Chavez says beer tycoon wants Venezuela presidency

[cory777]

Source: Reuters

CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez said on Sunday that one of the world's richest men and owner of a major brewery in the South American country, Lorenzo Mendoza, was planning a U.S.-backed presidential run.

Chavez, an avowed foe of U.S. 'imperialism,' did not provide evidence to back the claim that the owner of Empresas Polar had political ambitions, saying only that the billionaire should think carefully before jumping into politics because the government controlled grain supplies.

"Lorenzo Mendoza wants to be president, and the Yankees are guiding him," he said. "Polar depends on whether or not I sell it corn."

In recent weeks, Chavez has frequently warned the tycoon that he could nationalize the brewer and food maker in his economic war on the "bourgeoise." He has already nationalized dozens of companies, including multibillion dollar oil projects.

Read more: http://au.news.yahoo.com/queensland/a/-/world/7395966/chavez-says-beer-tycoon-wants-venezuela-presidency/

[dipsydoodle]

1. His campaign slogan will be

I drink therefore I am.

[ChangoLoa]

2. As for the last 12 years, anyone not running for Chavez will be described as "guided by the yankees"

[Posteritatis]

30. And they'll likely as not be running *from* him anyway. (nt)

[EFerrari]

37. Maybe "funded" would be a more precise verb.

[Oerdin]

3. I can't believe...

Anyone here still supports Chavez.

[dipsydoodle]

5. Well you'd be wrong.

.

[fascisthunter]

6. Yes, lot's of us support Democratic Socialists

I can't believe there are folks here attacking democratic socialists as free market fascists are screwing up the global economy along with their democracies if they had one.

[Imajika]

9. Some folks think threatening....

...to take away corn from a potential political opponent's company is not too terribly democratic sounding.

"'Lorenzo Mendoza wants to be president, and the Yankees are guiding him,' he said. 'Polar depends on whether or not I sell it corn.'"

So basically, don't run against me or I will use the government to crush your business?

This is Chavez's brand of "democratic socialism" and it is anything but democratic.

edited for spelling

[awoke_in_2003]

15. +1000...

has he done some good for his people? Yes, but he still acts like a tyrant sometimes.

[EFerrari]

25. How would you feel if Iran or Venezuela ran a candidate here?

Are you "democratic" enough to collaborate with a foreign government? Because that's the crux here.

[Posteritatis]

31. I like how you're buying the claim uncritically based on Chavez' word alone

That kind of reaction is more fascinating to me than anything else here.

[EFerrari]

32. I'm not buying anything, actually. Only pointing out

that there's more than one reading of what he allegedly said.

:)

[sabrina 1]

49. Are you not aware of U.S. history in Venezuela?

Did you approve of the U.S. backed Coup, thankfully stopped by the Venezuelan people, that tried to take out a democratically president and replace him with a U.S. puppet? Only nine years ago?

Are you really serious in denying that the U.S. has its operatives, mostly far right, in Venezuela attempting to destabilize the country in order to get a President 'friendlier' to Big Oil.

Do you know that BP and the U.S. are operaging in Colombia, brutalizing workers and the environment with the helpe of U.S. puppet Uribe?

And Chavez is HATED here because he kicked out BP et al, something WE NEED TO DO here.

What this country, the U.S. needs is a Hugo Chavez to show us how to deal with Big Oil. Maybe we can borrow him for a while, because our own leaders are all puppets of Global Corporate terrorists.

[fascisthunter]

38. is that what really happened though

ya see, I have a hard time believing the shit anti-chavez posters post here, because all of it gets refuted later on, yet I never see anyone of the usual anti-chavez right wing meat heads eat crow publicly. So why now would I believe this?

[bitchkitty]

12. It's disgusting, isn't it? They nauseate me. n/t

[ChangoLoa]

8. A binary world. The enemy of the enemy. nt

[EFerrari]

17. And I can't believe that people still buy into these stories

hook line and sinker when they always turn out to be bs.

Remember the earthquake machine that Chavez said caused the earthquake in Haiti only he never did? Or, the time he stole an oil rig that he never stole or the time he stole a four star hotel -- that was majority owned by Venezuela?

lol

[Fearless]

18. Anyone who believed in an earthquake machine is an idiot.

[EFerrari]

21. Exactly. And people here were instantly willing to believe

that Chavez said that. He didn't, it was the Russian navy and then a Russian outlet put up a fake story that Chavez did with some archival video of him giving another speech. lol

[Fearless]

57. I wasn't comparing, I was just saying. I don't agree with you.

[ChangoLoa]

20. It was on yesterday's Alo Presidente. You speak Spanish, do you want the link?

Nothing spectacular about this anyway.

[EFerrari]

22. Yes, it was on "Alo, Presidente". I'll go listen after a while.

Chasing these things down just isn't as much fun as it was the first 500 times. lol

But thanks for the offer.

[AngryAmish]

27. As we know, this story is a mistranslation.

[EFerrari]

28. It doesn't sound like it. It sounds like a pos hit piece

like the oil rig and the stolen 4 star hotel that Venezuela already owned.

