Chavez: Clinton thinks US owns 'the continent'

[The Northerner]

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez scorns US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as an ancient thinker, charging her with interfering in Venezuelan domestic affairs.

"She still considers herself the imperial lady. She is behind the times," Chavez said during his visit to Ecuador on Friday.

"She still thinks the United States is the owner of this continent," he added.

Chavez made the remarks after Clinton criticized Caracas over the detention of television station owner Guillermo Zuloaga.

Read more: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=121794§ionid=351020704

[bbinacan]

1. Fuck Chavez! n/t

[RC]

2. Chavez speaks the truth.

We really do need get out of all those other countries and mind our own country for a change. We have more than enough problems to keep us ,U.S. busy right here at home for many years to come.

[ooglymoogly]

5. As long as we are passing out fuck you's, a happy fuck you to you.

Chavez is the duly elected president of Venezuela and takes care of his own rather than the oil cartels, which angers a lot of folks coveting their resources, the U. S. being the main cuvetor.

[blue neen]

3. This is Democratic Underground. Your post is supportive of Democrats in what way?

n/t.

[ooglymoogly]

6. Chavez is the quintessential Democrat our politicians pretend to be. nt

[HuckleB]

59. You forgot your sarcasm smiley!

[MadBadger]

26. Its just a news article. The OP doesnt offer an opinion

[blue neen]

28. IMHO, the OP makes it very clear on a daily basis where his/her opinion lies.

n/t.

[sabrina 1]

27. In this way. In 2002, the Bush Administration

backed a coup d'etat against Chavez, who was and is the democratically elected president of Venezuela. Democrats around the world were outraged, including every Democrat who was online at the time. I remember well how every progressive forum was outraged and cheered when Chavez was re-installed by his own people. The Bush administration tried to deny their involvement. Chavez at that time, was a hero of democrats in this country.

Bush also backed the successful coup against Haiti's elected president, Aristedes. Over 5,000 people died as a result of that crime. And once again, the U.S. was involved.

Tell me if you can, what is Democratic about supporting this country's interference with and oppression of the people of foreign nations? The only reason the Bush administration failed to overthrow or influence the elections in other South American countries, is because they were busy invading oil rich Iraq at the time.

And while the U.S. was busy in the ME, several South American countries finally, after decades of suffering under brutal U.S. backed dictators, managed to elect leaders that their own people supported.

The U.S. is still creating unrest in these countries, especially oil rich Venezuela. And Chavez is right. Only here in the U.S. mostly on the right, is their any support for our policies in South America.

Chavez is not a fool, he has outwitted all attempts to subvert the will of the Venezuelan people so far. He has paid off Venezuela's debts to the World Bank making his country independent of the Global Capitalists who prey on third world countries.

There was hope that the Obama administration would deal honestly with the people of S.America and recognize their democratically elected leaders. But that hope has faded, especially after the coup in Honduras and the continued attempts to destabalize Venezuela and other S. American countries.

Reagan's polices live on sadly, under this administration. But I can't imagine why any Democrat would support such brutal policies towards any nation.

[blue neen]

29. I appreciate your response and explanation.

IMHO, the original post is just another in a series of posts that concentrate on subtle ways of putting down our nation's Democrats.

So again, here on the Democratic Underground, I'd much rather see articles from the OP that concentrate on the the accomplishments of the Obama Administration.

[scarletwoman]

31. So, what you're saying is to hell with hard facts, you only want feel-good posts.

I don't care if a policy comes with a D or an R attached to it, when it's a policy that sucks, it needs to be called out.

[blue neen]

40. Nope.

I'm just referring to the original poster only.

[sabrina 1]

35. You're welcome

And I understand your wanting to see articles on the accomplishments of this administration. We all worked hard for a long time to get Democrats in power.

But it is more than disappointing that there has been no change in Bush's policies in S. America so far, especially since it has really been thrilling to see so many of those countries' struggles for independence from brutal dictatorships, finally succeed.

Those emerging democracies, like Venezuela, are still new and very fragile and they need support against the factions ousted as they moved towards democracy. So, to see the U.S. on the wrong side again, especially under a Democratic Administration is something I don't think we can ignore. If we do not pressure our government on issues as important as this, more people will suffer, as they did under Reagan/Bush and Bush Jr.

I think Democrats are better than that. And I have been very, very disappointed so far in Hillary Clinton especially, for her treatment of these people, especially the coup in Honduras where she stated that it had 'all happened without bloodshed' when in fact many people were killed, assassinated and tortured. I thought we were supporting a party that was going to change these policies.

Anyhow, thank you for your civil response. I wish things were different and we could be reporting on how we are now a nation that deals honestly with other democracies, rather than continuing policies that caused the deaths of so many innocent people in S. America.

