a myspace bulletin i saw, regarding Chavez (need some insight)

[New Earth]

Someone on my friends list posted this as a bulletin and I'm not sure what to think of it, I don't know *all* that much about him but everything I've read so far doesn't sound so bad. I read something here the other night explaining how Chavez isn't really a 'dictator' and that our government and media just want us to believe that, by referring to him as one all the time. Anyway, here is what this person posted, I want to see others' opinions on it and see if anyone knows if any of it is bullshit:

Venezuela Dictator Vows To Bring Down U.S. Government

Venezuela government is sole owner of Citgo gasoline company

Venezuela Dictator Hugo Chavez has vowed to bring down the U.S. government. Chavez, president of Venezuela , told a TV audience : "Enough of imperialist aggression; we must tell the world: down with the U.S. empire. We have to bury imperialism this century."

The guest on his television program, beamed across Venezuela , was Cindy Sheehan, the antiwar activist. Chavez recently had as his guest Harry Belafonte, who called President Bush "the greatest terrorist in the world."

Chavez is pushing a socialist revolution and has a close alliance with Cuban dictator Fidel Castro.

Regardless of your feelings about the war in Iraq , the issue here is that we have a socialist dictator vowing to bring down the government of the U.S. And he is using our money to achieve his goal!

The Venezuela government, run by dictator Chavez, is the sole owner of Citgo gas company Sales of products at Citgo stations send money back to Chavez to help him in his vow to bring down our government.

Take Action

Please decide that you will not be shopping at a Citgo station. Why should U.S. citizens who love freedom be financing a dictator who has vowed to take down our government?

Very important. Please forward this to your friends and family. Most of them don't know that Citgo is owned by the Venezuela government.


YOU CAN VERIFY THIS ON THE CITGO WEB PAGE.
http://www.citgo.com/AboutCITGO.jsp

[Ksec]

1. Its BS

Chavez hates Bush . Loves normal Americans.
Chavez champions the poor. How evil !!

[bullimiami]

2. one needs read no further than 'venezuela dictator' to know its propaganda

anything written after that is suspect.

[EFerrari]

3. This is right wing propaganda. And, btw, Chavez was elected

unlike Junior.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

4. this reporter needs to stop spinning

before he gets dizzy and falls down.


Ask them this question. What does the Venezuelan government do with all that oil money? I bet they don't know.

Venezuela pumps oil money into literacy, health and social programmes ...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4035787.stm

[Dem2theMax]

5. He's so horrible, he sold gas at lower prices for lower income folks

HERE IN THE US.

[w4rma]

6. There is more freedom of speech in Venezuela than in the US

Flanker writes:
There is more freedom of speech in Venezuela than in the US

I have lived on the latter and currently live in the former, and find the accusations to be the real caricature, when most are either lying (Bolton) or simply don't know. Anyone is welcome to find out instead of linking to HRW articles that are themselves foreign to reality. I will add this post to my journal in case anybody wants to link to it.

Jailed Journalists

There are 0 jailed journalists in Venezuela http://www.cpj.org/attacks05/pages05/imprison_05.html a few stood trial but none were jailed, the only one that may go to jail if caught is Patricia Poleo and indeed the only one to flee the country (currently in the states) she is wanted for being an intellectual mastermind of the Danilo Anderson murder though.

There are four main private TV channels over the airwaves:

Globovision http://www.globovision.com/index.php If I recall the only 24 hour news channel that is broad casted (ie using public airwaves) in the world, they are DEEPLY opposed to Chavez and his government, Fox News does not hold a candle to it, if you want to see it for yourself there is a video link (in spanish obviously), but you may have to pay a fee, if you do watch prime time programing.

RCTV http://www.rctv.net / More of a variety channel, its newscasts and opinion is DEEPLY opposed to the government, They normally appear in the morning or later at night, they have a free video cast, its owner Marciel Granier is also a vocal Chavez critic.

Venevision http://www.venevision.net / Used to be like the above, but they are a bit more moderate nowadays (moderate is defined by just showing the other side, it is that bad) Mostly because its owner Cisneros has more or less accepted his lack of real power, and he has plenty of other business interests in the country.

Televen http://www.venevision.net / Another variety channel, similar to Venevision, they are more moderate because the government advertises on it or at least that is a theory, extremists were also fired from their time slots, but it had more to do with lower ratings than anything else, The more extremist the channel the lower the ratings it gets, and they keep getting lower.

There are three public TV Channels over the airwaves + Telesur (cable only I think)

VTV: http://www.vtv.gov.ve / The original public Channel, there are plans to turn it into a 24 hour news channel, today it is closer in style to PBS culture, variety, news, opinion. Of course it is openly ideological to Chavez on opinion programing. it has a video link.

Vive: www.vive.gob.ve / a new public channel, mostly for political documentaries, don't watch it much

ANTV: www.antv.gob.ve / C-Span clone, controlled by the Legislature.

Radio

There are far too many to show them all, so I will go with the two major ones:

Union Radio http://www.unionradio.com.ve / Privately owned, the only one that has a direct equivalent in the states, it is
right wing talk radio, same extremism, same ethical standards, though with musical intermissions, http://200.74.220.116:8080/ramgen/encoder/noticias.rm here is an audio link (spanish) recommend the afternoons. A recent conspiracy theory two of their talking heads posited yesterday was that VTV digitally added the applauses to Chavez speech... that type of irrationality.

RNV http://www.rnv.gov.ve/noticias / Similar to VTV but on radio, has an audio link.

Print

Now it gets easier because a few of them can be easily read online and translated to with google or altavista.

