Hugo

[samizdat]

Chavez Training Terrorists, Authors Say Monday, January 12, 2009 6:52 PM By: Phil Brennan Article Font Size Doug Schoen and Michael Rowan, both long-time observers of Venezuelan politics, have written a blockbuster expose of the anti-American agenda of that nation’s President Hugo Chavez. In their book, “The Threat Closer to Home: Hugo Chavez and the War Against America” (Free Press), the authors make it clear that Chavez poses a real threat to the United States through his country's sponsorship of terrorists. [Editor's Note: Get Doug Schoen’s new book, “The Threat Closer to Home: Hugo Chavez and the War Against America” — Go Here Now.] In an exclusive interview with Newsmax, Schoen explains why this clear and present threat to this nation’s interests and security has largely gone unnoticed. “Arguments that should have been made a long time ago, and for a variety of reasons — Chavez is a clown, he’s been anti-Bush, is currying favor with a massive PR campaign in the West, particularly among liberals — he's managed to operate under the radar with a lot of his nefarious activities,” Schoen tells Newsmax. Schoen ominously adds, “He is an avowed supporter of Hamas. He says what Israel is doing is a Holocaust. He says that Hamas is welcome anytime in Caracas. He is training Hezbollah's fighters in Venezuela. "Just this week, the Turks interdicted a shipment of what they believe were explosives, but were called tractor parts, that were heading from Tehran to Caracas. This is just a random week in the life of Hugo Chavez and look what's going on.” Newsmax: In the book you stress how Chavez has been able to use huge oil revenues to promote his anti-American agenda. Now that the price of oil has plummeted, won’t this somewhat cripple his efforts? Schoen: This is a man who first and foremost puts his militaristic and expansionist and aggressive tendencies first. While it's certainly going to hurt him, I think it is only going to make him more authoritarian and aggressive. He is still buying Russian arms and he is still supporting anti-American interests around the world. Newsmax: Won't the loss of revenues have an effect on his relationships with his bought-and-paid-for allies? Schoen: There will be less money available to do that for sure. But I don't think he's going to cut back doing it in any way. For example, this week Chavez was going to cut off low-cost oil to Kennedy's Citizen Energy program in Massachusetts. But he got a little bad press, so he's going to keep doing it because it gives him political cover — and that gets him the Kennedy family supporting his activities. It's been completely cynical, because it's not as if he had any commitment to poor people in the United States. It is just his way of saying, Look, I can do good things. Newsmax: Talking about his commitment to poor people, a lot of his own people's loyalty has been bought with his oil revenues. Will not that be affected? Schoen: I think it will when he substitutes intimidation for blandishments. There have been more than a few opponents of the state who have been either economically hurt or imprisoned. I think that what this means is he is going to just clamp down harder and be more aggressive. Newsmax: Isn't there a growing opposition to Chavez in Venezuela? Schoen: There is, and I've worked with it over the years. The problem is that it is not organized. It is not cohesive, and he buys it off, he threatens it, he intimidates it, and he will cheat in counting the votes. A combination of those factors makes it very difficult for an organized coherent opposition to exist. In the case of the Philippines with Marcos, or Serbia with Milosevic, we worked directly with the opposition . . . We haven’t engaged directly with the opposition in Venezuela, and we should. It's just not an organized and disciplined counterforce to Chavez. Newsmax: Does he now have complete control over the military, which in the beginning was very much opposed to him? Schoen: Absolutely. [After Chavez instituted] the referendum on extending term limits two Decembers ago, the military came to him and said, "Hugo, you're not going to steal this one, too." And so they let him say that it was a 51-49 defeat and that he had just narrowly missed. But he didn't narrowly miss. The vote was like 60-40 or 65-35 against him. But the deal he made with the military was, We'll let you appear to have a close vote as long as you back off being president for life. Newsmax: In short, you don’t think there is any chance he’s going to be overthrown? Schoen: No. He is going to have another referendum next month on extending term limits. I think he's going to try to cheat if he can get away with it. Newsmax: How should the United States deal with the Chavez threat? Schoen: First, I think that Venezuela must be declared a state sponsor of terrorism . . . [Chavez] supports terror, supports Hezbollah, Hamas, has said nice things about al-Qaida, and is in alliance with Iran . . . We should also break our dependence on foreign oil generally, and particularly, on his oil. And we need to have a Marshall plan for Latin America, where we engaged economically and democratically, with opposition groups who support our values. Newsmax: What are his connections with Iran? Schoen: Chavez has made seven trips to Tehran, and [President Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad has made five or six trips to Caracas. There's no reason for those countries to be engaging, other than to oppose the United States. Newsmax: Given our current economic situation, do you see any possibility he will attempt to further cripple our economy? Schoen: He's made it very clear he wants to hurt the United States, and one of the practical things he's done is try to get OPEC to cut production so that oil prices could rise. He's also tried to get OPEC off the dollar standard onto a euro standard to undermine the American dollar. The facts in this case paint a picture of a man who is chillingly and dangerously threatening our interests in many ways. This is a problem of very, very serious proportions that has not been seriously addressed

