Why give a free pass to Hugo Chavez for "pardoning" Marcos Pérez Jiménez?

[LoZoccolo]

Astute observers of Venezuelan history (and those with an access card to the secret DLC library where I get the research for all my posts) will recall that former Venezuelan dictator Marcos Pérez Jiménez, who was put in jail for embezzling $200 million from the country, was invited back by Hugo Chavez to attend his inauguration in 1999. Does this make what Chavez did as bad as what Ford did?

http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/venezuela/perez-jimenez-obituary.htm

[Webster Green]

1. E. Timor..

Very bad indeed.

[NaturalHigh]

2. Oh, certainly not!

After all, Chavez is a hero around these parts. Ford was (gasp!) a Republican who left office thirty years ago.

I wonder if all the Ford-bashers on DU realize that Ford was probably more liberal than a lot of modern Democrats.

[Webster Green]

4. E. fucking Timor..

Our government, no.......our country.....is a fucking hoax, perpetrated and maintained by assholes like Nixon, Ford, Reagan and the BFEE.

[NaturalHigh]

5. So I should be ashamed of my country...whatever.

BTW, I don't even know what BFEE means, and I've never heard of Ford killing anyone in East Timor.

[Webster Green]

6. Great!.....Never mind then.

Everything is wonderful.

[NaturalHigh]

7. Thanks, you're right.

Everything is wonderful. Glad we agree on something. It wouldn't be wonderful, though, if I stayed up at night worrying about things that happened thirty years ago and trying to find someone to blame.

[Webster Green]

11. I don't stay up nights worrying about things...

However, I am a political/news/history junkie, and I don't forget about the stuff I know to be true.

I guess it would be easier to simply deny or forget what's been done in our names.

I'll give it a try!

[mod mom]

14. DU is about getting informed:

1st BFEE is bu$h family evil empire or generations of the crime family

2nd: ONE THIRD OF EAST TIMOR'S POPULATION WAS BRUTALLY MASSACRED!

Wednesday, December 27th, 2006
President Gerald Ford Dies at 93; Supported Indonesian Invasion of East Timor that Killed 1/3 of Population

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Former President Gerald Ford died last night at the age of 93. We begin our coverage of Ford’s time in office with a look at his support for the Indonesian invasion of East Timor that killed one-third of the Timorese population. We’re joined by Brad Simpson of the National Security Archives and journalist Alan Nairn.
Former President Gerald Ford died last night at the age of 93. He became president in 1974 following the resignation of Richard Nixon. Ford is the only person to become president that was never elected president or vice president. Some described him as the Accidental President. At his inauguration he famously declared “the long national nightmare is over." But a month later Ford granted Richard Nixon a full and absolute pardon for all federal crimes that he committed when he was in the White House – including for crimes connected to the Watergate scandal. The decision stunned the country.

Gerald Ford served as president until he lost to Jimmy Carter in the 1976 election. In 1975 He ordered the final pullout of U.S. troops from Vietnam. He later offered amnesty to Vietman era draft resisters. Gerald Ford surrounded himself by advisers who would later play key roles in the current Bush administration and in shaping Bush’s Iraq war policy. Donald Rumsfeld served first as his chief of staff and then as Secretary of Defense. Dick Cheney also served as Ford’s chief of staff. Paul Wolfowitz served in the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency.

Less well known is President Ford involvement in East Timor. Both the New York Times and Washington Post failed to mention in their obituaries today that Ford and Henry Kissinger, his Secretary of State, offered advance approval of Indonesia’s brutal invasion of East Timor.

-snip

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/12/27/1638254

more details at:
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/11/13/1517231

[katsy]

3. Why would we have to give Chavez a free pass for anything?

Last I knew... he wasn't our President.

Isn't this a matter for Venezuelans to resolve? Or should we send in our troops to castrate Chavez?

Have we annexed Venezuela? Or is this more of the u.s. policy of promoting it's own self-interest?

[Reterr]

8. !

:thumbsup:

[katsy]

9. welcome to DU Reterr!

nice website... gorgeous cats.

[Reterr]

13. Thanks

:)

[Selatius]

10. Jimenez rejected the pardon outright, and he had already served time for his crimes.

Nixon didn't reject his pardon, which meant that he implicitly accepted guilt for his crimes. Of note, Jimenez was already convicted after the US extradited him back to Venezuela in the 1960s.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

12. Why should we give a pass to any "leader"?

Particularly politicians?