Forget Chavez's oppression of freedom of speech, Bush invaded Iraq!

[Delfos]

well, this is supposed to be Chavez vs Bush, but bring whatever you want.

[The Empire]

I know too little about Venezuela to make any such statement, All I know is that it's a poor south american nation with lots of undeveloped resources ant that's not particularily stable, just like most Spanish, Portuguese and Dutch ex-colonies.

[Of Crazed]

well, this is supposed to be Chavez vs Bush, but bring whatever you want.

The I will vote abstain.

[Delfos]

maybe poor comparing to USA, i guess Venezuela is richer than Portugal. Don't forget there's alot of oil exploration in Venezuela. I don't know what's the standings between Venezuela and USA, but Venezuela is not that poor.

[LLANYDERN]

America is pissed at Venezuela because they are run by a moderately left wing popular government that was elected and won't do what the US tells them (such as nationalizing oil to pay for improved welfare for the poor).

Seriously what Chavez has done is less extreme then what the labour government after the war did here in Britain.

The government has refused to renew the license of a TV station that when there was a coop attempt to oust the elected government, interviewed leading members of the coop, said that government supporters were shooting opposition supporters (which they weren't) and then to top it all read out a fake letter of resignation which they claimed was Chavez stepping down.  Now if this happened in the US or in Britain the people running the station would probably have been arrested for treason and the station closed down on the spot.

No trials have happened because:
A. large parts of the old regime are still in power (in the courts, police, army) so there is a reasonable chance they could get off anyway.
B. Chavez is afraid of sparking a reaction from either the right or the left, he doesn't want to cause confrontation between the two as there are two end positions, either the poor and the workers carry the revolution further leaving Mencheviks like Chavez behind or the right crushes the government and their supporters like they did in chile in the 70's

[The Empire]

ANd just like in Chile, the Venezuelan right wing would probably not have too much problems in getting US support from the CIA or even regular special forces.

[LLANYDERN]

well if it worked for pinnochet and saddam why not them....

[Delfos]

lol we're getting somewhere now :p

[New History lovers]

Bush is violating the Constitution, no more, no less.

Also, while Chavez has successfully portrayed himself as a socialist, please note that the Socialist International Alliance, the union of many socialist parties, endorsed his OPPONENT in the last election, and threw him out of the Alliance for simply taking all the money from white rich people and giving it to Mestizo rich people.

[Delfos]

they say the Portuguese community in Venezuela is safe, so I'm quite pleased.

[LLANYDERN]

he is a kind of socialist, the problem being he's a menchavik at best

[kor]

Delfos, Venezuela is actually poorer than Portugal. Venezuela is ranked 52nd in the world for GDP, and Portugal is ranked 34th in the world. Venezuela does have a larger GDP growth, but inflation is way up there at 20.4%. Venezuela also suffers from 39% of it's people below the poverty line!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Venezuela


Here is Portugal to compare: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Portugal

[St Oz]

I love Venezuela! This is why I only buy gas from 7/11 because 7/11 uses Venezuelan gas!!! Freakin' Sweet!

[LLANYDERN]

Of course the main reason the Americans are freaking out is due to the fact that they get over 2/3rds of their oil from Venezuela

[Delfos]

bingo!