Venezuela Arms Factory Explosions Leave One Dead, Three Injured

[Joanne98]

Source: Bloomberg

A fire at an arms factory in Venezuela triggered a series of explosions that killed one person and injured three others, Aragua state governor Rafael Isea said in comments carried on state television.

Authorities in the city of Maracay began evacuating a 5- square-kilometer (3-square-mile) area around the Compania Anonima Venezolana de Industrias Militares, or CAVIM, a state- run weapons factory, and restricted traffic on a nearby freeway after the fire began at about 4:45 a.m. local time, the Interior Ministry said in a statement.



Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-01-30/venezuela-arms-factory-explosions-leave-one-dead-three-injured.html

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Any attack on Venezuela by the US will be PUNISHED!

Hugo Chavez is NOT a dick-tator he was legally elected 3 times!

His ONLY crime is feeding the poor!

The selfish spoiled brat elites will PAY if anything happens!

[naaman fletcher]

1. huh?

you think the US is going to attack venezuela?

[Judi Lynn]

2. Should be interesting to learn how this happened. Thanks, Joanne98. Rec. n/t

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

3. Looks like an unfortunate accident

Or is there a link to evidence that the explosion was caused by either the U.S. or by Chavez?

Otherwise, it just looks like an accidental fire at an ammunition factory is probably a bad thing.

:hi:

[Posteritatis]

4. Heh, I knew the first reaction to this would be someone howling about how the US must have done it

Pavlov would be proud.

[Peace Patriot]

5. Well, sabotage was not my first thought. And, believe me, I'm always looking for U.S./rightwing

sabotage of leftist governments in Latin America, especially Venezuela's--with good reason.

My first thought was about Venezuelan's love affair with guns. If there is anything I really disagree with, as to Chavez government policy, it is their failure to regulate guns and the consequent high violent crime rate.

I think I know why they DON'T crack down on guns. The screams of the rightwing would be heard all the way to the moon. 'Dictator! Dictator! Dictator!' It's probably the same reason they hesitated to pull RCTV's broadcast license, even though, if there is any corporate broadcaster on this earth who less deserved a license to use the public airwaves, it was RCTV. They used their broadcast capability to support, organize and foment a coup d'etat--one whose first act, after kidnapping the president, was to suspend the constitution, the courts, the national assembly and all civil rights. But the Chavez government waited until their license came up for renewal. This was probably the result of the rabid right and their trumpet, the international corporate press. The government wanted to calm things down for a while, because they knew that the U.S. and the corpo-fascist press wanted them gone and wouldn't hesitate to support further destabilization efforts and a second coup . It's probably the same thing with gun regulation. They can't be happy with the high crime rate, but gun regulation would be another squall for the corpo-fascist press to spread all over the world.

But, of course, ammunition factories don't kill people. (Um, they just did.) It's people who kill people--with fists, clubs, knives, swords, poison darts and the easiest way, handy fire arms. It's not the fire arms' fault. Poor things. Why blame them or those who profit from them?

Anyway, could have been a plot, God knows. Or could have been just stupidity. And if it's the latter, it is ultimately the responsibility of the government and the people of Venezuela. They want guns? They're going to have to put up with some accidents in their manufacture--and with every idiot in a love quarrel, and every gangster in a turf war, and every robber, and every homicidal maniac having a handy, quick and easy way to kill people.

Big flaw in the Bolivarian Revolution, in my opinion--besides giving the Venezuelan Mad Tea Party something to screech about. (Such an irony that they screech about crime--the biggest criminals of all, who tried to steal the government--and can you hear the howls if the Chavez government tried to regulate guns!)

[social_critic]

6. This is a military facility, not private guns

Therefore private gun ownership isn't related to the incident. As they say, things happen.

The only unusual aspect about this particular incident is:

1. The main roads from Choroni, El Playon, and Tucacas join at Maracay, and go on to Caracas. It's Sunday, so there's bound to be a ton of people returning from the beaches, and the road is closed. So there's going to be one heck of a traffic jam coming down from Henry Pittier, and from Valencia.

2. When populations are evacuated, wise guys move in to loot. So if the government doesn't move in the army to stop looters, some sectors of Maracay will get looted.

3. Evidently those are bullets going off. So either the army will have to make do with less bullets, or they'll have to go buy more bullets, which means they'll be spending more money at a time when they're looking out for every lose bolivar they can find. It did come at a bad time, but I don't think it's a big deal.

[Peace Patriot]

7. Missed the word "Militares" in the name of the factory. Thanks for the correction.

But military guns and ammo do get passed on to civilian populations--or at least they do here, and they probably do there, too, since Venezuelans are as nuts about guns as our people are.

I stand by my criticism of the Bolivarian Revolution. I do sympathize with peoples' fear of overweaning government power and repression. But it's foolish to think that individual gun ownership is going to be any help in a situation of repression or rebellion. Most modern states have plenty of fire power with which to win gun battles with civilian populations. Best to attend to democracy and civil life to insure that the government is on the side of the people. Guns make it too easy to kill people and too often get turned against the innocent. It's no way to settle a dispute (for individuals or countries), although I do understand that, in our massively armed world, governments are obliged to be able to defend the country. I would like to see all disarmed, individuals and governments, together--worldwide disarmament. Doesn't seem to be in the cards for my lifetime, but, really, when is the human race going to get civilized and create smart techniques for dealing with aggression and stop equating murderous weapons with power?