Hugo Chavez

[Tuff Gong]

How will you remember Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez?

a. Fearless leader
b. Champion of the people
c. Dictator
d. Not sure
e. All of the above

I think he was a pretty decent human being but, not good for Valenzuela's Economy.
One gets the impression that he had miss the 60-70s and was busy trying to relive the all the intrigue.
Worse he set a really bad Leadership example by being a walking dead, hanging on to power worse that the cancer that killed him.

[Emperah]

429639_340626886037295_1973654099_n.jpg

part of the venezuela army


Kkkanada's PM had this to say bout de man as well.

Harper's response to the death of Hugo Chavez was both arrogant and baseless

By Ted Snider

| March 7, 2013

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Upon hearing the news of the death of Venezuela's president Hugo Chavez, Canada's prime minister, Stephen Harper had this to say:

Canada looks forward to working with his successor and other leaders in the region to build a hemisphere that is more prosperous, secure and democratic ... At this key juncture, I hope the people of Venezuela can now build for themselves a better, brighter future based on the principles of freedom, democracy, the rule of law and respect for human rights.

Prosperous? Democratic? Harper should take a better look not only at Chavez, but at himself, before he insensitively responds to the death of a man whom a majority of Venezuelans had just re-elected and lectures them on economics and democracy.
Prime Minister Harper prides himself on his economic prowess. But under his government, unemployment has increased from 6.8 per cent when he took office to the 7 per cent level it is at today. Harper has had seven years to improve unemployment, but his policies have done nothing. Chavez has cut unemployment amongst Venezuelans by more than half. In 1999, the year Chavez took office, unemployment was 18 per cent. By 2011 it had dropped to 8.2 per cent and by last year to about 6 per cent.
When it comes to cutting poverty, Harper has done somewhat better. But not as good as Chavez. When Harper took office in 2006, poverty levels stood at 15.9 per cent of Canadians. In 2012, it had improved to 9.4 per cent: an improvement of 40 per cent. However, in the last five years, since 2008, when the number had already improved to 10.8 per cent, Harper's policies have done little to improve poverty in Canada.
In Venezuela, poverty has dropped from 42.8 per cent when Chavez took office to 26.7 per cent -- a vast improvement of 37 per cent. However, according to economist Mark Weisbrot, Chavez did not really have control of the oil industry or the economy until 2003. When measured from that date, when Chavez's policies began to have an effect on the economy, the improvement in poverty increases to 49.7 per cent. When extreme poverty is considered, the results are even more impressive. In 1999, 16.6 per cent of Venezuelans lived in extreme poverty; by 2011 that number had dropped to 7 per cent: an improvement of 57.8 per cent. And again, if you only look at the period that Chavez could realistically affect, the improvement was an incredible 70 per cent.
In terms of inequity in the economy, the score card for Harper is no better. The gap between the rich and the poor is widening in Canada. Under Harper, Canada's rich-poor gap is one of the fastest growing in the world, according to the Conference Board of Canada. The Organization of Economic Co-operation and Development says the gap between the top 10 per cent and the bottom 10 per cent is currently 10:1. In the early 1990s, it was only 8:1. The Gini index measures how much distribution of income deviates from being equal. Zero means everyone has the same income; one means one person has it all. So the lower the number, the better. Under Harper's administration, Canada's Gini index has been virtually unchanged. In Venezuela, under the Chavez administration, the Gini index has improved by about 17 per cent.



