Chavez Rewards Military Officers With Weeklong Vacation in Cub

[cal04]

Venezuela's Chavez Rewards Military Officers With Weeklong Vacation in Cuba

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez presided at a promotion ceremony for dozens of military officers and said as a reward for their efforts he would give them a weeklong vacation in Cuba. "I've decided to give my godsons a trip to Cuba," Chavez said during the ceremony late Friday. He said visiting would help them appreciate "the wonders" of an island "where a brother nation struggles just like we do, with dignity for what it believes."

Chavez is a key ally and close friend of Cuban leader Fidel Castro, a point that infuriates opponents who accuse him of trying to set up an authoritarian political system in the South American country. The group of military officers had named Chavez to be "godfather" and guest-of-honor at their promotion ceremony. Chavez said the members of the class will leave Saturday for Cuba, along with their spouses or partners.

Chavez also urged them and other Venezuelans to be wary of the international "threat" posed by the United States. "Venezuela continues to be attacked by the No. 1 empire in all of history," Chavez said, accusing the U.S. government of circulating a letter in the region to try to impede Venezuela from obtaining 100,000 assault rifles from Russia. Venezuela has signed a deal to buy the Kalashnikov rifles, and Russian officials have said the sale should not be of concern to the United States.

"It should be asked how many rifles the United States has," Chavez said. "And not just rifles, how many atomic bombs." Separately, officials announced that another class of military officers who completed a command course had traveled to Cuba on Friday to hold their graduation ceremony. Chavez's close relationship with Castro has irritated the U.S. government, but Venezuela remains a key supplier of oil to the United States.

http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGB1H2G9RBE.html

[jim3775]

1. Cuba is a nice vacation spot.

Sadly, Americans don't get to go there.

[BrotherBuzz]

2. Canadians and Germans go there in droves...

While adventuresome American have to sneak in the back door and fear reprisals from our own government. What's up with that?

[dweller]

3. just imagine tho

how much nicer their vacation will be because of that fact.

dp

[BeHereNow]

6. ROLF! You read my mind!

I had the same thought-
A vacation location free of
blithering idiots that accuse waiters
of short changing them and litter beaches
and other public spaces, is a vacation location indeed!
Let's host a DU cruise to Cuba!
We could all use a vacation right about NOW.
BHN

[cssmall]

4. Support Chavez.

Hopefully, he will prove, like Castro did that communism can work. The only reason why the U.S. govenment gives half a rat's ass about who leads the country as long as the corporations can obtain cheap labor so we can get cheap chocolate, Coca-Cola and the like. Vive la revolution, Chavez. Just continue kicking the bourgoise beasts from the Plazas and mansions and give them to the poor and disenfranchized!

[Peace Patriot]

7. Chavez is NOT a communist, cssmall! The U.S. corporate news

monopolies like to give that IMPRESSION, and use disreputable journalistic tactics to do so, but it is quite simply NOT TRUE. It's much like their tactics on Saddam Hussein and WMDs, and Saddam Hussein and 9/11. Put the two things together in articles enough times, and people will get the IMPRESSION that there is a connection. And that's all they want and need in the sloppy-minded, lying, propagandistic venue of corporate news monopolies.

See my post below, for exactly how they carry out their anti-democratic agenda in this particular article.

Chavez FAVORS business and trade combined with equitable sharing of Venezuela's oil profits with Venezuela's vast poor population. He is using a portion of the oil profits to seed small businesses, and to create schools, medical clinics and community centers in poor neighborhoods where Venezuela's oil riches have never benefited the majority of the people. He is NOT taking the rich oil elite's Jaguars away. He is NOT seizing anybody's land. He seems to be a very peaceful, fair-minded man, whose great passions are Venezuela's Constitution and the vast, underserved poor.

Anybody who is as popular as Chavez could be tempted to become egotistical and "authoritarian." The remarkable thing about Chavez is that he has NOT become any such thing. And so, to use what is purported to be his opposition's word--"authoritarian"--without quotation marks, with no name attached, without identifying who among the tiny minority of the rich in Venezuela said this--gives an entirely wrong impression of how he is perceived by the VAST MAJORITY of Venezuelans, who have voted for him in two elections--in highly monitored votes--and have endorsed his policies in a third (by-elections).

