Chavez has reason

billyb says on Jan 25, 2008, 17:47:

I see you have been sharing the paste with Mr. Chavez.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

scotty says on Jan 25, 2008, 17:55:

Chavez a sweet man, the Iranians love him, so does Castro.

Get Rhythm, when you got the blues. Johnny Cash

0 funny, 0 helpful.

joanseb says on Jan 25, 2008, 18:02:

Sure, and colombians love "guerrillas"=Chavez.
Uribe is not the best president but Chavez is definitely the worst.
OPEN your eyes, claramente no sabes de lo que estas hablando y mucho menos de los problemas con las fronteras, especialmente con Ecuador.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

aztec says on Jan 25, 2008, 18:09:

Chavez: Colombia planning 'aggression'

President Hugo Chavez on Friday accused Colombia and the United States of plotting a military "aggression" against Venezuela.

"A military aggression is being prepared from Colombia against Venezuela by the United States," Chavez said. He warned Colombia not to attempt "a provocation against Venezuela" and said his country would cut off all oil exports in the event of a military strike from the neighboring country.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080126/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/venezuela_colomb...

0 funny, 0 helpful.

catherine b says on Jan 25, 2008, 18:15:

"Chavez a sweet man, the Iranians love him, so does Castro."

And don't forget farc, Qaddafi, Robert Mugabe and Alexander Lukashenko.

The democratic Dream Team. LOL.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

LilaM says on Jan 25, 2008, 18:15:

jajajaja He is trying to use for the first time all the Airplanes that he bought silly guy... he is having a brain stroke every time trying to get the attention of the world... I'm sick of it.

"You may be disappointed if you fail, but you are doomed if you don´t try" B. Sills

0 funny, 0 helpful.

la campiña says on Jan 25, 2008, 18:23:

so quick the response, so predictable the backlash, without thought me thinks, knee jerk reaction, ................... Ask the people that dont have big 4x4's and work the land to feed the rich without due recompense, and with regards to Castro he also has reason, this world is getting more and more sellfish and the rich and poweful rule and corruption goes hand in hand with power, and with regards to colombia the only salvation this country has is its immense size that delays the inevitable second comming of the conquistadores, but this time its a subtle invasion disguised as help.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

juancegomez says on Jan 25, 2008, 18:41:

So why isn't Correa in Ecuador (or other Latin American leaders, with the tiny exception of Mr. Ortega in Nicaragua) assuming the same position, la campiña, but is actually considerably more reasonable, all in all?

Talking about everything else would be off-topic and doesn't answer the question, so I'll stick to that point alone.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

catherine b says on Jan 25, 2008, 18:50:

I'm so glad the Chavez cheerleaders are here to "educate" us about who and what Chavez and farc really are. Because clearly we should believe them over our own eyes and ears.

http://www.esmas.com/noticierostelevisa/internacionales/697922.html

Revela televisora colombiana que el ejército de Venezuela usa para entrenamiento un videojuego que recrea un conflicto con Colombia

BOGOT�, Colombia, ene. 24, 2008.- El presidente venezolano Hugo Chávez estaría preparando un conflicto bélico con Colombia, a fin de 'cercenar' parte del territorio de este país, aseguró la cadena privada de televisión RCN.
En una emisión especial del programa noticioso 'La Noche', el informativo reveló la existencia de un juego de video que sirve para entrenar altos oficiales venezolanos y que recrea una guerra con Colombia.

Según la cadena televisiva se trata sólo de un eslabón de la serie de acciones que Chávez ha iniciado para propiciar un conflicto bélico con la idea de recuperar territorios que pertenecieron a Venezuela durante la época de la corona española.

La versión fue ratificada por el experto internacionalista Carlos Patiño, quien dijo que incluso la constitución bolivariana de Venezuela, impulsada por Chávez, considera territorio nacional al que comprendió la capitanía general de Venezuela hasta 1819.

En 1819 Simón Bolívar creó la república de la Gran Colombia, integrada por las actuales Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador y Panamá, de la cual se surgió el estado colombiano en 1886.

El programa informativo de televisión mostró un juego de video y dijo que 'los militares venezolanos están siendo preparados en sus academias para un ataque preventivo contra Colombia'.

El informativo citó un documento de inteligencia según el cual el ataque de Venezuela contaría con el apoyo de la guerrilla colombiana de las Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC).

