There are always marked differences of opinion on people like Hugo and Castro. You have to wonder, why is it like that? To me, it is the difference between the people who follow and believe every ridiculous statement their media/government tells them, and people who can actually analyze facts and think for themselves.

Very true for those on both sides of the coin. Ching, ching?

There are always marked differences of opinion on people like Hugo and Castro. You have to wonder, why is it like that? To me, it is the difference between the people who follow and believe every ridiculous statement their media/government tells them, and people who can actually analyze facts and think for themselves.

In Hugo's sake I just look at his friends in Syria, Libya, Iran, and North Korea and that's enough info for me ...

How did you see this in his sake? Is it an alternative to crystal-ball fortune-telling?

OK, I'll get my hat and head for the door.....(just couldn't resist jumping on an ambiguity, there).

"Chávez's Hand-Picked Successor Is Already Ignoring the Constitution"

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2013/03/06/venezuelan_constitution_vp_nicolas_maduro_named_interim_leader_in_conflict.html

Not a great sign for Venezuela going forward

'Vice President Maduro, Chavez's chosen successor declared himself the county's interim President, despite a constitutional provision designating the leader of the National Assembly, Diosdado Cabello for the role'. Which is a lie. The constitution specifies that the Vice President succeeds if the President dies after inauguration, while the Speaker succeeds if the President dies beforehand. Venezuela's supreme court had already ruled that Chavez's last term was inaugurated in January. Cabello would only have been interim President if Chavez had died before that date. The article is rubbish like so much of the Western MSM coverage of Chavez's death, in an attempt to rubbish his achievements on behalf of the poor in Venezuela. Attempting to help the poor in society is complete anathema to Western Governments and their adherents, their priorities are the exact opposite, and any Government which has a policy that tries to achieve this must be systematically undermined. Hence the silly name calling, Dictator, Despot etc. Never mind that Chavez won internationally observed free and fair elections with turnouts and majorities that Western leaders can only dream of. Chavez's preferred successor will win the next election hands down, despite the CIA funding the opposition. They will fail, just as they did in the military coup attempt they instigated in 2002. Chavez was once asked whether he preferred enemies who hated him because they knew what he was doing, or those who frothed and foamed out of ignorance. The former was preferable, he said, because they made him feel he was on the right track. Chavez offered a political programme that challenged the Washington consensus of privatization and deregulation at home, and wars abroad. This is the main reason for the vilification. But the bottom line is this, which no amount of black propaganda and disinformation by his enemies will alter. Dictators and despots do not get repeatedly re elected by their people in internationally observed free and fair elections.

As expected, Ahmadinejad is coming and Fidel can't come. Washington is trying to throw a bone for better relations by sending some congresspeople and state department officials.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was one of several world leaders

en route to Caracas on Thursday to attend Chavez’s services. “No doubt

Chavez will return to Earth together with Jesus and the perfect” Imam

Mahdi (the most revered figure of Shiite Muslims), Ahmadinejad said

following Chavez’s death.

Oy vey, comparing Chavez to Jesus.

Chavez's last words. Very human. Not too Jesus-like I reckon:

>

“I don't want to die. Please don't let me die.”

Are you aware that Chavez was the champion of gays and lesbians in Venezuela, while in Israel, homophobia is rampant? There have always been rumours that Chavez himself was gay, just google.

In this case and with many others like Saddam Hussein, Chez Guevara et al, respect for the dead does not equate.

That depends who is looking at it.

Many in Iraq believe they were much better off when Saddam was in power, and look at Egypt now.

Chavez, was not liked by the West and made friends with the worst, but he did look after his people

Chávez was highly controversial and divisive, as a figure, both at home and abroad, having insulted other world leaders and compared U.S. president George W Bush to a donkey and called him the devil. I would have to agree with him on that point.

Are you aware that Chavez was the champion of gays and lesbians in Venezuela, while in Israel, homophobia is rampant? There have always been rumours that Chavez himself was gay, just google.

