Bush is asked to prevent hemispheric 'Axis of Evil' and back ouster of Venezuela's Chavez

Center for Security Policy ^ | October 26, 2002

[Tailgunner Joe]

The Chairman of the House International Relations Committee has called on President Bush to disrupt the possible formation of an Axis of Evil in the Western Hemisphere, and to support the ouster of Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez.

Concerned about Washington's lack apparent concern for a hostile potential triad of Cuba's Fidel Castro, Venezuela's Chavez, and the possible election this weekend of the leftist Lula da Silva in Brazil, Rep. Henry Hyde urges Bush in a strongly-worded letter to break with the continued Clinton policy of tolerating Chavez.

"This is the time for the Bush administration to set the factual and historical record straight: the current regime of President Chavez is illegitimate because it is based upon the systematic violation of the Venezuelan constitution in force in 1999," Hyde writes. "The Bush administration should also declare itself in sympathy with the pro-democratic civil-military coalition in Venezuela which seeks to restore democracy and should do so at once."

According to Hyde, "all the pro-democracy elements of the society including the genuinely democratic political parties, the labor unions, business associations, and religious institutions have been gathered for two days in coalition with a group of active duty military officers of flag rank demanding that President Hugo Chavez resign and that new, free and open elections be held."

Hyde is especially concerned that da Silva would make good on his statements to build and proliferate nuclear weapons: "There is a real prospect that Castro, Chavez, and Lula da Siva could constitute an axis of evil in the Americas which might soon have nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles (which Brazil had developed ended in 1990). This is the time to support the prodemocratic coalition in Venezuela and to help the people of Brazil understand the truth about Chavez so that they do not make a similar mistake and elect another pro-Castro radical who will neither help the poor, nor help their economy, nor live at peace with democratic neighbors."

[Free the USA]

http://www.freerepublic.com/perl/bump-list

[lardog]

Nuke everybody

[PhilDragoo]

Hugo must go.

Marxist murderer, ally of Castro and ChiComs, supporter of FARC guerillas.

Memo to Otto Reich:

Put Chavez on your badda-boom list.

[livius]

Thumbs up.

The problem is that the opposition has got to get a credible person in front, at least as a figurehead. That was the problem the first time around.

The US was probably the only country in the world to have a revolution without a strong national leader (Washington was the Cincinatus/Eisenhower of his time, a general/private citizen who was not a political figure).

Knowing Spanish culture, however, I can tell you this isn't going to work in LatAm. There's got to be a leader. He needs to be well-spoken, simpático, and completely anti-Marxist. Or she.

I bet they haven't even considered the possibility of a woman - this is something they should look into ASAP. Get the word out.

[ContentiousObjector]

Axis of evil?

More like axis of impotent bankrupt losers

[Logic_3]

Get him when/if he tries to prevent or pervert the next election, not before.

[Commander8]

We shouldn't just stop with ousting Chavez. I also say liberate Cuba with a D-Day style invasion.

[backhoe]

Joe, I'll cross-link this to post I recently composed ( unfortunately, the sniper & Wellstone incidents buried it... )--

-The Fire Down South...( Latin America--)--

[ItisaReligionofPeace]

You want to liberate people all over the world including Cuba? Afterall, Cuba is only 90 miles from Miami. You and others who feel the way you do should charter some fishing boats and Go for it! I personally only believe that American blood is too precious to attack any nation unless our national security is threatened.

[livius]

CW, I was wondering what you thought about this? See my post #$5.

Maybe they haven't been looking far enough in Venezuela. What about a woman as leader of the opposition??? This might be very effective.

[Koblenz]

The election of Lula is going to really screw up Brazil, although it's pretty much that way already. But then, with the exception of Chile and Uruguay, all the countries down there are basket cases.

[American Soldier]

In the same message you mention that Cuba is spitting distance from our own soil and at the same time seemingly dismiss that regime as a threat to our security... Isn't you retort internally inconsistent?

Granted, it is ridiculous that we should treat one Communist dictatorship (Cuba) like the pariah it is while treating another (China) as a strategic partner, but this is an argument for bearing down on the ChiComs not going soft on the Castro family.

[weikel]

Does Pinochet have any children( who take after their father)?

[rightwing2]

Tommorow is decision day for Brazil and the polls still show Lula winning by two thirds of the vote according to a Center for the National Security Interest link to a Washington Times story. Bush should definitely support Chavez' ouster to partially make up for his policy of inaction in Brazil which will indeed lead to nuclear missiles pointed our way regardless.

[karlamayne]

Another (semi-) peaceful regime reorganization? Or another bailout for big banking?

[MattinNJ]

Pinochet and Franco, long victimized by the media, were heroic staunch anti-communists. How these two aren't looked at as two of the greatest leaders of the 20th century is beyond me. When they started their resistance their respective countries were in deep trouble. Chile is the most stable nation in Latin America and Spain is blowing the doors off of France, Germany, etc... all because of these two heroes.

[ItisaReligionofPeace]

My retort was consistent. Cuba is nearby, but Cuba is not a threat. If there is evidence that they are a threat or are attempting to become a threat please share it with us. I know that Castro is an evil man, however, we cannot/should not shed American boys' blood for every evil person in the world...

[weikel]

Love Pinochet I have some reservations about Franco( though El Caudillo was better than the alternative no doubt) he let his security forces run rampant even after the commies were supressed beyond any chance of them ever becoming a threat to him and he had a strong protectionist policy which kept Spain somewhat backward.

On the good side he prevented Hitler from getting control of Gibratlar( if that happened Britain would probably have agreed to a peace treaty with Hitler since their oil supply would have to travel all the way around the horn of Africa with U-Boats sinking a large % of them) and he restored the monarchy in Spain.