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Venezuela - Next Hot Spot?
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From your first link:
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Venezuela plans to buy Russian arms
www.chinaview.cn 2004-11-28 10:08:13 http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/20...nt_2269110.htm |
Purpose was to change the policy of investigating the event? If that is the case, I would regard it as a terrorist act. No financial gain to be had in the commission.
Or do you find it hard to believe that a State Dept spokesman could contradict him self in a briefing? :rolleyes: |
This does not add anything to to thread...
BUT!!! The CHICKS are hot there. :eek: So who has the line on the jobs there :D RAT OUT!!! |
Venezuela’s Attorney General Asks Court to Review Exoneration of Coup Plotters
Friday, Dec 03, 2004 By: Sarah Wagner – Venezuelanalysis.com Caracas, December 3, 2004—Yesterday, Attorney General Isaías Rodríguez asked the Constitutional Chamber of Venezuela’s Supreme Court to reverse a ruling it made on August 14th, 2002, that had released the military officers who were accused of organizing the April 2002 coup against President Chavez. According to the Supreme Court, the events of April 2002 constituted a “vacuum of power” that military officers legally filled and not a coup. Reversing the court decision would open legal avenues necessary for prosecuting the generals and politicians who were involved in the attempt to depose President Chávez.... http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news.php?newsno=1435 |
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Kinda hard for any unit to get its HR Certs when the CINC of them all is a Human Rights Abuser. |
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Aint that the truth.. Did some oil and gas work down there. I'll keep my ears open for anyhting. RAT OUT!!! |
Any thoughts on this?
---------------------------------------------------- Venezuela to seize aristocrat's cattle ranch By Andy Webb-Vidal in Caracas and Henry Tricks in London Published: January 7 2005 22:04 | Last updated: January 7 2005 22:04 Venezuelan authorities backed by troops are on Saturday expected to seize a 32,000-acre ranch owned by Lord Vestey, an English aristocrat and meat tycoon. The move, the first in what is likely to be a number of Zimbabwe-style expropriations of big estates, appears to signal a renewed radicalisation in the leftwing government of President Hugo Chávez. Lord Vestey, known as “Spam” to friends because his family's wealth comes from the meat trade, is one of Britain's richest men and a close friend of Prince Charles. With interests that have ranged from overseas cattle ranches to a chain of butchers' shops, his fortune was estimated last year at £750m ($1.4bn, €1.07bn). But the value of the Vestey Group has declined recently, and it has written down Venezuelan assets. The company had net assets of £78m in the last published set of accounts in 2003, down from £105m in 2002. Nevertheless, the Vestey Group remains one of Venezuela's largest meat producers. Its El Charcote estate in the lush cattle-ranchingpastures of Cojedes, a state west of Caracas, is one the country's most modern. When his lands were first seized in Venezuela in 2001, Lord Vestey staged a one-man protest outside the Venezuelan embassy in London. He is now reluctant to discuss the matter in public, due to its sensitivity. On Friday, Alfredo Toro Hardy, Venezuelan ambassador in London, said the ranch was among those in Venezuela considered “partly idle” and its property titles were not considered to be in proper order. That, he said, prompted the need for an investigation. For the past four years the property has been partially squatted by poor farmers. “We've been in Venezuela for just over 100 years and we hope to be there for some time yet,” Lord Vestey told the Financial Times. The land had been bought by his great grandfather in 1903, he said. Land reform has faded in most of Latin America since the early 1980s. However, since his election six years ago, Mr Chávez has vowed, as part of his self-styled “revolution”, to attack an “oligarchic” system of land tenure in Venezuela. This week his government urged regional governors to press ahead with the programme by redistributing land to poor farmers and landless peasants. Critics complain that property rights are being disregarded, with no mention of any compensation for landowners. In addition, agronomists argue that in regions with relatively poor soil, large areas of land are needed to graze a herd of cattle, creating a false impression of large tracts lying idle. Ranchers also say that productivity is far higher on big estates, such as El Charcote, than on the small farms that the government wants to encourage. Eliezer Otaiza, director of Venezuela's National Land Institute and one of Mr Chávez's political allies, said at least 100,000 plots would be redistributed in the next six months. The show of “revolutionary” force expected today appears intended to make an example of the Vestey estate. “The full weight of the armed forces and the police will be present to implement the first phase of the land mission,” said Alexis Ortiz, Cojedes's attorney-general. The “takeover” of the El Charcote estate is concerning other landowners. As one Venezuelan cattle-rancher yesterday put it: “It's deeply worrying. I'm certainly going to look at selling my cattle and ranch while I can.” http://news.ft.com/cms/s/392c076e-60...cl=,s01=1.html |
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Hey, "high speed" ... where's our glint tape?! :D Are you still working down where we last saw eachother, or did you already move on to "Crane"? PM me so that we don't highjack the thread. On topic: I worked with a Venezuelan captain who was part of Chavez' security detail at around the time when the US President before Pres. George W. Bush (I don't like to say his name) had visited the country. The captain was later assigned to the GAC (Grupo de Accion Comando) and told me of a time when they ran into a FARC camp during a patrol along the Venezuelan-Colombian border. He said that they called-in the find, on Venezuela's side of the border, to higher only to be told to break off surveillance and to leave the camp alone. Upon returning, he was instructed to not report the find. |
Interior Minister Says Venezuelan Rogue Security Officials Captured FARC Leader
Friday, Jan 07, 2005 By: Gregory Wilpert – Venezuelanalysis.com Caracas, January 7, 2005—Venezuela’s Interior Minister, Jesse Chacon, confirmed yesterday that Venezuelan police officials, who were acting on their own, were indeed involved in the capture of Ricardo Granda, the “foreign minister” of the Colombian guerrilla group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news.php?newsno=1461 |
That exapropriation of private property is outrageous. I figured he was going to do it, but still.