Recordó que Chávez mantiene desde hace algunas semanas una arremetida verbal contra el presidente colombiano �lvaro Uribe, a quien repetidamente calificó como peón del imperio (estadounidense) y como cobarde.

Recordó que Chávez pidió hace algunos días que Uribe reconociera a las FARC como grupo beligerante para llegar a un acuerdo que permita la liberación de varios cientos de secuestrados en poder de la guerrilla, entre ellos la ex candidata presidencial Ingrid Betancourt.

Por último, citó a expertos que señalan que en caso de un conflicto, Estados Unidos apoyaría a Colombia, con unos 15 mil infantes de marina apostados en el Atlántico.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

la campiña says on Jan 25, 2008, 18:51:

Chavez has power and the word is OIL and good luck to him, negociate, dont let that god fearing looney bush walk all over that country and the people.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

joanseb says on Jan 25, 2008, 19:00:

la verdad que aqui hay mucha persona que habla sin saber nada de la situacion actual.
Solo les deseo suerte con su pensamiento retrograda.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

MaFe says on Jan 25, 2008, 19:03:

I love most of your answers; billyb, scotty, Joan, aztec, Lila...the rest of you muy bien!!
Si te gusta tanto Chavez...bueno go live in his wonderful country...
No one is forcing you to be in Colombia right?

"All human actions have one or more of these seven causes: chance, nature, compulsions, habit, reason, passion, desire. "-Aristotle

0 funny, 0 helpful.

catherine b says on Jan 25, 2008, 19:10:

Chavez spends more money than any Latin American government to improve his image in the USA.

http://www.miamiherald.com/949/story/388403.html

WASHINGTON -- When the Venezuelan Embassy and CITGO recently launched the Washington leg of their discounted heating-oil program for America's poor, President Hugo Chávez's publicity machine went into high gear.

The launch was held in the modest home of Safronia Holland, a black woman described by CITGO as a ''67-year-old grandmother struggling . . . with rising energy costs.'' Children waved Venezuelan flags, and Venezuelan diplomats beamed. There was food -- and lots of media.

While Chávez regularly rails against U.S. ''imperialism,'' he is also spending upwards of $70 million to improve his image in the United States, from Washington to Alaska. His embassy, among Washington's busiest, works with dozens of groups that favor his left-wing ''Bolivarian'' revolution. And his discount heating-oil program has benefited tens of thousands of America's poor.

Indeed, no Latin American country in recent history has invested so much money and effort in shaping U.S. perceptions of its government, largely negative as a result of Chávez's anti-Bush rhetoric, his friendship with Cuba and Iran, and doubts about his commitment to democracy.

Chávez's oil-fueled ''revolution'' has made him beloved or despised in his own country, boosted his standing as mentor of leftist Latin American leaders like Bolivia's Evo Morales and Nicaragua's Daniel Ortega -- and provided the resources to lobby for grass-roots support in the United States.

''I wouldn't say he's anti-American. He is clearly, however, anti-U.S. hegemony,'' said Kenneth Roberts, who teaches Latin American affairs at Cornell University. ``He has this strategic vision of redistributing power in world affairs. He has a stronger vision of that than any other leader we've seen in this generation.''

True to Chávez's populist ways, he has been trying to reach the American people directly, rather than the traditional way of lobbying U.S. Congress members.

A draft of the Venezuelan foreign ministry's budget for 2008 requests $193 million to ''intensify'' Venezuela's actions worldwide. That does not include salaries for diplomats and other routine expenditures.

SPREADING THE WORD

The document, obtained by El Nuevo Herald, says that in the United States, the ministry wants to encourage exchanges with social movements, spread the word on Venezuela through alternative media, step up its support of the ''excluded sectors of U.S. society,'' and promote ``groups in solidarity with the Bolivarian revolution.''

Such pro-Chávez groups remain small, however. A Venezuela Solidarity Network screening Dec. 1 in Washington of a documentary on Chávez's victory in a 2004 recall referendum drew fewer than a dozen people.

The first pro-Chávez groups in the United States sprang up in 2002, when the Bush administration faced accusations -- strongly denied -- that it had backed a coup against Chávez that year. Today, three networks remain active, often led and supported by Americans involved in a broad range of left-of-center activities.

Chuck Kaufman, a veteran of the opposition to U.S. policies in Nicaragua in the 1980s, set up the Washington-based Venezuela Solidarity Network while Alan Woods, editor of the publication In Defense of Marxism, founded the Minneapolis-based group Hands Off Venezuela.

