Chavez actually named George W. Bush as his potential assassin on National television which was broadcast all around the world. I saw it last night on Univison. Bush is on NOTICE!



In spite of Bush, Chavez feels he’ll reach old age.


Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez said he will grow old in spite of any attempts by the United States to kill him, but nevertheless thanked Cuban president Fidel Castro for his friendly warning.

Chavez & Castro

“If Chavez is murdered, all the responsibility will be on the president of the United States and I’m warning world opinion about it”, said Fidel Castro during the closing Saturday of an international economists forum held in Havana.
“There are rumours, there’s information, but they won’t be successful, my good friend. Your will see that. I’ll grow old as you have. I can assure you I’ll reach old age”, said President Chavez addressing the warning from Fidel Castro.

Mr. Castro praised President Chavez for the “definite” roles he was playing in regional politics but was particularly concerned abut the security of his main ally and partner.

“I know what I’m talking about, because you must fight to preserve a life before they can get at you. We’re confronting an empire whose predilection is killing leaders”, emphasized Mr. Castro before warning of a possible attack on Mr. Chavez life from the current US administration of President George Bush.

Mr. Castro said that the US was “mad” with Venezuela and “if they can finish Chavez, they’ll finish him, because currently President Chavez is playing a vital role in Latinamerican politics”.

Mr. Castro who has been in power since 1959 revealed that since becoming a close ally of the now defunct Soviet Union he survived at least 100 attempts against his life by the several US administrations.

In his closing speech to the anti globalization economists’ forum in Havana Mr. Castro said “socialism” was well rooted in Cuba but is undergoing a “decisive stage” in Venezuela and therefore US attempts to eliminate President Chavez.

Last December Cuba and Venezuela signed an agreement exchanging oil for Cuban medical, dentist and educational assistance involving an estimated 20 to 30,000 doctors, dentists, teachers and sports coaches.

Incoming Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice described Cuba as a “stronghold of tyranny” and Venezuela as a regional “destabilizing force”.

----------

Venezuela only provides us with 17% of our OIL supply... what do you think will happen?

Chavez is getting flakier by the minute, IMO.

I wouldn't dismiss the possibility that the Administration would be harebrained enough to entertain assassinating Chavez. But I suspect this is more political on Chavez' part, this is a way of rallying support. Also if there are figures that he wants to eliminate, he could claim that he uncovered an American plot on his life and arrest people for collaboration.

As far as Rice's claim, well maybe. I'm no expert here, but despite the fact that I'm hardly a fan of Chavez, my hunch is that Chavez is doing less to destabilize Latin America than has been alleged. He may be meddling a bit in the civil war in Colombia, but I suspect that is not as big a problem as Uribe (President of Colombia) and others are claiming. It's so easy to claim that your troubles are being caused by foreigners. I'm not going to dismiss the allegations here either.

On spanish-language TV (CNN en espanol?) I saw Uribe and Chavez in a meeting, all smiles. Of course, they were probably hypocritical smiles.

Ah... I just LUV the DRAMA!

Lets all get paranoid, eh????????

I think that's already happened. (I emphasize the word "all".)

Please watch "Venezuela Bolivariana" on LinkTV. This gives a short (1&1/2 hrs) history of Chavez' rise to the Presidency. Well worth the time..........I was stunned by some of the revelations.

Chavez should continue to thoroughly vet his staff and bodyguards or he really will be assassinated. In the above film, there were quotes from his opponents fostering his death so the wealthy could take over the government again. During the last election he received 59% of the vote........more than Bush did in Nov.

Chavez' social reforms in health service and education are not appreciated by the Bush regime or by the rich citizens of his country or ours, because they aren't interested in helping ALL of the people, only themselves; sound familiar?????

Sometimes you feel like a nut
Sometimes you don't

ditto on the social reforms..