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The article with embedded links: http://americanthinker.com/articles.php?article_id=4173
Venezuela: storm warnings Michael Curran January 12th, 2005 A new storm is forming, one which could prove to be detrimental to peace and stability in the Western Hemisphere, and particularly damaging to the United States. It is a tempest of human origin, which has visited us before: Guatemala (1951); Cuba (1959); Grenada (1979); Nicaragua (1984); and now, Venezuela. It is the Great Socialist Experiment, redux, with a new striking force. This storm, unlike the others, has a menacing energy behind it, namely oil - and with it, fear. Until now, the previously mentioned regimes were smaller agrarian societies, which were eventually “dealt with” or, in the case of Cuba, contained. In any event, none of them were consequential to the economic well being of America. Sugar, bananas and rum are readily available elsewhere, and their price does not affect the overall economy. Oil is different. There is a glaring lack of candid articles on the status quo of Venezuela in the American mass media. Clearly, that unimposing body of bias, the Fourth Estate, is not interested in investigative journalism when it might show a leftist leader and regime in an unfavorable light. Their interest is in negative stories which place the United States, its citizens or the Bush Administration in an unfavorable light. They are certainly not focused on evolving potential dangers to this hemisphere, such as a Marxist tyrant proceeding merrily along, corrupting an election, wrecking his economy, arresting his opponents, suppressing free trade unions, and seizing private land to “redistribute.” The strength of that indictment is the palpable lack of news regarding current conditions in Venezuela. The MSM to date has had little to say regarding this developing problem. Instead, its headlines center on the here and now, such as wars, cataclysmic occurrences, Hollywood divorces, personal tragedies, and celebrity trials. Such headlines hold the attention of the masses for a while, and are soon replaced by other “feedings.” Media loves the story they can shape, build upon and aggrandize to their liking. Venezuela ranks sixth among oil exporters (2003), and more importantly, has the seventh largest proven oil reserves (2003) in the world today. This places it directly behind Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran, Kuwait, U.A.E. and Russia. More than half of its total daily oil production is shipped directly to the U. S., which places Venezuela as one of the top four sources of U.S. petroleum imports (Canada, Mexico and Saudi Arabia are the others). Its current share of the American petroleum market is 11.3% - down significantly from 17.4% in 1997. Has anything of consequence happened in Venezuela since 1997? Yes – and his name is Hugo Chávez! This leftist ideologue ascended to the presidency of his country in 1999. Chávez, a former paratroop colonel, led a failed coup d'état in February, 1992, against then President Carlos Andrés Pérez, another leftist who had previously nationalized the country’s petroleum and iron-ore industry. For his failure, Chávez was rewarded with a two-year stint in prison until he was pardoned. Upon his release, he formed a new political party, Movement for the Fifth Republic, and in December 1998 won the presidential election with 56.2% of the vote. Since then he has: • Had journalists followed, arrested, tear-gassed, shot at and killed. • Had political opponents physically tortured. • Called Capitalism “the road to hell” and “the champion of inequality.” • Visited Saddam Hussein in 2000 • Dissolved labor unions • Visited Spain’s new Socialist Prime Minister Zapatero (Nov 2004) • Visited China (Dec 2004) and signed trade agreements, which include the exportation of oil and gas to China • Provided his good friend, Fidel Castro with 53,000 barrels of oil daily • Survived a coup attempt in 2002 • Referred to President Bush as a pendejo Chávez, as many communists before him, had neatly hidden himself for a while in the cloak of nationalism. One remembers how Castro had U. S. liberals pandering to him in ’59 and ’60, appearing on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno’s TV ancestor, Jack Paar. Chávez, the new “Castro of the Caribbean,” however, is not the usual socialist, just