Kaufman says he has branches in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, San Francisco and Houston and 2,000 e-mail contacts for his ''emergency response network,'' which alerts activists to possible U.S. government actions against Chávez.

Venezuela Solidarity Network's East region coordinator, Banbose Shango, says he supports several Havana causes, including Free the Five, a campaign seeking the release of Cuban intelligence agents convicted in Miami and serving prison terms.

Then there are the U.S. versions of the pro-Chávez volunteer groups known as Bolivarian Circles.

They coordinate only loosely among one another, making it hard to determine how many are active. William Camacaro, who heads the one in New York, says they exist in many major urban centers, including Houston, Los Angeles, Boston and Chicago. There is also a circle in Miami.

''We're trying to contain the propaganda that exists in the mainstream media against the Venezuelan government,'' Camacaro said.

Venezuelan Ambassador Bernardo Alvarez, who travels often around the country pitching Chávez's policies, also argues that the lobbying is mostly defensive because Chávez foes would like to see sterner, Cuba-style U.S. sanctions imposed on Venezuela.

The Bush administration has ended most forms of aid and weapons sales to Venezuela, saying its government has refused to cooperate on issues like drug trafficking and terrorism.

''Ours is a government with an alternative vision that has been demonized,'' Alvarez told The Miami Herald. ``Unfortunately, we must coexist with an administration -- parts of an administration -- that after the . . . Sept. 11 events revived the Cold War in its most brutal form.''

Alvarez has also been busy promoting the subsidized heating-oil program for America's poor, handled by the Boston-based nonprofit Citizens Energy and CITGO, a unit of the state-run Petróleos de Venezuela S.A. (PDVSA), which owns several U.S. refineries and franchises 8,000 U.S. gas stations.

Calling it the largest social program ever run by an oil firm, CITGO distributed 66 million gallons of heating oil last winter and hopes to double that volume this winter, reaching 220,000 U.S. households. Citizens Energy calculates that each household could save $320 per winter.

CITGO, which does not operate in Alaska, has also donated more than $5 million to Alaskan American Indian organizations -- the estimated cost of 100 gallons each for about 12,000 households. In addition, the company donated $3.3 million to community groups in the South Bronx, and Alvarez says similar donations are in the works elsewhere.

All of this gives Chávez a big U.S. footprint, reaching homes in 23 states, plus about 200 Indian tribes. The program even garnered recognition from Secretary of Energy Samuel Bodman, who told the Reuters news agency that he wished ``more companies did it.''

But CITGO's links to Chávez have also spurred scattered calls to boycott its gas stations, including one billboard put up by a local businessman in Alabama -- with a photo of Chávez holding up a CITGO logo -- that read, ''Don't buy gas from this ass.'' Some Alaskans have refused CITGO's aid.

Citizens Energy founder Joseph P. Kennedy, son of former Sen. Robert Kennedy, was unapologetic about teaming up with Chávez during the launch at Holland's home last month. The U.S. government, he said, regularly deals with countries accused of human-rights abuses, like China and Saudi Arabia.

''I don't hear anybody going after these other countries for the policies they practice,'' he said. ``I would just ask you to be fair and reasonable.''

Chávez has not totally shunned traditional lobbying. Four years ago, the embassy hired Patton Boggs, a powerful Washington lobby group, but the arrangement lasted only a few months. Alvarez declined to go into details.

And according to filings with the Foreign Agents Registration unit of the Department of Justice, between 2004 and early 2007, the embassy paid $3,000 to $15,000 a month to Segundo Mercado-Lloréns, a member of the Discalced Carmelite Friars turned lobbyist for labor unions, to build up its internal lobbying capabilities, including training for Venezuelan diplomats.

Much of the lobbying legwork falls on the Venezuela Information Office, set up in 2004 as a semi-autonomous embassy outreach unit. The embassy spent a little more than $1 million on that office in the year ending Aug. 31, 2007, according to Department of Justice filings. The office employs a handful of activists who are paid $30,000 to $60,000 a year.

According to the office's logs for the year ending last August, the group made 342 contacts with nongovernmental organizations, via e-mail, phone or in person, with journalists, local officials, academics and students.

Many journalists received e-mails ''suggesting ideas for balanced reporting.'' The office also asks activists to complain against alleged newspaper biases. One 2006 e-mail complained of the ''extreme hostility toward Venezuela'' by The Washington Post and provided a link to ''make your voice heard'' at the newspaper. Similar alerts targeted The Miami Herald, The Denver Post and other media.

