Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates yesterday told Congress that al Qaeda will establish a stronghold in Iraq’s Anbar province if U.S. troops pull out prematurely and that the group is reacting to the war debate in Washington by stepping up attacks.
        Furthermore, the entire war effort will be disrupted unless Congress quickly passes an emergency funding bill acceptable to President Bush, he said.
        Mr. Gates’ testimony before the Senate Appropriations Committee preceded today’s scheduled House vote on a bill that the White House promises to veto because it rations war spending and sets up a July vote to cut off funds if progress in Iraq is inadequate.
        “If we were to withdraw, leaving Iraq in chaos, al Qaeda almost certainly would use Anbar province as another base from which to plan operations not only inside Iraq, but first of all in the neighborhood and then potentially against the United States,” Mr. Gates told the committee.

    But Congress is only concerned about it’s members job security.

    The Washington Times also tells us that Bahrain is warning against our withdrawal from Iraq;

    The U.S.-led war in Iraq has damaged America’s image in the Arab Middle East, but a premature withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq would make the situation worse, Bahrain’s information minister, Muhammad Abdul Ghaffar, said yesterday.
        “We all know the situation is not easy, but militarily speaking it is not wise now simply to withdraw from Iraq,” Mr. Abdul Ghaffar said during a luncheon with editors and reporters at The Washington Times.
        He acknowledged growing questions over the U.S. commitment in Iraq after the Democratic takeover of Congress in November, but said Iraq’s various factions and ethnic groups still need time to create a workable national government.
        “There is still much work to do on real national reconciliation, and without reconciliation we will not have a stable Iraq,” he added.

    If a third world backwater country can recognize the importance of staying the course in Iraq, why can’t the over-educated members of Congress? It’s also a view that Mohammed of Iraq the Model shares;

    We must keep fighting those criminals and tyrants until they realize that the freedom-loving peoples of the region are not alone. Freedom and living in dignity are the aspirations of all mankind and that’s what unites us; not death and suicide. When freedom-lovers in other countries reach out for us they are working for the future of everyone tyrants and murderers like Ahmedinejad, Nesrallah, Assad and Qaddafi must realize that we are not their possessions to pass on to their sons or henchmen. We belong to the human civilization and that was the day we gave what we gave to our land and other civilizations. They can’t take out our humanity with their ugly crimes and they can’t force us to back off. The world should ask them to leave our land before asking the soldiers of freedom to do so.

    Meanwhile Hugo Chavez, the self-proclaimed new Simon Bolivar, is urging the Latin world to support Iran;

    Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is encouraging his Latin American allies to expand ties with Iran, which is offering trade concessions and financial incentives and winning influence in the region.
        During two recent visits to Venezuela, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad signed more than $17 billion worth of economic agreements with Mr. Chavez.
        Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega last month received Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki while Bolivian President Evo Morales announced a new trade deal with Iran.
        “The struggle for justice and truth in the framework of economic development is the principle objective of the government in Nicaragua and of our friends in Iran,” said Mr. Ortega when Mr. Mottaki arrived after stopping in Venezuela for talks with Mr. Chavez.
        Mr. Ortega called Iran a “victim” of the U.S., which he accused of “supporting terrorism.”

    Hezbollah in Paraguay, anyone?

    So weak-kneed Republicans who put party before our national survival, pick this point to start looking to jump ship. The Administration has stopped several attacks on our soil mainly because the terrorists are disjointed and not able to coordinate support for cells abroad due to al Qaida’s focus on Iraq and Afghanistan. Terrorists have had a decade to build their support structure from Afghanistan unhindered and it’s crumbling into a few weak attempts like a guy trying to light a bomb in his shoes with wet matches.

    We are provably winning worldwide with small steps forward, but apparently the politicians don’t have the wherewithall to see it through to the end. They don’t have the guts to write our future like the politicians in our past have had. Can you imagine today’s RINOs during the years of steady losses during our Revolution? I doubt they’d have the courage to even sign the Declaration of Independence.

  • Chavez, oil, banks and Gore

    Within the last few hours, Hugo Chavez, Venezuela’s answer to the question never asked, announced that he was seizing operational control of the Orinoco Belt oil reserves. From Reuters;

    The importance of this is that we are taking back control of the Orinoco Belt which the president rightly calls the world’s biggest crude reserve,” said Marco Ojeda, an oil union leader before a planned rally to mark the transfer.

    The four projects are valued at more than $30 billion and can convert about 600,000 barrels per day (bpd) of heavy, tarry crude into valuable synthetic oil.

    This comes the day after Venezuela announced it was pulling out of the IMF and the World Bank. From the AP;

    President Hugo Chavez announced Monday he would formally pull Venezuela out of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, a largely symbolic move because the nation has already paid off its debts to the lending institutions.

    “We will no longer have to go to Washington nor to the IMF nor to the World Bank, not to anyone,” said the leftist leader, who has long railed against the Washington-based lending institutions.

    Well, that’s all jim dandy. But it all comes just a few days after Al Gore snubbed Columbian President Alvaro Uribe at a climate change conference in Miami. From Wall Street Journal’s Mary Anatasia O’Grady (may require subscription);

    Al Gore may not have known that he was taking the side of a former terrorist and ally of Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chávez when he waded into Colombian politics 10 days ago. But that’s not much consolation to 45 million Colombians who watched their country’s already fragile international image suffer another unjust blow, this time at the hands of a former U.S. vice president.

