Posted on 06/10/2005 5:40:40 AM PDT by Brilliant
Thirty-seven-year-old Maria Corina Machado doesn't seem to have planned on a career in public life. After studying engineering at Catholic University in Caracas she earned a post-graduate degree in finance from the Venezuelan business school IESA and went off to work for an auto parts manufacturer in the Venezuelan city of Valencia.
Today, facing charges of conspiracy against her government, she has become an international celebrity for her efforts to defend Venezuelan democracy.
Ms. Machado is one of the leaders of Súmate, a nongovernmental organization resisting efforts by President Hugo Chávez's to turn Venezuela into a dictatorship. Because of its vocal objections to the many steps Chávez has taken to consolidate his power, Súmate has become an "enemy of the people," in the traditional language of tyranny. The conspiracy charge stems from the $31,000 that Súmate took for non-partisan educational work from the U.S.'s National Endowment for Democracy, which promotes free and fair elections abroad.
Ms. Machado could go to jail for up to 16 years. Yet, after the past two weeks, in which she met personally with President Bush in Washington and attended the general assembly of the Organization of American States in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., persecuting her would carry a high price, turning the millions of dollars Chávez has spent on polishing his image abroad into a waste of money. Her case has been internationalized by Mr. Bush himself as a means of showing Venezuelans and the region that he is watching Chávez's misbehavior...
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Go Dubya!
The Vens have had their last free election.
Tin-horn South American dictators come and go, and sometimes they go very quickly.
The hard-left sees Chavez as a progressive hero protecting the oppressed of his country from corporate exploitation. And, just like with Castro, they are willing to overlook a little crackdown on the opposition here and there. Well, a fair amount of crackdown on the opposition here and there. OK, OK, a LOT of crackdowns on the opposition. But what does that matter, what are a few troublemakers to weigh against the glorious REVOLUTION! Now WHERE did I put my Che t-shirt?!
very funny reply, but too true - I would only amend "The hard-left" to read "The left". You've nailed the thought process of pretty much everyone to the left of Joe Lieberman.
Remember that Carter said that it was a free and fair election! Good old Communist loving Carter!
Can you blame him? Why let a corporation exploit the country and its wealth when you can do it yourself?
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