Hugo Chavez gets hero's welcome at World Social Forum

AP ^ | 1/30/5 | ALAN CLENDENNING

[SmithL]

PORTO ALEGRE, Brazil -- Sporting a red shirt embossed with a picture of the revolutionary Che Guevera, Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez received a hero's welcome Sunday at the World Social Forum, where activists greeted him with hugs and cries of "Here comes the boss!"

Tens of thousands of people attending the six-day gathering held to protest the simultaneous World Economic Forum in Switzerland consider Chavez their strongest voice against the U.S.-sponsored spread of liberalized trade in Latin America, a move they say benefits multinational companies while enslaving workers.

"Now the imperialist forces are starting to strike against the people of Latin America and the world," Chavez said. "And it's up to our soldiers to stay alert and be prepared to defend the people and not to submit themselves to the interests of the empire."

Chavez, a self-described revolutionary, is mounting an aggressive land reform campaign and funneling profits from Venezuela's oil riches to the poor as part of a political movement loosely based on the ideas of South American independence hero Simon Bolivar.

While Chavez was cheered at the social forum, some jeered Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva when he spoke Thursday, accusing him of failing to come through on promises of social reforms to eradicate Brazilian misery.

[SmithL]

None of the ever SOLVE misery or problems.

[wagglebee]

What I want to know is which prominent Americans were at this Marxist gathering.

[Wormwood]

Target rich environment.

Seriously.

[Darkwolf377]

"Sporting a red shirt embossed with a picture of the revolutionary Che Guevera"

That's turning into my #1 Cliched Trend

[Texas_Jarhead]

nope, but those on top usually attain power or riches

[Cornpone]

"And it's up to our soldiers to stay alert and be prepared to defend the people and not to submit themselves to the interests of the empire."

We need to give our troops a break. This sounds like a job for the Boy Scouts.

[popdonnelly]

"which prominent Americans were at this Marxist meeting"

Probably several from the mainstream Protestant denominations.

[RippleFire]

bump

[NavVet]

Don't act like the Catholic church doesn't have a history of sucking up to Latin American Communist every bit as much as many protestant denominations. Read the book "Useful Idiots".

[USNBandit]

That's it. I'm ordering my "commies aren't cool" t-shirt tomorrow.

http://www.thoseshirts.com/commies.html

[TapTheSource]

Chavez is a Communist thug that will stop at nothing to hurt the US and his neigbors. Why don't we take him out?

[mainepatsfan]

Didn't communists call Stalin "the boss"?

[popdonnelly]

I don't doubt that there were some Catholic representatives there, as well.

[mc6809e]

[fella]

Chavez, a self-described revolutionary, is mounting an aggressive land reform campaign and funneling profits from Venezuela's oil riches to the poor

Dividing the land into unusable parcels and promising something for nothing always leads to mass starvation and concentration camps. Of course a straw-man must be set up to blame things on. With the Bolsheviks it was the reactionaries, with the Nazis it was the Jews and with Castro and Chavez it is us.

[SmithL]

Now, There's a REAL Hero.

[OldCorps]

What I want to know is which prominent Americans were at this Marxist gathering.

It would be nice to know all the commie pinko Americans who attended this commie love in.

[cyborg]

ping

[Wolfhound777]

"Target rich environment.
Seriously."

I agree.