Colombia detains Venezuela guards

[struggle4progress]

Colombia has detained four members of the Venezuelan national guard ... President Alvaro Uribe said they would be returned to Venezuela with the message that there was "unbreakable affection" between the two countries ... http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8360999.stm

[rabs]

1. "unbreakable affection:" ha, alvarito spoke too soon.

I have nothing to talk about with Uribe. (AFP photo)


Today Chavez has some juicy, choice words for creepy, bumbling alvarito.

---------------------
"The king of Spain, president amigos may ask me (but I) tell them, there are no conversations with Uribe."

Chavez called uribito a "mafioso" and "traitor."

"He is moving to see if he can talk with me. I have nothing to talk about with Uribe. We have made many efforts (for negotiations) ourselves."

Chavez said uribito "comes from the world of para-militarism, of narco-trafficking" and labeled him as "dangerous."

"He will pay the consequences for anything that (menaces) me or Venezuela."

Chavez said that at the beginning of uribito's political career, he had links to Pablo Escobar, to paramilitaries and other "mafiosos."

(Referring to U.S. base deal) Chavez said "What must the yankees NOT know of Uribe that the United States forced this (pact) upon him."

"He (uribito) will be left before history as an ignominious leader who handed over the nation to the yankees."

alvarito is gonna love reading this today in El Tiempo

http://www.eltiempo.com/colombia/politica/no-tengo-nada-que-hablar-con-uribe-afirma-presidente-hugo-chavez-_6595027-1

[Peace Patriot]

2. It's a remarkable thing to have such a truthteller on the world stage.

Bush is the devil.
The U.S. is an empire.
Obama is "the prisoner of the Pentagon."
Uribe is mafioso.

One downside for corpo-fascists in their bogeymanization of Chavez is that he thereby gets to use their corpo-fascist 'news' monopoly outlets to tell it like it is--at least on the occasions when they quote him accurately, and don't garble, 'summarize,' twist, distort and entirely mischaracterize what he says.

This is El Tiempo, so we should be cautious. But still....

"What must the yankees NOT know of Uribe that the United States forced this (pact) upon him" is priceless!

[YouTakeTheSkyway]

3. Really?

Because it seems pretty clear to me that the whole "Bush is the devil" thing crossed the line in a lot of peoples' minds and simply reaffirmed suspicions that Chavez is a blowhard. With that said...hey, how about keeping those Venezuelan troops on the Venezuelan side of the border? I mean, we ARE trying to avoid a huge international incident here, after all.

[Peace Patriot]

5. Ever watch that vid? The assembled diplomats applaud, nod, smile--not a frown in the room.

He was saying what everybody was THINKING: What is a genocidal maniac who just slaughtered a million innocent people to steal their oil, and is torturing thousands of prisoners, DOING as an honored speaker at the United Nations, let alone as the president of the country that so loudly ballyhoos its alleged promotion of democracy, human rights and the rule of law?

The "devil" and the "smell of sulphur" criticisms were MILD compared to what should have been happening: A second Nuremberg Trials!

Virtually the entire world loathed and hated Bush, and considered him the very Devil, and Chavez SAID IT--to applause. That's what happened.

Whose "minds" have you been "reading," that you know what "crossed the line in a lot peoples' minds" when Chavez spoke the truth that nobody else would speak? Your own mind and who else's?

The diplomats' applause speaks for itself.

And whose "suspicions" that Chavez is a "blowhard" got "reaffirmed"? Your own and who else's?

Is he still president of Venezuela? Has he been recalled yet, for being a "blowhard"? (The Venezuelans have that right--to recall their president. Have they exercised it?) Is his approval rating still in the 55% to 70% range? Who is the "blowhard"? Chavez, or you?

I'll tell you this. He spoke for ME when he called Bush "the Devil." We have never, ever in our history had such an evil presence in the White House. And our cowardly, collusive, despicable party leaders never dared to say so, and have immunized those fuckers from accountability for their mindbogglingly evil crimes!

Chavez spoke the truth when no else dared to--with "the Devil" still in power. And when the Bushwhacks sent their dictate down to South American leaders that they must "isolate Chavez," in preparation for their latest assassination/coup attempt, guess what happened? They refused. Lula da Silva went out of his way to back Chavez up two weeks before the Venezuelan 2006 election. And Rafael Correa, who was running for president of Ecuador at the time, when asked about Chavez comparing Bush to "the devil," replied that it was "an insult to the Devil." Correa had been running neck and neck with the rightwing candidate. His numbers soared after that remark, and he won the Ecuadoran election with a huge majority. Rightwing, US-allied bastions were falling everywhere, one after another--Bolivia, Ecuador, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Paraguay--Paraguay!

So, WHO, among all of these voters' minds in Latin America had their "suspicions reaffirmed" that "Chavez is a blowhard"? The fascist elites, that's who. The rich few. The super-rich bastards who plot coups, and who dream of throwing leftists out of airplanes and carving up their bodies into mass graves, once again. 'We'll get that blowhard Chavez who dared to call our hero Bush 'the Devil,'" they mutter amidst their bloody dreams.

Don't come touting their bullshit here. Go peddle it in the Hell of Freeperdom where it belongs.

[ChangoLoa]

6. A month ago, we all saw that for Latin Americans Chavez is among the 3 most unpopular leaders

And yes, Venezuelans will have indeed the right to recall the president... in 2010.

