Either way, my response is going to be… a shrug. Just another as-close-to-Commie-as-he-dares strongman thug – which, frankly, was and is a lot less than Chavez’s fan club either thinks or thought. I’m being a little temporally vague there because as soon as Chavez is actually dead he’ll rapidly be abandoned as an inspirational figure by guilty norteamericano liberals and supplanted by whatever as-close-to-Commie-as-he-dares strongman thug takes his place. They come, they go, and weep for Latin America, which never seems to catch a break on this for too long.
Tag: venezuela
Venezuela expected to devolve into chaos after Chavez’s death.
Alternative title: Cult-of-personality dictatorship to collapse after death of personality. Whoever could have guessed that this would happen?
In short, Venezuela is headed for a hard fall, and the current shift in leadership will be — as one local observer put it — like switching bus drivers on a bus hurtling downhill without breaks and a broken steering wheel. The problem’s not just the driver, it’s the entire bus too.
Via Instapundit. I really do wish that international Marxist regimes that have managed to survive this long would just admit that it’s because they’ve largely become monarchist or feudal states. They should give up and embrace the concept of kingship and aristocracy – or, in the case of the Chinese, finding a good, plausible-sounding reason to bring back a Son Of Heaven. Then the PRC can all put jade buttons on their Mao caps and actually run the bureaucracies in a more long-term fashion… sorry, where was I?
Ah, right, Chavez. Damned if I know what Venezuela’s going to do, here. Except probably have a civil war. Try not to burn down the oil wells, guys: you’ll want them later.
Moe Lane
PS: …What? You think that the USA will actually intervene? Under this President? Under the circumstances, I don’t think that I’m really justified in giving them anything except the most practical sort of advice…
Fausta’s depressing Venezuela election roundup.
I say depressing because, well, it is: there’s something aggravating about knowing that we could stop Hugo Chavez from sending his country over the Marxist edge, but we’re not going to. I felt the same way under the last administration, too.
And before you start lecturing me about Yanqui imperialism, I’d like to remind you that it’s been a darn sight less genocidal than Communist imperialism. The only thing that Marxism has ever shown any genius in is in the turning of large numbers of live peasants into dead ones
Crossposted at RedState.
Chavez claims (convenient) coup; “conspirators” quashed.
Naturally, it’s all our fault.
Venezuela Arrests Soldiers Over Alleged Army Plot, Chavez Says
Feb. 12 (Bloomberg) — Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said soldiers suspected of conspiring in a plot to destabilize the government were arrested, adding the situation is under control.
Chavez, a self-proclaimed socialist who has accused the political opposition of trying to overthrow his government since he survived a brief coup in 2002, said the country’s intelligence agency uncovered a plan to infiltrate the Miraflores presidential palace. He made the comments yesterday on state television.
“We’ve arrested some soldiers, and they remain detained, who were in contact with a solder on the run in the U.S., protected by the U.S. government, sending messages about a so- called Operation Independence,” Chavez said.
Continue reading Chavez claims (convenient) coup; “conspirators” quashed.