Recently Ousted Communist President Hugo Chavez Reclaims Power in Venezuela

MSNBC ^ | April 14, 2002

[Recovering_Democrat]

ugh. Fidel's galpal is back in power. I hate it.

[Kobyashi1942]

Castro wins again.

Again, if Bush had concentrated on getting Castro out of power we wouldn't be reading about a Communist victory in Venezuela. Columbia is next my friends.

When South America turns red do you think Bush or some other RHINO will finally close the border?

[WOSG]

wrong, the country has oil. that kind of inheritence can keep even a horrible govt in power forever - look at Libya, look at Iraq.

[xsmommy]

i have a Venezuelan friend that has been forwarding me email accounts from a friend of her's in Caracas. She was euphoric with his ouster yesterday, her entire family, including elderly mother, aunts, uncles, cousins etc. had participated in the March. Today, they are in despair. She said that there is no press, no news accounts, except channel 8, where the idiot Chavez has been claiming that he was kidnapped and held against his will. No flights out of the country, and Chavistas are attacking cars on the highway that look even remotely new, thinking them to be vehicles of the "oligarchos".

[RGF]

"He illustrated his promises of respect for the law by waving a small blue copy of the country’s constitution and held up a crucifix he had taken with him into captivity"

Gee, change the crucifix for a Bible and it sounds like someone we know/knew.

[livius]

Don't forget, folks, there were 500,000 people in the streets on Thursda/Friday protesting Chavez. Where did they go?

I'm sure many of them are scared, but I also think that many of them know that it's now or never to get rid of Chavez. That's certainly how I'd feel if I lived there.

A risk? Of course. But I'm sure a lot of these people know that they're going to be killed anyway, when Chavez gets around to settling accounts. Go down fighting.

And this time, make sure Chavez doesn't get out the door alive. That was their big mistake, because they were playing by civilized rules with somebody to whom the rules mean nothing.

[batter]

Please let me know as well!

[clintonh8r]

I was asking that 10 years ago.

[Free the USA]

Check the Bump List folders for articles related to and descriptions of the above topic(s) or for other topics of interest.

[montag813]

Instantly returning to his old talkative form, Chavez gave a rambling hour-long monologue that ended shortly before dawn broke over the troubled capital. He illustrated his promises of respect for the law by waving a small blue copy of the country’s constitution and held up a crucifix he had taken with him into captivity.

Does this guy sound like a Latin American Clinton or what?

[montag813]

Chavez doesn't enjoy the support of any of the major sectors of the nation. Not the oil industry, not the farm industry, the middle class, the business sector. His poll numbers were abysmal as well.

He has the rabid support of the "Welfare sector"...

[Ranger]

I hope you are right. I hadn't done the math on the relative size of the crowds. I hope we have a good CIA agent down there because we are going to need him after this mess. Castro is playing for keeps. I'm not sure we are.

[bourbon]

I hope this gets ugly. the worst thing we or the freedom-loving people of Venezuela can do is sit back and let this happen.

[zog]

--I don't know, you tell me. all three of them were purged around the same time two days ago, and all their efforts got deleted. Think about how orwellian this is. I posted my first ever started-post on freerepublic yesterday to ask that question, but the thread got deleted. As these actual questions and replies might get deleted, I am probably taking a chance to even discuss it calmly. Oh well.

Now I have a theory why, but I will hold my public counsel on it. Just think of the sum totality of events not only in the nation but on this board, a very large and important internet political activist communications site, think about what has occurred here and in meatworld pre election and post election, and pre 9-11 and post 9-11, think about those folks efforts, think about some of the rather-strange- unanswered questions that have arisen since the attack, then add it up. Personally, I don't like what I get when I do it.

[zog]

--he had the support of the air force general with the f-16's. Think about what happened in south america in the past when they actually have for-real serious coups, not this baby coup we saw. Whomever owns the high ground and the serious firepower wins. Numbers on the ground mean zilch. Check ashcanistan for this deal. High ground and firepower, high ground and firepower. There could be 500,000 anti chavez supporters in a mass demonstration, how many jets would it take to disperse the crowd and restore "law-n-order"? One? Probably. Remember, every "leader" always says the same thing, in some word arrangement or other like this -->their opposition are called "terrorists". You are "with" the leader or a "terrorist". Works in every country on the planet, always has, too, until they don't control the serious firepower.

[bourbon]

Brazil along with Argentina had originally criticized the coup against Chavez. They demanded that elections be held immediately before they would recognize the interim Carmona government. but that was yesterday... and much has changed. No word yet on whether they're happy about Chavez's return.

BTW, it's very hard to get news directly from Venezuela right now. I've been reading their newspapers off the web for the past couple of days, and they have been excellent sources. That is until today. For instance, the offices of El Universal closed yesterday for fear of fighting and (apparently) for fear that the newspaper itself might be the target of retributive attacks by Chavistas. I doubt they published a paper today in Caracas. There are practically no new news stories on their site today. The few new stories there are I suspect were posted remotely to their website.

things are obviously very hairy down there right now.

[samtheman]

This is further proof that the liberals in the Senate are wrong to shut off oil production in Alaska, and, furthermore, Jeb Bush is wrong to stop drilling off his long coast as well.

There isn't enough oil in America for us to become energy self-sufficient. But if we try, we can close the gap, we can increase the odds for the survival of our economic system. As for the RATS, they don't want to drill because they hope and yearn for economic downturns that might bring them back into the whitehouse. They are truly RATS indeed.

[Justa]

Here's another scenario for Venezuela. Considering the technical and professional training of Air Force officers whos to say that the one who got Chavez reinstated doesn't have a deal with the U.S? Like as long as Chavez is in power Venezuela will not abide by OPEC production limits. A power-for-oil deal like the Sauds got.

Imo the State Department is pulling the strings here. I.e., commie-bankers.

[samtheman]

He has the rabid support of the "Welfare sector"...

Of course that's where his support comes from. He's cannibalizing what's left of their market economy and feeding it to a vast army of slackers. And it looks like they only have one job: get really pissed off if anyone touches Chavez. They are true junk yard dogs.