Posted on 11/28/2004 5:30:51 PM PST by Kitten Festival
Under President Hugo Chávez, the rule of law in Venezuela has been deteriorating steadily -- some would say precipitously -- for a long time. Two recent events have made matters much worse. The Chávez-controlled Congress last week approved a ''media reform'' bill that imposes stiff censorship on one of the few remaining independent institutions in the country. More urgently, the assassination of prosecutor Danilo Anderson 10 days ago has set off a series of arrests and at least two police killings of ''suspects'' under circumstances that are far from clear.
Political killing
Mr. Anderson was said to be investigating some 400 opposition leaders and businessmen who supported a 2002 coup that briefly ousted President Chávez from power. There is ample reason to believe his killing was politically motivated. His killers should be arrested and brought to justice as quickly as possible. But surely it is self-evident that the investigation must also be transparent and free of self-serving political manipulation -- which so far hasn't been the case.
(Excerpt) Read more at miami.com ...
That darn link isn't right, not sure how that happened. Here is the right link:
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/opinion/10278782.htm
We really need to get to work on drilling for oil here and developing alternative energy sources. We can't fight a growing global war if we don't have the means.
closer to the precipace???
I thought it went over he edge some time ago.
Venezuelans are going to have to take things into their own hands.
Yeah right.
As long as there's oil to be found, and america to sell it to, those poor b@stards don't have a chance. Greed always finds a way to get it's grubby paws on the green regardless of how many good people's rights get trampled. Someday we're gonna have to go in there and clean house just like with iraq.
Chavez has been half way over the precipice ever since he came into power, and nothing ever seems to come of it. The guy has a charmed life.
What is so ironic about these Marxist, Communist, Socialist, Anti-War types is that they don't have enough confidence in their own message to let the media report freely on it. The first casualty is always the media. Funny thing is, in Canada and the US, the media is propping up the socialist agenda, while in Venezuela the media is trying to tear that agenda down. In other words, I propose a media swap - we get their media, and they get ours. Everybody is happy.
I still remember Jimmy Carter genuflecting to Chavez. Chavez is such a punk, like all marxists are.
How dangerous for tourists is Venezuela right now?
China is hooking up with Venezuela ,Brazil and Cuba....will be interesting to see if they send in 'advisors'.....
I think you MIGHT be misinterpreting something here... or maybe I am. The press censorship laws are odious, but they are the kinds of things I'm afraid most fellow posters here would support at home -- banning "sex and violence" mostly, as well as bad news (look at all the posts that condemn "MSM" for not supporting our president).
The prosecutor was investigating the anti-Chavez coup plotters, and presumably they murdered him. It's the anti-Chavez folks that are blamed for instability.
A wierd world we're living in, folks.
The coup leaders messed up. They should have either not had the coup or they should have killed Chavez. That was a mistake on the level of the Bay of Pigs. A half-assed coup is a great way to for the coup conspirators to get killed.
I hear it's real dangerous. But just street crime, not political crime. The army is so busy investigating the police that the only crime that gets investigated is that against dissidents. If you're just a tourist, you're bait for purse snatchers but not much else. They don't enforce the law over there except against dissidents.
A very good comparison.
The slimebuckets formulated it that way precisely so that americans would not get too worried. What chavez wants is to stop news organizations from broadcasting his troops shooting unarmed people.
And then he intends to shoot.
My brother is taking his family there for Christmas vacation. I think he's nuts...but, he and his wife are flaming liberals so perhaps they think everything is just fine there.
No, they're not going to be any safer for being liberals. Crooks don't care, they look for wallets.
So your relatives are sandalistas, eh? Maybe a good mugging will turn them conservative. Let's hope for the best.
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