Venezuela's Maduro mulls legal move against Airbus over fault in presidential jet

[Zorro]

Source: Reuters

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Wednesday said he was preparing legal action against Airbus due to a "serious fault" in his presidential jet following maintenance.

Maduro said he had been concerned about flying in the plane after it returned from five months of work by Airbus, and ordered his own technicians to carry out an inspection.

"After 10 or 12 days, a serious fault appeared in one of the wings of the plane. After five months at Airbus in France - my God!" Maduro said during a lived televised broadcast.

"With the help of an international law firm, we're preparing legal actions against Airbus of France."

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/venezuelas-maduro-considers-legal-action-against-airbus-over-003313633--finance.html

---

Wow. Seems like everybody is out to get poor Manuro these days.

[MADem]

1. Now it's the evil French who are PLOTTING to get him!

Paranoia strikes deep.....!!!!


Seriously, he's "technicians" probably stomped on the wing near the label where it says "Don't stomp your big fat feet here" when they were doing their little inspection and messed the thing up....

Either that, or one of Hugo's old Army buddies was indulging in a bit of sabotage....

[Zorro]

2. Everybody's out to get him

The Miami Herald is now reporting he's saying he didn't go and speak at the UN because of plots to kill him in New York.

I think he's got some serious mental problems, probably induced by the deteriorating situation in Venezuela.

[MADem]

3. I think he was afraid to go, because he knows he can't bring down the house like Hugo could.

He's not afraid for his life, he's afraid he'll get ridiculed again, like he was for inserting penis references into Bible stories, or waxing verbosely while fondling the Puerto Rican flag and mistaking it for the Cuban one.

Hugo's stock in trade was a barn burner, lectern-thumping speech at the UN. Everytime he went, it was Standing Room Only. Even people who disagreed with him most vehemently had to admit that he put on one helluva show. He was crass, undignified, even tasteless at times, but he was NEVER dull.

I think Maduro knows he can't equal, never mind top, Hugo's UN spectacles, and that's part of why he ran home.

Of course, the imploding economy in VZ ain't helping matters either.....!!!

[msanthrope]

6. Hugo was a showman, who always got his point across. nt

[Bacchus4.0]

8. yes, this. He isn't ready for prime time n/t

s

[ehcross]

11. yes, this. He isn't ready for prime time n/t

Nicolas Maduro surely isn't ready for prime time. To start with, he is not qualified for anything but bus driving, which is what he did before Hugo Chávez hand picked him. Regardless of what qualifications Chávez found in him, it surely was not a good idea to take him seriously, for the guy is always ready to show off and demand attention, even at miniscule affairs not worth time from a full fledge President.

The struggle of Maduro to attract attention is there for everyone to see. But then, very little of his annoying, Chávez-style diatribes are worth listening to, for Maduro has little to show besides imitating his late protector, a tyrannical dictator himself..

[karynnj]

10. He really did the things in the first paragraph and still was elected??

Was the other guy that bad or are the parties so polarized that people vote for their own bad candidate no matter how embarrassing?

[MADem]

14. Oh, he did those things AFTER he was elected!

He spent the entire election waving pictures of Chavez and saying, tearfully of course, "Chavez named me as his successor!" Even with that, he barely won by less than a percent--the opposition candidate claimed fraud, to no avail.

He's just a clodhopper--he can't manage a complete sentence, never mind a nation. There's no chicken in the stores, no arepa flour on the shelves, and no toilet paper to wipe one's behind! The place is a mess.


Christ multiplied the pensises, per Maduro:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/28/nicolas-maduro-penises_n_3831686.html

In Spanish it’s “Cristo multiplicó los peces y los panes,” so the Spanish word for penises -- "penes" -- is just a letter away.

Yet the slip-up is epic.

Maduro took over as interim president of Venezuela after Hugo Chavez died on March 5th and later won a much-disputed election against opposition candidate Henrique Capriles.

Though he has only been in power for five months, controversy has already engulfed his presidency. Everything from a toilet paper shortage throughout the country, to sleeping in Chavez's mausoleum, to offering asylum to Snowden and spewing out anti-gay slurs.

And now, of course, the penises.

[Lonr]

4. Considering the number of

political leaders from Central/South America who did not agree with U.S. policies and who have perished in plane crashes over the decades, I'd say President Maduro's caution is well justified.

[truth2power]

5. Yep. Interesting that you're the only one, so far, who's been willing to mention it...

Given that it's our stock in trade to assassinate leaders who displease us, if I were him i'd be worried.

[EX500rider]

20. Who's leader have we assassinated in the last 20 years? n/t

[EX500rider]

18. Which Central/South American leaders died..

.....in suspicious plane crashes?

[Freddie Stubbs]

19. Ritchie Valens?

[EX500rider]

21. Ronnie Van Zant? lol n/t

[Hardlyaround]

23. Patsy Cline?

Stevie Ray Vaughn? Helicopter, but still an aircraft/

[pinboy3niner]

7. He should count his blessings that he's not getting the flight plans they're giving Morales

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023164458

[seveneyes]

9. Anything for attention

If this guy cared as much for the well being of his people as he does for himself, they would be in good hands.

[Dreamer Tatum]

12. Maybe don't mule so much blow in your plane, Manuro. nt

[MADem]

15. Maybe that's why the wing was messed up--the coke the French didn't get was in there! nt

[Comrade Grumpy]

16. Yet another thread full of silly snark. I'm glad you guys amuse yourselves.

[Hardlyaround]

17. You've gotta admit, Maduro does kinda bring it on to himself

with his silly and often inane comments, and bizarre behavior.
Mr. Maduro, you're no Chavez.

[Alamuti Lotus]

22. Maduro should pal around with rightwing death squads, like a proper 'model of hope'

At least then he'd get absolutely no attention whatsoever from this hilarious crowd.

[Peace Patriot]

24. Yup, all the usual suspects.

I wonder what France got in exchange for messing with Maduro's plane. Or have the French just suddenly become incompetent?

Questions, questions...

[Peace Patriot]

25. Hm. Just found this...

...posted by Judi Lynn, here:

Venezuela arrests five more in Air France cocaine bust
AFP Updated September 27, 2013, 6:55 am
Caracas (AFP) - Venezuela has arrested five more people in a smuggling case in which 1.3 tonnes of cocaine were flown from Caracas to Paris on an Air France jet, officials said Thursday. (MORE)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/110822590

More than half of the 22 arrests, in Venezuela, have been of Air France employees. And somebody is out 30 suitcases full of cocaine with an estimated street value of $270 million.

Gotta be some pissed off people in France right now.

And you gotta wonder about the "French anti-drug police" throwing blame at an "Italian-British gang." According to this AFP report, 14 of the arrests were of Air France employees! (8 were Venezuelan military, apparently.)

Gotta laugh, too, at U.S. State Department B.S. about Venezuela not cooperating with the corrupt, murderous failed U.S. "war on drugs." How dare they "not cooperate"! How dare they bust into a $270 million cocaine deal! How dare their arrest their own people! How dare they...

But you get the idea. "Alice in Wonderland" deja vu.

[bitchkitty]

26. It's a circle jerk.

At least it keeps them off the streets and away from children.