That's ridiculous.

http://www.queerty.com/in-venezuela-hugo-chavezs-administration-lashes-out-at-opposition-with-homophobic-slurs-20130304/

http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=79105

Since then one has been able to see graffiti all through the streets

highlighting the gayness of this opposition figure vis-à-vis the

idealized virility of President Chavez.

Seems like the funeral would be another good time for a drone strike.

Seems like the funeral would be another good time for a drone strike.

Interesting. The unpronounceable one from Tehran will be in town. Hmmm.

"Chávez's Hand-Picked Successor Is Already Ignoring the Constitution"

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2013/03/06/venezuelan_constitution_vp_nicolas_maduro_named_interim_leader_in_conflict.html

Not a great sign for Venezuela going forward

'Vice President Maduro, Chavez's chosen successor declared himself the county's interim President, despite a constitutional provision designating the leader of the National Assembly, Diosdado Cabello for the role'. Which is a lie. The constitution specifies that the Vice President succeeds if the President dies after inauguration, while the Speaker succeeds if the President dies beforehand. Venezuela's supreme court had already ruled that Chavez's last term was inaugurated in January. Cabello would only have been interim President if Chavez had died before that date. The article is rubbish like so much of the Western MSM coverage of Chavez's death, in an attempt to rubbish his achievements on behalf of the poor in Venezuela. Attempting to help the poor in society is complete anathema to Western Governments and their adherents, their priorities are the exact opposite, and any Government which has a policy that tries to achieve this must be systematically undermined. Hence the silly name calling, Dictator, Despot etc. Never mind that Chavez won internationally observed free and fair elections with turnouts and majorities that Western leaders can only dream of. Chavez's preferred successor will win the next election hands down, despite the CIA funding the opposition. They will fail, just as they did in the military coup attempt they instigated in 2002. Chavez was once asked whether he preferred enemies who hated him because they knew what he was doing, or those who frothed and foamed out of ignorance. The former was preferable, he said, because they made him feel he was on the right track. Chavez offered a political programme that challenged the Washington consensus of privatization and deregulation at home, and wars abroad. This is the main reason for the vilification. But the bottom line is this, which no amount of black propaganda and disinformation by his enemies will alter. Dictators and despots do not get repeatedly re elected by their people in internationally observed free and fair elections.

So true but will fall on deaf ears to the brainwashed on here.

One thing when it comes to dictators of any kind is that people only see the bad, which is natural. HOWEVER to be a dictator of a country and rule it for as long as he has, one has to be a very very very smart man.

"Dictator"? Democratically elected numerous times does not a dictator make!

One cannot be "democratically elected" when there is no free press and political opponents are locked up.

Then again, this democratically elected leader also removed term limits to keep himself in power.

Absolutely wrong on all your points.

As expected, Ahmadinejad is coming and Fidel can't come. Washington is trying to throw a bone for better relations by sending some congresspeople and state department officials.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was one of several world leaders

en route to Caracas on Thursday to attend Chavez’s services. “No doubt

Chavez will return to Earth together with Jesus and the perfect” Imam

Mahdi (the most revered figure of Shiite Muslims), Ahmadinejad said

following Chavez’s death.

Oy vey, comparing Chavez to Jesus.

Chavez's last words. Very human. Not too Jesus-like I reckon:

>

“I don't want to die. Please don't let me die.&

rdquo;

Are you aware that Chavez was the champion of gays and lesbians in Venezuela, while in Israel, homophobia is rampant? There have always been rumours that Chavez himself was gay, just google.

So what?

Off-topic posts and replies have been deleted. When you are done posting your opinion and have exhausted your knowledge on the subject of Mr. Chavez, you are welcome to stop posting.

Inflammatory remarks directed at other posters will not be tolerated.