[troubledamerican]

50. Because DUers are susceptible to FOX News propaganda & psyops.

That's why DUers & Hillary Clinton are afraid to point out that Chavez was democratically elected, remains democratically elected, abided by a significant electoral loss last year, and was INDEED the target of a U.S.-backed anti-democracy coup d'etat.

So of course DUers are scared shitless to support Venezuelan popular opinion.

[EvolveOrConvolve]

4. We wouldn't have to babysit so much

if there weren't assholes like Chavez to protect people from.

[ooglymoogly]

7. Yes. we the U.S, must protect folks from the presidents they elect

and support the dictators who would supplant them and hand over their resources to us.

[sabrina 1]

56. Lol ~

[EFerrari]

8. LOL! Yes, we "protect" Venezuela by facilitating violent coups

to take out their presidents who won't hand over their resources. USA!

[scarletwoman]

9. OMG, how absolutely infuriatingly patronizing of you! Apparently you think the Venezuelans

who elected him president are incapable of running their own country.

Why is that? Why do you think Venezuelans are inferior?

[EFerrari]

10. Damn.

[EvolveOrConvolve]

11. Where did I say that Venezuelans are inferior?

They deserve better than Chavez, who frankly doesn't give a shit about much but himself.

I'm extremely familiar with the what happens in Venezuela, and their "elections" are a sham. Do you defend Chavez because he's considered a "leftist"?

[ooglymoogly]

14. You are self misinformed. You had better learn some facts about

what has and is going on in Venezuela.

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

you have to get through the first 5 or 10 minutes of a spontaneous uprising to get to the reality the documentary captures.

[EvolveOrConvolve]

17. Oh good lord, I'm not going to watch some

heavily edited documentary. I base my statements on what I hear from actual Venezuelans on the ground.

[ooglymoogly]

19. Yeah, yeah, yeah and other booool cheeet,

Don't confuse me with facts. I don't need no facts.

[EFerrari]

46. On what ground? Miami?

lol

[scarletwoman]

48. No doubt!

:D

[EFerrari]

15. Their elections are more secure than yours are.

Paper ballots, a big audit, international observers.

Not only are you not familiar with what happens in Ven, you really should look into what is happening in your state with all that hackable ES&S junk you vote on.

[EvolveOrConvolve]

18. That's a non-sequitur

I don't have much faith in the US election system. That doesn't mean that Venezuela's election system is somehow perfect.

[Name removed]

20. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[EFerrari]

41. Not perfect but not what you describe in any way.

:)

[Name removed]

21. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[ooglymoogly]

24. sorry wrong place.

[ooglymoogly]

23. We support Chavez because he is the elected leader

of the Venezuelan people, twice proven. The people of Venezuela (riff raff) as someone like you might call them, rose up when the U.S. tried to impose a dictator on them in a violent coup that was thwarted by the common folks of Venezuela, who rose up, facing death, to protect their leader.

[ooglymoogly]

25. Yes, it is we, and particularly you, who know what is best for the Venezuelans. nt

[sabrina 1]

57. So what you're saying is the Venezuelan people are so stupid

that they choose to keep electing someone who, in your superior opinion, isn't good enough for them?

As for your claim that the Venezuelan elections are a 'sham', that is an outright lie, or else you do not know what you are talking about.

[sabrina 1]

54. Well, considering that in his own country, where he was

democratically elected several times by his own people, and remains one of the most popular leaders, more popular eg, than Obama or Bush, with the people who have the most right to decide whether he is an 'asshole' or not, just who are 'we' protecting? Can you please explain what business it is of the U.S. to interfere in a country that we are not citizens of and whose own citizens appear to be doing just fine with the leader they chose? The world will turn without the assistance of the U.S. fyi. Most of the world would like us to just mind our business and leave them alone.

Or do you think that the policies of the U.S. of choosing and backing brutal dictators for decades in that region of the world, were in any way justified? Do we have some divine right to determine the fate of other nations?

[Grand Taurean]

12. A thug such as Chavez is has no credibility to talk on such matters.

[EFerrari]

13. Oh, give it up. Chavez has never stolen an election or invaded the wrong country

or kidnapped people all over the world, tortured them and lied about it.

Geeze, we really have a mote and beam problem around here.

[Pavulon]

43. You are aware he led a coup right?(nt)

[ooglymoogly]

16. Only a thug could post such a post. nt

[upi402]

22. Here comes the Chavez flamebait

:boring:


:popcorn:

[cynatnite]

30. Bettter watch out, the Chavez-lovers will get you for criticizing him...

Can't have anything negative said about him...at all.

[scarletwoman]

32. There's nothing negative in the OP. Chavez is speaking the truth.

The handling of the coup in Honduras proved in no uncertains terms that the U.S. foreign policy of propping up right wing governments in Latin America remains unchanged since Kissinger.