[Malsua]

>>Chavez Training Terrorists<<


Is this satire? I thought it was common knowledge that he was doing this.

[samizdat]

Nah- this is an interesting portion-

Newsmax: Does he now have complete control over the military, which in the beginning was very much opposed to him?

Schoen: Absolutely. [After Chavez instituted] the referendum on extending term limits two Decembers ago, the military came to him and said, "Hugo, you're not going to steal this one, too." And so they let him say that it was a 51-49 defeat and that he had just narrowly missed. But he didn't narrowly miss. The vote was like 60-40 or 65-35 against him. But the deal he made with the military was, We'll let you appear to have a close vote as long as you back off being president for life.

Also I thought he and Venezuela merit (not deserve) a thread. Oil and world economy down spells war. Nigerian, Saudi and Venezuelan oil are shaky. If these three fall off the empire states suppliers list- who is left?

[samizdat]

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5832390545689805144

[samizdat]

Venezuela-Iran Terror Network Growing in Latin America

Thursday, January 29, 2009 12:54 PM By: Tim Collie Article Font Size

Iran is increasing its military and espionage presence rapidly throughout Latin America, according to U.S. and Israeli officials, turning the region into a major base for terrorism and subversion. The disturbing trend has been building for several years and has deep roots in a presence that Hezbollah, Hamas, and other terrorist groups have had in South America for at least two decades, experts say. Now, though, it’s becoming quite open, with Iran using its consulates to erect front companies for smuggling and forging strong ties with an emerging anti-American coalition led by Venezuela and including leftist regimes in Cuba, Ecuador, Nicaragua, and Bolivia. Using ties to drug cartels and insurgent movements like the FARC, a formidable guerrilla and narcotics trafficking group based in Colombia, Iran has forged a smuggling network for small arms, missiles, drugs and perhaps, nuclear and biological weapons, according to some experts. The alarm generated by the network is prompting military and intelligence officials in several countries to speak out. Consider: On Tuesday, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates accused Iran of "subversive activity" in Latin America that dwarfs any threat posed by Russia, a former Cold War enemy plagued by an aging, decrepit military. On Wednesday, Israel expelled Venezuela's envoys in Tel Aviv in response to their country's severing of relations with Israel over its war in Gaza. Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez, aligning himself with Hamas, has called Israel’s leaders “war criminals.” He’s even labeled U.S. ally Colombia, another perceived enemy, as “Latin America’s Israel.” In November, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said the ties between South American guerilla movements and Iranian terror organizations have been sharpening and are now easily observed. For Iran, the goal is to use Latin America to break the international sanctions placed against it over its contentious nuclear program. Iran also has enlarged its missions in Venezuela, Uruguay, Mexico, and Colombia, according to U.S. and Israeli sources. Iranian embassies in these countries are staffed by an "astronomical number" of diplomats, in no proportion to their needs, according to a 2007 Israel Foreign Ministry study. In Nicaragua, for example, there are 30 Iranian diplomats, with a similar number in Venezuela and other countries. Israel fears that these are intelligence operatives also involved in terror. For years, groups such as Hezbollah have had a dominant presence in the Tri-Border region of South America. There, in a smuggling haven known as Ciudad del Este, they’ve built strong fundamentalist communities with mosques fully integrated into the city’s ruling structure. It was from there that several terror attacks have been launched, including the 1992 bombing of the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires that killed 29 people, and the 1994 attack that leveled the Jewish community center there and killed 85. “I'm more concerned about Iranian meddling in the region than I am the Russians," Gates told the U.S. Senate's armed services committee this week. "I'm concerned about the level of frankly subversive activity that the Iranians are carrying on in a number of places in Latin America," Gates said in response to a question from Sen. Mel Martinez, a Florida Republican. "They're opening a lot of offices and a lot of fronts behind which they interfere in what is going on in some of these countries.” Iran has also enlarged its missions in U.S allies like Mexico and Colombia. Iran is continually searching for openings, and countries it can penetrate, to compensate for the vulnerability created by the [economic] sanctions" against it, Livni told Israeli Army Radio recently. "We are witness to the disturbing phenomenon of Iranian infiltration into South America, so much so that Latin America has become a convenient base for spreading Iranian political and economic ideology," Livni said. "The strengthening of ties between South American guerrillas and the Iranian terrorism activists is plain to see." Since 2000, Chavez has been to Tehran seven times for extensive deal-making that has produced at least $20 billion of arrangements “more opaque than the funds of Bernie Madoff,” according to Douglas E. Schoen, author of “The Threat Closer to Home: Hugo Chavez and the War Against America.” In mid-January, Turkey stopped an Iranian shipment headed to Venezuela with 22 containers labeled as tractor parts. "The equipment was enough to set up an explosives lab," a customs official told the Associated Press. Further, Chavez has welcomed Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Caracas several times to strengthen their connection and extend to him oil dependencies in Cuba, Bolivia, Ecuador and Nicaragua. None of these nations, incidentally, has an explicit connection with Iran, but all of them voted against 2006 U.N. Security Council Resolutions sanctioning Iran's nuclear weapons program. Schoen believes that Hamas could use Venezuela to engage in asymmetric warfare against Israel in South America, or its ally the United States. “Chavez is an expert in asymmetric war and deception, a strategic ally of Iran in a declared war against the ‘evil empire’ of America and a harbormaster for Hezbollah, Hamas and terrorist groups in Latin America,” they write. “He has all the weapons needed to terrorize the U.S., including the capacity to build a dirty bomb — or another biological weapon — and the ability to move money or materials across American borders at will through the 14,000 American gas stations he owns.”

