Original post at The Rebel
Category Archives: Hugo Chavez
Iran declares day of mourning for Chavez
iol News:
March 6 2013 at 01:55pm
By Marcus George
REUTERS
A Nicaraguan supporter of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez holds a poster of him at the Revolution Square in Managua.
Dubai – Iran declared a day of national mourning on Wednesday after the death of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who shared the Islamic Republic’s loathing for US “imperialism”.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who had forged a public friendship with Chavez characterised by lavish mutual praise, hugs and light-hearted moments, may attend Chavez’s funeral on Friday, state news agency IRNA reported.
The two men had sought closer ties between their geographically distant countries, although action on joint social and military projects announced in recent years has often lagged behind the rhetoric.
“Hugo Chavez is a name known to all nations. His name is a reminder of cleanliness and kindness, bravery … dedication and tireless efforts to serve the people, especially the poor and those scarred by colonialism and imperialism,” Ahmadinejad said.
“I offer my condolences to all nations, the great nation of Venezuela and his respected family over this tragic event,” he said in statement published on his official website.
Short clip on antisemitism in Venezuela
See Venezuela knows about multiculturalism. They have embraced Iranian government culture quite well.
CHAVEZ CALLS GADDAFI MARTYR…….
DICTATOR BIG LOVE
Chavez better hope that when he’s finally served justice, it’s not delivered in the very same fashion Gaddafi got it, in the head and up the rear. KGS
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Thursday expressed anger over the death of Muammar Qaddafi, calling it an “outrage” and saying the ousted Libyan strongman was a “martyr.”
“Sadly the death of Qaddafi has been confirmed,” said Chavez, who had just returned to Venezuela from cancer treatment in Cuba.
“They assassinated him. It is another outrage,” the Venezuelan leader told reporters in the town of La Grita.
“We shall remember Qaddafi our whole lives as a great fighter, a revolutionary and a martyr,” he said.
Chavez had defended Qaddafi since the start of the uprising against the Libyan leader’s regime in February, and accused NATO of using the conflict to gain control over Libya’s oil.
Hugo’s cancer, Venezuela’s cure
Please click over to Fausta’s blog for the video, translation and implications
Hugo Chavez’s long absence spurs succession talk in Venezuela
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez typically gives hours of televised speeches a week but for two weeks he has disappeared from public view, undergoing an emergency operation in Cuba and prompting swirling speculation in the country’s political class about who might succeed him should he die.
The government has treated the president’s departure since June 10 as a state secret, providing scant details about his condition. What Chavez’s closest associates have publicly said has only fueled speculation about the health of the man who has so dominated politics in his 12 years in power that no one successor has ever emerged, even from within his populist Bolivarian movement.
Please click the WAPO link for the rest.
Miami Herald: Antisemitism in Venezuela
Here is a video that deals in a small way with the antisemitism we see now in Chavez’s Venezuela. It doesn’t mention much of what is happening there, but the statistics are of concern. It seems that Venezuela is well on its way to being ‘Judenrein’
David Harris of INSIGNIS speaks on the Iranian missile threat in Chavez-Venezuela
Is there a Chavez terror network on America’s doorstep? (WAPO)
President Obama’s trip to South America has showcased promising partnerships in Brazil and elsewhere. His visit, however, should also focus attention in the region and within his administration on the fact that Iran and Venezuela are conspiring to sow Tehran’s brand of proxy terrorism in the Western Hemisphere.
On Aug. 22, 2010, at Iran’s suggestion, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez hosted senior leaders of Hamas, Hezbollah and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) in a secret summit at military intelligence headquarters at the Fuerte Tiuna compound in southern Caracas. Among those present were Palestinian Islamic Jihad Secretary General Ramadan Abdullah Mohammad Shallah, who is on the FBI’s list of most-wanted terrorists; Hamas’s “supreme leader,” Khaled Meshal; and Hezbollah’s “chief of operations,” whose identity is a closely guarded secret.
The idea for this summit sprang from a meeting between Iran’s ambassador to Syria, Ahmad Mousavi, and his Venezuelan counterpart, Imad Saab Saab, at the Venezuelan embassy in Damascus on May 10, 2010. According to the report received by Venezuela’s foreign minister, the two envoys were discussing a meeting between their presidents and Hezbollah’s leader, Hasan Nasrallah, when the Iranian suggested that the three meet Chavez in Caracas. That these infamous criminals left their traditional havens demonstrates their confidence in Chavez and their determination to cultivate a terror network on America’s doorstep.
According to information from within the Venezuelan regime, arrangements for the August conclave were made by Chavez’s No. 2 diplomat in Syria, Ghazi Nassereddine Atef Salame. Nassereddine is a naturalized Venezuelan of Lebanese origin who runs Hezbollah’s growing network in South America — which includes terror operatives and drug traffickers. A document obtained recently from a senior Venezuelan diplomat indicates that Nassereddine does business with four companies operated by Walid Makled, a cocaine smuggler indicted in the United States and detained in Colombia.