:)

[AngryAmish]

29. No, clearly a mistranslation.

[Taverner]

46. Granted , he's not perfect, but most of the RW attacks against him hold no water

About the only thing wrong he did was shut down the Venezuelan Answer to Fox - and even then, they were calling on the public to assassinate him so...

[devilgrrl]

51. Oh, I know. After all the stuff written about him by the US media! Why would they lie?

:sarcasm:

[Judi Lynn]

53. We are in reverence of such journalistic giants as Judith Miller!

I just swoon over the thought of how much we learn from AP, and Reuters, too, and what about those 17 journalists working for both the Miami Herald and the _Bush administration at the same time!

You can always count on those guys we read daily. Their word is sacred. Look how well they educate the wingers! Now that's something they can feel proud of.

[SOS]

54. Judy Miller....

The good old New York Times is being kept alive with loans from Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim.
The Times employs Simon Romero as a full time anti-Chavez "reporter".
And take a look at who attended the "Fathers and Sons" gala in Cartagena: Slim and Mendoza!

http://www.consuladodecolombiany.com/new_page/prensa/2009/MARZO/03092009.htm

"The yearly meeting usually serves to formalize businesses and agreements between Latin America’s elite. Among the topics expected to be at the center of this year’s discussions are the future of Venezuela under President Hugo Chavez".

The billionaires gather in Colombia to plan the future of Venezuela, the New York "Slim" Times reports every action by Chavez as "totalitarian" and the suckers here buy it, hook, line and sinker.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

4. Cool! Another Chavez thread!

Hugo certainly knows how to use the bully pulpit.

:popcorn:

[Fearless]

14. Pass the buttered...

:popcorn:

[UTUSN]

7. Not just ANYbody can want to be prez!1 Only SOMEbody!1 n/t

[FLPanhandle]

10. Nice guy. Threaten to ruin anyone who even thinks about running against you.

You know someone full of hypocrisy will jump in to defend the guy just because it's Chavez.

[EFerrari]

23. Except he has no history of threatening his opponents

and if you read the story, he didn't say that.

Some people full of hypocrisy -- what about, some people that can read?

You know, putting these stories in context is much less about defending Chavez than defending your own intelligence against sloppy propaganda. lol

[FLPanhandle]

42. Careful Mendoza, he said on Sunday, "You'll end up with nothing."

Yes, what about people that cannot read? :rofl:

[Bacchus39]

43. Chavez threatens to imprison opposition governor

http://www.caycompass.com/cgi-bin/CFPnews.cgi?ID=1034671

removes largest district in Caracas from democratically elected opposition mayor control



http://preview.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=atDelq8AGBAk

[FLPanhandle]

44. Don't bother with hypocrites

If any other government did the same thing, the Chavez defenders would be all over it. If it's Chavez, it's "not true", or "a campaign against him". Never have I seen a defender ever say Chavez has trampled on democracy even once.

[Bacchus39]

55. but he has no history of threatening his opponents (????)

http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2010/03/24/opposition-politician-arrested-in-venezuela/?iref=obnetwork

Opposition politician arrested in Venezuela

A Venezuelan court ruled in an initial hearing Wednesday that a former governor and presidential candidate must remain
in jail on charges that he conspired against the government by making false statements.

Family members and supporters of Oswaldo Alvarez Paz said his arrest Monday night was orchestrated by leftist President Hugo Chavez for political purposes.

"This was done to try to silence a person who has been very critical of this government for years," said Santiago Alvarez, the arrested politician's son.

Santiago Alvarez made the comments Wednesday morning outside the courtroom where his father was facing the hearing.

Alvarez Paz, a former governor of Zulia state and a 1993 presidential candidate, was detained two weeks after saying on the privately owned Globovision TV station that Venezuela has ties to Marxist rebels in Colombia and Spain and has become a base for drug trafficking.

Venezuelan prosecutors charged him with conspiracy, public instigation to commit a crime and spreading false information.

[lib2DaBone]

11. Polar Beer is very good.....

So a right-wing dictator might not be so bad?

Just send in the CIA (again), murder Chavez and we can take their oil AND drink their beer.

Win-Win.






:beer:

[Fearless]

13. Is he threatening his competition if they run?

[awoke_in_2003]

16. yes, he is.

"Run against me and you can't have the grain to make your beer" is what he is saying.

[EFerrari]

19. This is what the story says and notice, it is not a direct quote:

Chavez, an avowed foe of U.S. 'imperialism,' did not provide evidence to back the claim that the owner of Empresas Polar had political ambitions, saying only that the billionaire should think carefully before jumping into politics because the government controlled grain supplies.

Then, the story gives two snippets of direct quotes to fit in with the context the story created.

I bet you a large order of fries this will also turn out to be bs. He was referring to not to running for office but to collaborating with the US, is my guess.

[Raskolnik]

56. *If* Chavez said "Polar depends on whether or not I sell it corn."

in the context of discussing Polar's supposed political ambitions, do you see any problem with a president making such a statement?