While Canada's economic growth stalled in 2012, Venezuela's continued to grow by 5.5 per cent. Though in the 20 years prior to Chavez's presidency, Venezuela had the worst performing economy in South America, since 2003, when Chavez's policies began to have an effect, Venezuela's economy has grown by more than 94 per cent.
As Harper has no right to criticize Chavez on economics, so he has no right to lecture Venezuelans on democracy. Aside from the insensitivity of expressing joy that Venezuelans can "build for themselves a better, brighter future" now that the man they four times overwhelmingly elected to majority governments has died, Harper's categorization of Chavez's government as not based on the principles of democracy requires as much unwillingness to look at reality as his economic criticism of Chavez.
While Harper was busy twice proroguing government, Chavez was holding fourteen national elections and referendums, taking his policies to the people for approval an average of once a year. Harper, however, literally suspended parliament in order to avoid a nonconfidence vote and hold on to power. And he lectures Chavez on democracy. What's worse is that Harper locked the doors on parliament to avoid discussion of diplomat Richard Colvin's strong evidence that Harper's government was handing Afghan detainees over to Afghan prisons known to torture. Good thing Harper also threw the bit about "rule of law" and "respect for human rights" into his eulogy for Chavez.
Harper's remarks mirror much of the western media, who have tarred Chavez's democratic credentials by consistently attaching the adjective dictator to his name with no evidence. But Chavez was no undemocratic dictator. Chavez won four consecutive elections and submitted many important decisions to national referendums. In every case, Chavez honoured the will of the people: even the one time that he lost, by the slimmest of margins, in the December 2007 referendum.
Though Harper says that Chavez's death ushers in the hope that Venezuela can now build a future based on the principles of democracy, Jimmy Carter said in 2012 that "of the ninety-two elections that we've monitored, I would say that the election process in Venezuela is the best in the world." Venezuela has very high ratings of satisfaction with its democracy and of support for its government. Chavez's government has been marked by its distribution of power to local organizations. It is participatory and grassroots: entirely different from the U.S. backed dictatorships initiated in Venezuela by Woodrow Wilson and finally ended by Hugo Chavez.
Chavez has consistently won a majority of the vote. In 2006, he was re-elected by 63 per cent of the people. Thirteen years into his presidency, he still attracted over 54 per cent of the vote: a popular majority never attained by Harper.
The people elected him and reelected him because of his participatory style of democracy and because of the economic improvements and his care for the poor. He increased Venezuelans' access to education -- college enrollment doubled since 2004, with many students qualifying for free tuition -- and he increased access to health care for millions. These too are part of the better, brighter future that Chavez was delivering and Harper is dismissing.
So before Harper insensitively and arrogantly dyslogizes Chavez, he should take a closer look at Chavez, and at himself.

Ted Snider has his masters in philosophy and teaches high school English and politics in Toronto.

[Emperah]

Venezuela protests Harper statement on Chavez as 'insensitive'


The Canadian Press

Posted: Mar 6, 2013 11:58 PM ET

Last Updated: Mar 6, 2013 11:56 PM ET

Read 86 comments86
Prime Minister Stephen Harper has drawn the displeasure of the Venezeulan government for his statement following the death of president Hugo Chavez this week. Venezuela has protested the statement as 'insensitive.' (Adrian Wyld/Canadian Press)

Related Stories

Venezuela's Chavez remembered as polarizing figureCan Hugo Chavez's high-stakes revolution survive his death?Hugo Chavez: 1954-2013


Venezuela has sent a formal protest to the Canadian government for Prime Minister Stephen Harper's "insensitive" remarks on the death of President Hugo Chavez.
Harper issued a statement that offered "condolences to the people of Venezuela," but not the family of the flamboyant 58-year-old leftist leader, who died Tuesday after a long battle with cancer.
A statement from a senior Venezuelan government official says a "card of protest" was sent to Ottawa after Harper expressed what he called insensitivity at a time when their country is grieving.
A wordy note from the vice-minister for North America, Claudia Salerno, said Caracas was protesting "in a blunt and categorical way, the statements issued the 5 of March 2013 by the prime minister of Canada, Stephen Harper, as they constitute insensitive and impertinent sentiments at a time when the Venezuelan people are grieving and crying over the irreparable physical loss of the Commander President Hugo Chavez Frias."
Harper said in his short statement on Tuesday that he hopes the death of Chavez brings a more promising future for the Venezuelan people.
"At this key juncture, I hope the people of Venezuela can now build for themselves a better, brighter future based on the principles of freedom, democracy, the rule of law and respect for human rights," Harper said in a statement Tuesday evening.
Harper also said that he looked forward "to working with (Chavez's) successor and other leaders in the region to build a hemisphere that is more prosperous, secure and democratic."
'Cold War socialism'