Problem is, the last time we exercised that right, the government violated our right to sign anonymously for that recall to take place, and we got punished for that.

[Braulio]

17. Popularity is slipping

A Venezuelan friend tells me the latest polls show Chavez' popularity has slipped below 50 %, and a majority are now telling pollsters they would vote for a different candidate other than Chavez. I suspect this is caused by inflation, crime, and possibly they're starting to fear he does want to start a war with Colombia?

[ChangoLoa]

18. The issue with Colombia is a very delicate one, internally

20% of the Venezuelan population is from Colombia. A huge amount of people in the border states live from trading with Colombia as well. I think that the way he's been dealing with this crisis is badly affecting his popularity in Venezuela.

And even if you take those factors out of the picture, the Venezuelan army knows it can't stand any confrontation with Colombia. So, IMHO, the main internal objective of the government is to justify a prosecution against the governor of Tachira, Pérez Vivas. We'll see...

[YouTakeTheSkyway]

7. You realize the room was half empty right?

And even then, applause was muted. Here, check it out, if you need a refresher (which you obviously do): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCHrEBY-fyY

[Judi Lynn]

8. You really need to inform various newspapers who had people there, then.

Chávez attacks 'devil' Bush in UN speech
· Venezuelan accuses US of double standards on terror
· Bolivian president condemns war on drugs
Ed Pilkington in New York The Guardian, Thursday 21 September 2006

~snip~
Delegates and leaders from around the world streamed back into the chamber to hear Mr Chávez, and when he stepped down the vigorous applause lasted so long that it had to be curtailed by the chair.

More:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2006/sep/21/usa.venezuela

[YouTakeTheSkyway]

9. I've provided a link to a video of the portion where he calls Bush the devil

Take a look.

[EFerrari]

4. No kidding. LOL.

[Judi Lynn]

10. Venezuela's Media Minister: End tensions only through direct negotiations with USA

Venezuela's Media Minister: End tensions only through direct negotiations with USA
By Patrick J. O'Donoghue

Communication & Information (Minci) Minister Blanca Eekhout has held a press conference insisting that Venezuela seeks peace both in Venezuela and Colombia.

The conference was part of a government counter-attack to charges launched by Brazil's Senate that postponed approval for Venezuela's entry into the Southern Cone Economic Zone (Mercosur) and the Colombian Foreign Ministry's decision to accuse Chavez at the UN for threatening Colombia with war.

President Chavez has used several public events to explain what he actually meant when he told military officers last Sunday to prepare for war. The phrase he used was an old adage learned in every military academy that "if you want peace, prepare for war." The proverb comes from Roman times and Latin "Igitur qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum." The opposition and international press blew the statement out of context.

Minister Eekhout tackled the matter as media minister, showing statistics that around 75% of recent articles on Venezuela published by the international press are negative. The sample monthly survey is taken from pieces written in 14 South American broadsheets, eight European and, surprisingly, just three US broadsheets.

Positive pieces gonged a meager 5% and very positive a poor 1%.

When asked about Brazil's intermediation offer, Eekhout said any help is welcome but Venezuela doesn't need any mediators because dialogue to ease tensions must be direct with the United States of America whom she accuses of employing the double morality of spouting peace overtures while in practice installing military bases.

More:
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Venezuela-s-Media-Minister-by-Patrick-J-O-Donog-091112-740.html

[YouTakeTheSkyway]

11. Weird move on Venezuela's part

It seems to me, the vast majority of the dialogue will have to be between Venezuela and Colombia, not between Venezuela and the United States. Anything else (i.e. our making decisions about Colombia's foreign policy on behalf of Colombia) would be the kind of imperialism that Chavez himself so frequently rails against.

[Judi Lynn]

12. Do yourself the favor of researching Colombian history and US policy/history

regarding Latin America.

Read books. This is something you're going to have to do on your own. There's far too much involved for anyone to give you a quickie education to show you the error of your ways.

You would be correct in realizing there are people here who are INTIMATELY connected to Latin American history personally, who DO know exactly about the subject.

[YouTakeTheSkyway]

13. I realize you're upset about our discussion of Chavez's support for the FARC

but if you could stop talking down to me for a minute or two, we might actually be able to get along.

[Zorro]

14. Here are some better suggestions

Learn Spanish and/or Portuguese.

Live in/travel to Latin America and experience those cultures firsthand.

Meet real citizens in their countries and discuss their concerns/issues.

[Braulio]

15. Hard to be positive about Chavez

It's hard for the world press to be positive about Chavez when he speaks as he does. He could really use a media advisor and a course on how to behave in front of the media. A lot of what he says is so incendiary, it's easy to pick off material to make him sound like Red Lucifer. He's just too naive.

[Judi Lynn]

16. Venezuela: Colombia detained troops illegally

Posted on Monday, 11.16.09
Venezuela: Colombia detained troops illegally
The Associated Press

CARACAS, Venezuela -- A Venezuelan commander contends Colombia wrongly detained four of his soldiers last week along the border separating the South American nations.

National Guard Gen. Orlando Mijares says the troops were navigating the Meta River, which is part of the border, when Colombian soldiers intercepted their boat.

Mijares said Monday that rivers on the frontier are considered international waters under agreements between Venezuela and Colombia, meaning troops from both countries are allowed to use them.

Colombia sent the Venezuelans home over the weekend, saying it wanted to ease worsening tensions. There have been several shootings and slayings the past few weeks along the border.

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/world/AP/story/1337218.html