"Venezuela’s President is dead, but most of the tears are coming from the American left …When Hugo Chavez died of cancer Tuesday, Sean Penn and Oliver Stone hailed him as a great friend and hero. Jimmy Carter and New York Rep. Jose Serrano lauded his concern for the poor. And the US media called him “colorful,” “charismatic” and “populist.” Well, I hate to speak ill of the dead, but sorry: Chavez was a dictatorial socialist nutjob who ranted against America; buddied up to Castro, Ahmadinejad and Assad; terrorized opponents, nationalized industries and crushed freedom of the press. His apologists say his people elected him. But who’d dare vote against a dictator who controls the voting machines? He reportedly left a $2 billion estate, about the same as the Castros. Good socialist dictators always share the wealth by giving themselves first cut. Many Venezuelans are sad, but one told the Miami Herald that he hopes Chavez will be remembered not for what the media writes, but as: “a sadistic, demonic, oppressor of the Venezuelan people." Let’s find THAT man a job writing for the media. "

Source: MikeHuckabee.com

I am not a fan and wish very much the Chavez lackey loses the election (and that they even have an election), but I see nothing wrong with saying he showed concern for the poor. There is some truth to that, even if it was done cynically to increase popular support for his authoritarian rule.

"Venezuela’s President is dead, but most of the tears are coming from the American left …When Hugo Chavez died of cancer Tuesday, Sean Penn and Oliver Stone hailed him as a great friend and hero. Jimmy Carter and New York Rep. Jose Serrano lauded his concern for the poor. And the US media called him “colorful,” “charismatic” and “populist.” Well, I hate to speak ill of the dead, but sorry: Chavez was a dictatorial socialist nutjob who ranted against America; buddied up to Castro, Ahmadinejad and Assad; terrorized opponents, nationalized industries and crushed freedom of the press. His apologists say his people elected him. But who’d dare vote against a dictator who controls the voting machines? He reportedly left a $2 billion estate, about the same as the Castros. Good socialist dictators always share the wealth by giving themselves first cut. Many Venezuelans are sad, but one told the Miami Herald that he hopes Chavez will be remembered not for what the media writes, but as: “a sadistic, demonic, oppressor of the Venezuelan people." Let’s find THAT man a job writing for the media. "

Source: MikeHuckabee.com

Mike Huckabee!!! Oh dear. Oh deary deary me!

I am not a fan and wish very much the Chavez lackey loses the election (and that they even have an election), but I see nothing wrong with saying he showed concern for the poor. There is some truth to that, even if it was done cynically to increase popular support for his authoritarian rule.

I understand you are not a fan JT, but like so many you are ignoring the elephant in the room. Chavez was repeatedly re elected by his people in internationally observed free and fair elections. Does that sound like a despot or a dictator? I know this goes against the grain to most Americans, but Chavez WAS loved by the masses in Venezuela. America is all for democracy just as long as it produces the governments they approve of, and which suits their interests. I find it puzzling that the US will demonize politicians who are democratically elected by their people, ie Chavez, and cozy up to the real dictators and despots of this world, ie, the Saudi royal family. It is clear hypocrisy. To understand the appeal of Chavez people need to understand what was there before him. The elite in Venezuela who used to be in charge, (like the ones who fled to Miami with their ill gotten gains and give interviews to Mike Huckabee), are notoriously racist. They regard the elected president of their country as uncouth and uncivilised, a sub human of mixed blood who could not be trusted. His supporters were portrayed on private TV network as monkeys. Colin Powell had to publicly reprimand the US embassy in Caracas for hosting a party where Chavez was portrayed as a gorilla. Another reason the elite minority hated him is because he said, 'you must pay your taxes', something they avoided doing before. And on the day of the man's funeral to see people calling for drone strikes, well, they need to have a long hard look at themselves and ask why their own country is hated by so much of the world. They have no common decency. They put me in mind of that crazy American preacher, i forget his name, Fred something or other, who stands outside churches hurling abuse at the funerals of gay people. As for all the wild talk about Chavez's wealth, figures are being plucked out of the air like some crazy auction,but nobody really knows or has any evidence or facts to support the figures. It's just another tactic to try and discredit him. It's called propaganda or misinformation. Here's another one for you JT. Barack Obama isn't qualified to be President of the USA because he wasn't born there!

Chavez is dead. He's not going to win any new fans at this point. BTW, his corpse will be on permanent display. What an ego!