[samizdat]

What's the deal w/ AA shakin w/ his left hand?

[samizdat]

http://search.bbc.co.uk/search?q=hugo+chavez&go.x=20&go.y=10

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/spanish/specials/2009/chavez_10/newsid_7853000/7853800.stm

http://noticias.prodigy.msn.com/Fotogalerias/Chavez_%2010_anos_al_poder.aspx?wa=wsignin1.0

more movies etc. on Hugo- elections in Feb. to see if he can run forever.

[vector7]

Protesters in N.Y. point finger at Chavez in Caracas attack

By Ben Harris · February 3, 2009

• Photos

1 out of 1

Hundreds rallied Feb. 2, 2009 at the Venezuelan Consulate in New York to protest the vandalizing of a synagogue in Caracas. (Ben Harris)

NEW YORK (JTA) -- Ruben Kliksberg awoke Saturday morning questioning everything he had once assumed about the security of the Jewish community in his native Venezuela.

The Caracas-born, American-educated hedge fund employee says the country's Jews, like their American counterparts, are well integrated and contribute “massively” to their society. His father was awarded a government honor for his work combating poverty.

“I woke up on Saturday morning and all of that had changed in six hours,” Klisberg told JTA.

The six hours in question had begun late the night before, on Jan. 30, when 15 armed men invaded the Tiferet Israel Synagogue in the Venezuelan capital Caracas. In an apparently well-organized operation, they overpowered the synagogue's security before proceeding to scrawl hostile messages to the Jewish community on the walls and desecrate religious objects.

Kliksberg, now a New York resident, spoke during a rally Monday opposite the Venezuelan Consulate here. Like several American Jewish groups, he pointed a finger at the government of Hugo Chavez, accusing the Venezuelan president of imperiling the Jewish community with rhetoric that has fostered an atmosphere of intimidation.

Both Kliksberg and American Jewish leaders said they were alarmed about the possibility of future attacks because the intruders stole computers and administrative documentation.

