Hugo Chavez Is Huge*** Given that the actual coup plotters proved as inept and feckless as anyone since Aleksandr Kerensky, it was easy for the left to take it from there and write, as Paul Krugman did, that "there we were, reminding everyone of the bad old days when any would-be right-wing dictator could count on U.S. backing." With next to nothing to go on, and knowing next to nothing about Hugo Chavez, the left was unleashed to go after Bush as if he were Nixon attempting to overthrow Allende or Ronald Reagan's National Security Council setting Iran-contra in motion. As if made to order, the figure of Otto Reich, a Cuban-born anti-Communist who became undersecretary of state for Latin America as a recess appointment after his nomination was blocked by anti-Communist loathing Sen. Christopher Dodd, now stands as the symbol of what the Bush haters think is their target. Everyone from the loonies at Media Whores Online to Joshua Marshall to Paul Begala smells a rat and the next scandal that this time could bring the administration down.
No doubt it will survive this brouhaha, and maybe even chalk it up to business as usual. But in fact it could have spared itself considerable grief had it not been so busy in the Middle East muddying signals about what its commitments in the War on Terrorism amount to. What seems to have escaped notice is that Hugo Chavez's survival and the huge embarrassment it has caused the administration mark an important setback in this war, particularly to U.S. credibility in dividing the post-9/11 world into those who choose to be with us, and those who risk annihilation if they choose not to be.***
Cuba (Castro) calls its Latin neighbors 'Judases' for their plans to vote on human rights measure *** HAVANA - Cuba sent a chill across Latin America by characterizing regional neighbors as "Judases" for their plan to support an annual U.N. vote calling for Cuba to examine its human rights record. A majority of Latin American nations have said they plan to join the vote expected Friday before the U.N. Human Relations Commission in Geneva, asking Cuba's communist government to grant its citizens individual liberties such as freedom of speech, the press, association, assembly.
The administration of Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez is among few in the hemisphere expected to side with Cuba and vote against the measure. Cuba backed Chavez's return to power on Sunday after a two-day military coup. "The government of the United States - using its preferred weapons of pressure and blackmail and with the humiliating servility of some governments in the region - seeks tomorrow in Geneva to execute a new maneuver against Cuba," the Communist Party daily Granma said Thursday.***