El Universal www.eud.com Strong opposition newspaper, check out their opinion pieces in particular http://opinion.eluniversal.com / they also have an english version but that never makes the print edition so why bother.

El Nacional http://el-nacional.com / Another opposition newspaper, articles can be read by paid subscription

Tal Cual http://www.talcualdigital.com / Another strong Chavez critic, its editor and star writer attempted a campaign for the presidency but failed to get more than 3% in the press polls, he now backs the unity opposition candidate, the only credit he gets is that on occasion he blisters the opposition as well. Also has paid subscription.

Panorama www.panodi.com Regional Zulia paper and perhaps the most sympathetic to Chavez in all of the privately owned media. free but lousy archives.

Ultimas Noticias http://www.ultimasnoticias.com.ve / The most neutral media in the country and most sold newspaper, displacing both El Universal and Nacional during this political saga. paid subscription.

There are plenty more opposition papers but I have not read them in detail you can find the rest here: http://www.prensaescrita.com/america/venezuela.php in particular el mundo, nuevo pais, notitarde, etc. all opposition papers.

Internet

Common citizens also have their say and it generally more radicalized

Noticiero Digital www.noticierodigital.com on the surface it si an opinion aggregator (visually elegant as well, check out their opinion pieces on the right) but its forums http://www.noticierodigital.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=1&sid=f65ff3c3c398944a83b160a076886139 is a freerpublic like clone, only more extreme (there is the occasional Pinochet appreciation thread). Its only saving grace is that anyone can post regardless of political affiliation, just that there are far fewer Chavistas.

aporrea http://aporrea.org / The other side of the coin. Less extreme because they are less angry.

A political cartoons can also bridge the language divide published in Tal Cual.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=364&topic_id=2187974

madfloridian writes:
Chavez to help 1.2 million families in US with fuel for heating.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/fn/4205560.html

"Chavez also announced that Citgo, the U.S.-based refining arm of Venezuela's state-run oil company, plans to more than double the amount of heating oil it is making available under the program to 100 million gallons this winter, up from 40 million gallons.

He said the oil will reach people in 17 states, including Indians in Alaska, some of whom were flown to New York for the ceremony and attended in traditional dress. They performed a traditional dance for Chavez and offered him a walrus figurine carved out of whale bone as a gift.

"This will go a long way for a lot of families," said Ian Erlich, a leader of the Alaska Intertribal Council who said many people struggle to afford heating oil where he lives in Kotzebue, Alaska, north of the Artic Circle.

Chavez started the heating oil program last winter, accusing Bush of neglecting the poor. Citgo says up to 1.2 million people will benefit this winter."

Also he warned Bush not to try to oust him again...

""If that were to happen, the price of oil could reach $200 a barrel," Chavez said, adding that he'd like to see a U.S. president "who you could talk with."
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=364&topic_id=2193740

[1932]

11. And in a recent survey, Venezuelans were happiest with their government

than any other country participating in the survey.

[bananas]

7. The Official DU Hugo Chavez Right-Wing Falsehood Debunking Thread!!!

All your questions are answered here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=2199484&mesg_id=2199484

[sarahlee]

9. Good resource

Thanks, I had not seen that.

[peacetalksforall]

8. This could be called the week of lies. If you learned more than

you needed to know to prove they lie - then just transfer that assumption of lying to Chavez. He told the U.S. that he is not going to be just another puppet President for the U.S. He switched to helping the little people - unlike all his predecessors for decades. The oil companies of the U.S. are furious with him, therefore, the administration have to be furious with him. So, they are going to do what they've always done in Latin America - own him and the oil, at least try.

If you have the time - go to your library and check out a copy of the book titled A Secret History of the CIA. Read the part about Chile. You'll get an idea of how the U.S. has treated our neighbors. Some leaders are now rising in the ranks who are saying no more. You'll learn more than you want to know about Kissinger. His role in removing a duly elected President in Chile is the reason he can't land in some countries - he's wanted for questioning related to his good friend Pinochet.

Chavez is a little overly cocky in his dealings with PNAC and the barons. They only want to hear Yes, Sir. Makes them flip out. Oil.

THere are other issues - Cuban American terrorists from Miami are being prrotected by the Bush regime. Venezuela is trying to extradite them for trial - they blew up a Cuba-Venezuela flight 30 years ago. Another CIA adventure - blew up an aircraft - and the U.S. is protecting them. We don't really declare war on all terrorists. So, they are angry with this administration for that.

[1932]

10. Private sector is flourishing in Venezuela. Inflation is lower this year

than last year, lower than expected this year, and forecast to be lower next year. Citgo is managed by a team that, although they believe that oil is the birthright of all venezuelans, they do not do Chavez's personal bidding. Chavez's political party has won something like 8 elections since being formed. Venezuela has verifiable paper trail voting. Venezuela doesn't want the US to suffer a Bush-induced Great Depression II, which is why Chavez said that JK Galbraith -- a democratic advisor to JFK, and a prominent liberal pro-capitalist -- was one of his heroes and he wished he could have met him while he was alive.

[New Earth]

12. THANK YOU ALL

DU is the best. Thanks to all of you for the info, I knew it didn't sound right and wanted SO bad to reply to this person and tell them but I don't want to start an argument with this person...just wanted to make sure I was right :P

[Wilber_Stool]

13. Chavez is an Injun.

He is the first Native American leader in the Americas.

[upi402]

14. DEMOCRATICALLY ELECTED, then a ruling class coup, the a popular uprising

to get their leadership back to give them better government for more people.

Eff the corporatist propagandists. Good people are getting duped. Smart people are taking on input and retaining it.
Eff 7-11 for wussing out and ousting Citgo.