A great all-around article on Chavez and Venezuela is Michael Parenti's "Good Things Happening in Venezuela" in PDF on http://www.michaelparenti.org/articles.html

I just sent a letter encouraging the ombudsman, Deborah Howell, at the Washington post to print the above letter (with their response). She's the "readers' representative" and I gave her this webpage as a reference.

I ask you to do the same... at least write a letter. Here's her website. Her email is: ombudsman@washpost.com

Take five minutes, and make the letter respectful, please...

I'm really at a loss for a good explanation of all of the anti-Jewish comments about this article. I'm Jewish, I was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in Boston in 2004. I fully support President Chavez.

We live in what is probably the most energy efficient home in our county. My wife and I personally designed and built the house.

Most Jews in the United States support the idea of two states - Israel and Palestine.

My personal political stance is what I choose to call Democratic Populist. I define that as being for what is best for ordinary people in their daily lives. Please don't put all Jews in the same mold.

We once lived in Iran. The Iranian people are wonderfully friendly, and without their help, our stay in Iran would have be less pleasant. Because of the kindness shown to us, it deeply bothers me to hear people make generalizes statements about evil Iranians because they aren't. We correct them, but some people dismiss our defense of Iranians. They know better" even if they've never been out of their own state.

The problem in the United States isn't Jews; it's George Bush, Dick Cheney, and company. Put the blame where it belongs and, please, never make such widely ranging statement of a "class" of people when only a few are involved.

Jonas Salk, Albert Sabine, Albert Einstein, and many others who have made contributions of historical scope were Jewish. Many, if not most, of the light skinned people marching with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. were Jewish.

Jews are no less varied in their political and civic beliefs than Catholics, Protestants, etc.
Please realize how small the view in the microscope really is. Move back and take in the big picture.

I've heard that Citgo cancelled/did not renew it's contracts with Venezuela after a Chavez speech...can anyone confirm this?

Viva Chavez, Viva El Frente/Verde

HANG in public now , do waste taxpayers money on impeachment and all greedy ceo's like Exxons and mobile and all heads of military industrial complex
Sandinistas got Somoza
all can be gotten

greed kills
karma is forever

only buy CITGO gas until HEMP replaces it all,
hopefully sooner than later
BACH and votehemp web sites for facts

Chavez like so many others before him has taken millions out of the hands of the millionaires and that is a dangerous thing to do. Millionaires KNOW that they have the right to this wealth and that the poor will just waste it having more kids. Bush and his "base" do not want this type of governance to become popular or they too will find it more difficult to make millions while paying very little tax. It is all about greed and American supports this type of greed with whatever it takes. War is just the most expensive 'solution'. For more download www.amoralamerica.info

7 reasons that I, (like Jim Glovewr above) enjoy filling up at Citgo whenever I can:

1. Hugo Chavez uses the money to help empower the poor in Venezuela.

2. Hugo Chavez also uses the money to help poor people in other countries from Africa to the Carribean to the US to obtain needed petroleum products (like heating oil) at reduced cost so they don't have to choose between eating and other energy needs.

3. Strangly enough, no American oil companies (despite record earnings every quarter for the past several years) have made any similar gesture to the unfortunate in their midst.

4. PDVSA is planning a joint project with Cuba to build a state of the art refinery right there to be able to properly crack the extra thick Venezuelan crude, thereby helping both countries to be able to avoid the annoyance of dealing with American governmental intransigence altogether.

5. Every barrel of Venezuelan crude we consume is one less barrell of Arabian crude we have to buy with the resulting monies going to fund various extremist causes and empowering some truly wacky-doodle and repressive regimes.

6. Strengthening Chavez's regime strengthens the rest of Latin America through such alternative organizations as ALBA and Banco del Sur thereby freeing our fellow Americans to the South from the meddling influence of US imperialism.

7. No Venezuelan ever called me "infidel".

Everybody ought to engage in a "buycott" and not a boycott of Citgo petroleum products.

It is the Indigenous Peoples of South America that are taking
back their sovereignty from Western imperialists. Indigenous Peoples' value systems value cooperation, i.e. a hybrid form of Socialism based upon Indigenous lifeways. This new hybrid socialism will reflect the modern world and to some degree free markets. People there are taking back their land, resources, and lives from their historical invader occupier elites and their elitist appointees. No longer will the wealth of Venezuela rest solely in the pockets of elitist minorities, instead it will be redistributed according to more rational practices. Now that the Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples has been approved by the United Nations, the world can expect a rising tide of Indigenous rights movements.

I was banned from posting on alternet for using the term RICH JEWS. I think the fact that I was banned- shows how much power rich jews do have.

Posters here that say-"but not ALL jews are this way" are missing the point. The Israel Lobby-and the same kind of unnamed American pro-Israel groups...are RICH and POWERFUL. You might as well say- well not all Republicans are bad. Of course not..but name some truly progressive RICH Republicans in power.

The rich who rule us-have their own agenda and it is NOT about the American people. Israel is surounded by oil rich -non judeo-christian- countries. This is seen as a threat to Israel... and to the 3 percent Richest Americans who own the wealth of America.

Progress for them means-A Capitalist-corporate white-american christian- jewish ruled world. We are in the middle of a world war right now-Rich Industrialist Capitalists against the REST OF US---We the Poor People of the Earth-for true democracy, equal rights and equal wealth and environment FIRST systems...

And until we progressives are honest enough to TALK ABOUT the REAL ISSUES of this... as how many american jews are rich and in power and have an Israel/corporate America first agenda...

which is why we now have 4000+ dead young american soldiers in this latest war-as well as the uncounted numbers of dead Arabs-We will get NOWHERE in ending this war and making the world wide changes that brave leaders like Chavez are TRYING to make and that we ALL so desperately need to start making now!

Boston Tea anyone?

