Chavez Remaking Venezuela

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Cross posted at Say Anything: Reader blogs.


I nearly blew a gasket recently when I saw buttons for sale at a local crafts fair that read, "Boycott Exxon Mobil. Buy Citgo." Yes, that Citgo. The state owned oil company of Venezuela, cash cow of the ever so charming Hugo Chavez. Apparently some people have yet to catch on that the want to be dictator for life is not a nice man.

I'm sure that the same people who think that we should support Citgo (and Chavez) will have no problem with this:
Sunday, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez rolled his country's clocks back by 30 minutes, in a move he says will give early-rising schoolchildren more daylight. The change is the latest in Chavez's efforts to revamp the country, which he has renamed the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. Chavez also redesigned the flag; he is set to launch a new currency next year.

This from a man who lost an election last week and said that he had reached too far in trying to set himself up as dictator for life. Chavez planning to over turn the recent election results is just about what we've come to expect.

Comments

  1. AnonymousDecember 14, 2007 5:07 AM

    I think his support comes from people who see deep poverty, are more shocked by the level of 3rd world poverty than they realized; and think that anyone who says they want to help the poor must be a good person. What they can't or won't grasp is that cult of personality figures like this merely entrench the poverty cycles that they claim to want to end.
    Plus, since people tend to have limited attention spans, they like thinking that one leader or program or ideology once pronounced will solve the worlds' problems.
    I am completely baffled as to why certain western celebs idealize Chavez.

    ReplyDelete

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