[cynatnite]

33. Riiiggghhhhtttt....

:eyes:

[EFerrari]

45. The Obama administration scorecard on Latin America is nothing to write home about already.

Unfortunately, Chavez is right.

[Hugabear]

66. Have you heard of a little document called the Monroe Doctrine?

We've been acting as if we owned the entire Western Hemisphere for the past 200 years.

[EFerrari]

44. How is it negative that Chavez is calling out the US for its imperialism?

Maybe I just don't get it.

[Cleita]

34. It's in the Monroe Doctrine.

Noam Chomsky writes about it in detail. It's not just Chavez.

[Nikki Stone1]

36. Monroe Doctrine.

Ever since James Monroe, the US has claimed jurisdiction over the Americas.

[BolivarianHero]

37. If anyone here supports scum like Pedro Carmona, Mauel Rosales, or Carlos Andre Perez...

www.freerepublic.com

The Anti-Chavez forces are so desperate in Venezuela that they have to pretend they're social democrats to even hit 35% of the vote.

[bridgit]

38. Hugo...what 'the continent' does not understand is that were 'the continent'...

to conduct matters in a cohesive manner with a collective vision 'the continent' would be enriched as a whole, ahem, 'continent'

[Beacool]

39. Yeah, keep defending the dictator wannabe.

Chavez criticizes US as arrests stir concern

QUITO, Ecuador — Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Friday defended the arrest of a major TV channel owner, calling him a criminal and denying the government is carrying out an assault on press freedom.

The back-to-back arrests this week of two government opponents — including the owner of Venezuela's only remaining anti-Chavez TV channel — have drawn accusations that Chavez is growing increasingly intolerant and authoritarian as his popular support has slipped.

Opposition leaders and human rights groups condemned Thursday's arrest of Globovision's owner Guillermo Zuloaga, who was detained at an airport and released hours later after a judge issued an order barring him from leaving the country.

http://www.ajc.com/news/nation-world/chavez-criticizes-us-as-408506.html

:eyes:

[EFerrari]

42. We've been hearing "dictator wannabe" for years.

No educated person could repeat such silliness. It's akin to the teabaggers repeating over and over that Obama is a socialist, written, funded and spread by the same interests.

As President Lula said, you can criticize Chavez for a lot of things but not about democracy.

Save yourself some time and go directly to the Heritage Foundation for these "reports".

[protocol rv]

49. Howdy there from Venezuela

President Chavez isn't very popular now, he is having trouble with the economy, and there's an electricity shortage. The majority thinks he is not headed in the right direction. His government is arresting people who speak against him. This isn't exactly democratic.

And the US is an imperialist nation.

:-)

[Beacool]

52. Yes on both counts.

Chavez is a man who would like to be another Castro and rule for life. But, we can also never forget how the US supported every military junta in Latin America to the detriment of the people of those nations.

x(

[scarletwoman]

53. Hi. Thanks for chiming in. When are your next elections?

I'd be interested in hearing what you think are the causes of your economy going sour. I have no trust in our own corporate media to tell the truth about what's really going on.

[protocol rv]

55. Some more information from Venezuela

Elections coming in September. Hopefully there won't be violence and things will be headed in the right direction afterwards.

Why is the economy going sour? There are several reasons. I think the number one reason was the government's policy to have exchange rate control, keeping the Bolivar too high. This caused a serious imbalance, reducing the local producer's ability to compete with imports. Then there is the problem caused by the government threatening nationalizations, which has many people very nervous, so there's a lot of money leaving the country, and it is not invested. Then there's the drop in oil prices from 2008. When prices went up, the government was foolish and spent a lot of it, and they didn't save enough. And then when the prices went down, they were left without enough income.

So it is relative, the economy dropped 3 % in 2009, and now it is dropping more. But there's another really bad thing happening, the government failed to maintain the power generation system, didn't build enough new plants, and now we have a very dry dry season. And this has dried up the lake behind the Guri dam. And this system generates about 70 % of the country's electric power using hydroelectric power stations (there are three one behind the other in the river Caroni). Now there are power cuts all the time, and this is really hurting the economy. This week has been declared a total holiday to save electricity, but this reduces the amount of economic activity.

There are other things going on, most of them bad. We have 30 % inflation, and it may get worse. Also, the government now is not providing currency to the car manufacturers, so this means they have no ability to import the parts to make the cars. Which means the automotive industry is producing a lot less vehicles. Overall, unemployment is going up.

Also, the government has this really stupid subsidy of gasoline, which is sold cheaper than water, so of course people drive too much, and we use gasoline we could export. And the government decided to build power plants to use diesel, instead of natural gas, which means we burn a lot more liquid fuel we could export. And there's a natural gas shortage, because the government has failed to develop new fields properly. This means we are importing natural gas from Colombia, but they are not exactly ready to sell us too much, because they don't have so much and anyway the president keeps insulting their president.