It's hard to tell what the truth about Mr Chavez is, with propaganda coming from both sides. However, based on the fact that the US government is strongly opposed to him and his policies, I'm going to guess that he is doing something right.

http://www.ryanhartman.wordpress.com

Malditos gringos! It is the US who is harboring terrorists, allowing them to walk around freely - especially in southern Florida. But then, the gringos will prostitute themselves even with Satan, if it serves their purpose. Start minding your own god damn business and clean up your own backyard...plenty of shit in it.

Señor Izarra........

First a wonderful letter and my suggestion would be to have Citgo sponsor full page adds with this letter as the centerpiece and "Supported by Citgo Gas" in the lower right hand corner....Those adds should be in every newspaper in every major city.

The comments sound like a group of Democrats sorting out their own issues.....Señor Izarra´s letter was a comment about the control of the media and the one sided approach towards supporting Neo-conservative or Conservative Ideals.

Any country that acts against the economic interests of American Corporations finds itself the object of the American Media.

The National Media has become an agent and Co-Conspirator with the U.S. Government and the "Political Elite". The National Media has fed the American People: Philip Zelikow´s "Official Version" of 9/11, Cheney/Bush´s Hussein Links to Al Qaeda, Cheney/Bush´s "Weapons of Mass Destruction", "The Surge Worked", and many other falsifications about many other events.

It is only through sites like "Commondreams.org" that those of us frustrated by what we see in the United States and the lack of information given to the American People can vent and "Hope" for change.

My issue: the upcoming theft of the elections of 2008 and how the media hid the facts about the elections of:2000,2004,and 2006(Especially in Florida)and allowed for a violentless Coup D´etat.

I ask all of you to watch "Uncounted".

I ask you to research "Kellog, Brown, and Root" and the $385 Million Dollar Contract they got to build "Detention Camps" throughout the United States as part of "Operation Endgame".

The National Media has lost its soul as George Orwell predicted. "George Orwell offerred us a grim vision of the future, a future in which an "All Powerful Party" working through an all-seeing "Ministry Of Truth" manipulates and intimidates the public by pelting it with an endless series of distorted and fabricated messages."

What we have is a "Tyrannical democracy" where the people believe that they had chosen their leaders and as Anton Scalia said to a group of law students, "Get used to it you lost!"

A RED newspaper in a BLUE state printed this editorial
http://www.leaderherald.com/page/content.detail/id/500964.html?nav=5005

Two days later they printed my letter to the editor challenging the US's right to criticize Chavez.
http://www.leaderherald.com/page/content.detail/id/501076.html?nav=5008

Message to Bligh: Chavez is not a dictator. If you are going to cry, "dictator", that description best fits the Bush regime and your hero Bush.

"approximately 1.3 TRILLION barrels (Orinoco Oil Sands.. Said to be somewhat easier to extract than the Athabasca Oil Sands)"

But just to be clear, the Orinoco oil lies 500 to 1000 meters deep and is extracted using ordinary wells and special recovery methods. So no strip mining of the Llanos like their doing in Alberta.

Doom n Gloom, your posts are very well addressed by mwildfire, but something else even more obvious needs to be said. Our policies are not about Jews and Zionism in the least. They're about oil. Oil is by far the single biggest factor in our government's decisions as it is the overwhelming barometer of economic power. China is butchering up Africa for it and funding us to butcher up Iraq for ours, thus gaining huge economic advantage. We are in Iraq for oil, trying to get into Iran for oil and demonize Chavez because he doesn't want us controlling his country for their oil. Maybe he'd rather control his own country and he is, in fact, a demigogue but such arguments are totally beside the point.

It isn't about Chavez, it's about our insatiable thirst for the rest of the world's resources which we will consume endlessly and viciously, destroying the lives of whole countries such as Iraq, while we shop at the box stores and drive monstrous gas guzzlers and innocently and moronically listen to CNN and read the WP and NYT as if they are fact.

Chavez is not my cup of tea, but then he doesn't have to be. The people of HIS nation in a fair and open election selected him and on most issues the majority supports him. Any one who believes in democracy should applaud the fact that the people have made their choice. Another positive sign is that there is an opposition press and the people have successfully caused Chavez to accept their will on some issues - in effect over-ruling his wishes indicates some level of health in their government.

ON ISSUE after issue Bu$h the inferior has taken fascist, anti environmental, and undiplomatic positions against the interests and will of the people. His actual electoral support has never been very convincing.

Venezuela actually has more oil than Saudi Arabia, at approximately 1.3 TRILLION barrels (Orinoco Oil Sands.. Said to be somewhat easier to extract than the Athabasca Oil Sands)... Cheney knows this, Bush knows this..

Chavaz knows this and if he is as wise as we think, he will prepare his army and people so that should the US try to take out an enforced long term loan on Venezuelan resources, the debacle of Iraq will look like a skip in the park in comparison.

Don't know if this forum string is still being visited, but I'll post anyhow.

Way back in college ('78-'80) I prepared a thesis on "The Origins Of Land Ownership" for a (Land) Survey History class. Was a poor researcher at the time and found very little source material. One of the sources I did find was a little book produced by the U.N. concerning how to promote prosperity in South America. The first and most important conclusion of their report was the need for land reform. At the time that report was produced (and going forward from then) most land ownership was concentrated in the hands of a wealthy elite. The conclusion of the U.N. investigators was that very little reform was possible without a larger proportion of citizens having a vested interest in the land.

The need for land reform was one of the first things Chavez said that caught my attention. During the years of the Bush admin. and all the hostility of our government to Chavez success I have visited the Venzuelanalysis website. Many articles posted there report that Chavez and his gov. have more control in urban areas, not so much in rural areas. Attempts to re-allocate land holdings through the process of eminent domain and redistribution move slowly because Chavez tries to walk a fine line between necessary reform and redistribution and the legal claims on land by present owners. The Chavez government does not "sieze" private landholdings, but rather digs into the historical legal basis for many existing landholdings, attempts to categorize levels of just claims, then negotiates to purchase lands from present owners for redistribution. They can do this because of increased revenue of the government because of nationlaization of oil. But that is only part of the story.

