Chavez wins reform = Walesa and Americans beware

by Brenda Yun on

I was appalled to hear the news coming from Venezuela today: its President, Hugo Chavez, proposed a reform to lift elected official term limits and it passed (again, barely) with just over 50% in a nationwide vote. This surely means Chavez will run again and could possibly mean he will remain Venezuela’s president beyond 2016.

If you’re sitting at home thinking this has nothing to do with you, think again. Chavez has long been an opponent of real democracy and has extreme and sometimes scary socialist notions when it comes to how nations should handle the world’s problems. He is one of the leading opponents of the U.S. as a world power, and seems to go to great lengths to lobby for the support of other socialist nations such as Cuba, Russia, and China.

The even scarier implications of this news brings rather unwelcome tidings to democratic nations. Just recently, Chavez prevented Lech Walesa, the former Nobel Peace Prize-winning Polish President, from entering Venezuela because Walesa had planned on speaking throughout the country in support of Chavez’s party opposition. We Americans love Walesa, and have also been treated rather brashly in Venezuela, so the prospects of safe and happy travels in Chavez country are not looking so great.

Cuba in the mix

by Brenda Yun on

Late last week, Raúl Castro paid a symbolic visit to Caracas to meet with Venezuela’s controversial President, Hugo Chavez. It is Castro’s first international trip as Cuba’s head of state, and his talks with Chavez will likely mark a longer term, closer relationship between the two socialist countries. According to an op-ed article in Diario Las Américas, Chavez has long proclaimed himself to be a “son of Fidel Castro,” so his intentions to maintain his existing relations with Cuba are quite apparent. Some facts rendered from an Associated Press article report that Venezuela intends to double its per diem sales of crude oil to Cuba by 2013; in exchange, Cuba will continue to reciprocate Venezuela’s offerings in the form of health care, education, and agriculture.

In addition to his visit with Chavez, Castro attended a summit hosted by Brazil on Tuesday, December 16, which was one of the first occasions that a representative from neither the United States nor a country from Europe was in attendance.

Sean Penn on Hugo Chavez: “He is clearly not a dictator by any international standard”

by Brenda Yun on

Say the name “Hugo Chavez” and a creepy tingle crawls up my back and, if I could, I would scream at the top of my lungs in frustration and anger. Hugo Chavez, Venezuela‘s long-standing President, is what many Americans believe to be an evil, socialist dictator. While I certainly don’t agree with ultra-Conservatives like Pat Roberts that someone should kill the guy, I do believe Chavez needs to be stopped in seeking re-election until 2021 and beyond.

On the other side of the spectrum is Sean Penn’s humane approach to and interview with Chavez. In an interview that was recently posted on The Nation, Penn describes his time with Chavez since their first meeting in 2006.

I am a huge fan of Sean Penn as an actor, but his humanitarian resumé is rather brief. Penn seems to paint an awfully positive picture of the Venezuelan President in some ways because he is trying to disapprove of the Conservatives’ (on Fox News, for instance) extreme dislike of Chavez.

While my own opinion of Chavez is rather biased because of my time in Colombia and approval of Álvaro Uribe, Colombia’s President, whom Chavez once called “Bush’s poodle,” I still cannot see how anyone — particularly an outspoken actor turned interviewer — can be even the slightest bit approving of a man who supports terrorists and does not honor the democratic process. Chavez sought an end to presidential term limits last year, but his referendum was narrowly yet democratically rejected. Now he seeks the same thing — except this time, he has numbers on his side. In addition to this, he is slowly winning approval from such powerful nations as Russia and China. His wielding of power is frightening to say the least.

Venezuela dares US to put it on the terror list

by Iva Skoch on

Venezuela is slowly but surely becoming one of the biggest allies of the US. Just kidding.

According to CNN, Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez dared the U.S. on Friday to put Venezuela on a list of countries accused of supporting terrorism, calling it one more attempt by Washington to undermine him for political reasons. Chavez said the threat to include us on the terrorist list” is Washington’s response to his government’s successes in the region.

Chavez said: “We shouldn’t forget for an instant that we’re in a battle against North American imperialism. On this continent, they have us as enemy No. 1.”

I like the “on this continent” part. What a way to make oneself a winner!