Sean Penn: The Truth About Chavez and Castro

[Pharaoh]

Run time: 03:45 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrvRpIokeAg   Posted on YouTube: November 24, 2008 By YouTube Member: Views on YouTube: 0   Posted on DU: December 06, 2008 By DU Member: Pharaoh Views on DU: 1244

 
Actor and filmmaker Sean Penn talks with Raul Castro about Obama, Guantanamo and the Pentagon; and with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on human rights in his country and the next US administration.

You can read Penn's piece on his experience here http://www.thenation.com/doc/20081215/penn

[polly7]

1. Good for Penn.

I am so sick and tired of the leader of any nation not imitating U.S. or Canadian policy or not kissing butt for "free-trade" deals, or having control of their own resources, being labelled 'dictators'. :toast:

[janedum]

2. Thanks for trying to "Make A Difference", Sean ... eom

!!

[gtar100]

3. Excellent article by Sean Penn

Really makes clear just how filtered our information is in the US.

[Buzz Clik]

4. Excellent, rational piece about Chavez. No deification, no demonization.

Sean Penn would be flame mercilessly here at DU.

[Cha]

5. Thanks for this, Pharaoh~

The US media is outta control and has been for at least 8 years that I know about.

I'm disappointed in Biden for calling Chavez a dictator..HELLO! I think I remember Obama saying something about him that I thought was inappropriate, too..but, I can't be sure.

Nothing's perfect..not Chavez, Biden, or Obama but, Sean Penn makes sense to me on his take. I might know Sean Penn would be the one who investigates this myth.

The broad stroke of "dictator" is a misnomer. Chavez should be given credit in the press for all the people he helps in his country, the US, and all the other places in the world.

I don't believe anything I read in our mainstream corporate media.

[DutchLiberal]

12. Stewart, Olbermann and Maher also joined the 'dictator' chorus...

And they're the ones we look to for breaking down the MSM's bullshit. But when it comes to Chavez, even they buy the propaganda...

[Kitty Herder]

6. K&R

[BelgianMadCow]

7. I liked him before

now I love him. Please read the entire piece!

[StClone]

8. Hey Sean

Many of the anti-Hugo-niks here haven't been to Venezuela so they know a little more than you!

[silverweb]

9. Bookmarked for later.

Penn has turned out to be a very astute observer/ambassador, and I look forward to both the video and his article.

Thanks for posting this.

[judasdisney]

10. Don't include Chavez with Castro. Chavez doesn't kill anyone.

Chavez is a democratically-elected leader with 65%+ approval ratings, who respects elections when the opposition is elected.

Chavez -- unlike Colombia's fascist president Alvaro Uribe -- has ZERO death squads, and ZERO mass-graves. Not even Castro has death squads.

Chavez -- unlike Castro -- allows rampant free-speech that actively participated in the April 2002 coup d'etat against Chavez.

Chavez -- unlike U.S. President John Adams or Woodrow Wilson -- has imprisoned no member of the media for an opposing opinion.

Chavez -- insanely, if you ask me -- refrained from prosecuting MOST of the participants in the April 2002 against him.

Would Bush or Clinton refrain from prosecuting members of a military coup?

Watch "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised", not Sean Penn's misdirection. Get the FACTS.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5832390545689805144

[DutchLiberal]

11. To mention Castro and Chavez in the same sentence really ticks me off...

Because it makes it look like they can be equated, when clearly they cannot. The Castro's are dictators. There's nothing nice and peaceful about them and nobody should have a shred of sympathy for them. They don't allow elections, they don't allow a free press, they violently crack down on dissent, they torture. Those are facts.

Chavez, on the other hand, was democratically elected. Twice. He holds referendums in which the people get to decide whether or not legislation gets passed. There is a lively opposition press in Venezuela. To call him a dictator, like vice-president-elect Biden, off all people, did, is grossly ignorant.

People who oppose Chavez always put him in the same sentence with Castro because it makes him look bad. Chavez' supporters shouldn't make the same mistake.