When lands are purchased and redistributed many of the real troubles begin. Homesteaders in rural areas are attacked and murdered by thugs and goons hired by wealthy landowners to stop Chavez reforms. As mentioned above, the presence of the Chavez government in rural areas is very thin and often inefective. The wealthy landowners are the same segment aligned with the ultra-right corporate media in V., those with the most to lose by these reforms.

Centuries of abuse, corruption, and injustice that is the result of colonialism will not be corrected overnight. From what I have read and been able to understand Chavez is aware of the many failings of past socialist governments and is - to my mind - attempting to create something new.

To Doom n Gloom: the mistake you're making is to conflate what the Israeli and US Zionist right says and does with "Jews." In fact Jews historically tend toward liberal views. But in recent years, a significant number of influential Jews both in Israel and the US have gotten into positions of power and into a fascist mindset. It saddens me that they have stirred up so much antiSemitism. But it really isn't fair to tar all Jews with this, any more than it's fair to tar all Americans with what the Bush junta has done. While Bush never actually was legitimately elected, nearly half the American voters picked him, twice--close enough for a little vote fraud to push Bush over the top. So are Americans responsible for the many criminal actions of this administration? It would be fair to assign us some of the blame, but the reality is that we have little voice in our government. Similarly, enough Jews are into this ugly, fascistic Zionism--and enough other Jews are silent about it--to assign Jews some blame in the way world events have turned. But there is vibrant, active opposition in Israel sticking up for peace and for the Palestinians--not that you hear about them here. And please note that the views of a Jew like Chomsky are suppressed by US media while the likes of Wolfowitz are amplified.

Jaded Prole March 29th, 2008 7:22 am

"By the way — for the bigots on board, the Jews have nothing to do with this — it's capitalism at work promoting its vile class interests."

And if you don't believe Jaded Prole, check out the "extended" power bush wants to give to Banking Cartel:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23853415/

The U.S. is a government "of, by and for the wealthy"! That's why they don't like Chavez. "Under Chávez's economic policies, extreme poverty has diminished to an all-time low of 9.4% (2007) from a high of 42.5% in 1996."

What has the U.S. done for its poor except increase their statistcal numbers?

It's not just the Washington Post. The entire US corporate media repeat the same lies usually simultaneously and on cue. The CIA and Psy-Ops have been involved heavily in guiding and writing "the news" since the '80s. It's no coincidence that the same headlines often appear in so many papers. The good news is that due to the internet and the independent alternative media, real news gets out and once its out enough, it is difficult for the lamestream corporate media to ignore it and pretend legitimacy.

By the way -- for the bigots on board, the Jews have nothing to do with this -- it's capitalism at work promoting its vile class interests.

The Washingtonm Post is to Bush, what Joeseph Goebbles was to Hitler

noam chomsky in "interventions":

"The important question, plainly, is what Venezuelans think about these matters. We have quite substantial evidence about this. One major source is the polls taken by Latinobarometro, the highly respected Chilean polling organization, which regularly monitors opinions in Latin America, in some depth. Their latest Latin America survey finds that Venezuela is tied for the lead with Uruguay in support for democracy and for the elected government, figures that have dramatically increased during the Chavez years. And that Venezuelans are well ahead of any other country in optimism about economic prospects. There is no shortage of bitter condemnations of Chavez in the media, but I did not see any of this reported.

"My own feeling is that there is a mixture of quite promising forms of democratic participation, alongside of widespread corruption and authoritarian tendencies that are potentially dangerous. Civil liberties have been generally protected, even the harshest critics who are at all serious concede Some of the harshest criticism in the West concerns the government's refusal to renew the license of RCTV (which now broadcasts only on cable). I agreed that it was wrong. I also agreed with Western commentary that "it couldn't happen here." For very good reasons. It couldn't happen here because if there had been a military coup in the US that overthrew the government, disbanded Congress and the Supreme Court and every other democratic institution, and then was reversed by a popular uprising, and if CBS, say, had publicly supported the coup and gros sly distorted what was happening so as to facilitate it, then CBS wouldn't have had its license revoked 5 years later. Rather, the owners and managers would have long ago been in prison or probably would have received the death sentence. It's fair to criticize violations of rights by an official enemy, but there should be some limits on hypocrisy."

massud wrote: "DOOM N GLOOM! I'M A PEACEFUL PERSON, BUT IF I COULD I WOULD SMACK YOU RIGHT UPSIDE THE FACE! YOUR POST WAS THE MOST BACKWARDS, RACIST, PREJUDICED, AND IGNORANT POST I HAVE EVER SEEN ON COMMMON DREAMS! I DON'T KNOW IF THE OTHER POSTERS SIMPLY DIDN'T RESPOND OUT OF A SENSE TO NOT GIVE CREDIT TO YOUR OBVIOUS BIGOTRY, OR IF THEY QUIETLY AGREE."

Loud voices are just that massud, loud voices. A great many well read and educated American Indians understand what I am saying about the American Genocide. Our culture can be broadcast and written about but not our political concerns. One would think that of all people Jews would support others who have suffered genocides, yet there is no support of any consequence by Jewish people for American Indians. Show me a Jewish owned newspaper, radio station, or television station that has broadcast significant information about the quiet genocide. www.indiantrust.com, broken treaties, nuclear repository on Indian land, contemporary government theft of Indian lands and resources, destruction of our sacred places, and the final push for the destruction of our traditional culture. American Indians enlist in the Armed Forces at a ratio of twenty to one for whites. So don't even try to tell us we have no voice.

