[waxhaw]

Chavez is aping his antecedents; before Chavez came into office Venezuelan president Caldera blamed the media for the negative images of Venezuela. Caldera's predecessor, Perez, did the same thing... and of course these two learned it from one another since they both swapped the presidency back and forth two or three terms each. One thing I noticed while living in Venezuela is that while the Venezuelans are quite vain they're not very introspective; they're very much like children in that invariably they'll blame somebody else for their problems. And when the going gets rough the rich take off for Miami... and the less-well-off go to Houston.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

I think Chavez is beginning to believe his own press. I think everyone, everywhere wants to blame their problems on someone else. But in this case I believe the Venezuelans have a good case, Chavez is driving their economy into the ground. I guess those going to Miami haven't checked Houston out lately.