Who is this guy? Anyone? How did he end up? Class, anyone? Bueller?
Posted on 01/27/2006 8:46:36 PM PST by NormsRevenge
Get off the ship...talk to the locals. Don't press your views but make sure you let them know you want theirs. Talk a bit about the history of great Venezuela/US friendship and trade.
Then ask them (he/she) why they think things are going off the rails.
If they say its because of Chavez....your home free and you ask if you can buy them a drink.
If they say its because Bush is a warmonger....listen for a while.....and close the conversation with: "I guess it will take a terrorist attack that kills 3000 Venezuelaians for you to understand the threat you, and we, are still under..
Whatever you do, get off the boat. You didn't take a cruise to ponder your cabin or the ships bar. You are there to meet people. Venezuelans are human.....give them a chance. I worked with a Venez guy that was a top notch technician.....great guy, and I'm sure, although I haven't seen him in years, no fan of Chavez.
Let me know how it comes out.....Hardstarboard
Look what a little monsteress you liberal schmucks and the MSM have created in Mother Sheeetcan. Kissing up to demonic socialist enemy of the USA pig-face Chavez. Kick out this bird-brain and let Hugo have her....such a lovely couple..a match made in hell.
I've heard Margarita Island is a great place. Stay clear of Caracas, IMO. Nothing to see. Lot's of good people there..........but I did not feel safe. Even at the Hilton. Stay on the island.....have fun. No need to go up the hill to Caracas. You won't be missing anything. Venezuela could (can, and hopefully will )be a great place. Right now, it's not.
LOL!
Looks like Chevy boy is getting some tongue.
"I don't want to get off the ship on this stop...not wanting to give any money to line the pockets of this Hugo freak."
Comes a time when getting too wrapped up in the principle of a thing gets ridiculous. I promise you, Hugo won't notice this immeasurably infinitesimal dent in his income, no one here or there will notice your stand. You, on the other hand will miss an opportunity few of your friends and neighbors will get.
Go, enjoy! If the locals are too cowed to speak openly, that is of itself telling information. More likely, a little effort could give you a better grasp of the on the street reality, unfiltered by any editorial bias than I could get if I had time to read every word put in print while staying home. To get that close to getting first hand knowledge and pass it up, well, not me.
Buy a few drinks, listen more than argue. Get more into personal than policy. Soak it up, make a few notes when you get back on board. When you get back, post us on what it FELT like, sometimes more important than getting the quotes verbatim. A chance too few of us get, don't blow it.
Am I the only one that got a good chuckle out of a spying charge on the Venezualian navy?
I mean, c'mon.... really. Their NAVY?
Hell, Greenpeace could disable their navy with rubber dinghies and an airhorn.
The Meaning of Hugo Chavez
By William Loren Katz
To the sputtering fury of a Bush administration who has repeatedly conspired with Venezuela’s elite to drive Hugo Chavez from power, the Black Indian President of this oil-rich nation has scored a decisive 59% victory over a recall effort.
Chavez now sits more comfortably than ever atop a fourth of the world oil supplies — equal to that of Iraq — and he supplies a fifth of US oil needs. In addition, he is current leader of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, or OPEC. George W. Bush would prefer his friends in Saudi Arabia rather than Chavez set global oil prices.
US attacks on Chavez caricature him as a tyrant in the class of Saddam Hussein, or a Marxist, or a ferociously anti-American clone of Castro. Actually, his populist uprising springs from multicultural grass roots that pre-date the foreign invasion of the Americas that began in 1492.
Like four-fifths of Venezuelans, Chavez was born of poor Black and Indian parents. Since the days of Columbus descendants of the Spanish conquistadores who supplied the governing classes of the Americas, have denied indiginous people a say in their future. Chavez represents a strong challenge.
Chavez is not only proud of his biracial legacy, but has begun to use oil revenues to help the poor of all colors improve their education and economic standing. He also flatly rejects Bush administration efforts to isolate Cuba, counts Castro a friend, and has repeatedly accused the US of meddling in his country and around the world.
Chavez rules a country where three percent of the population, mostly of white European descent, own 77% of the land. In recent decades millions of hungry peasants have drifted into Caracas and other cities, and live in barrios of cardboard shacks and open sewers. Chavez has begun to transfer fields from giant unused or abandoned haciendas to peasant hands, and as landlords have responded with howls of alarm, he has promised further distributions.
But he has repeatedly held out an olive branch to his foes. He recently stated, "All this stuff about Chavez and his hordes coming to sweep away the rich, it's a lie. We have no plan to hurt you. All your rights are guaranteed, you who have large properties or luxury farms or cars."