It is no accident that there are strong Jewish roots in American neo-conservatism. It is no accident that the Likud Party, neo-conservatism, and AIPAC have strong ties, nor is it any accident that neo-cons planned and pushed for the Iraq War. So save your emotional rant for those who cannot think for themselves. People here can and do.

Since Venezuelan government refuses to follow Washington's dictate, American military might consider invading Venezuela for oil.

That will be good for American SUV drivers as free flow of cheap oil from Venezuela will make a gallon for only a dime!

"I have a suggestion. If you don't like what the WP says,
DROP YOU DAMN SUBSCRIPTION."

This has only limited effectiveness. The subscribers are not the newspaper's customers, so the WP is unlikely to care too much - please scroll up to my 2:29PM remarks.

Zinn is jewish

Doom n Gloom - It is true that the Israel lobby is one major source intimidating news media and candidates. If you criticize Israeli government's ultra-nationalism, militarism or behavior of any kind, you will be called an Anti-Semite and a certain % of campaign contributions or advertising revenue will be jeopardized.

There are parallels between the establishment of Israel and Manifest Destiny in the US. In escaping oppression and seeking opportunity, we have, as a whole, abused the rights and and denied the humanity of those who were there before us.

But your sweeping statement that Jews have not come out against Native American genocide is coming in from left field. What is there - a "Council of All Jews" that meets somewhere in secret and issues policy statements? It would be impossible to get all Jews to agree on anything.

One of the first to debunk the rosy picture we were fed in history class and to write history that exposed the tragedy that accompanied European invasion and settlement is Howard Zinn. I think he is Jewish? What about Noam Chomsky? Would you say he supports genocide against Native Americans? I could go on and on.

For anybody intesested, there is available a very good Cuban documentary, in english, on the crucial Laguna incident....This documentary proves the incident, which was central also to The Revolution Will not be televised, as it served to justify the coup, was a fraud.
http://www.venezuelasolidarity.org.uk/ven/web/dvd/dvd.html

You can by The Revolution Will Not be Televised here as well.

lizard, the American people are bombarded by propaganda and addicted to opiates such that they barely know what's going on. This does not release them from responsibility, but at least should preclude blaming them.

Ultimately we want to empower the people, so let's blame the elites who abuse the power, and try to convince the people to act in their individual/local interests. They will embrace responsibility when they see the payback, after we purge the elites from the government and halt their class war aggression against the people.

The documentary on the coup in 2002, was captured on the spot by 2 photojournalists who happened to be in Venezuela, studying Chavez and the Bolivarian Revolution. The film, The Revolution Will Not Be Televised, has been strongly censored by the Bush Administration; but, is available for viewing at the Venezuelanalysis website.

I sent the letter to my local newspaper and challenged them to print it.

Congratulations to the people of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela for serving their individual selves and local communities by voting their individual/local interests over elite interests.

The Washingon Post....Hmm...wasnt that the newspaper that risked its reputation in investigating the Watergate scandal? How times have changed.

I sent it to WP as well. Maybe if we all send it - at the very least, we might succeed in annoying them the way they do us.

letters@washpost.com

This letter was submitted to Jackson Diehl. It deserves to be printed along with a mea culpa (dig out the one you did about your one-sided coverage and lack of investigative reporting on Iraq, and just change the name of the country).

(pasted letter above here)

Great letter and all true. Been to Venezuela, heard Chavez speak in person, talked with lots of folks and saw for myself the progressive steps being taken. As Chavez so famously says, if you want to do something about poverty, the answer is simple: you need to give POWER to the poor. He spends much of his time educating and organizing the people of Venezuela to be effective agents of the change they desire.

Has such an idea ever entered the consciousness of an American administration? No -- Republicans say we need to blame the poor, the Democrats say we need to fix the poor, but no one ever wants to give them POWER to change the way the place is run. Go to Venezuela and see this in action - it is an amazing, transformative policy unlike any I have ever seen.

jamadison, you nailed it.

Superb.

I just finished Eva Golinger's book Cracking the Code about how the U.S. provided assistance to overthrow the Chavez government in 2002, then lied about it, then blamed the attempted to coup on Chavez.

Really dirty and underhanded behavior by our government officials.

The United States is currently run 2 Mad Men!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The U.S. has aggressively invaded the Oil Producing Middle East. .Bush is responsible for the deaths of over One Million non-combatant civilians in Iraq in the last 5 years.

Bush and Cheney have ignore and violated the 200 year old U.S. Constitution. They are International War Criminals on the scale of Pot Pol and Adolf Hitler.

Democratically elected Leaders of Sovereign Nations should ban together and demand the arrest of George W. Bush and Richard Cheney. .They should be tried for their War Crimes.

Iraq was an illegally invaded......sovereign nation.

For the last 5 years, its infrastructure has been destroyed......back to the "dark ages".

President Hugo Chavez is a "saint" compared to the "Great Mass Murders", George W. Bush and Richard Cheney.......

One fourth of Clinton supporter want to vote for McCain if Obama wins. Let me hear again about how Nader is a problem. Let me hear about the press being at fault and the people being fooled by the elites. McCain is even with both democrats. Whose fault is this? No, not the people, it has to be someone other than the people. Because they are such GREAT people. The great American people! Damn the rich, the corporations, the parties, the press and anything but not the people. The people are GOOD!

I have never been so disgusted in my life.

"I haven't even gotten started on the guy. Show me where I am wrong- without referring to the governments own self serving figures- and I will admit it."

Can you change things for the better in Venezuela since you probably aren't a Venezuelan citizen ? Can you change things for the better in USA since you are probably an American citizen ?

Then like a rational-thinking person , stop whining about another country's affairs which are really none of your business and do something about your own's unless you think there is nothing about USA that can be improved .

Those who can , do while those who can't , teach or talk .

