lgf.org link: Chilean Moonbats
There's trouble all over South America. Castro and Chavez have their claws in it, I bet.
Posted on 11/20/2004 12:04:33 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
CARACAS, VENEZUELA - President Hugo Chavez's spokesman on Friday accused "terrorists" training in Florida of being behind the assassination of a top prosecutor who intended to try backers of Venezuela's 2002 coup.
Danilo Anderson was killed by two explosions that tore through his SUV as he was driving in the capital just before midnight Thursday. The killing shook this oil-rich South American nation and raised the specter of further violence.
As authorities called for calm, hundreds of mourners, some weeping and others angrily shouting "Justice!", watched while a coffin bearing his body was brought into the attorney general's office building in Caracas.
Information Minister Andrés Izarra said the assassination of Anderson — known among Venezuelans as the "super prosecutor" — was clearly aimed at derailing his investigations and prosecutions of those who supported the coup, in which 19 people were killed and almost 300 wounded.
Izarra blamed Venezuelan exiles in Florida, echoing Chavez's earlier accusations that Cuban and Venezuelan "terrorists" were training in Florida to execute him and were using the media to call for his removal.
"We want the government of the United States to explain how it is that these terrorist groups that act with total freedom in Florida ... make these statements through the media under the government's nose," Izarra said.
The U.S. Embassy did not immediately return calls seeking comment. While the United States remains Venezuela's main buyer of oil, relations between the Chavez and Bush administrations have been testy.
Chavez has blasted the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, while Washington is unhappy with Chavez's close links with Cuba's Fidel Castro and attempts to centralize power.
The killing of the 38-year-old prosecutor heightened tensions in the world's fifth-largest oil exporter just as a political crisis that gripped the country for the past 2 1/2 years was easing.
Opponents of Chavez, a fiery leftist and former army paratroop commander, failed to oust him in the two-day coup in April 2002, in a two-month national strike later that year and in a national referendum last August.
The political opposition has been largely silent since pro-Chavez candidates swept all but two of 23 governorships in elections Oct. 31.
But the assassination underscored that the political situation remains unstable with the potential for further violence.
Interior and Justice Minister Jesse Chacón said C-4, a military-grade plastic explosive, was apparently used, set off by remote control.
Anderson was alone in the car, and his body was so badly burned and mutilated that it was hours before authorities could conclusively identify him.
Anderson had been involved in several cases against opponents of Chávez, who was elected on his promises to help Venezuela's majority poor.
At the time of his death, Anderson was preparing a case against nearly 400 people who signed a declaration supporting interim President Pedro Carmona during the coup.
SUVs KILL, PEOPLE!!!
This dude gets AROUND!
I remember that he was one of the prescient few to predict the dictatorial, Marxist inclinations of former coup leader-now leftist caudillo-Hugo Chavez, back when he was still attempting to "legally" seize power in 1998.
I don't think he still writes for The American Spectator, but I'm sure that he has some interesting thoughts to contribute on this subject.
Never knew that.
No wonder the MSM and especially Bill Moyers - hates de Lay.
Delay knows a skunk when he sees one.
If we let these nations be subsumed by communist, Castro-supported terrorists, then we'll be forsaking our duties as protectors of freedom throughout the Western Hemisphere.
Chavez is a malignant tumor that must be excised from the body politic of Venezuela.
The sooner, the better.
I just wish that the GOP had more people in its ranks of his caliber.
Agreed. Property owners (e.g. what few who are left in Venezuela) are especially up against a wall. The Marxist MSM, with Jimmy Carter's help, would convince us that Chavez is just a democratic inevitability that we must accept. Fidel and Hugo must go.
This may seem a little cold-hearted to some of you, but I say it's about time something like this happened. No innocents were killed by this bomb, only a right-hand man to the tyrant who was an instrumental force in the possible persecution and imprisonment of over 400 of Chavez's political opponents.
Do you really think that Chavez will relinquish his power through peaceful means. No, like his hero Fidel Castro, Hugo has not only rigged the system to where it will allow no punishment of him for his crimes, but he has in fact made HIMSELF the nation's judiciary. Chavez has already imprisoned hundreds political opponents in his 5 years as dictator, and more than a few have been killed (OK, died under "mysterious circumstances"). His armed street gangs intimidate, threaten, and beat his opponents, disrupt peaceful protests, and aid him in rigging local and national elections. Chavez is also the biggest exporter of arms and funds to terrorists in Latin America, most notably his aid to the FARC communists fighting to overthrow the legitimate government of Alvaro Uribe in Colombia.
Hugo is a brutal dictator; this is obvious. Do the people of Venuzuela have to wait before they act until the dead number thousands instead of dozens? If violence is all that Hugo Chavez knows of, then violence should be his downfal. As the insanely corrupt August recall "election" attested to, Venuzuelans will never see another free election to peacefully change their government as long as Chavez and his personal compatriots are alive.
I SAY ENOUGH. Venuzuela needs their own Contra movement, and this is a decent start.
I think I know the answer to that question.
One reason we have so much illegal immigration from south America is that we've tolerated corruption and instability even as it threatened our whole hemisphere.
It's time to take on the communist oligarchies south of the border -- before the Chinese have installed ICBMs in their warehouses, that is if we're not too late.
I know our counterpart.
One is the regional arms race between Colombia and Venezuela. This week, Colombia announced that it will purchase 24 combat planes, a move that follows Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’s announced purchase of 50 Russian MiG-29 aircraft, planes he doesn’t need for anything other than to attack another nation.
Two is the nightmare in Haiti. There’s a key Caricom (Caribbean community) meeting going on right now in Trinidad about whether to recognize the government of Haiti that insiders tell me is nothing short of a dogfight between pro- and anti-Aristide forces among the Caribbean states.
As of now, it appears that the pro-Aristide forces are winning, a diplomatic and strategic blow to the U.S. This group, led by about four states, is closely aligned with President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela who is determined to exert his Marxist influence in the region. The failed and debilitated state of Haiti, unrecognized as a state, is perfect for his designs.
Meanwhile, pro-Aristide Democrat Congresswoman Maxine Waters, always on the opposite side of U.S. interests, charges in public speeches that the U.S. intends to set up military bases in Haiti, claims that may either be true or not, but suffice it to say, are opposed by her ‘side’ along with any constructive U.S. role in Haiti, given the alternative, which is the emerging opportunity to expand Chavez’s regional influence.
Which brings us to the most difficult to believe story about this region, this one from sources close to Florida’s governor Jeb Bush: that Chavez has no intention of fighting a border war with Colombia with his new MiGs – but instead has them, and their Cuban pilots, pointed at Miami, Florida. They insist it’s not tinfoil hat. That’s right, Miami. It seems to be utterly insane.
If this is the case, the Rumsfeld visit to the small troubled Central American would make sense. And the U.S. may be facing a true territorial threat. As of now, it’s speculation. The only thing that’s not speculation is that Rumsfeld’s not going there for small reasons***
Miami Herald: Chavez appoints radicals to head Venezuelan passport agency - reports of Arabs otaining ID documents
lgf.org link: Chilean Moonbats
There's trouble all over South America. Castro and Chavez have their claws in it, I bet.
Bomb Kills Venezuela Prosecutor, Gov't Swipes at US
The prosecutor was assassinated, and the next day there were pro-Chavez rioters in the street with signs and fliers. Sounds pretty well planned out in advance - much too coordinated with not enough spontaneity.
I wonder what Anderson had uncovered about Chavez.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.