Chavez has begun to target the foreign oil giants who keep about 84% of Venezuela’s oil profits. To attack the problems of his people in health, illiteracy and poverty, he has demanded 30%.
In 1998 and 2000 Chavez won the Presidency by majorities Republicans and Democrats here can only dream about. In 2002 he defeated a two-day coup attempt engineered by his local elite in alliance with US interests, and in the recent recall vote, 90% of voters turned out. Chavez’s strength rests with his poorest citizens who have mobilized behind a broader agenda than his, one which includes participatory democracy and elevating the status of women.
Using rising oil revenues, Chavez has brought education to almost a million children who never sat in a classroom. And with 10,000 Cuban doctors, a gift from Fidel Castro, he has opened 11,000 medical clinics primarily in barrios.
Over the centuries South Americans have endured a crop of caudillos, or military dictators. Many who began office sounding a radical note were overthrown by the CIA or other instruments of foreign governments. Others remained in power by listening to American ambassadors. Though it is too early to tell, this former paratrooper seems to spring from an earlier age when Africans and Indians united to fight the first European invaders, and then continued the struggle for self-determination by political means.
For inspiration Chavez can reach back to the misty dawn of the foreign landings when heroic Black Indian ancestors first rose to battle colonialism. In 1819 Simon Bolivar, of African and Indian lineage and the victorious revolutionary leader of South America, became the first elected President of Venezuela. Vicente Guerrero, a guerilla General in the Mexican Revolution helped liberate his country from Spain. Though the ruling elite denounced him as a “triple-blooded outsider,” in 1829 he became Mexico’s first Black Indian President, wrote its constitution, emancipated its slaves, ended racial discrimination and banished the death penalty.
Though his white foes also denounce Chavez as a racial outsider, the faces of his millions of supporters refute the claim. He continues to triumph at the polls, speak truth to power, and use oil revenues to meet his peoples’ needs. He appears unconcerned that he has excited the fury of the giant to the north, and at times seems to relish this role.
Time will tell if Chavez’s programs and supporters can protect him from the machinations of his US enemies allied with his foes at home. Venezuelians have begun their own cultural revolution, and though it undergirds Chavez’s political and economic advances, it may take some different directions.
Hugo Chavez and his people may yet write another chapter in the audacious book begun by Simon Bolivar, Vicente Guerrero and millions of other Venezuelian Africans and Indians.
Sheehan and Chavez - what a hoot.
Here's more from the Miami Herald.
****Chávez's No. 2: We can prove U.S. spiedVenezuela's vice president pointed a finger squarely at U.S. Embassy officials in an escalating espionage scandal.BY PHIL GUNSON Special to The Miami Herald
CARACAS - Venezuela has ''confidential information'' proving that U.S. Embassy officials took part in a spy ring involving active and retired Venezuelan naval officers, Vice President José Vicente Rangel said Friday.
Rangel's comments are likely to increase tensions between Washington and Caracas over a case that has captivated public attention here since last weekend, when five officers and one civilian were accused of espionage following a raid on a house in Caracas by officers from naval intelligence. They removed computers, CDs and diskettes.
The house belongs to dentist Jacinto Nouel, 66, the father-in-law of Lt. Cmdr. (ret.) José Ignacio Plaza. Nouel was arrested, and has since been accused of spying, along with five naval officers who have not been officially named.
Plaza, who is not among the five, lives in the United States. He resigned from the navy a year ago, after accusing two rear-admirals of corruption.
''His accusations were dismissed, and the navy began an investigation of him,'' his lawyer, Alonso Medina Roa, told The Miami Herald. ``There was even an attempt on his life.''
The government-funded TV channel Telesur claimed Thursday, citing intelligence sources, that U.S. naval attaché John Correa was the recipient of classified information supplied by the alleged spies.
Although there has been no official confirmation of the nature of the documents allegedly passed on, Medina said the material confiscated from Nouel was publicly available information about military aircraft that Spain was to supply to the Venezuelan navy.
The $600 million deal was placed in doubt this month after Washington placed a ban on the supply to Venezuela of components in the aircraft that originated in the United States.
Plaza took a military course in the United States several years ago, and, ''has relationships with a number of U.S. naval officers, as one would expect,'' Medina said. He said he was aware of no relationship with the naval attaché.
U.S. Ambassador William Brownfield said Thursday that he had ''absolute confidence'' in the embassy staff.
An embassy spokesman told The Miami Herald that there had been no official communication from the Venezuelan authorities about the alleged spying case.
Venezuelan authorities, however, have publicly linked the allegations to what they see as an ongoing campaign by Washington to destabilize the leftist populist government of President Hugo Chávez.