    The event was a climate-change conference in Miami, where Mr. Gore and Colombian President Álvaro Uribe were set to share the stage. At the last minute, Mr. Gore notified the conference organizers that he refused to appear with Mr. Uribe because of “deeply troubling” allegations of human- rights violations swirling around the Colombian government.

    It is not clear whether the ex-veep knows that making unsubstantiated claims of human-rights violations has been a key guerrilla weapon for more than a decade, along with the more traditional practices of murdering, maiming and kidnapping civilians. Nor is it clear whether Mr. Gore knew that the recycled charges that caught his attention are being hyped by Colombian Sen. Gustavo Petro, a close friend of Mr. Chávez and former member of the pro-Cuban M-19 terrorist group. What we do know is that Mr. Gore’s line of reasoning — that Colombia is not good enough to rub shoulders with the righteous gringos — is also being peddled by some Democrats in Congress, the AFL-CIO and other forces of anti-globalization. The endgame is all about killing the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement.

    I find it difficult to believe that Al Gore didn’t know that he was interferring in one of the President’s most successful programs in bringing our hemisphere’s neighbors and allies closer and a real attempt at trying to stem the illegal immigration flow at it’s source.

    I’m also pretty certain that Chavez moved against the oil companies and the banks secure in the knowledge that he has the tacit support of Al Gore and the Leftists in this country. Afterall, as long as Chavez remains anti-Bush, he’s in good company with the Democrats, Iran and al Qaida.

    Gore’s refusal to meet with the leader of our closest Latin American ally in the war against terror, and one of our few allies that won’t kowtow to Chavez’s attempt to become the next Simon Bolivar was probably puposely orchestrated to embarrass Uribe and to punish him politically for standing with Bush, despite the benefit to his own countrymen and the region.

    Manbearpig is just a childish, immature halfwit.

    Thanks, again, Florida. 

  • ETA operating in Bolivia

    Geez, I nearly skipped over this one today from the Washington Time’s Martin Arostegui;

    Members of the Basque terrorist group ETA have been conducting financial and propaganda activities in Bolivia with the knowledge of President Evo Morales, according to Spanish intelligence reports cited by the Madrid newspaper El Pais and the local press.
        Officials in Bolivia have confirmed that six members of the Basque separatist organization traveled to Bolivia and met with high-level officials of the Morales government during the past year.
        According to these officials, Mr. Morales and his vice president, Alvaro Garcia Linera, have had relations with ETA members since 2005, predating Mr. Morales’ 2006 inauguration.
        “Members of ETA have been purchasing homes and creating a new refuge for the organization in Cochabamba, where they move like fish in water,” according to El Pais.
        Cochabamba, which is Bolivia’s narcotrafficking center and contains the country’s main legal coca plantations, is a stronghold of the ruling Movement Toward Socialism (MAS).
        Mr. Morales denied in a Feb. 22 press conference any links with the Basque separatist group, which has been responsible for a number of fatal bombings in Spain. “I personally don’t know anybody in ETA,” he told Bolivian reporters.

    Morales is Hugo Chavez’ man, bought and paid for with Venezuelan petro-dollars. And it seems they’re in the terrorist business now bringing in Basque evil-doers from Spain for a little rest, relaxation and giving them room to train. I guess Zapatero’s capitulation to the Islamists hasn’t insulated him from his own domestic terrorists – as recently as December 30th Basques have detonated a bomb in Madrid in spite of peace talks.

    I’ll bet cash money that the ETA will also operate anti-democracy terrorist training camps in Bolivia to destabilize Latin America at the behest of Chavez and his puppets. Just as the IRA operated training camps in Columbia (in the late 90s) and the Palestinians operated camps in Libya (in the 80s). That’s why, from the beginning of this war against terrorists, I’ve been in favor of wiping out all terrorists from ETA to Shining Path to the Moros. Screw focusing on al Qaida – kill ’em all.

    Captain’s Quarters has a report on our own hunt for bin Laden in Pakistan.

  • Coup attempt in Venezuela, Iran general defects

    Things have started going our way, apparently. First a short blurb from UPI announcing that a Guardia Nacional officer (not the same as our National Guard, by the way) has been arrested for plotting the overthrow of Ooooo-go Chavez;

    A Venezuelan National Guard general was arrested on charges that he planned the overthrow of President Hugo Chavez, Globovision TV reported Wednesday.
    Gen. Ramon Guillen Davila was arrested Tuesday, according to Venezuelan officials, on charges he had plotted to overthrow and kill Chavez.

    Good news because, generally speaking, in Latin America, if the Army doesn’t approve of what a political leader is doing, that leader either reforms his ways or there’s a new leader. If this General Davilla was popular among the troops, it could stir up some trouble for Oooogo.

    And from the Washington Post, by way of Captain’s Quarters, I read that the missing Iranian general Ali Rez Asgari is in the company of US intelligence agents and singing like a Spring robin;

     Asgari served in the Iranian government until early 2005 under then-President Mohammad Khatami. Asgari’s background suggests that he would have deep knowledge of Iran’s national security infrastructure, conventional weapons arsenal and ties to Hezbollah in south Lebanon. Iranian officials said he was not involved in the country’s nuclear program, and the senior U.S. official said Asgari is not being questioned about it. Former officers with Israel’s Mossad spy agency said yesterday that Asgari had been instrumental in the founding of Hezbollah in the 1980s, around the time of the bombing of the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut.

    These are important events that may trigger a more successful near-term future in our war against tyrannts and terrorists.