intent on exporting the Marxist-Leninist line to vulnerable neighboring countries with force of arms. Imagine if you will, Saudi Arabia with Castro as its leader, or Kuwait with Saddam Hussein in charge! To those possessed with any common sense, or some small degree of perception, this plate of distaste is most unappetizing. It might be hard for some to fathom how this South American country, fifteen hundred miles from U. S. shores, can be any menace to our well being, economic or otherwise. As one of the five founding members of OPEC, Venezuela helps to control a powerful influence over a number of industrialized economies. The question is should such power be trusted in the hands of people like Mr. Chávez? Hugo Chávez has vowed to remain in power until 2021 and possibly this is what he admires about Fidel Castro, who has lasted for forty-five years. Venezuela’s current constitution allows for two six-year terms and so this ambition presents something of a problem for Chávez, albeit, a minor one. Does anyone care to wager on constitutional changes in Venezuela’s near future? When Chávez first assumed power in 1999 oil was $8.00 a barrel. At that price he couldn’t risk angering Wall Street and Washington. However, with today’s oil cost at about $43.00 a barrel, Chávez is quickly becoming financially secure enough to take the gamble. Chávez recently agreed to sell China 120,000 barrels of fuel oil a month. This agreement also allows China to help pump oil, set up refineries and produce natural gas in Venezuela. Of course, China needs oil to feed its growing economy, so diversifying its supply sources makes sense. However, I get nervous when an adversary sets up shop in my neighborhood. When I harken back to my formative years, in daydreams arbitrarily remembered, I recall the old Mayflower Restaurant, once located in downtown Pittsburgh. Upon its white and turquoise green tiled walls, was a quotation, which for some obscure reason I still recall. Above the quote was a large picture of a donut and underneath it said, “As you ramble through life, whatever be your goal, keep your eye upon the donut, and not upon the hole.” In the coming months, as news of Venezuela’s turn to the dark side grudgingly trickles to the forefront of the mainstream media, keep your eye upon the real stakes in Venezuela, and not upon trivialized accounts given by those who have contrary agendas. This is one of the most important stories of our time. |
Wait till the tree huggers can't get anyone to support them because oil will be afround 100 dollars a bbl. Theie supporters won't be able to send money in their direction because it will cost about $100 to fill up a tank of gas.
Then we will be able to open up a lot of the areas that are cut off from drilling and we will have enough to sustain us for the next generations. California spend more money to keep the natural flow of oil from hitting the beach than it would be to produce it. Tree Huggers.... I tell ya. RAT OUT!!! |
The Colombians are concerned about this ass clown over the Granda snatch. It's all they're talking about.
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My inlaws are up on the border. Cucuta is all screwed up at the moment. Most of the gas and motor oil in town was from Ven. Also pretty much everyone in town has their vehicles registered and plated in Ven.
There are also some folks who are "Caught behind enemy lines" so to speak as they lived on one side and worked on the other ect. |
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I am on the ground, where do you think that info about my family came from? :rolleyes: |
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Sheeeit, I thought you were up in the air most of the time? TR |
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New development?
London 20.01.05 | According to Colombian daily El Tiempo, Alvaro Uribe's administration has sent to Venezuela's government a list of terrorists, members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). The list contains the names of Luis Edgar Devia Silva, a.k.a. Raúl Reyes; Luciano Marín Arango, a.k.a. Iván Márquez; Germán Briceño Suárez, a.k.a. Grannobles; known members of FARC's upper echelons. Colombia alleges that these terrorists spend long periods of time in Venezuela conducting their affairs, moreover relatives of them are believed to be residing in Venezuela.