DOOM N GLOOM! I'M A PEACEFUL PERSON, BUT IF I COULD I WOULD SMACK YOU RIGHT UPSIDE THE FACE! YOUR POST WAS THE MOST BACKWARDS, RACIST, PREJUDICED, AND IGNORANT POST I HAVE EVER SEEN ON COMMMON DREAMS! I DON'T KNOW IF THE OTHER POSTERS SIMPLY DIDN'T RESPOND OUT OF A SENSE TO NOT GIVE CREDIT TO YOUR OBVIOUS BIGOTRY, OR IF THEY QUIETLY AGREE.

This is an outstanding letter that shows how to deal with the corrupted American media, expose them with the truth and with established facts. The WP cannot publish the letter because they cannot refute the facts. Very simply they are a propaganda arm of the conservative corporate owned nation we think belongs to the people. President Chavez is doing what should be done in any and all democracies, governing for the people. When was the last time we have had such a president?

Excellent - way to go!

Adjectives like strongman", "autocrat", "clownish", "increasingly erratic", "despot", and "dictator" are used best to describe Bush - and and WAR CRIMINAL to that.

This is an example of what is meant by the WHORE MEDIA.Most of the MSM is owned by wealthy,elite, conservatives who get their bias in print. The liberal media is a myth!

I have a suggestion. If you don't like what the WP says,
DROP YOU DAMN SUBSCRIPTION. I did, because the WP has become
the Faux noise of print news.

Oh, just to cite chapter and verse, here is article 72 of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela:

«[b]Article 72[/b]: All magistrates and other offices filled by popular vote are subject to revocation. Once half of the term of office to which an official has been elected has elapsed, a number of voters constituting at least 20% of the
voters registered in the pertinent circumscription may extend a petition for the calling of a referendum to revoke such official's mandate. When a number of voters equal to or greater than the number of those who elected the official vote in favor of revocation, provided that a number of voters equal to or greater than 25% of the total number of registered voters* have voted in the revocation election, the
official's mandate shall be deemed revoked, and immediate action shall be taken to fill the permanent vacancy in accordance with the provisions in this Constitution and by law. The revocation of the mandate for the collegiate bodies shall be performed in accordance with the law. During the term to which the official was elected, only one petition to recall may be filed.»

So it wasn´t «any time» during his mandate, as I stated in an earlier post, but think of the possibilities, the damage that could have been avoided, if in the US the people could have recalled Bush two years into his mandate!

Bravo!!! If only the WP had as much intelligence and integrity as this fine fello.

And to those that might assert that this is just one propagandist responding to another, think again! All of the information about Venezuelan economic and social successes are factually accurate. The irony is that Venezuela is getting its shit together whilst the U.S. is losing everything.
American political leaders and hopefuls better start looking inwards soon and leave the Venezuela's of the world alone; they're doing just fine.

jlocke wrote: "Secondly, in WWII, a lot of good people died fighting to put down this kind of anti-minority garbage. Let's not allow them to have died in vain. What Americans are doing, they are doing to themselves. There is no need to find scapegoats. You cannot even pin this just on Bush. I see Democrats and Republicans, Christians all, helping him."

First my father fought in WWII and was among those who largely ended it at the Battle of the Bulge. He also liberated concentration camps. I am also a veteran. I have every right to call out Jews for their meddling through AIPAC in both American domestic and foreign policy. This clear attempt at hegemony is destructive to the interests of Americans. Even Jews are beginning to call out Jews. This is no big secret nor is it stereotyping or bigotry. No one should hide behind the Holocaust to tell lies or to create war. Jews like anyone else can and should be openly criticized. Jews are very influential in the media and there is little doubt in my mind what is behind the Washington Post's lies regarding Hugo Chavez.

Secondly, Jews including Jewish intellectuals have avoided and failed to openly recognize the American Genocide of American Indians. Why is that?

So lets button up those shallow assertions of stereotyping.

My local paper, Rochester (MN)Post-Bulletin has a similar tendency. A recent straight news item inferred a press censorship attitude by Chavez. No context and no honesty in the impression given. This is from a paper that usually tries to give decent coverage of news and issues. Those on the Right despise Chavez and I fear they've won over the uncritical moderates.

Here's the coup plotters thanking RCTV on national TV:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAalLAYl0VA

Oh, an addendum to your correction, Grant: not only would Chávez have to run against the opposition every election cycle, but the Venezuelan constitution stipulates that the people can recall Chávez at any point during his mandate--just like France. If enough people sign a plebiscite for his recall, he would be out just like Charles de Gaulle.

The MSM in the US never mentions this and, needless to say, in the country most full of itself for its «democracy», the US, there is no such stipulation in its constitution.

BushCo is the enemy -- Venezuela is our ally.

One correction, he wouldn't have to run each year if term limits were changed, he'd have to run every election cycle against opposition candidates.

bligh2: I have been following, as best I can, U.S. meddling in Venezuela for some time. Do I jump on the bandwagon and say "rah, rah, Chavez"? No.

Do you remember, when Chavez was last (fairly and decisively)elected, how the U.S. got caught with it's hand in the cookie jar by funneling U.S. government funds to the right-wing Venezuelan media and wealthy opponents of Chavez' socialist revolution? I do.

Venezuela is second only to Saudi Arabia in the total of U.S. oil imports. WTF do you think this is all about? There are many wealthy interests that stand to lose much with the success of the "Bolivarian Revolution." Good, it is about time. Chavez isn't perfect, but I trust him a lot more than I do Bush. Or Clinton. Are not George Bush and Dickhead Chaney authoritarians? re: signing statements, political manipulation of DOJ, "we don't bow to public opninion," "you're either with us or against us," "free-speech zones" of barbed wire and armed gestapo.

Are you proposing, with your stance, that the U.S. is justified in contemplating armed aggression against Venezuela?

The fight for truth is a tough one for sure.

