Hugo Chavez for Change

Posted by Tina

Chvez envisions US as partner in fighting injustice, by Martin Baron Boston Globe

President Hugo Chvez of Venezuela had just wrapped up a press conference, extravagant in its theatrics, where he denounced an Interpol report that authenticated documents linking his government to rebels in neighboring Colombia. That lasted four hours, and then he extended a surprise invitation to a delegation of American newspaper editors on a “fact-finding mission” to Venezuela: Perhaps we can spend 10 to 15 minutes together over coffee? ** I beg for forgiveness if in my speech I’ve hurt any feelings back in the States. I ask for forgiveness. When I speak about the United States, I do not refer to the people, to the citizens. I refer to the elite that is governing the United States – and not even referring to all of the elite governing the United States. Because we have friends among the elite governing the US. The economic elite, we have friends. We have friends among the cultural elite of the United States . . . Danny Glover. Kevin Spacey came over here. Sean Penn. Those are my friends, close friends . . . And when they come over here, they say what they like and what they don’t like. And we still are friends. And that’s what we want. We want to be friends. And I hope that with the new government we can then open new space for exchange – and discuss. It would be a lie if I say I have no preference. However, I don’t want to take this personal, and take this candidate or that candidate . . . I shouldn’t say anything that might be used against someone. I’d rather be careful and see things from a distance. Our preference would be that whoever is elected, we might start immediately with some exchange. It is through talking we can then come closer and share and compare our views and then reach an agreement. ** I remember when I met George Bush for the first time. It was in Canada during the Summit of the Americas. We shook hands. And I said to him, with a lot of spontaneity and sincerity – and I know very little English – but I said this [in English]: I want to be your friend . . . I was hopeful for about 20 minutes. ** I would love, for instance, to be able to work with the United States, together, and other countries as well, regardless of the ideology, to work in the field of health, for instance, infant mortality, food production. In Latin America, we have 19 million malnourished people . . . Haiti, this is a disaster. Children that die of hunger. Education. So many things that we can do together. Forget about the complexity of ideology. No matter how we think, there’s a world waiting for us to tackle injustices. So I wish we can do that together. Well, if we couldn’t do all that, at least we can sit down and talk. ** What I am about to say might seem an exaggeration to you. But if the world had to choose a president – a president that could address the problems of the world, a president to lead the world, a president with the powers to do that – Fidel would be the man. Perhaps he’s not the only one. . . . He’s a machine, a human machine to solve problems, (with) a huge analytical capacity to analyze things and look for solutions to problems. I truly love him as a father, and it doesn’t bother me to say so.

After reading the entire article I have to say this again: it isnt that the whole world hates America, or our Presidentits that hard line revolutionaries, socialists, communists and terrorists hate America. Its a lot easier to run drugs, oppress people, make illegal deals with UN officials, nationalize businesses, take over private property, etc. when America is governed by weak, appeasing, accomodating, like-minded friends. Remarks made by Hugo Chavez mirror those made by many democrats and leftists in America. (also quite a few terrorists in the world) The change Hugo Chavez desires in our leadership is change for which he feels a strong kinshipjust like the kinship he has with Fidel Castro, Sean Penn, Danny Glover and Kevin Spacey. In the case of the president… who might that be?