Then there's lack of foreign money. Foreign corporations are afraid because the government nationalized some, and they are always threatening to nationalize others. They have seen the problems ExxonMobil has (they are fighting a huge case in an arbitration), and also PDVSA, the state oil company, has been failing to pay its debts. This means people are not too interested to do business.

Which means this is going to get a lot lot worse. Between the lack of electricity, the reduced oil and product exports, the lower economic activity, and everybody scared this place is going to be like Cuba, there's a lot of people trying to leave. And the people who leave have a tendency to be the more educated ones.

I also have a comment about your media: it is true they are not very reliable. I read your papers and watch your TV sometimes, and they are incredible liars. Right now they have a campaign to lie to you about Iran, for example. And before they lied to you about Iraq WMDs. And this has been going on for a long time. President Clinton lied to you too, for example about the war he had agaisnt Yugoslavia (there was no such thing as the genocide he claimed before he started bombing those poor people). And they lie to you about the Palestinians, who are just trying to defend themselves from invaders.

And it goes on and on, you guys are usually living on another planet, and the rest of the world wonder when are you coming back to planet earth.

[scarletwoman]

63. Thank you. I appreciate getting your perspective.

I am sorry to hear about these troubles.

I don't feel qualified to comment on the economic details -- it's good food for thought, however.

Thank you also for your recognition of how we in the U.S. are trapped in unreality and disinformation by our media. It's a constant struggle to find the truth.

sw

[GreenTea]

47. Chavez is correct the U.S. has always thought that they own 'the continent' Who could dispute that?

The U.S. and it's CIA backed corporations have always treated the Latin American countries like it was their own toxic dumping grounds for corporate pollution, the American corporations pay the workers there next to slave wages, the abundance of agriculture is owned and profited by the U.S. corporations while little if any taxes paid to the people of the country, The U.S corporations own and profit off tourism and tourist resorts, and if there's oil, you can bet American companies control it....U.S. and CIA decide the fate of the Latin American political & social agendas as well as what right-wing dictators will run each country that will allow all this exploitations, as was just proved as recently in Honduras.

One never see the U.S. demanding education, schools & books, library's, housing and hospitals for the people of these countries. Yet the U.S, spends billions in subsidies and protection for the American corporations to exploit & profit off the people and the lands of the region....The corporations exploiters, profiteers and oppressors don't want, never want an educated populace, if educated the people would then demand that these foreign exploiting parasites leave their country or at the very least pay taxes and fair wages for their profits and exploration of the land and waters.

Now who could disagree this has not been going on for many decades?

If you happen to agree with the exploration and believe it's fair, and you don't give a shit about the people than just be honest and say so...

A "fuck you Chavez" says nothing, no information there... It simply shows you as and uneducated, uninformed, ignorant inarticulate asshole who agrees with the U.S corporate oppression of these Latin American countries and it's people for decades...or worse you're just as greedy, too stupid and prefer to be blind than to see the truth, you actually believe you're better than them, an elitist who selfishly doesn't give a fuck about no one but themselves, especially not anyone in "third world" countries...

In essence a fucking slimy ass republican in other words...Now I feel extremely conformable telling ignorant republican assholes to FUCK OFF!!

[scarletwoman]

51. Very well said post. Chavez spoke the truth.

I don't understand why so many DUers can't or won't recognize the truth of what U.S. interference in Latin America has wrought over the decades; the ongoing crimes of social, ecological, economic destruction and subversion of democracy in the name of profits for U.S. Big Business.

I'm with you -- "Fuck you!" to anyone who supports that.

[protocol rv]

58. I beg to disagree

In reality, the problems in Latin America are caused by Latin Americans. It is not so hard to stop US influence. But we don't really have this act together. Chavez is famous for pointing fingers. When he declared the national health crisis, he said "and some people are to blame". I think he should have said "and I am to blame". But he is not that way.

[scarletwoman]

64. I understand what you mean.

Of course it's true that "the problems in Latin America are caused by Latin Americans" -- but which Latin Americans allied with which interests?

[HuckleB]

60. Chavez must be extremely bored.

[protocol rv]

62. No sir, he is not

He is always making noise about the USA, because the economy in Venezuela is not so good, and this is making him a lot less popular. I'm afraid this is going to keep up and then the US will find some excuse to bomb us a little bit.

[HuckleB]

65. Hmmmmm.

Interesting. Thanks for your perspective. Still, I don't see the US bombing Venezuela in the near future. And hopefully we'll keep the bombs out of the hands of future Bush clones.

[NeedleCast]

61. He's been pushed out of the press by North Korea Again

Everyone knows he doesn't like that.