Harper has in the past pointedly challenged the world view of the influential Venezuelan leader, notably in a lengthy one-on-one interview with the Postmedia news service nearly four years ago before he was about to meet Chavez at the Summit of the Americas.
Harper had said Chavez was emblematic of the leftist leaders in the Western Hemisphere who were "opposed to basically sound economic policies, want to go back to Cold War socialism ... want to turn back the clock on the democratic progress that's been made in the hemisphere."
The Venezuelan government fired back on Wednesday saying that it "has freely and democratically chosen its Socialist destiny, is obliged to remind the representative of the Canadian government, that it has been thanks to this Bolivarian Revolution that our future as an independent and sovereign country appears more radiant and promising than ever, by virtue of the legacy of our historic leader, the Commander President Hugo Chavez Frias."
The statement from Caracas affirmed a commitment to "direct itself freely and with sovereignty towards Bolivarian Socialism and recognizes it as the way toward a future of well-being, that will secure the greatest amount of happiness for everyone."
Chavez was a vocal opponent of the free market economics of Canada and the United States.
He led a leftist revival across Latin America that posed a direct challenge to U.S. influence in the region.
While Chavez introduced social programs that helped feed and house his people during his 14 years in power, his economy has sputtered.
Though Venezuela is an oil rich country, it lacks the capital to maximize its oil output and has been wracked by inflation.
Farewell to 'commander'

Hundreds of thousands of tearful supporters carried their dead president's coffin through streets of Caracas on Wednesday in an epic farewell to their iconic president known simply as "our commander."
One of Chavez's closest socialist allies, Bolivian President Evo Morales, choked back tears and declared: "Chavez is more alive than ever."
Harper's remarks echoed those of the Obama administration in Washington.
The White House said in a statement that Washington supported the "Venezuelan people and its interest in developing a constructive relationship with the Venezuelan government."
"As Venezuela begins a new chapter in its history, the United States remains committed to policies that promote democratic principles, the rule of law, and respect for human rights," the statement read.

[Emperah]

It takes one to know one.

Venezuela has the world's second-highest murder rate after Honduras: 56
people for every 100,000 according to government figures.

He did a real bang up job while dictating, (whoops) I mean't governing and leading his people to a better way of life.

Yes he was so hated...

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[RichD]

Yes he was so hated...

[ATTACH=CONFIG]589[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]590[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]591[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]592[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]593[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]594[/ATTACH]

dem ppl come in like dem Obamabots .....

[Emperah]

mi sure if Obama dead 2morrow blk ppl wouldan outdeh a gwaan like JC dead, an him neh duh a ting fi dem.

[RichD]

mi sure if Obama dead 2morrow blk ppl wouldan outdeh a gwaan like JC dead, an him neh duh a ting fi dem.

ascawdin to mitt romney him gi dem all kinda tings..dats why him did win the election.

ask lornwolf if yuh nuh believe mi

[Emperah]

hey loner wolf look more haters

https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/581803_10200265461393628_445545593_n.jpg

[Emperah]

ascawdin to mitt romney him gi dem all kinda tings..dats why him did win the election.

ask lornwolf if yuh nuh believe mi

yes good old mitt is a reliable source

[RichD]

yes good old mitt is a reliable source

yuh nuh si mi gi yuh another source

[My Looh]

Venezuela protests Harper statement on Chavez as 'insensitive'


The Canadian Press

Posted: Mar 6, 2013 11:58 PM ET

Last Updated: Mar 6, 2013 11:56 PM ET

Read 86 comments86
Prime Minister Stephen Harper has drawn the displeasure of the Venezeulan government for his statement following the death of president Hugo Chavez this week. Venezuela has protested the statement as 'insensitive.' (Adrian Wyld/Canadian Press)

Related Stories

Venezuela's Chavez remembered as polarizing figureCan Hugo Chavez's high-stakes revolution survive his death?Hugo Chavez: 1954-2013