[Imajika]

24. This is supported by the Chavez/Castro fan club here...

...because when the cheerleader brigade say they are "democratic socialists", what they really mean is they are socialists first but democracy is fine so long as the people also agree to vote for socialists. The masses can not be allowed to vote for candidates opposing the kind of socialism they support. Therefore it is okay to shut "counter revolutionaries" out of the electoral process. The pesky people must be trampled on sometimes in order to create a workers paradise you see.

[EFerrari]

26. Except none of that has happened in Venezuela. Sorry, wrong answer. n/t

[Imajika]

33. Yeah, it has...

From Amnesty International:

Venezuela: freedom of expression in danger

http://asiapacific.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGAMR530032007?open&of=ENG-VEN

And yeah, yeah, I know all the excuses. We are misunderstanding Chavez, his comments are taken out of context, his opposition supported the coup (nevermind that Chavez participated in a coup himself), he doesn't really consider Ahmadinejad a "brother" (even though he said that), he didn't really mean all the praise he lavished on Mugabe (even though he presented Mugabe with the replica of liberator Simon Bolivar's sword), etc, etc.

The same people who continue to support Chavez also tend to support the Castro brothers. From them we actually get to hear that Cuba is a real democracy and we just don't understand that for 50 years the Cuban people have never wanted to try a different leader or approach. The excuses are beyond silly, but I understand it. For some people, dismantling market economies and instituting marxism/socialism is just far more important than whether the people actually want it or not.

[EFerrari]

34. Your proof that Venezuela's elections are not democratic is CUBA?

Okay.

[Imajika]

39. If your shutting down opposition media...

...and threatening potential opposition candidates with the destruction of their businesses, then yeah, the election(s) won't be very democratic. This is precisely what is going on in Venezuela.

The Cuba reference was simply a reminder that Chavez cheerleaders tend to also be Castro cheerleaders. People who support the Castro's and Chavez's of the world seem to believe that getting to a marxist/socialist society is just more important than pesky political freedoms and open democracy where anyone with any political ideology can organize and try to run for office (and yes, that includes powerful business people who should have every right to run without fear of government harassment).

And the Amnesty International statement was about press freedoms being restricted in Venezuela.

[EFerrari]

40. Those are big "ifs", neither of which seem to be happening

except in the propaganda mills.

There is no history of the Chavez government shutting down opposition candidates for political purposes. There have, though, been a brazillion claims which have all turned out to be bulleria. This one probably will, too.

I'm so sorry, I can't even get excited over these stories any more. They're repetitive.

[Imajika]

45. How is it that...

...even the most casual online search produces countless organizations from Amnesty International to Human Rights Watch warning about and condemning Chavez for his curtailing of press rights, crushing freedom of expression, etc, and yet you seem to want to overlook all of it. Somehow the Chavez cheerleaders just turn a blind eye to all the evidence and declare it evil imperialist propaganda.

I have a hard time believing you are really this naive so I am assuming your just willing to give your side more leeway because you think the ends justify the means? Why not just be honest and admit that you share Chavez's goals so your willing to overlook some of the bad things he does? It's one thing to excuse certain actions that you might otherwise condemn because you feel capitalism/markets are the greater enemy, quite another to just pretend these things aren't happening at all.

[EFerrari]

47. Ignoring that you're calling me naive and dishonest, lol,

I have watched the state of the media in Venezuela. And the reports of suppression are completely over the top. HRW's person in Latin America is a discredited former Pinochet apologist. That's how he started his career. Amnesty does a better job but even they are over the top.

I don't have to be naive or dishonest to disagree with them. But thanks for the projection.

[davidinalameda]

35. not even socialists

totalitarian apologists

[EFerrari]

36. People who can read.

lol

[davidinalameda]

52. you might be able to read

but can you comprehend what you've read?

[EFerrari]

58. UCB grad div thought so.

lol

Why don't you or someone go look at what he said in context at "Alo Presidente"? I'm completely burnt out on tracking this stuff down.

If you want to believe everything the presstitutes try to sell you, on the other hand, please be my guest. Everyone needs a hobby. :)

[Igel]

41. The disturbing thing isn't the threat or lack thereof.

It's the "l'Etat, c'est moi" attitude that oozes from his pores.

"Mendoza le vas a tener que comprar maíz a Chávez," Chavez, referring to himself in the 3rd person, said. Not "al gobierno" or "productores", because he says the government is the "productor" and that, essentially, he is the government. Sometimes he makes it plural: "us," not "me," then he clarifies.

Ghee wiz, so to speak.

The usual "the people" = "the commoners" = "the party" = "the government" = "the leader," so to oppose whatever the leader wants is to oppose the people and not be part of the people. It dehumanizes and centralizes authority in one swell foop.

[EFerrari]

48. If he says "the government", it looks like he's avoiding responsibility.

If he says "Chavez", you say he looks like a power monger. Either way, a criticism can be mounted.

[Socal31]

50. I think the novelty has worn off.

The world is starting to see him for what he is.