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Note: The following post is a quote:
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http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1702311/posts

THE HUGO DOLL: Venezuela's Cult Phenomenon
Spiegel ^

Posted on 09/15/2006 2:19:08 PM PDT by chemical_boy

A toy doll of the oil-loving, America-dissing, South American power-consolidating Venezuelen leader Hugo Chavez is selling like hotcakes on the streets of Caracas. He's got his hands firmly on the most important oil reserves in the Western Hemisphere, he has a hit TV show that broadcasts every Saturday -- and he has his very own doll. Hugo Chavez, the 52-year-old president of Venezuela, has become a Latin American cult figure in every sense of the word. In the capital city of Caracas, a 60-centimer-high Chavez action figure wearing the uniform of a Venezuelan parachutist has become a surprise bestseller in stores. This plastic replica of the former military commander also talks. Push a button and it says, "I arrived here to do all humanly possible to help all the Venezuelan people realize their dreams and their desire to be free and equal." Chavez has made public-image moves to replace his friend and Cuban dictator Fidel Castro as the true "líder latino Americano." Lately he's been on the road around the world as a forger of what he calls an "axis of good" -- a trip that has taken him from Caracas to places like Tehran and Hanoi. On his world tour Chavez managed to visit the ailing Cuban dictator at his sickbed not just once, but twice. It was Chavez's way of signaling that Castro's regime is propped up by infusions of Venezuelan oil -- rather like a bedridden old man kept alive after a blood transfusion.

(Excerpt) Read more at service.spiegel.de ...