Free Republic

In the age of A.O.C., the lesson must be learned again. Conspicuous by its absence in much of the mainstream news coverage of Venezuela’s political crisis is the word “socialism.” Yes, every sensible observer agrees that Latin America’s once-richest country, sitting atop the world’s largest proven oil reserves, is an economic basket case, a humanitarian disaster, and a dictatorship whose demise cannot come soon enough. But … socialist? Perish the thought. ... the Venezuelan regime’s admirers used to speak of “21st century socialism,” as it was dubbed by Hugo Chávez. The late Venezuelan president, said Britain’s Jeremy Corbyn, “showed us...

US Ambassador Nikki Haley has called for international action to address the crisis in Venezuela, after a US-backed proposal for regional mediation failed to win support at the Organization of American States. (The US-backed proposal failed to overcome opposition from the 14 similar national jurisdictions that benefit from turmoil and discounted Venezuelan oil.) "The tragic situation in Venezuela calls out for action. The Venezuelan people are starving while their government tramples their democracy". //Snipp// The Judiciary has sold out and military command is wavering as the country, pummeled by the plunge in oil prices and the Hugo Chávez, legacy of...

There is concern in Venezuela about the direction the country is moving politically, and Venezuelan governor Henrique Capriles is beginning to represent hope for opposition groups. As mayor of Caracas, Henrique was targeted by the administration for not doing enough to suppress protests against the Cuban embassy in 2002, and was charged with fomenting violence; a charge that may have been intended to remove him as political competition. At least a third of Venezuelans currently support opposition candidates according to recent polls, and many Venezuelans left the country since Chavez came to power, and even more after a failed referendum...

What is it with Hollywood personalities going to Venezuela and being swept off their feet by the thuggish dictator Hugo Chávez. They come back with these stories claiming he is just misconstrued by the media and that he’s really a great guy. On Oct. 7, at an appearance at the Cato Institute in Washington, D.C., CNBC “Power Lunch” co-host Michelle Caruso-Cabrera, in an appearance promoting her book “You Know I'm Right: More Prosperity, Less Government,” explained how this could happen. She told an audience that Chávez has a very charismatic, seductive personality. “I was telling – my two most interesting...

One person is murdered every two hours in Venezuela. The murder rate in the South American country has more than quadrupled since Hugo Chávez came to power in 1999. There were 54 homicides per 100,000 people last year, a rate only exceeded on the continent by El Salvador, where there were 70 homicides per 100,000 citizens. "The problem is not so much the criminals, but rather the government's inaction and lack of policies," Briceño blames an ineffective justice system and high rates of corruption. The capital city, Caracas, has the highest murder rate on the continent

Like you, I’m sure, I’m all for “realism” in foreign policy. Sometimes you have to hold your nose: as when you deal with the rulers in Beijing, for example. But now and then you might ask, “How does it look to the boys in the camps?” That is the line attributed to Vladimir Bukovsky, the great Soviet dissident. When making policy or holding meetings, Westerners should pause to consider, “How will it look to the boys in the camps?” Well, our new president, Obama, has been pretty depressing on that score. It started, really, when he gave an interview to...

The federal government is investigating the takeover last year of a leading American manufacturer of electronic voting systems by a small software company that has been linked to the leftist Venezuelan government of President Hugo Chávez. The inquiry is focusing on the Venezuelan owners of the software company, the Smartmatic Corporation, and is trying to determine whether the government in Caracas has any control or influence over the firm’s operations, government officials and others familiar with the investigation said. The inquiry on the eve of the midterm elections is being conducted by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United...

Venezuela's president, Hugo Chávez, has flouted human rights, persecuted opponents and undermined democracy during his decade in power, according to a damning new report. Human Rights Watch claimed his government had taken over the courts and cowed the media, trade unions and civil society, leaving the South American oil giant dominated by an over-mighty executive. "Discrimination on political grounds has been a defining feature of the Chávez presidency, [as] has been an open disregard for the principle of separation of powers," it said. Human Rights Watch said Venezuela's worst setback in the past decade was a 2002 coup which briefly...

President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela has been caught. Despite his protestations of innocence, Interpol has corroborated the authenticity of thousands of computer files captured during a Colombian Army raid on a FARC rebel camp in Venezuela. Only a small share of this trove has been released, but it leaves little doubt that Venezuela has been aiding the guerrillas’ effort to overthrow Colombia’s democratically elected government. The Colombian government released documents from the computers that suggest Venezuelan intelligence officials tried to secure weapons for the FARC and that Mr. Chávez’s government offered the rebels oil and a $250 million loan. Information...