The Venezuelan unit contacted only eight offices in the U.S. Congress, where Chávez appears to have few friends.

EFFORTS PRAISED

During a visit to Caracas, Rep. William Delahunt, D-Mass., who participated in a group of U.S. and Venezuelan lawmakers created around 2003 to ease bilateral tensions, endorsed Chávez's efforts to free hostages held by Colombian rebels and said relations between the countries require ``mutual respect.''

Rep. José Serrano, D-N.Y., praised Chávez for his aid to America's poor after the Venezuelan president traveled in past years to the Bronx and Harlem to launch his heating-oil program.

But most mainstream liberal groups, like MoveOn.org, ignore Chávez, and a resolution passed by the Senate condemning Chávez's decision last year to shut down an opposition TV station was backed by Sens. Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and Christopher Dodd.

Ambassador Alvarez nevertheless says he has made some headway.

"We've been able to gradually contain the most right-wing elements," he said, "who were out to get a congressional condemnation."

0 funny, 0 helpful.

la campiña says on Jan 25, 2008, 19:14:

I live in colombia and choose to because I was mentaly kidnapped by the beauty, mystic,chaos, mountains, valleys and more importantly the people, the good things overcome the bad and I do find myself trying to protect colombia, this is a good thing

0 funny, 0 helpful.

jack_jason says on Jan 26, 2008, 01:06:

Ok, I can see another Chavez' ladyboy. You can delete it Deisi.

This is just spanglish, please do not correct me

0 funny, 0 helpful.

Medellin Traveler says on Jan 26, 2008, 03:56:

I HATE BUSH!

But don't think for one minute that the US has not had a positive impact on Colombia.

La cuidad de la primavera, estoy feliz porque te vuelvo a ver - www.medellintraveler.com

0 funny, 0 helpful.

webmanco says on Jan 26, 2008, 05:22:

Thanks Catherin B for the video, it helps me get more clarity, still I keep my neutral position.

I like to balance the information.

Guaicapuro sounds like La Gaitana, heroes.
About Guaicapuro,

Arrasan en Caracas una estatua de Cristóbal Colón con 100 años de antigüedad

Hugo Chávez, rindió homenaje al cacique Guaicapuro, que encabezó un levantamiento antiespañol en el siglo XVI. Desde que hace tres años un decreto presidencial suprimiera el Día de la Raza, el 12 de octubre ha pasado a ser el Día de la Resistencia Indígena, en el que se rinde homenaje a la “autoafirmación americanista��?, según el propio Chávez.

El ex golpista aprovechó la jornada para exhortar a los iberoamericanos a que siguieran su ejemplo y dejasen de celebran el Día de la Raza, ya que a su entender el Descubrimiento desencadenó un “genocidio��? que se prolongó por espacio de 150






About Citgo

Looking for an easy way to protest Bush foreign policy week after week? And an easy way to help alleviate global poverty? Buy your gasoline at Citgo stations.

And tell your friends.

Of the top oil producing countries in the world, only one is a democracy with a president who was elected on a platform of using his nation's oil revenue to benefit the poor. The country is Venezuela. The President is Hugo Chavez. Call him "the Anti-Bush."

Citgo is a U.S. refining and marketing firm that is a wholly owned subsidiary of Venezuela's state-owned oil company. Money you pay to Citgo goes primarily to Venezuela — not Saudi Arabia or the Middle East. There are 14,000 Citgo gas stations in the US. (Click here to find one near you.) By buying your gasoline at Citgo, you are contributing to the billions of dollars that Venezuela's democratic government is using to provide health care, literacy and education, and subsidized food for the majority of Venezuelans.

Instead of using government to help the rich and the corporate, as Bush does, Chavez is using the resources and oil revenue of his government to help the poor in Venezuela. A country with so much oil wealth shouldn't have 60 percent of its people living in poverty, earning less than $2 per day. With a mass movement behind him, Chavez is confronting poverty in
Venezuela. That's why large majorities have consistently backed him in democratic elections. And why the Bush administration supported an attempted military coup in 2002 that sought to overthrow Chavez.

So this is the opposite of a boycott. Call it a BUYcott. Spread the word.

Of course, if you can take mass transit or bike or walk to your job, you should do so. And we should all work for political changes that move our country toward a cleaner environment based on renewable energy. The BUYcott is for those of us who don't have a practical alternative to filling up our cars.

So get your gas at Citgo. And help fuel a democratic revolution in Venezuela.



