...no more lies..."In his statement which was made on Venezuelan TV Maduro, he blamed the U.S. for the cancer of the Venezuelan leader, claiming that the president suffered from the cancer of 'enemies' and expelled two U.S. diplomats whom he accused of spying on the country’s military." [Link]
"Maduro asserted that there is "scientific evidence" that Hugo Chavez was inoculated with cancer by "historical enemies" of the Bolivarian Revolution." [Link]. [edit] FFS. There will be blood.
Updates: Now for the reckoning: "Yet Mr Chávez turned out to have been as reckless with his health as with his country’s economy and its democracy." Oppresive Autocrat: "Lost in the parallel strains of adulation and disgust was an appreciation of the complexity of his rule. In fact, Venezuela under Chávez was a glorious contradiction -- an autocracy with a popular, elected megalomaniac at its center." An Awful Manager: "The legacy of his 14-year “socialist revolution” is apparent across Venezuela: the decay, dysfunction and blight that afflict the economy and every state institution". Dead but Alive: "And now, Chávez’s hand-picked successor is telling the man’s grieving followers that we — those who disagree with him — are responsible for the illness that took his life.". This last (and hat-tip for other links) from Francisco at Caracas Chronicles.
Further Update: A Clown Masquerading As A Threat. "In truth, Chavez was vastly over-estimated by Washington. Listening to bone-headed Republicans you could have been forgiven for supposing this bullshitting caudillo was a Latin American Stalin" (by coincidence, Uncle Joe the mass murderer also died on March 5th exactly [edit] 60 years before [fwiw, I think Chavez was dead days before])... ..."Chavez was a bully and a crackpot. Lamenting his demise is a fool’s business. The better response would be to pity Venezuela and hope, though the odds do not seem promising, that something better will follow now the great charlatan has gone."
More: The Ghost of Hugo Chávez, "How his economically disastrous, politically effective ideology will haunt the country he ruined." Thus, the regime’s electoral wizards engineered gerrymandering schemes that made anything attempted in the American South look like child’s play. Chávez’s campaign coffers were fed by opaque slush funds holding billions in oil revenue. The government’s media dominance drowned out the opposition. Politicians who appeared formidable were simply banned from running for office. And the ruling party became expert in using fear and selective intimidation to tamp down the vote. Chávez took a populist message and married it to an autocratic scheme that allowed him to consolidate power. The net effect over Chávez’s years was a paradoxical one: With each election Venezuela lost more of its democracy.
And More: Chavez isn't leaving Venezuela's as a full on economic basket case. But...[Link]
4 comments:
"A majority of Venezuelans may eventually come to see that Mr Chávez squandered an extraordinary opportunity for his country, to use an unprecedented oil boom to equip it with world-class infrastructure and to provide the best education and health services money can buy. But this lesson will come the hard way, and there is no guarantee that it will be learned."
Oh, that sounds horribly familiar doesn't it? As I commented before on one of your Krusty posts they whole story is horribly like China - although the quote above is like the UK under Brown.
A good post with some real thought provoking links. Is this the end of an era for you or just the beginning?
Thanks Paul, I really hope it is just the beginning (as per my latest update). As no doubt I have often said, Venezuela has the potential to be the best place in the world, hyperbole aside.
...now as per my penultimate update!
Already did that Raquel. Gracias.
Post a Comment