No matter the personal benefits acquired by Chavez by way of power & money you have to acknowledge it was not all one sided with achievements a damn sight better than many governments. A quote from the left leaning Independent in the UK. Source:

http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/hugo-chavez-was-a-democrat-not-a-dictator-and-showed-a-progressive-alternative-to-neoliberalism-is-both-possible-and-popular-8522329.html

Poverty has fallen from nearly half to 27.8 per cent, while absolute poverty has been more than halved. Six million children receive free meals a day; near-universal free health care has been established; and education spending has doubled as a proportion of GDP. A housing programme launched in 2011 built over 350,000 homes, bringing hundreds of thousands of families out of sub-standard housing in the barrios.

It's unclear to me that it was the wish of Chavez to be embalmed and displayed, is this true or a dictate of government?

^^^^^,

wonder how many of the Latino/Hispanic voters in the good old US of A would have voted for "El Comandante" had he been running in the race for the White House.

Some of the figures mentioned above must piss off the neo liberals in America, can Obama match these numbers?

As mentioned in post #136, many choose to overlook the state the country was in before Chavez came to power.

Off-topic posts and replies deleted.

There are always marked differences of opinion on people like Hugo and Castro. You have to wonder, why is it like that? To me, it is the difference between the people who follow and believe every ridiculous statement their media/government tells them, and people who can actually analyze facts and think for themselves.

there is a lot of absurd propaganda on both sides of the Chavez story.

"Venezuela’s President is dead, but most of the tears are coming from the American left …When Hugo Chavez died of cancer Tuesday, Sean Penn and Oliver Stone hailed him as a great friend and hero. Jimmy Carter and New York Rep. Jose Serrano lauded his concern for the poor. And the US media called him “colorful,” “charismatic” and “populist.” Well, I hate to speak ill of the dead, but sorry: Chavez was a dictatorial socialist nutjob who ranted against America; buddied up to Castro, Ahmadinejad and Assad; terrorized opponents, nationalized industries and crushed freedom of the press. His apologists say his people elected him. But who’d dare vote against a dictator who controls the voting machines? He reportedly left a $2 billion estate, about the same as the Castros. Good socialist dictators always share the wealth by giving themselves first cut. Many Venezuelans are sad, but one told the Miami Herald that he hopes Chavez will be remembered not for what the media writes, but as: “a sadistic, demonic, oppressor of the Venezuelan people." Let’s find THAT man a job writing for the media. "

Source: MikeHuckabee.com

Yeah, let's just compare Chavez with a buddy of Huckabee's, Berlusconi. Prime minister of Italy for more than ten years. The richest man of the country, the man with the by far highest influence on the media, and political leader all in one. Mussolini the fascist would have envied him. From every tax cut he implemented he profited himself the most. Italy's economy is a holy mess after Berlusconi. His wealth grew by many billions. Strange, no complaints out of the US about this utter corruption of a democracy. Berlusconi wasn't anti-American, all the difference. Berlusconi might be the only person alive who could get away with having sex with at least one underage girl, and there was no media outrage. Probably not even an issue in the US media.

"Venezuela’s President is dead, but most of the tears are coming from the American left …When Hugo Chavez died of cancer Tuesday, Sean Penn and Oliver Stone hailed him as a great friend and hero. Jimmy Carter and New York Rep. Jose Serrano lauded his concern for the poor. And the US media called him “colorful,” “charismatic” and “populist.” Well, I hate to speak ill of the dead, but sorry: Chavez was a dictatorial socialist nutjob who ranted against America; buddied up to Castro, Ahmadinejad and Assad; terrorized opponents, nationalized industries and crushed freedom of the press. His apologists say his people elected him. But who’d dare vote against a dictator who controls the voting machines? He reportedly left a $2 billion estate, about the same as the Castros. Good socialist dictators always share the wealth by giving themselves first cut. Many Venezuelans are sad, but one told the Miami Herald that he hopes Chavez will be remembered not for what the media writes, but as: “a sadistic, demonic, oppressor of the Venezuelan people." Let’s find THAT man a job writing for the media. "