David Harris, executive director of the American Jewish Committee, sounded a vague warning about the intentions of the vandals.

“They wanted information from the synagogue about the Jewish community,” Harris said in his speech at the rally. “They wanted names and addresses. Why? Why? Why in 2009 would people seek that information? You know and we know, and we have to say 'no' by our presence and by our voices.”

Kliksberg said the Venezuelan Jewish community feels lonely and its members no longer trust the government to protect it. Many believe they are being presented with a choice: their religious heritage or their country.

“For the first time in their lives in Venezuela, they are being asked to decide,” Kliksberg said. “And that's not fair.”

On Sunday, Chavez condemned the attack, suggesting it was orchestrated by his political opponents. But the president's attitude toward Venezuela's tiny Jewish community -- estimated at approximately 12,000 in a country of about 28 million, and steadily on the decline since his 1998 election -- has been a source of concern since at least 2005.

That year, Chavez warned that “descendants of the same ones that crucified Christ” are in control of the world's wealth. The speech was widely derided as anti-Semitic, though some, including the umbrella organization of Venezuelan Jewry, said Chavez was misinterpreted.

Since then, the community's position has grown increasingly precarious.

Last month, a rabbi reportedly was attacked in Caracas. Several synagogues have been vandalized. And even a production of “Fiddler on the Roof” was threatened with a boycott, according to the Anti-Defamation League, which has produced two reports on rising anti-Semitism in Venezuela.

Chavez also has forged a close alliance with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and denounced Israel's recent military operation in Gaza in terms more strident than many Arab countries.

In the weeks since Israel launched its attack on Hamas in late December, Jewish community leaders in Venezuela have complained about the heated rhetoric from government officials. Chavez called Israel's government “genocidal” and the government media accused Israel of “imperialistic arrogance,” according to a presentation delivered last month to the plenary of the World Jewish Congress in Jerusalem.

WJC officials met with Chavez in Caracas in August. Following the meeting, the president of the Latin American Jewish Congress, Jack Terpins, described Chavez as “a great friend.” As of Tuesday, the WJC had remained mum on the synagogue attack, but its secretary-general, Michael Schneider, had told JTA on Monday that he was heading for Caracas that day to confer with local community leaders.

Other Jewish communal officials were not so reticent. In news releases and appearances at the New York rally, they fingered Chavez as responsible for the synagogue attack and urged him to bring those responsible to justice.

“We have a message for the president of Venezuela,” veteran activist Rabbi Avi Weiss intoned at the rally. “When you create an atmosphere of anti-Semitism, when your language is a language which is anti-Israel and anti-Jewish, you create the climate that makes these attacks possible. And to the president of Venezuela we proclaim, we hold you accountable.”

As video footage of Chavez played on a video screen and a bust of Venezuelan independence hero Simon Bolivar stared out at the crowd from behind the consulate's glass windows, several hundred protesters decried the attack and chanted “Never Again” in English and Spanish.

Meanwhile, in Washington, U.S. Rep. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.) was asking colleagues to sign a letter to Chavez that accused the president of a “calculated campaign of fear and intimidation” against the Jewish community in Venezuela.

[samizdat]

http://www.foxnews.com/images/344455...ugo_120307.jpg

Mao's red book, and the new state dept blue book. No more greasin the palm for exxon.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,...world/americas

[samizdat]

Chavez in Trouble

March 22nd, 2010
We aren’t seeing massive rallies in Venezuela like we’ve seen in Iran, but Chavez’ grip is loosening. In 2007, his government took over private oil companies operating in the country–a move that has backfired so badly that he’s now allowing these same companies, which he decried as “imperialists,” to come back.
Daniel Freifeld writes in Foreign Policy:

Venezuela’s oil industry is in crisis. Mismanagement and lack of investment have caused production to fall from a high of 3.5 million barrels per day in 1998 (when Chávez was elected) to 2.5 million barrels today. With oil trading at half its peak 2008 value, el presidente’s profligacy has emptied the state coffers. Blackouts are common; violent crime is rampant; and inflation is high and rising, forcing the currency’s devaluation.

