Venezuela Chavez says "Comrade" Obama more left-wing

**vector7** · June 4th, 2009, 15:17

Venezuela Chavez says "Comrade" Obama more left-wing

Tue Jun 2, 2009 10:27pm EDT

CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez said on Tuesday that he and Cuban ally Fidel Castro risk being more conservative than U.S. President Barack Obama as Washington prepares to take control of General Motors Corp.

During one of Chavez's customary lectures on the "curse" of capitalism and the bonanzas of socialism, the Venezuelan leader made reference to GM's bankruptcy filing, which is expected to give the U.S. government a 60 percent stake in the 100-year-old former symbol of American might.

"Hey, Obama has just nationalized nothing more and nothing less than General Motors. Comrade Obama! Fidel, careful or we are going to end up to his right," Chavez joked on a live television broadcast.

During a decade in government, Chavez has nationalized most of Venezuela's key economic sectors, including multibillion dollar oil projects, often via joint ventures with the private sector that give the state a 60 percent controlling stake.

Obama has vowed to quickly sell off General Motors once the auto giant is back on its feet, but the government will initially control the company after a $30 billion injection of taxpayer funds.

Chavez, a vehement critic of the U.S. "empire," has toned down his rhetoric since Obama took office in January and the two men shook hands during a summit in Trinidad and Tobago in April.

(Reporting by Enrique Andres Pretel; Writing by Frank Jack Daniel, Editing by Jackie Frank)

Â© Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved

**vector7** · June 4th, 2009, 15:18

Hugo Chavez Says He and Castro Could be to the Right of Obama

June 4, 2009 â€“ 12:31 am

Hugo Chavez, Marxist â€œPresident For Lifeâ€ of Venezuela, recognized the successful efforts of Barack Obama in rapidly socializing the economy of the United States.

During one of Chavezâ€™s customary lectures on the â€œcurseâ€ of capitalism and the bonanzas of socialism, the Venezuelan leader made reference to GMâ€™s bankruptcy filing, which is expected to give the U.S. government a 60 percent stake in the 100-year-old former symbol of American might.

â€œHey, Obama has just nationalized nothing more and nothing less than General Motors. Comrade Obama! Fidel, careful or we are going to end up to his right,â€ Chavez joked on a live television broadcast.

During a decade in government, Chavez has nationalized most of Venezuelaâ€™s key economic sectors, including multibillion dollar oil projects, often via joint ventures with the private sector that give the state a 60 percent controlling stake.

It is of interest that President Obama is taking a 60% stake in General Motors. We can probably assume Obama will continue to follow Chavezâ€™s lead.

Congresswoman Maxine Waters warned us that the Liberals would â€œsocializeâ€ [â€œnationalizeâ€] our most productive industries. The Big Oil executives, according to Fox News, compared Ms. Waters to Hugo Chavez and his nationalizing the oil industry of Venezuela. How right they were.

With people like Maxine Waters in Congress, Joe Biden as Vice President, Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the House, tax evaders in the Cabinet, and Barack Obama as President, how can the Republicans be having so much political trouble?

The lack of courage and leadership from the Republican politicians is both mystifying and illogical.

**Beetle** · June 4th, 2009, 15:26

I was spewing this kind of spew before the election. Where was McCain and the RNC during the election? They sure ran a shitty run for the White House. They should have at least tried to get this kind of a message out. McCain played nice guy and you see where that got him. The RNC better grow a pair, if they want to put an end to the majority of scum in Congress.

I am sorry, I didn't mean to call the commie socialist pigs scum. They are the crap that lays under the scum that produces scum. There, I feel better. I hope my sincere appology is accepted.

**vector7** · June 19th, 2009, 19:28

Chavez repeats call for Obama to embrace socialism

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13:3419/06/2009
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MOSCOW, June 19 (RIA Novosti) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has again urged President Barack Obama to adopt socialist principles to see the United States through the ongoing economic crisis.

Speaking on Thursday on his new television program, Hello President, Chavez said the U.S. administration has taken some interesting steps in attempting to counter the "difficult crisis."

He said that in Venezuela, socialism and well-timed state measures have helped the country save its "healthy national economy and healthy national bank in contrast with other world powers."

"I recognize Obama's good intentions, but will repeat once again: Unite with socialism! Obama, join socialism and we'll see if we can really change the world." He warned that "capitalism will kill the world."

In March, Chavez told the United States that socialism is its only way out of the crisis, and urged Americans to seek a "higher" destiny and leave behind "the sad role that it has been given, as a murderous, attacking power that is hated all around the world."