Venezuela has sent a formal protest to the Canadian government for Prime Minister Stephen Harper's "insensitive" remarks on the death of President Hugo Chavez.
Harper issued a statement that offered "condolences to the people of Venezuela," but not the family of the flamboyant 58-year-old leftist leader, who died Tuesday after a long battle with cancer.
A statement from a senior Venezuelan government official says a "card of protest" was sent to Ottawa after Harper expressed what he called insensitivity at a time when their country is grieving.
A wordy note from the vice-minister for North America, Claudia Salerno, said Caracas was protesting "in a blunt and categorical way, the statements issued the 5 of March 2013 by the prime minister of Canada, Stephen Harper, as they constitute insensitive and impertinent sentiments at a time when the Venezuelan people are grieving and crying over the irreparable physical loss of the Commander President Hugo Chavez Frias."
Harper said in his short statement on Tuesday that he hopes the death of Chavez brings a more promising future for the Venezuelan people.
"At this key juncture, I hope the people of Venezuela can now build for themselves a better, brighter future based on the principles of freedom, democracy, the rule of law and respect for human rights," Harper said in a statement Tuesday evening.
Harper also said that he looked forward "to working with (Chavez's) successor and other leaders in the region to build a hemisphere that is more prosperous, secure and democratic."
'Cold War socialism'

Harper has in the past pointedly challenged the world view of the influential Venezuelan leader, notably in a lengthy one-on-one interview with the Postmedia news service nearly four years ago before he was about to meet Chavez at the Summit of the Americas.
Harper had said Chavez was emblematic of the leftist leaders in the Western Hemisphere who were "opposed to basically sound economic policies, want to go back to Cold War socialism ... want to turn back the clock on the democratic progress that's been made in the hemisphere."
The Venezuelan government fired back on Wednesday saying that it "has freely and democratically chosen its Socialist destiny, is obliged to remind the representative of the Canadian government, that it has been thanks to this Bolivarian Revolution that our future as an independent and sovereign country appears more radiant and promising than ever, by virtue of the legacy of our historic leader, the Commander President Hugo Chavez Frias."
The statement from Caracas affirmed a commitment to "direct itself freely and with sovereignty towards Bolivarian Socialism and recognizes it as the way toward a future of well-being, that will secure the greatest amount of happiness for everyone."
Chavez was a vocal opponent of the free market economics of Canada and the United States.
He led a leftist revival across Latin America that posed a direct challenge to U.S. influence in the region.
While Chavez introduced social programs that helped feed and house his people during his 14 years in power, his economy has sputtered.
Though Venezuela is an oil rich country, it lacks the capital to maximize its oil output and has been wracked by inflation.
Farewell to 'commander'

Hundreds of thousands of tearful supporters carried their dead president's coffin through streets of Caracas on Wednesday in an epic farewell to their iconic president known simply as "our commander."
One of Chavez's closest socialist allies, Bolivian President Evo Morales, choked back tears and declared: "Chavez is more alive than ever."
Harper's remarks echoed those of the Obama administration in Washington.
The White House said in a statement that Washington supported the "Venezuelan people and its interest in developing a constructive relationship with the Venezuelan government."
"As Venezuela begins a new chapter in its history, the United States remains committed to policies that promote democratic principles, the rule of law, and respect for human rights," the statement read.

Harper has declared war on the poor. Let people say what they want about Chavez, at least he helped the poor with action and not just words.

[Emperah]

How many of you guys saw this on your newscasts where ever you are?
The cbc showed a road that was mostly empty and said there were only ppl in the hundreds and they thought there were going to be millions.
Den dem show some ooman who talk bout how him was only good feemself

https://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/549422_349084818541606_1022326587_n.jpg

[Emperah]

Minister Farrakhan's statement on Comandante Hugo Chávez, President of Venezuela

By the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan | Last updated: Mar 10, 2013 - 12:19:40 PM

What's your opinion on this article?
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[During a March 8, 2013 address at the Bird’s Isle in Belize City, the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan shared these words with the audience on the late President of Venezuela Hugo Chávez, who made his transition on March 5.]
“I am honored to be back in Belize, and I wanted to start tonight by offering some words of thanksgiving for the life of Hugo Chávez: The late president of Venezuela.