Finally, Venezuela is a Catholic country. If Chavez were a "communist," he would not have the overwhelming approval of the Venezuelan people. Why the Bushites and our US corporate rulers hate him is that he is a POPULIST, a great believer in democracy, and a champion of the poor.

In OUR country, our corporate rulers--and specifically rightwing Bushite electronic voting machine companies (mainly Diebold and ES&S)--have gained control of our election system with "trade secret," proprietary programming code and software that not even our Secretaries of State have the right to review.

In Venezuela, they also use electronic voting, but they have OPEN SOURCE CODE. Their elections are models of honesty and transparency--and have been intensely monitored by dozens of international election groups.

That's another thing that our corporate rulers hate Chavez for. He was honestly elected.

You know what the Carter Center said about OUR elections? They said that our elections do not meet MINIMAL STANDARDS for transparency and verifiability, so they could not even monitor the 2004 election.

The Venezuelans have a REAL president. A legitimate president. An honest president. And we don't.

We need to re-learn what democracy IS. And Venezuela is a damn good model for it!

[Peace Patriot]

5. Please always identify the news organization (and the date).

This is the Associated Press (dated 7/29/05). (I was unaware that "tbo" is AP's web site, and had to click on the link to find out who it was.)

AP is the organization that brought you Diebold's and ES&S's tabulation of the 2004 election results, which was specially prepared for you using "trade secret," proprietary vote tabulation software. They were also part of the consortium of major news monopolies who falsified the exit poll results (Kerry won) to the fit official tally (Bush won) from these Bushite electronic voting companies, on election night, on everybody's TV screens. Their falsification of the exit poll data deprived the American people of major evidence of election fraud, and squelched protests and calls for investigation.

Nothing they say should be taken at face value.

"...opponents who accuse him of trying to set up an authoritarian political system in the South American country."

The US news monopolies include something like this--"accuse him of trying to set up an authoritarian political system"--in virtually every article on Hugo Chavez and Venezuela, but they FAIL to include the fact that Chavez has been twice elected by big majorities in Venezuela; that the most recent election--in which the Bush regime funded his opponents' recall effort--was monitored by dozens of international election groups, including the Carter Center, all of whom said he won the recall fair and square; that he is the first "brown" president of Venezuela (which is mostly brown-skinned)--and is thus the first true representative of the majority; that he helped to write and pass Venezuela's Constitution including its recall provision; that "his opponents" kidnapped and tried to assassinate him, after he won his first election; that his opponents are the rich oil elite who own all the media in Venezuela; and that Chavez favors business and trade combined with a fair sharing of Venezuela's oil profits to assist the vast poor population.

They never say that these "opponents" who "accuse him of trying to set up an authoritarian political system" are DEAD WRONG, have no evidence to support their accusations, and that there is overwhelming evidence that the exact opposite is true. Hugo Chavez helped create a representative, constitutional democracy for the FIRST TIME in Venezuela's history!

The oil elite in Venezuela is a tiny minority with all the wealth who have a BIG TRUMPET with which to broadcast their views, way out of proportion to their numbers--just like the minority of rightwing freaks in this country.

Chavez seems to me to be a champion of democracy! A HERO of democracy! A military man who turned TOWARD democracy, and is loved by the vast majority of the people because of it. He is the FATHER of Venezuelan democracy! To have the only word that describes him in this article be "authoritarian" is a journalistic abomination.

I am just mind-boggled by the lies the US news monopolies tell about Chavez--and the slimy way they do it. It is totally disgusting.

Why shouldn't his soldiers visit Cuba? Why shouldn't he trade with Cuba? Cuba gave Venezuela FREE DOCTORS for the new medical clinics in poor neighborhoods--medical care for people who have been utterly neglected by their government until now!

NOTHING that AP says should be taken at face value. They are writing PROPAGANDA for their predatory corporate bosses!

[LeftyElvis]

8. I love this guy

Chavez is the man for the times down there. He is taking no shit from bush. Look for other countries in that region to elect people like Chavez.

[goforit]

9. Its egg in the face alright.

Proof of the only way to deal with a bully is to
bully them back.
It works.