Media control has been key to the hijacking of the United States, merely a shadow of democracy itself, standing aloof lobing its own greanades at others who dare address the whole spectrum of their societies.

The Post is bad enough.

What about the positions of the candidates for the Oval Office?

It has become an act of faith that no one who deviates from the "Ameirca is Great" Myth can even be heard in America if they are running for office. Similar to heresy.

The Home of the Brave

the evil eagle empire is on the skids
the eagle evil empire is up for bids

the war payola plundering puppets know no bounds
like back room banker predator power pomp driven hounds
with chutzpah to the power of ten
are moving up the dooms day clock again
with a little help from faithful big (Ber bankie) Ben

Sure they may throw us some bones as we loose our homes
while they buy summer Mc mansions with some shady loans

oh the chutzpah oh the chutzpah of this corporate banker brass
who wipe their ass with us servile ants
while the land of milk and honey becomes
the land bilk and baloney

the warrior whipped wussy class
have mortgaged the nation to the hilt
and are tilting windmills like a Vanderbuilt
while the levers on the levers won't be able to check
the long drawn out impending financial wreck

but heck

we soon may be able to breath a sigh of relief
while the evil eagle empire looses it's teeth

Here is a link to the US government documents (from the NED, USAID, DOD, amongst others), of the funding the US gave to the groups who attempted to install a military dictatorship in Venezuela in 2002. Is reality a conspiracy too?:

http://www.venezuelafoia.info/english.html

"Chavez will continue to scare his people with "The US is about to invade" or some such crap- until he can declare a state of emergency."

So this, according to you, is a lie. The US, according to you, DOESN'T fund groups that about six years ago attempted to install a military dictatorship, with funding from the NED. Are you telling me that the US doesn't to this day support these same groups though the NED and USAID? Tell me, if China or Cuba gave money to a the military in the US to take out the democratically elected government and attempted to install a military dictatorship that would do the orders of the Chinese or Cuban government, would the US be paranoid in cracking down on groups connected to the Chinese or Cuban governments? Again, I don't have to even ask this question, the answer is obvious. You, on the other hand, don't like Chavez so being objective and coming up with logical arguments doesn't matter.

In what way? What the hell that you said DOES square with reality?

"Total BS. Chavez DOES control the supreme court"

Explain how.

"he DOES rule by decree"
The Venezuelan constitution, voted on in a national referendum (this is what Stalin regularly did right?) says that if 10% of the people disagree with ANY law Chavez passes they can put the law up for public referendum.

"He DID try to change the rules so he could rule for "the next fifty years"

Actually, again, he allowed the people to vote on the matter, and it wasn't rule for the next 50 years you rube. He'd have to run to get re-elected each year, just like Bush's ally Howard who just finished his FOURTH term in Australia. Colombia, who's a US ally, is attempting to do the same, does the press here go crazy? Is Australia a dictatorship because Howard just got done with the FOURTH term? France, since they don't have term limits? The US before the mid 20th century? Such stupidity.

"60 % of all add space and television space is either fawning tributes to Chavez or Chavez himself (up to six hours a day on TV.) Anyone that pisses him off, whether foreign or domestic, will be threatened with him seizing their property- then he wonders why no one wants to invest and money is leaving the country to the tune of 50B a year."

The majority of the press there is privately owned (the majority of what isn't, is community run and outside the role of the government). The RCTV case is maybe what you are talking about, and it illustrates how blindly stupid you are. RCTV worked on behalf of the coup and received money from the US, who financially supported the coup. When the coup was going down RCTV and the other private stations worked on behalf of the coup, showing misleading footage. The coup went down and all branches of government were dissolved. The constitution voted on in a national referendum was tore up, the head of the central bank removed and orders were given to kill Chavez. Everyone in the world, from the OAS to the UN condemned the coup, the US and Canada backed it. When the coup happened the plotters got on TV and actually, in front of a national audience, thanked RCTV in particular! Chavez is restored and what does he do to RCTV? He waits five years and doesn't renew their license. What if CNN, with Iranian or Chinese money, did the same? Do I even have to ask? What replaced RCTV? A COMMUNITY channel, democratically run by Venezuelans themselves. Again, how Stalinist.

Seriously, not only are you obviously stupid you're too ill informed on the issue to make any comments. Not a single thing you said had any basis in reality. "Individual freedom"? Code word, used by brain dead "libertarians". It means freedom for those who own capital. For those who don't, their freedom is to accept the terms of those who own capital or to starve to death. So it isn't "coercion". Stupid philosophy that belongs only in a classroom discussion. Any times it's been attempted it has been disaster. If you want a good example of the disaster, look to pre-Chavez Venezuela.

Regarding investment in Venezuela, have any idea how the system you favor works? The capitalists take resources out of the country, put it into the financial markets then loan back the funds that they basically stole from Venezuelans as high interest loans. THIS to idiots like you, is "individual freedom".

Tell me, do you have a damn thing to say about Colombia? Do you want a list of horrors with the Colombian state? More union leaders killed than the rest of the world combined, the president there with a decades long connection to drug runners and death squads (which our own government has acknowledged), evidence recently coming out that death squads met on his ranch to plan attacks against Colombian citizens, his cousin and dozens of his party members under arrest now for connections to death squads, his former campaign manager was arrested at a US airport in the 1990's with hundreds of pounds of drug making materials, he was listed as the 81st or 82nd worse drug offender in the Colombian government by the US government in the early 1990s, and people like you say NOTHING.

You fifth rate propagandist.

bligh2 wrote

Chavez will continue to scare his people with "The US is about to invade" or some such crap- until he can declare a state of emergency. Then the country belongs lock, stock, and barrel to Chavez and his cronies governing under "decrees". Just watch.

My Response

BUSH will continue to scare his people with "The TERRORIST ARE about to ATTACK" or some such crap- until he can declare a state of emergency. Then the country belongs lock, stock, and barrel to BUSH and his cronies governing under "decrees". Just watch.

