Castro Warns of Threat Against Chavez

[paineinthearse]

Thought I saw this earlier but cannot find now. Pardon if already posted, but I consider this significant.

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http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/world/10886111.htm?1c

Castro Warns of Threat Against Chavez

ANDREA RODRIGUEZ
Associated Press

HAVANA - Fidel Castro warned that the life of leftist Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is in danger, and said he would blame the United States if his close friend and ally is killed. Castro's remarks came during a six-hour speech that lasted until 4 a.m. Saturday and closed an international globalization conference in Havana attended by hundreds of economists. "If Chavez is assassinated, the responsibility will lie entirely with the president of the United States," Castro said, neglecting to provide details, but noting that President Bush has encouraged Chavez's opponents in the past.

The Cuban leader said Chavez's left-leaning "revolution" threatens the interests of powerful people who tried to oust him with a short-lived coup in 2002 and several political campaigns against him. An eventual attempt to kill Chavez would aim to halt the changes happening in the South American nation, Castro said - the same way the United States and others tried to eliminate him as he turned Cuba into a socialist country. "With me they've already lost their time, this has become too advanced," the 78-year-old said of the Cuban revolution. "But that (the situation in Venezuela) is in a crucial stage." Countless assassination plots against Castro and his closest advisers have been disclosed throughout the more than four decades of his rule.

Chavez on Saturday thanked the Cuban leader for his remarks. "Thank you Fidel, it is true there are rumors, it is true there is information," he said while visiting areas affected by heavy rains outside Caracas. "They are not going to succeed, my dear friend, you will see they will not," he added the 50-year-old. "I will become an old man, like you."

Ties between Chavez and the Bush administration soured after Washington's initial endorsement of a 2002 coup that briefly ousted Chavez. Chavez has repeatedly accused American officials of working to undermine his government and of seeking to derail efforts at regional integration, charges which Washington has denied. The close relationship between Castro and Chavez has irked many in Washington. Venezuela provides much of Cuba's oil on favorable terms, and Cuba has sent thousands of health care workers, teachers and sports trainers to poor neighborhoods in Venezuela to bolster Chavez's government. While Castro devoted much of his speech to Chavez, he also said that after a decade of crisis Cuba's economy was finally stable, and that the centralized economic system was here to stay. "Cuba is well," he said. "We have become more and more revolutionary, we have achieved many things."

[Spazito]

1. Thanks for this!

I was looking for this, it was a header on my news channel but I couldn't find it in print.

[paineinthearse]

2. Chávez arming to fight attack by U.S. - OIL A COMPLICATION

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/10881582.htm

VENEZUELA

Chávez arming to fight attack by U.S.

Venezuela is shifting its military doctrine to set the United States as its No. 1 enemy, and President Hugo Chávez has spoken of guerrilla warfare, as seen in Iraq and Afghanistan, if U.S. forces invade his country.

By PHIL GUNSON AND STEVEN DUDLEY

[e-mail]

CARACAS - Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez has long been known for his harsh anti-Bush rhetoric. But now he's stepping up military plans and weapons purchases to match his combative tone, and he is worrying U.S. policymakers. Within the past two weeks the leftist populist leader has called himself a ''socialist'' and ''Fidelista,'' and offered a muscular new course for his self-described ''revolution'' on behalf of Venezuela's poor.

''I propose that we move to the offensive, just like the imperialists have moved to the bloody and ruthless offensive. If you don't believe me, look at Iraq . . .'' Chávez told a news conference in Brazil late last month. ''We have to embrace socialism as a thesis,'' he continued, in what observers said was his most direct public reference to his socialist views. He later added that any attack on Cuba or Venezuela ``would be an attack on both.''

Chávez has called President Bush the devil and worse, and he regularly blames Washington for a 2002 coup attempt against him. Critics brand him a would-be dictator, but Chávez has won two democratic elections and fended off a recall referendum just last year. Still, his latest comments worry U.S. policymakers, mostly because they coincide with his push to obtain new weaponry and forge a new national military doctrine that would prepare his country for a war of resistance against a possible U.S. invasion. Simultaneously, Chávez has said he is placing the 50,000 soldiers of the military reserve directly under his control and organizing his civilian supporters into armed militias to be known as ``popular defense units.''

<snip>

Cuba has long projected the ''war of all the people'' not only as the strategy it would use to wear down and eventually defeat a possible U.S. invasion but as the kind of aggressive posture that might even deter a U.S. attack. That is not far from the vision of Gen. Alberto Müeller, a studied military tactician as well as a former senator and Chávez campaign aide. Müeller is expected to be named to the special government commission that will put the country's new military doctrine in writing. In an interview with The Herald, Müeller said the new doctrine of ''decentralized defense'' was to signal the United States not to attack.

more.......

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/10881582.htm

[hector459]

3. The only ignorant people about world issues seem to be in the US

Everyone else knows what the deal is.

[SoCalifer]

4. And The Real Deal Is:

U.S. Corporate Interests through C.I.A. covert actions (covert only to the U.S. citizens), create, fund and control right-wing fascist death squads to murder, terrorize and disseminate propaganda to over throw democratically elected governments that don't go along with U.S. corporate hegemony.

Some of U.S. citizens are aware of these criminal acts. But sadly not enough of us are..

[SoCalifer]

5. Order DVD's Online

Here's a couple of good DVD's I have that do a fairly good job at illustrating U.S. corporate hegemony / C.I.A. covert terrorist operations.

[McCamy Taylor]

6. The Chavez Threat? Rich White Dudes in the US Not Making Money

Off the Oil That Sits Under Venezuela. THAT is the only threat that * and Company care about.

:nuke:

[paineinthearse]

7. You got that right. nt

[SheepBootHero]

8. Typical

Even if a local under the thumb of Chavez loses it herr Castro is hot to blame the US. So typical of a dictator that has been on the job too long.

[tkmorris]

9. "Under the thumb" of Chavez?

That's a ridiculous characterization. The people of Venezuela have spoken repeatedly to affirm their support of Chavez. Furthermore there is certainly ample evidence that *Bush is no friend of Chavez and indeed there may be a plot afoot. The coup spoken of in the article was very much supported and perhaps orchestrated by US interests in Venezuela. I'd say in this case Mr. Castro has a fairly firm grasp on the matter.