[Mb-civic] Hugo Chavez: A Walk in the Footsteps of Arbenz, Allende

Tue Aug 30 14:45:17 PDT 2005

I meant to write quote 'one cannot argue that he is NOT doing great things for the poor etc" unquote. Sorry - typo.
AlB
----- Original Message -----
From: "Alexander Harper" <harperalexander at mail.com>
To: mb-civic at islandlists.com
Subject: Re: [Mb-civic] Hugo Chavez: A Walk in the Footsteps of Arbenz, Allende
Date: Tue, 30 Aug 2005 18:42:08 -0300

> 
> If it hadn't been for the mess they have got themselves into in 
> Iraq I am sure they would have already taken him out.
> I understand from someone, who has met him ( a senior western 
> diplomat, not some 'fellow traveller') that he is absolutely 
> charming and has great charisma. He does not cut off his visitors 
> after a few minutes but will talk and argue, very good humouredly 
> and at great length with his interlocutor. Scheduling for him  must 
> be a nightmare for his aides. He may well be just a rascal and a 
> plausible demagogue, who is lucky enough to be able to defy 
> conventional economics because of $70 oil but one cannot argue that 
> he is doing great things for the poor. The venezuelan military will 
> support him because thay can see that if he survives they will end 
> up as the ruling elite, as is the case in Cuba.
> AlB
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Mike Blaxill" <mblaxill at yahoo.com>
> To: mb-civic at islandlists.com
> Subject: [Mb-civic] Hugo Chavez: A Walk in the Footsteps of Arbenz, Allende
> Date: Mon, 29 Aug 2005 14:31:28 -0700 (PDT)
> 
> >
> > http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/082905G.shtml 
> >
> > Hugo Chavez: A Walk in the Footsteps of Arbenz,
> > Allende
> >     By Dr. Rosa Maria Pegueros
> >     Common Dreams
> >
> >
> >     Monday 29 August 2005
> >
> >
> >     For more than forty years, Cuban leader Fidel
> > Castro has been the target of countless United
> > States- and CIA-sponsored assassination attempts.
> > I shudder to think what might have happened if
> > Cuba had been endowed with large reserves of oil.
> > Venezuela's president Hugo Chavez may learn the
> > consequences of such a blessing very soon.
> >
> >
> >     If television evangelist Pat Robertson's
> > controversial statements suggesting that the U.S.
> > send in a covert operative to take out Chavez
> > were not just the words of a madman but a trial
> > balloon floated for the administration, the
> > firestorm that met them should stay the
> > president's hand even though, in the bellicose
> > preacher's words, "It is cheaper than starting
> > another $200 billion war to get rid of one, you
> > know, strong-arm dictator. . .and I don't think
> > any oil shipments will stop.
> >
> >
> >     We may have "the ability to take him out, and
> > I think the time has come that we exercise that
> > ability," as Robertson says, but with the
> > administration's wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and
> > its saber-rattling towards Korea and Iran, one
> > would think Bush has his hands full.
> >
> >
> >     Hugo Chavez has set up medical clinics in the
> > poorest neighborhoods in his country, staffing
> > them with Cuban doctors, not that that United
> > States has offered any medical assistance. He has
> > created school music programs that have resulted
> > in lower street crime and a resurgence of
> > classical music: The would-be delinquents are
> > spending their time practicing the violin instead
> > of knocking over old ladies. The nerve of that
> > guy! Wasting our money-or at least the money we
> > pay for oil from Venezuela-on such effete
> > solutions to social problems!
> >
> >
> >     More to the point, his administration has
> > kept entrepreneurs from controlling the oil
> > industry and sucking out all the profits to make
> > themselves wealthy. Chavez has kept a tight rein
> > on it, reinvesting the money for the benefit of
> > the Venezuelan people. He has successfully
> > responded to the needs of its citizens in ways
> > that have made his socialist ideas very popular;
> > the people have elected him twice and overcome a
> > coup against him.
> >
> >
> >     The proper role of the government is to
> > protect and make the best use of a nation's
> > resources for its citizens. There is nothing in
> > our Constitution about making the most money for
> > a politician's supporters. In fact, the
> > Constitution specifically mandates that we
> > "promote the general Welfare." There's nothing
> > communist about it.
> >
> >
> >     The United States has a number of genuine
> > problems with Hugo Chavez. First of all,
> > government control of the oil industry shuts out
> > entrepreneurs and foreign investors-think of
> > Standard Oil, Gulf Oil, and Exxon. Secondly, it
> > has the second largest oil reserve in the