Source: MikeHuckabee.com

Yeah, let's just compare Chavez with a buddy of Huckabee's, Berlusconi. Prime minister of Italy for more than ten years. The richest man of the country, the man with the by far highest influence on the media, and political leader all in one. Mussolini the fascist would have envied him. From every tax cut he implemented he profited himself the most. Italy's economy is a holy mess after Berlusconi. His wealth grew by many billions. Strange, no complaints out of the US about this utter corruption of a democracy. Berlusconi wasn't anti-American, all the difference. Berlusconi might be the only person alive who could get away with having sex with at least one underage girl, and there was no media outrage. Probably not even an issue in the US media.

So this is a thread about Chavez and the Italian PM having sex with an under age girl is the fault of the USA?

"Venezuela’s President is dead, but most of the tears are coming from the American left …When Hugo Chavez died of cancer Tuesday, Sean Penn and Oliver Stone hailed him as a great friend and hero. Jimmy Carter and New York Rep. Jose Serrano lauded his concern for the poor. And the US media called him “colorful,” “charismatic” and “populist.” Well, I hate to speak ill of the dead, but sorry: Chavez was a dictatorial socialist nutjob who ranted against America; buddied up to Castro, Ahmadinejad and Assad; terrorized opponents, nationalized industries and crushed freedom of the press. His apologists say his people elected him. But who’d dare vote against a dictator who controls the voting machines? He reportedly left a $2 billion estate, about the same as the Castros. Good socialist dictators always share the wealth by giving themselves first cut. Many Venezuelans are sad, but one told the Miami Herald that he hopes Chavez will be remembered not for what the media writes, but as: “a sadistic, demonic, oppressor of the Venezuelan people." Let’s find THAT man a job writing for the media. "

Source: MikeHuckabee.com

Yeah, let's just compare Chavez with a buddy of Huckabee's, Berlusconi. Prime minister of Italy for more than ten years. The richest man of the country, the man with the by far highest influence on the media, and political leader all in one. Mussolini the fascist would have envied him. From every tax cut he implemented he profited himself the most. Italy's economy is a holy mess after Berlusconi. His wealth grew by many billions. Strange, no complaints out of the US about this utter corruption of a democracy. Berlusconi wasn't anti-American, all the difference. Berlusconi might be the only person alive who could get away with having sex with at least one underage girl, and there was no media outrage. Probably not even an issue in the US media.

So this is a thread about Chavez and the Italian PM having sex with an under age girl is the fault of the USA?

Some people hate the US so much they will go to any lengths to throw rumors around and see what sticks.

I'm curious how the poster claims to know who Huckabee's buddies are. Any comments on that?

Here's a nice docu on the hypocrisy and arrogance with which the US deals with the 'back yard'. Contains many interviews with Chavez, exposes the war the US media waged on him, and how the US was involved in the coup against him.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdUwkxhsjKk

John Pilger???

Now there's an unbiased viewpoint that merits wasting over an hour of my life on.

Spanish Language post removed, it's against forum rules.

...and Huckabee's buddy list is posted where, again?

Some more on the Chavez post-mortem:

The death of Hugo Chávez, followed by his elaborate funeral, has unleashed a wave of political idiocy, and thus of disinformation, of a magnitude not seen in some time.

...

May Chávez the man rest in peace.

But to pretend that the overall record of Chavezism has been positive is an insult to the Venezuelan people.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/03/12/bernard-henri-levy-on-the-idiotic-posthumous-cult-of-hugo-chavez.html

Some fallout from the funeral....

Iranian clerics accuse President of sacrilege

12 March 2013 - 3:11pm

Iranian clerics are accusing President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of sacrilege. At the funeral of Hugo Chavez, Ahmadinejad hugged Chavez' mother.

Touching a woman one is not related to is considered a sin in Islam.

According to the spiritual leader of Isfahan, Iran's second largest city, the president 'has lost control' and his behaviour was inappropriate for a statesman.