Oh, that already happened. I guess Chavez is one step behind.

Why is it that for honest world news and information coverage, we must look to news from other parts of the world. If the owners and editors of the Washington Post really admired and promoted democracy, they would be heaping praise on Hugo Chavez and his accomplishments. Take a look at the steep slant in their coverage as compared with the truth as told by many of the international papers and trusted internet sites and you'll see it, too - the Washington Post is a fraud. (and the NYT as well)

A good source of information about the mainstream media's gross misrepresentations and blatant bias, you can go to Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting: http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=100

With unprecedented advances in communication technology, we no longer have to sift through the lies in order to get accurate news. The citizens of this country are slowly but surely coming to the realization that these cheerleaders for wars and agression, who pretend to be honest reporters of the truth, are nothing but cheerleaders for fascism and brutality around the world.

We don't have to purchase anything from anyone who advertises in these discredited papers. I will avoid these papers altogether and I refuse to purchase any product from anyone who advertises within their pages.

Thank you! This letter, if only found here, is still such an eloquent and necessary respose to all the static that surrounds and is kept around Chavez here in the States.

Also, a thanks to jlocke123. It's incredible to me how gentle I too feel in responding to anti-Jewish sentiments. For me, it is first a wince and then a softening of the heart.

War is not just some neo-con enterprise. War is something, I believe, with which we all have a certain comfort. How then, can you explain the spewing of hate in any direction we feel in a given moment?!?

In order to end a war - any war, to whatever degree and in whatever place it exists - we have to have to look honestly, both internally and externally, and we have to have compassion for what we see.

We are all responsible for what happens in our world, and we feel this - deeply! Thus, we need to have compassion for the confusion we feel in the face of this task. A good place to start is practicing compassion for those other people around us we may at war with unwittingly.

Vince "Bligh2 your accusations do not square with reality"

Really?- in what way? Did not Chavez stack his supreme court with his followers, almost doubling the number of Justices-something that Human Rights Watch called " a direct attack on an independent judiciary". (the new justices were reported to have given the "chavez salute"when inaugerated-nice touch)

I haven't even gotten started on the guy. Show me where I am wrong- without referring to the governments own self serving figures- and I will admit it.

Chavez will continue to scare his people with "The US is about to invade" or some such crap- until he can declare a state of emergency. Then the country belongs lock, stock, and barrel to Chavez and his cronies governing under "decrees". Just watch.

OREZ-ENO

'chavez would make a far better american president than mccain, clinton and obama combined. too bad chavez is not an american' bloody good job he isn't. they would assasinate him.............

willo, that is how they keep their jobs.

bligh2: your accusations do not square with reality.

Bravo Andres. Please tell President Chavez that the stench of sulphur that he noticed while in New York has spread across the entire United States and can be smelled around the world clearly now. I smelled the sulphur long before Hugo mentioned it.

Several years ago I was living on St. Croix and stood on the island's far eastern tip looking south towards Venezuela thinking about it being only about 500 miles away over those beautiful waters of the Caribbean. I knew a good man was in power in that country and nothing the media in the US can convince me otherwise. Now I am back in the states having to listen to politicians justify and obfuscate the reasons why they sent our armies to slaughter hundreds of thousands and ruin the lives of millions of people in Iraq. The smell of sulphur is too much and I am choking on it.

anne faith, you are most welcome

On topic, does anyone know if the US is still paying journalists to plant these stories? I remember it being done in "Radio Marti", as well as in El Nuevo Herald. There were "faux news" items on Iraq, Cuba and Venezuela.

Excellent article. How do these creeps at the Washington Post tell so many lies and still keep their jobs? That's just it, they are there to lie, that is what they were hired for.
If a news journalist ever told the real truth he would be fired, and black balled for life. Such is the country we live in. The 9/11 inside job opened my eye's to reality.

Chavez did not cheat to get elected. Chavez does not promote policies that the majority of his population opposes. Indeed, when in doubt he holds a plebiscite and he respects its outcome. Venezuela is a far more democratic country than the USA. Chavez is a better leader than all the American presidents that I have seen in my lifetime, and I'm not young. Chavez would make a far better American president than McCain, Clinton, and Obama combined. Too bad Chavez is not an American.

Thank you, jlocke, for your post. One can rightly deplore what Israel has done and is continuing to do without scapegoating an entire group of people ("the Jews"), just as I wouldn't want to be judged by the policies and practices of my government.

WTF wrote:

"Venezuela should take out a full-page ad in the WP and publish this letter. Otherwise, it will never be seen."

Why would they even permit this in the form of a paid ad? Various newspapers and TV/Radio broadcasters rejected numerous paid ads against the Iraq invasion and occupation over the past few years.

Daniel David,

1. A newspaper's news content and editorials follow the dictates of their customers.

2. The customers of the mass media are corporate advertizers, NOT the readers/viewers/listeners, and not the government.

3. In fact, the readers, and indirectly, governments (specifically, propaganda-fed compliant readers and polycymakers) are the PRODUCT that is being sold to the corprotation for their favor and advertizing bucks.

4. Newspapers seem to be following government policy at teh present time only because the current government is itself in complete service to corporate and capital interests.

So, your idea that a supposdly "liberal" democratic president will result in a more "liberal" press has absolutely no merit. I ask you to recall how friendly the media has been toward the Bushes and Reagan (remember the "teflon") compared the hostility of the press toward even the most moderate center and center-right Democrats like Carter and Clinton.

I also ask you to consider the 24/7, uniform, absolute, slanderous, seditious hostility of the Venezuelan MSM toward Chavez and the Bolivarian Government.