I think that in a perverse way Venezuela is cursed by having all that oil. One way in which Chavez is like his predecessors is that he is neglecting the economy on the theory that why should he worry, he has all that oil revenue. His predecessors were just corrupt. He is buying the support of the poor. At least the poor are getting some benefits, at least for a while. But Venezuela should develop other parts of their economy so that they are not so dependent upon oil, which means that they should be more careful with their money than they have been, and look to the future.

What's kind of ironic is that he seems to have made peace with the big oil companies. This is not a matter of mutual respect and admiration, it is a matter that both sides understand that they need to work with the other, now matter how much they loath each other.

I also like his anti-globalization stance too.

And isn't this really what a 'free-market' economy should be?????? The sellers and the buyers are free to sell and buy at a mutually advantageous pice?

If the megacorporations of the US and Europe don't want to reduce their profits by paying Chavez' price for oil, then he should be free to find other buyers who do.

I say, "More power to him!" Regardless of who his customers are. No other country, nor the megacorporations, have a right to dictate Venezuela's (or any other country's) economic policies. If his oil policy drives the price of gas up in this country, the demand may then go down, and those huge corporations just may have to lower the prices to keep their sales up. And if they make a little less net profit, so be it.

That's called capitalism, the law of supply and demand.

As far as Chavez "buying the support of the poor".........Bush 'buys' the support of the rich everytime he opens his mouth. What's the difference?

Also, Chavez is apparently helping his citizens prepare for expanding the economy and perhaps diverging from oil revenues. He's established health and education programs. Without education and health, a village, a town, a state and a country will always belong in the third world. This fact seems to have eluded the Republicans.

Hehehheee, grammydidi, SOCK-A-TO-EM!

Health and education programs are important. So is making a country a good place to do business other than extracting oil. It's not so clear that he is doing that. (I certainly don't think that Venezuela shouldn't charge what the market will bear for oil. Why give gifts to the big oil companies?) My big worry is that he is trying to augment his power at the expense of other institutions of society, to put everything under his thumb. He seems to view himself as indispensable, historically a dangerous attitude on the part of a strong political leader in Latin America. He may not be quite the bogeyman that the Bushies are painting him, but just because he hates Bush doesn't mean that he's on balance a good guy.

Well,as somebody once said, "There's an old saying in Tennessee — I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again."

So Hugo Chavez, the elected president of the people of Venezuela, was briefly overthrown by Pedro Carmona, in a CIA sponsored "coup" which they were only able to maintain for 48 hours. What the coup leaders hadn't counted on was the sheer determination of the Venezuelan people to rise up and defend their democracy against a dangerous, fascist attitude - covertly and unscrupulously played out by the United States over the years in numerous countries around the world - that ignores
and would contemptuously trample on the will of the majority for the benefit
of big business and the wealthy few.

Chavez's ultimate crime was that of being an independent thinker whose, some
might argue "misguided," measures undertaken in trying to revise flawed,
inequitable domestic policies had somehow become "unacceptable" to
Washington. Translated that means, he dared to place the interests of his
own impoverished people over and above the corporate, money-making interests
of the United States.

Can't fool him again.

What's Going On
Marvin Gaye

Mother, mother, there's too many of you crying
Brother, brother, brother, there's far too many of you dying
You know we'ver got to find a way
To bring some lovin' here today, hey

Father, father, we don't need to escalate
War is not the answer, for only love can conquer hate
You know we've got to find a way
To bring some lovin' here today

CHORUS #1:
Picket lines and picket signs
Don't punish me with brutality
Talk to me, so you can see
Oh what's going on, what's going on
Yeah, what's going on, ah, what's going on
Ahhh....

Mother, mother, everybody thinks we're wrong
Ah but who are they to judge us
Simply 'cos our hair is long
Ah you know we'ver got to find a way
To brind some understanding here today

CHORUS #2:
Picket lines and picket signs
Don't punish me with brutality
Talk to me, so you can see
What's going on, yeah what's going on
Tell me what's going on, I'll tell you what's going on