Makled has admitted his ties to the drug trade in a series of media interviews from jail. He claims to have documents and videotapes proving the complicity of Chavez’s military commander, Henry Rangel Silva, and other Chavista cronies in cocaine smuggling. Colombian authorities say they must return Makled to his native Venezuela to face a murder charge, and U.S. diplomats have concluded it is pointless to continue pressing for his extradition to face drug charges in New York. Yet the revelation that Makled can cast light on Nassereddine’s Hezbollah network should spur U.S. diplomats to renew their push for Makled’s extradition to the United States.
Please click here for the rest over at Washington Post Opinions (H/T Fred L)
Venezuela anger at ‘mocking’ Colombia soap opera
From BBC:
Venezuela has told a private TV company to stop showing a Colombian soap opera it says is insulting to the country.
Chepe Fortuna stars a character called Colombia and her sister Venezuela, who owns a dog called Little Hugo, the same name as Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez.
In one episode Venezuela loses Little Hugo, prompting Colombia to tell her she is better off without him.
The spat comes as the countries are making efforts to improve their historically strained relationship.
They restored relations last August, shortly after President Juan Manuel Santos took office in Colombia.
Venezuela’s telecommunications regulator Conatel said the secretary character named Venezuela was “repeatedly characterised as associated with crime, interference and vulgarity”.
“It is a folkloric tradition with the sole intention of entertaining the people ”
Miguel Angel Baquero Producer, Chepe Fortuna
Her gossipy and unscrupulous manner, it said, showed “the shameless manipulation of the plot to demoralise the Venezuelan people”.
Conatel ordered the Televen channel to take the programme off air on Thursday night. The channel has not yet commented on the demands.
But the show’s producer, Miguel Angel Baquero, denied the programme was promoting political intolerance.
“It is a folkloric tradition with the sole intention of entertaining the people and showing how the humour of the people of Colombia’s coast lets two sisters be called Colombia and Venezuela,” he said in a statement.
It is not the first time Televen has come under fire from the authorities.
In 2009 it was one of several channels ordered to stop showing episodes of the US cartoon Family Guy, over its apparent endorsement of the use of marijuana.
And in 2008, the channel was forced to broadcast public service films as a punishment after it broadcast episodes of The Simpsons – a cartoon the authorities consider inappropriate for children – in the morning.
Mr Chavez maintains tight control over the media in Venezuela – opposition groups accuse him of trying prevent coverage of political discontent.
Venezuela: Ruling Party Claims Election Victory while people still lined up to vote
STRATFOR SIT REP:
September 27, 2010
Leaders of Venezuela’s ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) claimed victory in the Sept. 26 legislative elections just minutes after the polls closed and four hours before the national electoral council (CNE) announced the first results, Xinhua reported. In some states the voting centers were not closed at the established time because voters were still standing in lines to cast their ballot, CNE chief Tibisay Lucena said.
You know what would be cool? If I had jackets made that look like our flag and wore it all over the place.
Chavez mocks the rubes by pretending to be democratic
Chavez relies more and more on paid thugs to cling to power
From STRATFOR, for those with an interest in geopolitical analysis and CIA like, intelligence reports, buy a subscription to STRATFOR. I can especially recommend their books. Fred Burtons book ghost is a fantastic read and very entertaining as well.
Venezuela’s Jews turn to Chavez over state media’s anti-Semitism
Haaretz.com
Verbal, written attacks in Venezuelan media include hints that Jews are damaging the country’s economy, along the lines of the ‘The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.’
By Shlomo Papirblat
COSTA RICA – The increasingly anti-Semitic commentary in Venezuela’s state-sponsored media in recent days prompted the heads of the country’s Jewish community to request an urgent meeting with President Hugo Chavez last week. The presidential palace responded that their request would be granted.
The verbal and written attacks have included hints that the Jews are damaging the country’s economy and are following the notorious anti-Semitic fabrication “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.” It is likely related to the rising tensions ahead of the country’s parliamentary elections, which are set for later this month.
“This anti-Semitism is troubling us all and it needs to cease immediately,” said David Bittan Obadia, deputy chairman of the Jewish community of Venezuela Friday. “We are not saying this is the government policy; however, [the government] is capable of putting a stop to the phenomenon. It has the tools. We will be very direct and adamant in the things we will tell President Chavez.” Continue Reading →
Syria, Iran, & Venezuela, busting the axis of evil
Thank you Fausta for this tip
“Bolivar would be rolling over in his grave. If he was still in it.”
This has to be the most macabre and bizarre story of the week. Hugo Chavez, following the playbook of North Korea’s dictator, is so desperate to create a war of distraction with a neighbour in order to hide the worsening conditions in his own country, that Chavez has exhumed the body of Latin America’s hero of liberation, Simon Bolivar and is doing a feaux autopsy in order to claim that Bolivar was murdered by a Colombian general.
This of course, as Colombia has released solid evidence of dozens of FARC leaders being given aid and comfort in Venezuela and probably a lot more.
Thanks to Fausta for the video which looks a lot like that ‘alien autopsy’ video of the 1980s which fooled probably about as many people as this one will. If anyone speaks Spanish well enough to translate this, and feels anything said is worth hearing please let me know and lets subtitle this puppy.
For more on this story please go to Fausta’s site and read her article on it. This is just stunning. Why the news media here isn’t full of this story stuns me.
Also, here is her podcast on Chavez. I mean really if the news won’t cover this mans antics at least Comedy Central.
More general Chavez links here as well as a Spanish language news report on the FARC in Venezuela