Given that Venezuela shares extremely good relations at the moment with most of the rest of South America (Chile, Brazil and Bolivia most certainly, with the others neutral at best), I sincerely doubt there's any military adventures in Hugo Chavez' future. And he's not shy about his past history of plotting and scheming, he certainly does nothing to hide that history from the world.
And how, exactly is he dragging his country down? I don't agree with him politically, but the people of Venezuela, overall, are better off now than they have been in over two decades. The wealthy and middle class aren't any worse off beyond the fact their investments aren't making the colossal profit they used to be making when Venezuela's oil wealth went almost exclusively to a small minority of the population. Instead, more Venezuela's have access to health care and education than ever before, and prices of necessities have gone down.
If Chavez ever does more than constantly prod and poke the Bush Regime, I'll worry about him, but his only crime so far is being unafraid of calling the Bush Regime what he thinks it is and not being afraid to do it.
Fact is relations between Columbia and Venezuela are strained. It doesn't help that Venezuela has shown some tacit support for the guerillas that are operating over their border into Columbia.
And how, exactly is he dragging his country down? I don't agree with him politically, but the people of Venezuela, overall, are better off now than they have been in over two decades. The wealthy and middle class aren't any worse off beyond the fact their investments aren't making the colossal profit they used to be making when Venezuela's oil wealth went almost exclusively to a small minority of the population. Instead, more Venezuela's have access to health care and education than ever before, and prices of necessities have gone down.
So the national strikes are indicative of significant support for him? Nice social programs require money to fund them. If you have a big healthy economy, you can bleed it a bit more for such things. If you have a straggly economy, then it doesn't survive very long. We'll see how long he stays in power and how long his cronies start to arrange things more to their benefit over a longer period of time. If the democratic process really breaks down, it'll get to be a problem. His past involvement in a military coup against a democratically elected government seems to indicate a decided lack of respect for democratic process. Time will tell.
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momijizukamori
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And how, exactly is he dragging his country down? I don't agree with him politically, but the people of Venezuela, overall, are better off now than they have been in over two decades. The wealthy and middle class aren't any worse off beyond the fact their investments aren't making the colossal profit they used to be making when Venezuela's oil wealth went almost exclusively to a small minority of the population. Instead, more Venezuela's have access to health care and education than ever before, and prices of necessities have gone down.
If Chavez ever does more than constantly prod and poke the Bush Regime, I'll worry about him, but his only crime so far is being unafraid of calling the Bush Regime what he thinks it is and not being afraid to do it.
no subject
And how, exactly is he dragging his country down? I don't agree with him politically, but the people of Venezuela, overall, are better off now than they have been in over two decades. The wealthy and middle class aren't any worse off beyond the fact their investments aren't making the colossal profit they used to be making when Venezuela's oil wealth went almost exclusively to a small minority of the population. Instead, more Venezuela's have access to health care and education than ever before, and prices of necessities have gone down.
So the national strikes are indicative of significant support for him? Nice social programs require money to fund them. If you have a big healthy economy, you can bleed it a bit more for such things. If you have a straggly economy, then it doesn't survive very long. We'll see how long he stays in power and how long his cronies start to arrange things more to their benefit over a longer period of time. If the democratic process really breaks down, it'll get to be a problem. His past involvement in a military coup against a democratically elected government seems to indicate a decided lack of respect for democratic process. Time will tell.