Colombian official sources told El Tiempo that the sent documents have specific addresses, relative's names, hotels and farms where the wanted terrorists stay. Venezuelan Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel insisted that his government does not harbour terrorists and affirmed "I am prepared to take ofensive action directly and demand the Colombian government to tell us exactly the locations of the FARC camps and the whereabouts of those seven terrorists, for the failure to do so would demonstrate that the Colombain government is a big liar". Colombian Foreign Secretary Carolina Barco said from Leticia "the documents prove the presence of FARC leaders and guerrilla camps in that country [Venezuela] and that of Rodrigo Granda". The names of guerrilla bosses who spent long periods in Venezuela: * Luis Édgar Devia Silva, a.k.a Raúl Reyes. FARC's International speaker. * Luciano Marín Arango, a.k.a. Iván Márquez. FARC's Commanding officer of the Caribbean Block and member of the secretariat. * Nicolás Rodríguez Bautista, a.k.a. Gabino. National Liberation Army's (ELN) top leader. * Herlington Chamorro García, a.k.a. Antonio García. ELN's military boss. * Jesús Emilio Carvajalino, a.k.a. Andrés París. Member of FARC's international committee and Caguan's theme committee. * Suexis Pausías Hernández, a.k.a. Juan Santrich. Member of FARC's Caribbean Block. * Germán Briceño Suárez, a.k.a. Grannobles. Brother of 'Mono Jojoy' and military head of FARC's Oriental Block. |
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You are right; it is frozen right about now here in Fairfield County. Forecast this weekend is for up to 18 inches of new snow. |
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Keep in mind that www.venezuelanalysis.com is a very much a Chavista site.
In one way, it might be a occasionally useful source for Venezuelan news. These guys are so far left that they believe 100 percent in the "revolution" and don't even bother to try to put a moderate spin on Chavez's actions. The left-leaning publications coming out of the US or UK typically downplay Chavez's most obvious authoritarian acts. |
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You guys can skip this post unless you are really interested in reading about Venezualanalysis and lefty journalism. This might be one of the few things on this board that I can contribute, so excuse me if I ramble.
If you click on its Analysis page, you'll see articles reprinted from the likes of Counterpunch, Rebelion.org, Socialist Worker, The Militant, and my favorite Narconews. Some sample headlines are: Venezuela, An Example of Democracy Empowering the Poor Defending Chavez’s ‘Bolivarian Revolution’ Venezuela: "A struggle for our America's future" Cuban Doctors in Venezuela Operate Free Neighborhood Clinics and the very optimistic Living the Utopia Venezuelanalysis's lead writer (and I suspect its founder) is Gregory Wilpert, whose first published piece was an "eye-witness" account of the fighting in downtown Caracas that triggered the coup in 2002. Hours after it happened he had positively identified the infamous rooftop snipers that were said to have acted as agent provocatuers and triggered the shooting as members of Bandera Roja That he could identify the shooters as Bandera Roja is impossible, and the rest of the article is filled with other allegations presented as fact. That article immediately appeared on so many leftist websites at the time and annoyed the hell out of me. It is true that BR is a group so far left that they broke with Chavez and joined the opposition. (Strange bedfollows, indeed.) While I wouldn't put it past the opposition to have kicked it off using shooters, I did find it strange that of all the folks that afterward claimed to have seen rooftop snipers, no one caught it on videotape. And yet footage from news crews and amatuers caught half a dozen Chavistas firing handguns into the opposition crowd (to defend themselves, no doubt ). Venezuelanalysis claims to keep its news side separate from its editorial side, but it's impossible for objective reporters to work both sides of the fence. |
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Hi-jack over. |
Guerrilla Nation
The arrest of FARC terrorist Ricardo Granda sheds new light on Hugo Chavez's ongoing support of terrorism. by Thor Halvorssen 01/26/2005 12:00:00 AM http://www.weeklystandard.com/Conten...5/177yckaw.asp |
Venezuela to Beef Up Security Along Colombian Border (Update1)
March 4 (Bloomberg) -- Venezuela, the world's fifth-largest oil exporter, said it plans to beef up security along its border with neighboring Colombia to reduce the incursion of guerrillas and paramilitaries. Interior and Justice Minister Jesse Chacon said in a televised news conference that Venezuela plans to reinforce security along the entire border, including sending helicopters to conduct both nighttime and daylight flights. ``What we are looking at is to reinforce the entire border,'' Chacon said. ``We want reduce the number of crimes'' that are being perpetrated by Colombian irregulars. Venezuela and Colombia share a 2,200-kilometer (1,320-mile) border, much of which is loosely patrolled, leading to kidnappings and extortion. Colombia has charged that guerrillas often use Venezuelan territory as a safe haven. Chacon didn't say how many more troops would be moved to the border. Additional steps will be announced later, he said. Venezuela is purchasing 44 Russian helicopters for the border, Chacon said earlier. Russian arms sales to Venezuela have been criticized by the U.S., which has claimed that the armaments could be funneled to guerrillas in Colombia. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...d=ah035NycZSc8 |
Yaaaawwnn...
