Venezuelans Protest Outside U.S. Embassy

[deadparrot]

CARACAS, Venezuela - Venezuelans marched to the U.S. Embassy on Wednesday to demand an end to the
Iraq war during a demonstration that coincided with International Women's Day.

"What Bush wants is oil and that's why he invaded Iraq," said protester Liliana Cova, a 33-year-old teacher. "We don't want any more war for oil — not in Iraq or anywhere in the world."

No police estimate of the crowd was available but reporters put the number of marchers at about 3,000.

The demonstrators, who arrived with a truckload of petitions calling for an immediate U.S. pullout from Iraq, marched from a city square to the embassy that was heavily guarded by police and National Guard troops. There were no reports of violence or arrests.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060309/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/venezuela_us_protest

[goforit]

1. People are rising, eh?

[951-Riverside]

2. They seem to be "rising" everywhere else but here

but thats because we have such agressive & oppressive police officers who will tazer, gas, shoot, beat & arrest you if you protest this war.

[Judi Lynn]

3. Good article from the L.A.Times: The failure of Hugo-bashing

The failure of Hugo-bashing
Despite U.S. efforts, the Venezuelan leader is winning friends across Latin America.
By Mark Weisbrot, MARK WEISBROT is co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington.
March 9, 2006

IT WAS YET ANOTHER public relations coup for Venezuela: Vila Isabel, the samba club sponsored mainly by the Venezuelan government, won the parade competition in Rio de Janeiro's Carnaval last week. A float with a giant likeness of Simon Bolivar, combined with thousands of ornately costumed participants parading down the avenue, trumpeted the winning theme: Latin American unity.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice just last month called for "a united front" against Venezuela, continuing a long-term policy of trying to isolate the country. But Washington has been spitting into the wind. Venezuela's influence in the hemisphere has continued to rise while the U.S. has succeeded only in isolating itself more than at any time in at least half a century. It might be worth asking why.

First, Venezuela is a democracy — despite the best efforts of the Bush team to use President Hugo Chavez's close relations with Cuba's Fidel Castro as evidence to the contrary. Its elections are transparent and have been certified by observers from the Organization of American States, the Carter Center and the European Union. Freedom of speech, of the press, of assembly and of association prevail, at least as compared with the rest of the hemisphere.

In fact, most of the media remains controlled by the opposition, which attacks the government endlessly on all the major TV channels. It is the most vigorous and partisan opposition media in the hemisphere, one that has not been censored under Chavez.
(snip/...)

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-weisbrot9mar09,0,4237238.story?coll=la-news-comment-opinions