Venezuela Dictator Vows To Bring Down U.S. Government

Venezuela government is sole owner of Citgo Gasoline Company Venezuela Dictator Hugo Chavez has vowed to bring down the U.S. government. Chavez, president of Venezuela, told a TV audience: "Enough of imperialist aggression; we must tell the world: down with the U.S. empire. We have to bury imperialism this century."

(I really hate it when women get their panties all bunched up their butt, they can get so cranky!) Poor butt happy

0 funny, 0 helpful.

jh816 says on Jan 26, 2008, 05:27:

It's one thing to support a socialist system of government, it's another thing completely to support Hugo Chavez. Chavez is not the great socialist leader for which many adore him. Take a look at his past (when he was just learning how to hide his skeletons) and you'll see more hired killings of political competitors than most leaders. He is simply a powerful man that has learned how to use the poor and uneducated to gain more power. You don't have to shoot your mouth off and be the center of attention in world politics to feed your country's poor. He likes the attention. Is offending and fighting with the rest of the world helping Venezuela's export or tourism industry?

Having a socialist system of government doesn't mean being business-unfriendly and implementing economic/political policies that create food shortages and drive out foriegn direct investment. China and Vietnam are both experiencing economic booms because they are learning how to manage capitalism and communism.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

jh816 says on Jan 26, 2008, 05:31:

"That's why large majorities have consistently backed him in democratic elections"

Yeah, like the referendum he just lost where even the country's poor has started to desert him because of what his policies have brought.

Great leader of democracy. The day after he lost the referendum, he publically REPRIMANED the people for the results.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

aztec says on Jan 26, 2008, 06:12:

"Medellin Traveler says on Saturday January 26th, 2008 3:56: I HATE BUSH!"



Medellin have you considered what you are going to do for entertainment when Bush is no longer around for your cogent observations?

0 funny, 0 helpful.

Rob77 says on Jan 26, 2008, 07:04:

Yah sure, chavez is really helping his country~. Venezuela brings in so much money from oil, and yet, peopel wait in lines for hours to buy food. And he places troops at the border to make sure no venezuelan brings in food from Colombia. Sure, he really cares about the poor! He employs isolationist policies that benefit no one but his ego! In he meantime, he is one of the mos hypocritical politicians of our time, selling a large percentage of his oil to what he calls the Imperialists, and now even buying food from the US, since he has caused markets to run with empty shelves. Of course, he has plenty of money available to buy weapans and build arms factorys within venezuela! What a humanitarian! . . . Let the people eat guns!

Chavez is just looking for an excuse to initiate hostilties with Colombia on the border. He is gooing to do anything to distract Venezuelans from the fact the the country is an economic disaster, despite having billiones in oil revenue. Saddam Hussein complained for a long time about Kuwait before invading too. Now, with the FARCe slowly dying, both literally (marulanda and constant defections), he sees a military conflict as a way to support his communist jackals hiding in the Colombian jungles.

Just as Hussein planned on regaining ancient territory via Kuwait chavez wants the Gran Colombia back. But in his hands the entire northern portion of South America will turn into a state-owned, barren oil field, focusing on communist policies and leaving people to starve in food lines.

BOYCOTT CITGO!

BOYCOTT CITGO - CHAVEZ SUCKS!!!

0 funny, 0 helpful.

chester says on Jan 26, 2008, 07:31:

Chavez is a fool. even with all the money his government has at its disposal, he cannot even keep milk and bread on store shelves.

if he disrupts the world economy with threats to halt oil exports, then he will be smoked but quick.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

kalder says on Jan 26, 2008, 07:37:

LaC- The tone of your post suggests you think the anti-Chavez majority naive and credulous.

The same could be said for people who think that a politician's claim to be helping people is somehow the same as actually doing so...

If Castro (for example) gave a sh*t about the people, he'd give them the sodding vote.

Or is that me being naive?

"kalder- have you ever had a woman?"--Sam Salmon

0 funny, 0 helpful.

Dolfi says on Jan 28, 2008, 01:02:

Please give mi a hint; which country is buying the most of Venezuelas Petrol?

0 funny, 0 helpful.

la campiña says on Mar 16, 2008, 01:11:

open your minds, we all know its a game here and Chavez is a thorn in the side of the states, fukin great............. bush can not be allowed to control the world,... resist the suppressers, oil oil oil, plan colombia is not without repercussions

0 funny, 0 helpful.