It's not the border they need to worry about, the FARC are already living in Caracas. |
Have you read anything about Venezuelan National ID cards being outsourced to Cuba?
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I still haven't found anything specifically about the ID cards, but wonder if it's a part of this:
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From The Early Bird:
Washington Post March 30, 2005 Pg. 11 World In Brief MADRID -- Spain this week will sign a deal to sell $1.7 billion in military and civilian equipment to Venezuela despite U.S. concerns over arms purchases by the country, a government source said. Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero is due to sign the deal with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Wednesday, the source said. The sale includes coastal patrol boats and transport and surveillance planes. |
http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/americ....ap/index.html
Venezuela's Chavez lashes back at cardinal Tuesday, July 19, 2005; Posted: 9:25 a.m. EDT (13:25 GMT) CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) -- President Hugo Chavez has denied an outspoken cardinal's allegation that he is leading Venezuela toward a dictatorship as tensions mounted between the leftist leader and the Roman Catholic Church. Chavez said anyone who thinks his "revolutionary" government is gradually turning into a dictatorial regime "is crazy enough to be tied up or just ignorant (and) doesn't know what's happening in Venezuela." The statements made by Chavez in Lima, Peru, where he was attending an Andean summit meeting, were released by his press office in Caracas on Monday. A day earlier, Cardinal Rosalio Castillo Lara said Chavez's administration "has seized control of all the branches of government" in Venezuela. The cardinal warned that "true democracy" does not exist in Venezuela, and said the president is steering the world's fifth largest oil exporter toward a Cuba-style dictatorship. "The only solution is democratic, which must involve the resistance of all the people," Castillo Lara said. The church has been one of the loudest critics of Chavez, a former paratroop commander and self-styled revolutionary. Chavez, in turn, has described the church leadership as a "tumor." Castillo Lara's comments came after Chavez on his weekly radio program accused the cardinal of siding with Venezuela's "coup-plotting" opposition while neglecting the poor. Chavez, a close ally of Cuban leader Fidel Castro who frequently tells his supporters that Jesus Christ was a socialist and anti-imperialist, called Castillo Lara "a bandit" who "has the devil inside him." Eduardo Fernandez, president of the Social Christian Party, criticized Chavez for "using vulgar and offensive language" in referring to "a respectable man who is adored by the Venezuelan people." After months of keeping a low profile, the country's highest body of Catholic leaders, the Venezuelan Episcopal Conference, has recently renewed its criticism of Chavez and his left-leaning government. The Roman Catholic Church is one of the most trusted institutions in the poverty-stricken South American nation. More than 90 percent of the population is Roman Catholic, and church leaders and local priests wield tremendous influence over many Venezuelans. |
one good thing that you can say about Chavez: the man is quotable.
characterizing the Roman Catholic church as a "tumor" is, I have to say, hilarious. |
http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/americ....ap/index.html
Cardinal: Chavez needs 'exorcism' Sunday, July 31, 2005; Posted: 1:51 p.m. EDT (17:51 GMT) BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) -- An outspoken Catholic cardinal took his war of words with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to a new level in an interview published Sunday, calling him "a paranoid dictator" who needs "an exorcism." Rosalio Castillo, Venezuela's only cardinal in the Roman Catholic Church, also accused Chavez of rounding up more than 100 political prisoners and torturing some captives. "There is no democracy here (in Venezuela)," Castillo told Colombia's main newspaper, El Tiempo. "This is a despotic government." Chavez, who insists he supports democracy, is up for re-election next year, and recent polls suggest he is strongly favored to win. Earlier this month, Castillo warned that Chavez was gaining too much power and becoming a dictator. Chavez, in turn, called Castillo "a bandit" who "has the devil inside him." In Sunday's interview, Castillo said his comments on Chavez are not personal, and said they fall in line with the opinions of other church leaders in Venezuela. "The difference is in the way it's said. There are those who speak diplomatically, and others like me who speak clearly so that everyone understands," the 82-year-old cardinal said. The Roman Catholic Church has been one of the most critical voices of Chavez, a former paratroop commander and self-styled "revolutionary." The church is also one of the most trusted institutions in the poverty-stricken South American nation. More than 90 percent of Venezuela's population is Roman Catholic, and church leaders and local priests wield tremendous influence over many of its citizens. Asked whether he would send a blessing to Chavez, Castillo said: "More than a blessing, I'd give him an exorcism." |
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