Is the only reason * doesn't like Chavez, is because Chavez is chummy with

[steve2470]

Castro ? Or are there other reasons as well ? Thanks in advance.

[NewJeffCT]

he has tried to redistribute wealth, too

from the rich elite to the poor. Imagine that?

[tk2kewl]

1. the only reason is probably that he wants to socialize the oil industry

in venezuela

[Cleita]

12. Imagine, using a country's raw resources to take care of

its citizens. Shocking!

[K-W]

2. Bush doesn't like Chavez because he opposes US imperialism. nt

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

3. Really, looks like it's just Chavez's tendency to chest-beating

He hasn't actually DONE anything that could even remotely be construed as dangerous or suspect.

But he likes to use inflamed rhetoric to piss off the American RW thugs. I don't know whether this has some strategic value for him or is just done for the kicks. I'm fine with it either way.

[rman]

13. Inflamatory rhetoric such as

"I going to sell gas cheap and provide medical aid to the poor in the US."

Got to give it to the guy: he's original.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=1722617

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=2031123

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

17. THAT was a stroke of GENIUS

As was his response to Pat Robertson.

He also hurled less sophisticated insults, like (correct me if I recall wrongly) calling the USA an "evil empire" and others of the sort. Also his voicing his suspicions that people may be targeting him for assassination (that was good insurance, which Robertson just underwrote).

As I said, good for pissing people off in a manner that leaves them little opportunity to retaliate.

[Wetzelbill]

14. yes, he doesn't cower at all...

that doesn't exactly endear him to the bullies in the WH and the other departments, either.

[K-W]

15. His rhetoric is a response to US actions, not the cause of them.

The US's beef with him is that he feels the US should not control Venezuala's natural resources.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

23. Most certainly. Funny thing is

he seems to have learned to use it as a productive tool. And he uses it with glee.

I can't think of a chief of state that seems to ENJOY his job so much as Chavez. And as they say, the more happy you are with your job, the better you do it.

[KingFlorez]

4. Oil is another reason

Venezuela has a large supply of oil and they are relatively close to us and Chavez us about to let Halliburton and the other oil companies from here take all their oil and keep the profits from the Venezuelan people. Chavez is using the oil profits to eradicate poverty and Bush doesn't like that, he'd rather have the profits used to line his friends pockets.

[rman]

5. oil,

oil, and oil.

[Sal Minella]

6. Chavez was really elected. By people voting. Twice.

[shadowlight]

7. Palast article Aug.16, 2004

http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0816-03.htm

So why, with a huge majority of the electorate behind him, twice in elections and today in a referendum, is Hugo Chavez in hot water with our democracy-promoting White House?

Maybe it's the oil. Lots of it. Chavez sits atop a reserve of crude that rivals Iraq's. And it's not his presidency of Venezuela that drives the White House bananas, it was his presidency of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC. While in control of the OPEC secretariat, Chavez cut a deal with our maximum leader of the time, Bill Clinton, on the price of oil. It was a 'Goldilocks' plan. The price would not be too low, not too high; just right, kept between $20 and $30 a barrel.

But Dick Cheney does not like Clinton nor Chavez nor their band. To him, the oil industry's (and Saudi Arabia's) freedom to set oil prices is as sacred as freedom of speech is to the ACLU. I got this info, by the way, from three top oil industry lobbyists.

Why should Chavez worry about what Dick thinks? Because, said one of the oil men, the Veep in his bunker, not the pretzel-chewer in the White House, "runs energy policy in the United States."

[Cleita]

8. Well, I think it's because Chavez has oil and it's in direct

competition with his kissy friends, the Saudis. Also, Chavez's government probably isn't going to let us walk all over them. I'm sure our CIA will be relentless in trying to topple this government in a coupe, so they can get back the more corrupt and agreeable to the US government that they like.

[DinahMoeHum]

9. Chavez is basically giving Bush & Co. the big fat wet middle finger. . .

and in one speech, he allegedly referred to Bush as an "asshole".

Yeah, issues include oil, distribution of wealth, alliances with others whom Bush doesn't like, etc.

:evilfrown:

[rniel]

10. He has America's Oil

Just because it's located in their country does not mean it's not ours. ;)

[Wetzelbill]

11. the first two replies are dead on....

Nationalizing oil. But, not only that, he wanted to back out on some of the Neo-Liberal deals and use a slightly larger portion of his country's oil profits for social programs. Health Care, food, education. That shit didn't fly at all. It almost cost him his life, but Chavez is a smart and tough former paratrooper.

The other problem is he is the first indigenous president in Venezuela's history. Because of that he is in tune with the poor brown-skinned population who have never had anything. If you ever notice all the people who protest against him are the White elites. He's fiercely loved by the Indian populations. He and Toledo of Peru are the only non-white leaders in South and Central America, last I checked.

Chavez was the chair of OPEC too, I don't know if he still is, but he's considered to be both powerful and dangerous to our greedy energy status quo.

[Cleita]

19. Having lived in Chile, I think the white elite are afraid

of entitling the indigenous population that they used for so long as cheap labor and kept struggling on the bottom of the class ladder. It seems to be the same fear that made southern whites keep blacks down so long after they were freed from slavery.

When you abuse a class of people, you are fearful of them when they start gaining rights and status. Historically it has never proved out that the underclasses do retaliate in a peaceful change in status. (This seems to happen only in bloody revolutions.)

[Wetzelbill]

21. Those are excellent points

I would say the dehumanization of different classes whether our Blacks or American Indians (I am a Blackfeet) or the indigenous of South and Central America are all interrelated. Same process different places. Women in the ME, well, pretty much anywhere, qualify as well. It's amazing to see how it all works, huh? Pretty sick, though. :)

[PurityOfEssence]

16. He's jealous 'cuz Hugo's a self-made man

He's also violently angry that anyone would clamp down on rapacious greed and get in the way of the ruling class.

[The Backlash Cometh]

18. He's a socialist.

[kevsand]

20. Chavez didn't get "chummy" with Castro until

after we'd tried to get rid of him (Chavez) once or twice. Enemy of my enemy, and all that...

[readmylips]

22. Oil and US' greed policies, keep darkies in poverty for ever.....

Chavez got smart to US' racist policies and found a plain field to take what rightfully belongs to the Venezuelan people; wealth from oil.

Mexico's ex president Salinas began the Chavez' policies against US oil companies, and the US crushed him like a bug. Even Mr. Salinas' family were placed in jail.

[Greyhound]

24. They hate him because he has the audacity to tell the corporate pigs

they're going to have to share the wealth with the Venezuelan people. He canceled all of the contracts with major, mostly oil, corporations, that were 'negotiated' with the former military puppets that ran the country before. A typical example was one of the oil companies (exxon I think) that got 99% of the profit from their oil while the people got 1%. Of course BushCo. hates him