Hugo Chávez was a great, great patriarch, and a great servant of the masses of the people. He was so strong in his desire for the masses of the people of Venezuela, to partake of the wealth of Venezuela, that he earned the wrath of the oligarchs who ruled Venezuela, and the government of the United States of America, and others, who seem to be negative whenever somebody rises for the mass poor of the nations.
Hugo Chávez is a man that comes once, maybe, in a 100 years. But I would like to say to the people of Venezuela, and to all of those who benefitted from the charitable behavior of President Hugo Chávez, there’s a verse in The Qur’an that goes like this:

“Speak not of those who die or are slain in the way of God as ‘dead’.
They are alive, but you perceive not.”

Those who work, who attempt what The Qur’an calls “the uphill road” to free a slave, to raise a man who is languishing in the dust: That’s the “uphill road”—and Hugo Chávez traveled that road, and lifted the poor of his nation; sharing the oil wealth of that nation with the poor, with those who were locked out, with those who were the servant class for the rich.
The Poor in Belize need to be raised. The Poor of Central America need to be raised. The Poor of The Caribbean, The Poor of America, The Poor of Africa—The Poor of The World need to be raised—for it is on the backs of The Poor that The Rich have become so powerful.
So whenever God raises somebody that speaks to The Poor, and raises the consciousness of The Poor: The governments that have sucked The Life-Blood of The Poor hate such a man! And unfortunately, sometimes they are so powerful, they control the media, and they use the media to demonize a strong, Black and Brown people who work for the mass poor.
But I thank Allah for Belize…”

[Wahalla]

Iran's president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad criticised for hugging mother of Hugo ChavezMahmoud Ahmadinejad has been accused of betraying Islam after he was pictured in an emotional embrace with the mother of Hugo Chavez at the late Venezuelan leader's funeral.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad offering his condolences to Hugo Chavez's mother Elena Frias Photo: REUTERS








By Robert Tait, Middle East Correspondent

2:59PM GMT 10 Mar 2013


The Iranian president's domestic opponents reacted furiously after photos emerged of him giving Elena Frias de Chavez, 78, a consoling hug at last Friday's funeral in Caracas - at which he also kissed Mr Chavez's coffin.

Religious conservatives said the act insulted Iran's religious dignity and amounted to "haram" – a term used to describe a religiously forbidden act under Islamic rules.

Mohammad Taghi Rahbar, the Friday prayer leader of Iran's second city, Isfahan, told Mehr news agency that Mr Ahmadinejad had "lost control".

He added: "Shaking hands with a non-mahram (unrelated by family) woman, under any circumstances, whether young or old, is not allowed. Hugging or expressing emotions is improper for the dignity of the president of a country like the Islamic Republic of Iran."



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Mohammad Dehghan, a member of the governing board of Iran's parliament, the Majles, said the episode exposed the true nature of the "deviant current", the term used by allies of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader, to describe Mr Ahmadinejad and his allies.
Conservatives loyal to Ayatollah Khamenei accuse Mr Ahmadinejad's administration of seeking to dilute Iran's Islamic principles. They also suspect the president of plotting to install one of his lieutenants in power after his second presidential term ends in the summer.
Last week, Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami, a senior Iranian cleric close to Ayatollah Khamenei, criticised Mr Ahmadinejad for predicting in a written tribute that Mr Chavez, who died of cancer last week, would return along with Jesus Christ "on resurrection day".
"I say directly that he went too far with what he mentioned in his tribute" Mr Khatami said. "The president is well aware that such a tribute will provoke reactions in our religious institutes He could have sent a diplomatic message with no religious connotations."

[Wahalla]

I am not a fan of Ahmadinejan...
but him hugging a grieving mother is the most human thing possible.

it strikes me that this is Iranina domestic poltics out in play.... And once more proves that Reagen Contra/ Irangate was based in reality not like the press in the US and the west presented it...