Hey, Hugo, you LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSER!

Are you implying that the US has not been doing that?

 

And, in the case of Latin America, and Latin America only, how is that different from our historical performance?

 

Maybe we should have sided with the drug dealers?

 

Been there. Done that.

http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/South_America/WhiteLies_ColombiaDrugs.html

 

I was glad to see the election result. However, that doesn't mean I'm in the mood to hear all the hooting and braying from people who only like democracy when it votes out people they don't want in office.

If anyone currently exulting in Chavez' defeat has been committed to Latin American democracy throughout the years- this means opposing U.S.-backed dictatorships in Chile, Guatemala, El Salvador and the Dominican Republic to name a few- then exult away. If you've supported or turned a blind eye toward right-wing thugs in the past, STFU. A thug is a thug, right or left, period. Consistency, por favor.

 

Excellent post. People like Chavez (or Castro, for that matter) could not rise to power if not for the abuses of people before them.

 

Didn't we do that, too?

 

I think we played both sides against our selves

 

You'd have to be stoned to do that.

 

And just as I thought, he's gonna try an end-around to get what he wants.
I think a state-sponsored (doesn't mater which country) assassination is in order.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1206/p01s01-woam.html

 

http://www.newsweek.com/id/74230

Newsweek is reporting that Chavez did try to steal the referendum election but the military blocked him, to the point of threatening a coup if he went through with it.

Lack of blind support from his military may be what thwarts his next-Castro ambitions. 5 years ago, factions of his military were all too willing to cooperate with the right wing's coup attempt, and it looks like that weakness remains.

 

Fixed.