CITY’S Routine Will Adjust to New Time Zone,” read Thursday’s headline of Últimas Notícias, the most widely circulated daily in Caracas. The tabloid, sympathetic to President Hugo Chávez, went on to describe the benefits of his plan to move clocks forward by half an hour in a bid to improve the “metabolism” of his fellow citizens. In a time of startling policy announcements from Mr. Chávez, it is no wonder that picking up a newspaper in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela can sometimes feel like perusing The Onion. Recent statements by Mr. Chávez have some Venezuelans pondering the inspiration for...

In a recent address to his subjects, carried by fiat on all of the nation's television channels, Venezuela's authoritarian president Hugo Chávez Frias, who has previously taken over the airways for the celebration of his own birthday, now turned his country's attention to more urgent matters. The time had come, he explained, to move the "Bolivarian revolution" from its Lenin-like beginnings of transitional capitalism towards a more robust command economy. The nation had at last "broken the chains of the old, exploitative capitalist system," he said. "The state now has the obligation to build the model of a socialist economy."...

The Venezuelan president bonds with regimes that the rest of the world -- and his own compatriots -- shun. THE LATEST Global Attitudes survey by the Pew Foundation contains a lot of bad news for the United States, but there was one relative bright spot in Latin America: Venezuela. According to Pew, 56 percent of Venezuelans say they have a favorable view of the United States, a higher number than in Britain or Canada. Seventy-one percent say they like U.S. television and movies and a stratospheric 84 percent feel positively about Americans. Though only 23 percent say they have confidence...

Presidential candidate John Edwards hoped actor Danny Glover would be his Lethal Weapon. But a Miami-based group of Venezuelan-American activists chided the Democratic candidate Wednesday for campaigning with Glover, who has embraced repressive Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez. ''We are saddened by the fact that you have proudly showed yourself, in the same manner Mr. Chavez showed himself next to Mr. Glover, as if both of you were holding a trophy,'' read the letter sent to Edwards. ``We believe this to be a political miscalculation on your part, as it sends contradicting messages to those who, like us, have chosen and...

A number of British personalities, including journalist John Pilger wrote the Guardian to announce their support for Chavez's shutdown of opposition TV stations. "We believe that the decision of the Venezuelan government not to renew the broadcasting licence of RCTV when it expires on May 27 ... is legitimate given that RCTV has used its access to the public airwaves to repeatedly call for the overthrow of the democratically elected government of President Hugo Chávez." It is signed by: Colin Burgon MP Dr Julia Buxton Jon Cruddas MP Tony Benn Billy Hayes General secretary, CWU John Pilger Professor Jonathan Rosenhead...

In an effort to stanch the eroding value of Venezuelan currency, President Hugo Chávez has issued a new currency with a new name, the "Bárbara." Chávez hopes to stem the steep tide of inflation by lopping off approximately two zeros and turning the 1000 bolivar coin into a coin valued at 12-1/2 "fuerte" or "strong" bolivars. Chávez has nicknamed the new coin Bárbara because its copper color closely matches Barbara Walters's henna hair. In addition, Walters's recent interview broadcast on ABC's Good Morning America has "restored my currency as the most important leader of the Western Hemisphere." In her March...

Aides to Venezuela's mercurial leader Hugo Chávez will have made sure his presidential fountain pen was fully loaded before he left Caracas, given the number of arms deals he is set to sign in Moscow this week. Contracts for 30 Russian Sukhoi Su-30 fighter jets, 30 military helicopters, 100,000 Kalashnikov assault rifles, a licence to build a Kalashnikov factory in Venezuela, and perhaps two or three submarines are all on the agenda during Mr Chávez's fourth visit to Russia. Sergei Ivanov, Russia's defence minister and a possible successor to President Vladimir Putin, said last week the fighter and helicopter deal...

At a rural military base on the outskirts of Caracas, officers have started classes in unconventional warfare to repel an invasion that President Hugo Chávez has hinted that Washington is planning. Snipers and civilian reservists with knives, catapults, and handguns crawled out of a hidden tunnel in a mock demonstration as an instructor lectured officers on resistance tactics. Captains joined lieutenants straining behind a cordon to see a camouflaged soldier as he fired a bow and peppered a dummy target with arrows. ''If no one comes, then that's fine; we can continue as the free and sovereign country we are,...

By Ted Rall Bush Backs a Botched Coup in Venezuela by Ted Rall "They hate what America stands for. They despise freedom. They now know we love freedom, and we will defend our freedom with all our might."-George W. Bush, March 28 NEW YORK-You didn't have to blink to miss it. Let the record show that George W. Bush, reconstituted Cold Warrior and ardent defender of democracy, has suffered his first Bay of Pigs. Whether this experience will chasten him as much as it did JFK remains to be seen. In a stunning reminder that the Resident's 76 percent approval...