> > Americas. Canada, with 171 billion barrels of oil
> > is first, though second in the world to Saudi
> > Arabia. According to the U.S. Energy Information
> > Administration, Venezuela holds the ninth place
> > in oil reserves with 77 billion barrels of oil.
> > It is also extremely important to the U.S. in
> > part because of its proximity. Recently, we have
> > purchased more of Venezuela's oil than anyone
> > has.
> >
> >
> >     Chavez's trolling for other markets threatens
> > America's access to Venezuelan oil even more
> > though both he and his representatives have been
> > very clear that they are not planning to reduce
> > exports to the U.S. Considering the presumably
> > diminishing Saudi Arabian oil reserves, as well
> > as China's and our increasing demand for oil,
> > this is not an abstract threat except, he says,
> > if we attempt to assassinate or overthrow him.
> >
> >
> >     The Saudis, possessors of the largest oil
> > reserves in the world are extremely secretive
> > about the amount of oil still available in their
> > reserves. The U.S. government estimates that they
> > have 261 billion barrels of oil but we cannot
> > know for sure. They have good reason to play
> > their cards so close to the vest: If they were to
> > confirm that they are approaching their peak of
> > production, it might spur the west to serious
> > efforts to create alternative forms of fuel such
> > as solar, wind and nuclear power. If those forms
> > were to become widely available, it could cut
> > into the Saudi market. It makes one wonder if
> > Iran's claim that it is developing nuclear power
> > because it is an alternative form of power is
> > true. While Iran holds the world's fourth largest
> > reserve of oil, with 126 billion barrels of oil,
> > it would be exercising a rare form of prescience
> > in planning for a future when that oil will be
> > gone.
> >
> >
> >     Aside from America's concerns about oil,
> > Chavez has made a number of pronouncements that
> > have irritated the administration and its
> > friends. He has responded strongly to rumors that
> > the U.S. is planning to invade Venezuela saying
> > that he would stand up to any such invasion. Just
> > what would Bush expect him to say?
> >
> >
> >     Venezuela is right to publicize these rumors.
> > If Cuba's experience with the Bay of Pigs
> > invasion, the Cuban missile crisis and subsequent
> > assassination attempts on Castro; the
> > CIA-sponsored coups against Arbenz in Guatemala
> > in 1954 and against Allende in Chile in 1972 are
> > any measure of our government's willingness to
> > disregard international law for our own ends,
> > Chavez cannot take these rumors lightly
> > particularly with the trigger-happy Bush at the
> > helm.
> >
> >
> >     It is not just the history of American
> > state-sponsored terrorism about which Venezuela
> > is justified in worrying but the arrogant
> > expectation that any government or leader that
> > disagrees with us poses a risk to the American
> > way of life. Latin American leaders are
> > especially endangered.
> >
> >
> >     As Pat Robertson observed, "We have the
> > Monroe Doctrine, and we have other doctrines that
> > we have announced, and without question, this is
> > a dangerous enemy to our south, controlling a
> > huge pool of oil that could hurt us very badly.
> >
> >
> >     President Franklin Delano Roosevelt
> > officially repudiated the Monroe Doctrine in 1934
> > ending U.S. interventionism in Latin America and
> > replacing it with his "Good Neighbor" policy.
> > Those damnable Democrats! But remember that
> > President Gerald Ford issued an Executive Order
> > that banned U.S. government agents from
> > assassinating foreign leaders.
> >
> >
> >     In September 2001, in the wake of the attacks
> > on the World Trade Center, President Bush
> > rescinded that order and lowered the standard of
> > proof for assassinations to those merely
> > "suspected" of being terrorists. But long before
> > George W. Bush became president the U.S had
> > disregarded its Good Neighbor policy with
> > interventions in Guatemala, Nicaragua, Panama,
> > and the Dominican Republic, to name a few.
> >
> >
> >     Golda Meir famously said, "Even paranoids
> > have enemies." Whatever mainstream America may
> > think of Hugo Chavez, he is right to be wary.
> >
> >
> >     --------
> >
> >     Dr. Rosa Maria Pegueros is an associate
> > professor of history at the University of Rhode
> > Island. She may be reached at pegueros at uri.edu.
> > _______________________________________________
> > Mb-civic mailing list
> > Mb-civic at islandlists.com
> > http://www.islandlists.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mb-civic
> 
> 
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