Freifeld further describes the industry as “decaying” and unable to modernize even with Russian and Chinese help. One of Chavez’s mistakes was firing nearly 18,000 workers at the state-owned oil company who went on strike and replacing them with inexperienced loyalists.
As scary as the world can be, being an adversary of the West is not the best spot to be in right now.

http://www.worldthreats.com/

[samizdat]

Hugo is more SCO than the "stans". He closed a 20B deal w/ Chian for oil and arms & energy resources w/ de wusskies.

[American Patriot]

Joke all you want, Fat Boy, you're the first that will be roasted in the flames of hell if you launch something at the USA.

[samizdat]

Chavez, a former army paratroop commander, has said his rehabilitation regime requires discipline, including waking up at 5 a.m. That is a significant change for a president known for speaking regularly late into the night and summoning his ministers at all hours.
Chavez said cancer has led him to reflect about what he called "fundamental errors" in his lifestyle, such as drinking "40 cups of coffee in one day," carrying three cellphones, eating whatever was available and "not sleeping, not letting my ministers sleep."
He also acknowledged it has been a serious mistake to be habitually "talking too much."
Chavez has said his doctors have advised him to limit the length of his televised talks, which in the past could run as long as seven or eight hours.
"I'm on that, slowing down the horses I lead, but learning. I'm learning. I have to learn to delegate more," Chavez said.
The president attended Mass on Tuesday night at Caracas' Military Academy, joining friends and aides in praying for his recovery.
Chavez also said in separate remarks to state television Tuesday that he intends to remain in the presidency and accelerate his drive for socialism in Venezuela.


Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/07...#ixzz1S2zCold7

[American Patriot]

Rumor has it Chavez has been rushed to a hospital in Caracas, a military hospital. According to what we're hearing it was something to do with some kind of organ failure, perhaps kidneys.

[Malsua]

All his money and all his power and he can't live forever. It's just so sad. I'm shedding a tear over here.

[Toad]

We'll have a "Get well, Hugo" party down at the bar. Mal, you print out a pic of our buddy, I'll go reserve a dartboard.

[American Patriot]

I'd rather see bad guys of the world dead than innocent people who never harmed anyone.

But, I'm not bitter or anything.

[American Patriot]

I heard it "confirmed" on Fox news channel a bit ago, so I'm thinking that there must be some pretty compelling evidence that he "got sick" and went in to the hospital.

[American Patriot]

Well... Peterle the "confirmation from Fox" is no good. All they are doing is quoting the same thing you found.

Venezuelan President Chavez Reportedly Hospitalized for Kidney Failure


Published September 29, 2011
| FoxNews.com

AP
Sept. 18: Latin America leaders, from left, Bolivia's President Evo Morales, Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez and Cuba's President Raul Castro speak at the Jose Marti airport in Havana, Cuba

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez reportedly entered a hospital in Caracas to undergo emergency treatment for kidney failure.
The El Nuevo Herald report cites unidentified sources but said Chavez -- who has been receiving chemotherapy for an undisclosed type of cancer -- entered a military hospital in the Venezuelan capital on Sept. 27.
Chavez, meanwhile, called state television on Thursday and urged Venezuelans to "pay no attention to rumors," apparently referring to the newspaper's report.
He said he is taking steroids and other medicines as he recovers from chemotherapy treatments for cancer. He said he is working at "half throttle" while undergoing physical and medical therapy.
He is likely to undergo dialysis and may be transferred to a private hospital to receive better treatment, according to the report.
One source told the paper that the leader was in "fairly serious overall condition," the AFP reported.
Andres Izarra,Venezuela's information minister, appeared to deny the report in a posting on Twitter.
"Those who should be admitted are the journalists of the Nuevo Herald, except into a madhouse (instead of a hospital)," the post reportedly said.
But the country's silence about the leader's illness appears to only add to the speculation about its severity. This week, Venezuela informed the United Nations that Chavez, would not address the General Assembly in New York, prompting questions about the leader’s health.
Chavez, who had a large tumor removed by doctors in Cuba in June, told state television last week he had finished chemotherapy in Cuba and was anticipating a "full recovery." He recently underwent his fourth round of chemotherapy in Cuba, and described the treatment as “highly successful.”
Click here to read more on this report from El Nuevo Herald.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.

[American Patriot]

I read spanish VERY SLOWLY. lol

I have to look a lot of words up. I really need to learn it though, and become fluent. Someday...