Chavez, a former army paratrooper who styles himself the builder of "21st-century socialism," announced the beginning of the third phase of his "Bolivarian revolution" earlier this year, aimed at fighting poverty, corruption and crime, and improving literacy.

Chavez believes that the first two stages of the "Bolivarian revolution" were completed successfully in 1999-2006, and in 2007-2009.

Since 1998, the Venezuelan authorities have carried out a large-scale nationalization campaign targeting major domestic companies in key sectors of the economy, ploughing large volumes of formerly private revenue into social projects across the country.

The government has nationalized the steel company Sidor, the cement industry, private oil fields, the telecommunications sector and 2.3 million hectares of agricultural land. The number of people living below the poverty line was estimated to have declined from 48.1% in 2002 to 30.2% in 2006.

**Beetle** · June 19th, 2009, 19:33

I would ask, why don't Chavez adopt Capitalism?

**vector7** · July 11th, 2012, 23:31

Companion Threads:

Obama to Miami anchor: Hugo ChÃ¡vez has not posed 'serious' national security threat

UPDATE: Read full story here.

Oscar Haza, a well known Miami Spanish-language broadcast journalist and anchor, scored an interview this week in Washington with President Barack Obama in which Obama said Venezuelan President Hugo ChÃ¡vez has not posed a "serious" national security threat to the United States.

The full interview aired Tuesday night on A Mano Limpia, Haza's nightly show on WJAN-Channel 41, better known as AmÃ©rica TeVe. The show had shown portions of the interview Monday night, with Haza live in D.C., and teased to the president talking about Cuba and Venezuela.

The Dominican-born Haza, who also hosts a daily morning radio show that recently moved to UnivisiÃ³n's WAQI-AM (710), better known as Radio MambÃ*, said he was one of eight journalists from eight swing states invited to the White House -- the only one from Florida -- to speak to the president and other administration officials as Obama pushed his plan to keep some Bush-era tax cuts but eliminate them for incomes greather than $250,000 a year.

Most noteworthy from Haza's interview with the president -- no surprise here -- were questions on Cuba and Venezuela, key issues for South Florida's Hispanic audience (and voters). "If I don't ask you about Cuba, I can't get back to Miami," Haza quipped, in English, before asking the president about a "perception" that he intends to further embrace relations with Cuba in a potential second term.

Obama said he had been "clear" and "consistent" in his position.

"I believe that there should be a way for us to resolve this 50-year conflict with Cuba, but it involves recognizing liberty and, you know, releasing poltiical prisoners and showing movement inside of Cuba," he said. "We've shown flexibility in remittances and lifting parts of the travel ban for family members, and I think that was the right hting to do. And my hope is that the Cuban government begins to recognize that their system is no longer working."

Haza then mentioned detained American Alan Gross and stepped-up repression on the island.

"We're not going to see big moves or major improvement in the U.S.-Cuba relationship if the Cuban leadership continues to do the same thing over and over again," Obama said.

Then, Haza asked about the alliance between Venezuelan President Hugo ChÃ¡vez and Iran.

"We're always concerned about Iran engaging in destabilizing activity around the globe. But overall my sense is that what Mr. ChÃ¡vez has done over the last several years has not had a serious national security impact on us," Obama said. "We have to vigilant. My main concern when it comes to Venezuela is having the Venezuelan people have a voice in their affairs, and that you end up ultimately having fair and free elections, which we don't always see."

You can watch Haza's Tuesday night show below. The Obama interview is in English, with Spanish subtitles.

**vector7** · October 1st, 2012, 14:01

Companion Threads:

Hugo Chavez to Obama: I'd vote for you, and you for me

Reuters
Sept. 30, 2012

* Both men seeking re-election in imminent ballots

* Socialist Chavez has kind words for U.S. leader

* Political ties remain strained despite oil trade

CARACAS, Sept 30 (Reuters) - With both presidents facing tight re-election fights, Venezuela's Hugo Chavez gave a surprise endorsement to Barack Obama on Sunday - and said the U.S. leader no doubt felt the same.

"I hope this doesn't harm Obama, but if I was from the United States, I'd vote for Obama," the socialist Chavez said of a man he first reached out to in 2009 but to whom he has since generally been insulting.

Chavez is running for a new six-year term against opposition challenger Henrique Capriles, while Obama seeks re-election in November against Republican candidate Mitt Romney. Venezuela's election is next weekend.

"Obama is a good guy ... I think that if Obama was from Barlovento or some Caracas neighborhood, he'd vote for Chavez," the president told state TV, referring to a poor coastal town known for the African roots of its population.
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Companion Thread: