Venezuela expelled two human rights activists on Friday, marking a further worsening of the U.S. - Venezuelan relations.

The foreign ministry said Jose Miguel Vivanco, Human Rights Watch Americas director, and his deputy Daniel Wilkinson had committed “serious violations” and were, as a result, told to leave the country immediately. (more…)

The war of words between Latin American leaders and the U.S. continues to escalate. (more…)

Saudi Arabia continues to be a thorn in the foot of the West’s public enemies such as Iran and Venezuela. The two oil producing and exporting countries had called on all OPEC countries to adhere to its quotas and to stop “oversupplying” the market. Especially Saudi Arabia was criticized; it produces some 500,000 barrels of oil more per day than its quota allows it to.

The Kingdom ruled by the House of Saudi, however, made perfectly clear on Tuesday it was not willing to cut production in any significant way. (more…)

Agents of Hizbullah and Iran’s Revolutionary Guard have deployed special forces in Venezuela intended to kidnap Jewish businessmen and smuggle them to Lebanon, Israel Radio reported Thursday. An expert on counter-terrorism warned in an interview with The Los Angeles Times that Iranian-backed agents have managed to recruit collaborators among Venezuelan citizens living in the capital Caracas. The collaborators are supposed to observe traffic at the Caracas airport and around it in order to collect information on Jewish travelers there. Hizbullah has strengthened its grasp of Venezuela following the warm relationship that grew between Venezuela and Iran. Experts quoted by the Times warned that Venezuela might become a base out of which Hizbullah could carry out terror attacks.

Well, gentle reader, do not worry! They are only coming for dem Jooz. Those people, after all, are wealthy and they are known nuisances. Hugo Chávez, the Bolivarian Socialist, that malodorous piece of Devil’s excreta has deep ties with Hizbullah. Not only did he allow them to open a regional office in his capital, but his former ambassador to Lebanon collected funds for Nasrallah’s boys. Chávez friendship with every despot and America hater is well documented; he uses his country’s oil wealth not for the benefit of the poor - who put him in power - but to subvert other Latin American countries and put his own puppets in.

For the rest of this post go to: Freedom’s Cost

History gets rewritten over and over these days. Many attempted rewrites and their “proofs” are sometimes laughable, most often tragic. In all cases they are despicable lies. Occasionally they are the result of woeful misinformation (read: miseducation). Bolivarian politics, like Bolivarian econmics, lead to educational bankruptcy.

[…]

Venezuelan Bonilla-Molina - a leading proponent of Bolivarian educational reforms interviewed one of Chavez political heroes, Bill Ayers. Where Hugo Chávez “Bolivarian Revolution” is heading is unfortunate, it is obvious that Simón Bolívar - the great Libertador of Latin America - must repulsed at the misuse of his name and turning in his grave. Unfortunately, for us in the USA, one of Professor Ayers indoctrinates is currently running for President. Think about it, gentle reader… think about it!

For the whole post, please go to: Freedom’s Cost

Hero of the far left in both America and Europe, Hugo Chavez, has pushed through 26 new laws ‘covering changes in areas ranging from the military to small businesses.’ The laws are part of a package that Chavez was able to push through on the last day of his 18-months special powers authority. (more…)

Critics who are quick to chide the United States about the overreaction of curtailing civil liberties in the name of the so-called “war on terror” are mysteriously silent when Venezuela’s dictator Hugo Chavez does the exact same thing.

Always citing a supposed need to check secret U.S. plots against him, Chavez has shut down dissenting media outlets, empowered thugs to harass and beat dissenters on the streets, and now has established new and unaccountable secret police agencies to monitor and control the population. (more…)

U.S. terror report cites Venezuela, Iran

Venezuela’s associations with terror states, Iran’s meddling in Iraq and the resurgence of al Qaeda in Afghanistan top the concerns in a new State Department report on terrorism threats in countries around the world.enezuelan President Hugo Chavez is not cooperating with U.S. anti-terror efforts and has “deepened Venezuelan relationships with state sponsors of terrorism Iran and Cuba,” the annual report says.

(more…)

This picture has apparently hurt the paper-thin ego of Chavez, whose lackeys in the government controlled press made the whole affair even funnier by accusing Reuters of “media terrorism”. Read the story here (Spanish)

The New York Times has quite an interesting article up about the latest crisis caused by Venezuela President Hugo Chavez. The Times argues that Chavez considers the democratically elected government of Colombia to be, basically, a proxy of the United States. Chavez even went so far as to call Colombia the “Israel of Latin America” recently. (more…)

My, my. It seems that the Savior of South America - Hugo Chavez - is in bed with terrorists. According to a CNN report Chavez “recently gave the FARC $300 million.” As if that’s not enough, “evidence in three seized computers also suggests FARC had given Chavez 100 million pesos when he was a jailed rebel leader.” (more…)

Earlier today, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez ordered thousands of troops to the country’s border with Colombia. The reason? Colombia’s military killed “a top rebel leader.” The rebels in this case are, of course, the FARC; an incredibly ruthless organization. Aside from that, he also “ordered the Venezuelan Embassy in Colombia closed and said all embassy personnel would be withdrawn.” (more…)

Joe Gandelman links to this story in the Miami Herald which states that “Venezuelan Jews, long uneasy with the Chávez government’s alliances with Iran and other Middle Eastern countries that espouse anti-Israel views, are concerned that the government is sponsoring anti-Semitism in this hemisphere,” according to a “prominent journalist.”

(more…)

Captain Ed passes on the report that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’ magnanimity in defeat may have been a sham to cover up his unsuccessful attempt to steal the referendum.

Chavez’ acquiescence to electoral defeat came as a surprise to many observers in light of his clear attempts in advance of the referendum to intimidate and bully dissenters and thus lay the groundwork for not only stealing the election, but also for a follow-on crackdown. Nonetheless, not even calling dissenters “traitors” was enough to silence Chavez’ cheering section, many of whom cited his acceptance of defeat as proof of Chavez’ democratic bona fides and the superiority of his regime to that horrible dictatorship found in the United States. (more…)

Challenging accusations that he is a dictator-in-waiting and implicitly abandoning his earlier characterization of dissenters as “traitors”, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has accepted defeat in a referendum that would have granted him president-for-life status and allowed him to revoke basic freedoms.

Other less prominent features in the referendum would have targeted Venezuela’s economy and local political institutions for massive change and increased personal control by Chavez:

The defeated reform package would have created new types of communal property, let Chavez handpick local leaders under a redrawn political map and suspended civil liberties during extended states of emergency. (more…)

Chavez sets groundwork for crackdown. (more…)

Hugo Chavez continues his march to a totalitarian dictatorship by taking over the private schools. Any schools that don’t adopt his new curriculum, featuring Das Kapital and Castro’s speeches, will be closed and nationalized. Says a member of the Bolivarian State Academic Commission:

“If they attack us because we’re indoctrinating, well yes, we’re doing it, because those capitalist ideas that our young people have — and that have done so much damage to our people — must be eliminated.”

5% of the foreign students at the med school — did I forget to mention that Das Kapital was mandatory reading at the med school? — have withdrawn. Kind of understandable, I think, given that the Colombian students are being taught that the leader of FARC is an “important Latin American thinker”.

This man is dangerous.