What about Venezuela, part II

[Richard III]

Well, what do you know. 48 hours really is a long time in politics.



http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/americas/newsid_1928000/1928860.stm

Comments from all those guys who love him out there will be read with interest!

 

[Simon Darkshade]

Methinks these are just the part of the opening act of a quite lengthy play, and that many more twists and turns await us.

 

[Lefty Scaevola]

He has presumably agreed to a long list of what constitutes being a good boy, such as not shooting you non violent political opponents.

 

[Simon Darkshade]

Originally posted by Lefty Scaevola
He has presumably agreed to a long list of what constitutes being a good boy, such as not shooting you non violent political opponents.

Tsk.Such stringent restrictions really chafe and irritate.

 

[Apollo]

"Thursday: Anti-government protest in Caracas leaves 13 people dead
Friday: Military forces President Chavez to step down and appoints Pedro Carmona as interim leader
Saturday: Carmona resigns; Diosdado Cabello - a Chavez ally - sworn in to replace him
Sunday: Chavez flies back to Caracas"

Musical Chairs, anyone?

Is there any sort of EU equivalent in Latin or South America? That sort of thing would come in really handy in times like this and a few months ago with Argentina. BTW, how is Argentina doing?

 

[amadeus]

I hope they get rid of Chavez "once and for all." Chavez is the last powerful Marxist in South America, and Castro's second-to-last friend (Kim Jong-Il being the first.)

 

[Greadius]

I really had hopes for the new president... many of the people who opposed Chavez feared he was trying to consolidate power.

So what did the new president do as soon as he got in office? Disolved the National Legislature and Supreme Court!!!

And I'm sure he was shocked when he was abdicated a day later...

The interesting thing is, what if Chavez doesn't reinstate either of them... he has effectively done a huge dictatorial grab, polarized the sides, and brought forth his enemies.

What a mess... some people just don't understand democracy.

 

[amadeus]

I hope Chavez doesn't consolidate his power. The last thing the civilized world needs is another Khomeini, Hussein, Qadaffi, or Castro.

 

[NY Hoya]

Originally posted by Apollo
Is there any sort of EU equivalent in Latin or South America? That sort of thing would come in really handy in times like this and a few months ago with Argentina. BTW, how is Argentina doing?

Well, there's the Organization of American States (OAS) which I think is sending in advisers. Mercosur is closer to the EU model (economic partnership) but I don't think Venezuela is a member

 

[NY Hoya]

Originally posted by rmsharpe
I hope Chavez doesn't consolidate his power. The last thing the civilized world needs is another Khomeini, Hussein, Qadaffi, or Castro.

The biggest problem here is that Venezuela is, I think, the largest non-Arab oil producer and a huge source of oil for the U.S. We should all be worried that this latest turn of events further alienates Chavez from the U.S.

 

[amadeus]

But does that really matter if Chavez is selling to the Cuban communists, anyhow?

 

[NY Hoya]

Originally posted by rmsharpe
But does that really matter if Chavez is selling to the Cuban communists, anyhow?

not at all. I've resigned myself to the fact that Cuba will be communist for as long as that baseball playing, cigar smoking old man is still around. What scares me is yet another corrupt state being able to influence American policy by holding oil production over our heads. Yet another reason for opening up Anwar and the Gulf for oil development

 

[Whiskey Priest]

"What scares me is yet another corrupt state being able to influence American policy by holding oil production over our heads."

Yeah don't these countries get it? Threaten the decadent american way of life and they will send their poor to your country with alot of guns. Jeez smarten up!

 

[NY Hoya]

Originally posted by Whiskey Priest
Yeah don't these countries get it? Threaten the decadent american way of life and they will send their poor to your country with alot of guns. Jeez smarten up!

unfortunately we don't do that enough, in the figurative sense. We continue to support corrupt regimes in the M.E., and only because they have the oil we so dearly need.

 

[amadeus]

Three kind-of words: ANWR ANWR ANWR!

 

[NY Hoya]

three more: Gulf of Mexico

 

[Greadius]

Originally posted by rmsharpe
Three kind-of words: ANWR ANWR ANWR!

Originally posted by NY Hoya
three more: Gulf of Mexico

You could stick an oil drill in every square mile of both of those and still not produce as much oil as Venezuela. Dead end solutions; find an alternative.

 

[NY Hoya]

Originally posted by Greadius
You could stick an oil drill in every square mile of both of those and still not produce as much oil as Venezuela. Dead end solutions; find an alternative.

You're right, of course. What they would do is allow the U.S. a period of time to lessen our dependence upon foreign oil while trying to develop alternative sources of energy. I don't see ANWR as a limitless source of oil, but combined with reserves in the Gulf and former soviet republics, could be large enough to offset some of the whims of the M.E. tyrants and allow us the time to realistically develop alternative energy in a way that won't cripple the economy or our pocketbooks. Of course, no one seems to like that compromise.

 

[amadeus]

Originally posted by Greadius


You could stick an oil drill in every square mile of both of those and still not produce as much oil as Venezuela. Dead end solutions; find an alternative.

Well, if it were up to me...I'd order the CIA to help incite riots in Carcaras, Tripoli, and Tehran...

But noooo, somebody else had to get elected to President

 

[Kublai-Khan]

Chavez is not a dictator, he won an election with more than the 70% of the votes, he was able to behave as a semi-dictator because he has a big majority in the parlament that always aproves all the laws he sends to change the constitution.


He is the new Peron,

I really wouldnt like to see the USA government getting involved there.

Not all the countries evolve in the same way as the USA , that is something that americans and britons seem to not understand.




Argentina now is barely stable,we have been trying to get some help from the international monetary fond, and probably the deal woll be closed by the end of the month.
If it doesnt happens, the state will start to control prices and to participate more in the economy.

The problem is that we reached this situation because of the policies of the IMF, we had 8 cruel adjustments in the last two years ordered by the IMF and look what happened at the end.
The state reduced the salaries of the state workers twice and that only helped to worsen the recession because people had less money to spend.
Now they tell us that the state has to fire 500.000 employes, that is a lot of people, Argentina only has 37 million unhabitants and the unemployment reached the 25 %, that would worsen the unemployment.And the recession.

Argentina is not a poor country, it is an impoverished country, in 4 years the level of poverty raised from 15% to 45% and the unemployment raised from 12% top 25%, there is a lot of angry people, they are called ex-middle class and something really terrible is happening, and the situation could explode in every moment.


The government needs to find a balance between the exigences of the IMF and the exigences of the people.