Gen. Melvin López Hidalgo, inspector general of the armed forces, said Thursday that the case was ''yet another instance of interference in the internal affairs'' of Venezuela.
Rangel, the Venezuelan vice president, said he was not surprised by the case.
''The U.S. [diplomatic] mission was totally involved in the 11 April coup,'' he told journalists, referring to an abortive attempt in 2002 to overthrow Chávez, who was restored to power after 48 hours. Rangel was defense minister at the time.
The United States, which has denied involvement in the coup attempt, initially welcomed the change of government. Chávez has since accused the Bush administration of involvement in plans to assassinate him and invade Venezuela.
U.S. officials have ridiculed the accusations, and Chávez has never produced substantive evidence.
However, the Venezuelan government has taken steps in the past 18 months to reduce to a minimum the military contacts between the two nations.
Chávez has supervised a top-to-bottom revision of Venezuelan military doctrine, placing the emphasis on a ''war of all the people'' against a potential ''imperialist'' invader.
He also has ordered the purchase of large amounts of new military equipment, including 100,000 Russian Kalashnikov rifles, Russian helicopters, and ships and aircraft from Spain and Brazil. The U.S. government has expressed concern about what it considers an unwarranted military buildup.***
I found the charge very amusing also. Now if Bubba was the president I could understand Chaves' paranoia a little better. After all, Bubba was so threatened by Haiti that he had to invade it.
Just wondering if you believe the clap-trap from Bush-hating commie professors?
Dear You Go:
If we were spying on you, you'd never know it.
He has some good insights. Chavez is biracial. Black-Indian and he has it in for the "Anglo" United States. Chavez will try to screw us with the help of communist China. Can you find something useful in this piece? Can you read between the lines?
Margarita Island is safer than Caracas, but you still need to be aware of your surroundings. I was there in 1999 for a few days, and I don't remember there being all that much to do -- it struck me mostly as a place to chill out. Nobody is in a hurry. However, I was attending a conference and only did a little bit of the touristy stuff, so maybe I just didn't get around enough.
If I were you, I would just hit one of those casual restaurants on the beach and kick back for a leisurely fresh seafood lunch and a couple of drinks. I say "leisurely" because that is the only speed there. It was inexpensive when I was there and probably still is. And thumb your nose at Hugo while you are there.
The politics of Margarita island over the last few years have been interesting. When I was there, the governor was Irene Saez, 1981 Miss Universe. She showed up at the conference I attended and gave an address. She ran against Chavez for President in his first election, and even though she led the polls in the beginning, he pulled it out in the end. The two are enemies. She made it her mission, as governor of Margarita Island, to clean house and wipe out corruption. Well, they all say that down there when they are running for office, but she seemed to really be trying. One thing she did was decide there was too much corruption in the police force, so she installed her own law enforcement to kick azz and take names. The citizens thought the results were good. Then she resigned because she became a mother and wanted to be with her child. She was replaced by a Chavista, who was recently ousted by a member of the opposition. The opposition is alive and well on Margarita Island, so you will no doubt find a lot of anti-Chavistas there.
So don't look at your brief visit there as supporting Chavez; look at it as leaving a bit of money behind to make his opposition more successful and prosperous.
I will never go back to Caracas. Last time I was there, it was only for the night. We took a cab from the airport to the Sheraton, and I was nervous the whole time. A couple from the same flight caught the cab ahead of us at the airport curb to go to the same hotel. They were robbed by their cab driver right before he dropped them off at the hotel.
I tell my dh that all of these "Survivor" shows are for wimps. If you want a real show, drop the contestants off in downtown Caracas ........
Well...........the drive up hill to Caracas.....how'd you like that? .......that friggin' tunnel about 2 miles long of putrid exhaust fumes???? I was there in Summer when the fumes must be the worst. Do you remember that?
Anywho........outside of Caracas is beautiful......down south about 1 hour....into the smaller towns. And the beaches up north are supposed to be great. Never made it there. I'll take Rosarito Beach or TJ anytime. Costa Rica is supposed to be the 'place', too.
Thank you all very much for answering my post.
It looks like I will be getting off the ship. After reading your posts I decided to go to the beach right off the pier. Hopefully, while beach bummig and hut shopping I will be able to find out how the folks of the island feel about America/Americans. I'll ping you to let you know how it went.
Thanks again for all the help!
Would be equally as interesting to find out what they think about Chavez - I hear he is popular with the peasants and laboring class, not at all popular with the successful Venzuelians.
"Would be equally as interesting to find out what they think about Chavez - I hear he is popular with the peasants and laboring class, not at all popular with the successful Venzuelians."
Yikes! If they adore him I bet they just love Cindy Sheehan.
I'll find out.
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