Political weather update on "Hurracaine" Hugo in Cubazuela
By Fausta | The Bad Hair Blog
Tuesday, July 19, 2005 | While the MSM is walloing in Plameness, Hugo's bought himself a Chinese satellite. Which would be used for peaceful purposes, of course.
Hugo's been criticized by the Catholic Church. Venezuela's highest Catholic prelate on Sunday condemned President Hugo Chavez's rule as a dictatorship and urged Venezuelans to reject it in an attack likely to strain already poor church-government ties. "I am convinced that what we have here is a dictatorship," Cardinal Rosalio Castillo, who is retired, said in a interview published by El Universal newspaper.
But Chávez apologist Mary MacElveen (who?) claims he's On the right side of the road to Jericho. I don't know where the road to Jericho is, but RedState.org fisks her post down to the ground. Not one to demur, Hugo's calling the Cardinal a coup-mongering "bandit". Hugo said the Cardinal's immoral, and hoped "the Devil may receive him" too, probably because the Cardinal pointed out that it'd be a disaster if Venezuela becomes another Cuba.
Undeterred in his goal to turn Venezuela into Cubazuela (his goal is old news to readers of this blog), now The Venezuelan government has warned it will confiscate hundreds of private companies that are lying idle if they fail to re-open.
He said more than 1,000 firms in Venezuela had partially closed down simply because of economic difficulties. "We want to work with you to help restore your production," he told company owners.
Hm. The firms close down because of economic difficulties, so Hugo's going to take them over. Niiice. Just as nice as PDVSA's approach to business, which has caused Fortune Mag to drop PDVSA from its Fortune 500 list of top companies. As A.M. Mora y Leon points out, that's a drop of at least 424 places, since last year PDVSA was #76 on the list. Never mind the assasination of former PDVSA worker José Vilas, which would otherwise make for a public relations disaster, if only it weren't for the dramatic rise in homicides and deaths by police since Chavez took over.
While some headlines claim Hugo's a popular guy, a Peruvian consumers' association seeks to declare Hugo "persona non grata" at an upcoming Peru-Venezuela summit of the Comunidad Andina de Naciones (Community of Andean Nations) (for which he has proposed the creation of an Andean oil company PetroAndina), because of his role in maintaining oil prices high, and his support for radical groups (link via V Crisis). Popular as he is, at least among some, Chavez assumed Andean bloc leadership all the same.
Hugo's so popular even the dead voted for him: even Papillon himself (via Barcepundit), who was buried 32 years ago but apparently managed to escape the grave, having previously escaped Devil's Island. (Yes, Steve McQueen played the part in the film. Steve's dead, too, but hopefuly not listed on the electoral rosters). Clones are even turning up in rallies, as you can see for yourself. All the same, Hugo's making sure that Sumate, which collected the signatures asking for a referendum, is destroyed.
All that oil money's buying a lot of stuff -- incluidng new police cars with Hugo's picture -- but it's also disappearing. CITGO's missing US $718 million and is under investigation for insider trading to the tune of $550 million (eat your heart out, Martha!).
While Hugo's worring that the US might invade and says he's "armed to the teeth" -- including death squads, and the proposed 2 million-troop-strong "reserves", which would become a a popular militia under Mr Chávez's direct command, according the The Economist -- Venezuelans are being invaded by Cubans, first the "doctors", and now the children.
Not one to ignore the slightest detail, Hugo's enacted a law that makes Venezuelan music mandatory, so Hugo's dancing with a friend,
I won't expect those two will be dancing to any of the divine Celia's music, ever.
Update In case you think I'm being too clever with the "Cubazuela", I'm only stating what Hugo himself has said, "las revoluciones cubana y venezolana ya son una sola, el pueblo cubano y venezolano ya son uno solo" as translated by V Crisis, "the Cuban and Venezuelan revolution are one, the Cuban people and Venezuelan people are now one people" Cubazuela it is.
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