If you havent already done so, please read: "Manufacturing Consent" - The Political Economy of the Mass Media, by Herman and Chomsky

Thank you, Mr. Izarra, for pointing out the Fascism in the US media. It is most all coming from one of the biggest Fascists of all -- Rupert Murdoch. The Republican Party IS the Fascist Party.

Total BS. Chavez DOES control the supreme court, he DOES rule by decree, He DID try to change the rules so he could rule for "the next fifty years". 60 % of all add space and television space is either fawning tributes to Chavez or Chavez himself (up to six hours a day on TV.) Anyone that pisses him off, whether foreign or domestic, will be threatened with him seizing their property- then he wonders why no one wants to invest and money is leaving the country to the tune of 50B a year.

His government has no problem attacking other countries on the flimsiest of evidence. Crime is the highest in South America, as is the inflation rate. The exchange rate of B's to dollars has doubled in the past two years- in spite of a falling dollar. The payroll of the Government owned oil company has also doubled in the past two years- and production has fallen 25%.

Don't ask me how I feel about his job- the latest polls put his approval rate at 37%- around the same as Bush's.

The poor of Venezuela are finally getting some relief, as any good politician would take care of their base.But I am not convinced that it is not more about Hugo than any help that is going to the underclass.

I'm tired of hearing all the excuses about his rule. He is a loose cannon who is obviously wrecking his economy and stifling individual freedom in V.

Total Chavez dictatorship in less than two years- that is my bet.

Excellent letter. I'll wager it never see the light of day in the WP. I only wish we had Citgo in the Pacific Northwest, so I could get my gasoline from there. Bush has his phoney "War on Terrorism" wherein he loves to attack other countries from Iraq, Syria, Iran, Venezuela, Ecuador, etc. There is no such thing as a "War" on Terror. It is a tactic and other countries have more smarts than Bush (but then most anybody does) by treating terrorism as a criminal tactic and catching many more real terrorism suspects than the US will ever be able to catch. We want innocents so we can torture them. Viva Chavez!!

I would just like to take exception to Doom n Gloom's assessment: Venezuela and Iran are both members of OPEC. And Venezuela's "alignment" (if it can be called that) with Iran dates back as far as its membership in OPEC.

Venezuela has sought to diversify its trade partners. It also trades with Israel, China, India and South Africa, for example, not to mention its trading partners in South America.

So the WP's parroting of the administration's lies transcends any purported "alignment" between Iran and Venezuela, or the Jewish identity of some of their staff. It has a lot more to do with the vertical integration of the media in the US and its corporate ownership by just a handful of players. The media in the US is exactly like the media in Venezuela: ultra right-wing, mendacious, meretricious and paranoiac.

Venezuela, by diversifying its trade partners is doing exactly what I would do if I were its president--not being beholden to a large trading partner by having several trading partners is a sound guaranty of its sovereignty.

Mr. Diehl's response will be escalation.

When the maggots rear up, they must be crushed. Power people don't accept challenges.

Wonderfully written. If the WP truly had any real journalistic integrity, they would take this letter and independently and objectively fact check everything. They would find that Mr. Izarra is quite correct. The reason they won't do that is because it would amount to saying what many in this country have know for many decades:
The United States is a country run on a false reality, one in which nothing we do comes back to us; one that says we are immune to the realities of other nations around the world; one that says lying to the people is all the time is easier than telling the truth some of the time.

The chickens have indeed come home to roost and we are slowly beginning to see the effects. Bring it on I say. It's time for the United States -as a country- to fess up and deal with the ramifications of the decision that have been made on her citizens' behalf by a criminal government.

The official tone of the United States towards Venezuela in general, and to Hugo Chavez in particular, is set at The White House and State Department, not at the Washington Post. The Post may editorially adapt if we voters put a new different tone in The White House. And if we put in Bush III with John McCain, letters to newspapers from Chavez's employees will not matter much as to what we citizens are given by corporations to read. Media follows government, even in the USA.

Doom n Gloom March 28th, 2008 1:12 pm:

"It's best that Jew's understand however that Americans are not so ignorant that they will allow their children to be drafted to fight against American interests and for Israel's interests"

Hi there "Doom n Gloom". I have to comment on your comment for two reasons. First, Yes Americans have been and continue to be "so ignorant". I think that current US policy is in no one's interest, not even that of Israelis. The current state of affairs cannot continue. A political settlement is needed, the sooner the better.

Secondly, in WWII, a lot of good people died fighting to put down this kind of anti-minority garbage. Let's not allow them to have died in vain. What Americans are doing, they are doing to themselves. There is no need to find scapegoats. You cannot even pin this just on Bush. I see Democrats and Republicans, Christians all, helping him.

Hip, hip, hooray, Mr. Izarra. Excellent letter.

long live hugo & fidel! bulwarks against american imperialism in the southern hemisphere.

i ONLY purchase gas from citgo - granted, a small gesture - and have mailed mr. chavez a letter telling him there ARE those of us in el norte that support him and his efforts.

Let's send a link to this page to as many newspapers as we can, daring them to stop being cowards and print the thing.

This is a clear as the picture gets. Jewish dominance of the Washington Post willingly prints obvious lies about Venezuela because of Venezuela's political allignment with Iran. Again it's the interests of Israel that comes before the interests of the United States. The Washington Post now seems to be a stealth neo-con newspaper. No doubt that Jewish hegemony of American policy is a continuing trend. It's best that Jew's understand however that Americans are not so ignorant that they will allow their children to be drafted to fight against American interests and for Israel's interests. No amount of public relations or false reporting is strong enough guarantee that. Jews are close to inviting a backlash in America.

I feel good every time I fill up at Citgo.

Chomsky wrote a letter to the editor to the NYTimes to correct some slander they perpetrated against him. The NYT refused to publish it. So Chomsky attempted to buy advertising space to publish the letter and the NYT would not sell him the space.

Will history repeat?

LONG LIVE HUGO CHAVEZ!!