Hugo Chavez is a threat to America
By Dale Hurd
CBN News Sr. Reporter
CBN.com - CARACAS, Venezuela - His name is Hugo Chavez. He is the
president
of oil-rich Venezuela. Mr. Chavez has decided that America is his
enemy, so
he is building up his army. He has forged an alliance with Fidel
Castro, and
many think he is going to make trouble for the United States.
Chavez believes he is in a fight with the devil. But the devil that
Chavez
fights does not reside in Hell. Chavez believes that the devil resides
in
Washington.
Chavez has actually been on a collision course with Washington for
years.
But for the most part, Washington was not paying attention. It is now.
But Washington's concern has been too little too late, and now some
fear
that a new Cuban-Venezuelan alliance has a plan to create a new block
of
Leftist-run, anti-American states across Central and South America.
Internally, Chavez has already rewritten the constitution, stacked the
courts and begun throwing political opponents into jail. And some say
he is
now looking beyond Venezuela's borders. With billions of dollars in oil
profits, Chavez is buying advanced Russian fighter planes and
helicopters,
dramatically increasing the size of his armed forces and integrating it
with
Cuba's.
Meanwhile, Chavez laughs all the way to the bank. He sits atop one of
the
largest oil reserves in the world. Venezuela owns CITGO. And as
America's
fourth largest oil supplier, he believes he has the U.S. by the throat.
And
he just might.
Chavez calls this revolution "Bolivarian," named after the South
American
liberator, Simon Bolivar. But for his opponents, this revolution has
been
anything but liberating.
Maria-Corina Machado, opposition leader and mother of three, faces
prison
time for simply taking grant money from the National Endowment for
Democracy, a program of the United States Congress.
"This is a country where anyone who dares to think and speak
differently
from the government," said Machado, "is seen as an enemy."
Machado's group Sumate used the money to educate citizens in democracy.
But
the Chavez government accused Machado of plotting with the U.S. to
overthrow
it.
Machado commented, "I have three kids and I tell my kids that their mom
could go to jail because of conspiracy, treason to my country,
rebellion.
These are the kinds of charges put against us."
Opposition figure Enrique Capriles has already spent four months in
jail. He
told CBN News that he was only released because the street protests
over his
jail sentence had become an embarrassment to the government.
And at the TV channel Globovision, TV talk show host Leopoldo Castillo
has
had to learn to keep his acid tongue in check. There is a new
censorship law
against insulting President Chavez.
Castillo remarked, "David Letterman, every day, in tonight's show, he
makes
fun of President Bush. Nothing happens. Here, with a new law, if you
make
fun of the president, of the senior officer of the Supreme Court, of
any
minister, you can go to jail."
But if you travel to the barrios of Caracas, you hear a different
story.
Because here you get the feeling that Chavez is the revenge of the poor
on a
society that before never seemed to care about them. Many living in
grinding
poverty believe Venezuela's brand of corrupt capitalism is the reason
they
are poor. Chavez means hope. Here, he is no dictator.
This Chavista, or follower of Chavez, says he hopes Chavez rules
forever.
What they say in the USA is a lie," he says, "because Chavez is not a
dictator. Chavez is a president who has decided to govern on behalf of
the
poor."
Last year, Chavez spent four billion dollars in oil profits on social
programs, like a sewing co-op, which also includes political
indoctrination
every morning. State money also funds neighborhood food programs.
Young Chavistas, we were told, "belong to the revolution." And if this
is
starting to sound to you like Cuba, that's just what a lot of
Venezuelans
have been thinking, too.
Adolfo Taylhardat should know. He used to be Venezuela's ambassador to
Cuba.
Taylhardat said, ".So I'm very much familiar with the internal
situation in
Cuba. And what I see is that Chavez slowly has been introducing all the
elements of the Cuban regime, Cuban system into Venezuela. He wants to
make
Venezuela be as similar to Cuba as possible. And he wants to present
Venezuela as a victim of U.S. imperialism."
In this typical diatribe, Chavez compared capitalism to Count Dracula,
Frankenstein, Jack the Ripper and the Boston Strangler, but then added
that
Capitalists are much worse than those monsters.
Not a single poor person we talked to, no matter how much love they
expressed for Chavez, said they wanted Venezuela to turn into Cuba. But
that
is the direction the country is headed.
Chavez has kicked out American military advisors and brought in Cuban
officers. We interviewed a former Venezuelan Army officer, now seeking
political asylum in the United States.
Speaking by phone from the Krome Detention Center in Miami, Lieutenant
Jose
Colina told us, "I was present in meetings in which members of the
Cuban
government were trying to change the ideology and indoctrinate
officials of
the Venezuelan Armed Forces, especially those of the National Guard.
Without
a doubt they were pointing out that we had to fight imperialism,
capitalism
and its top representative, the United States -- which is also the main
cause of poverty and misery in Latin America."
In the barrios of Caracas we met a Cuban doctor, one of thousands of
Cubans
who now operate low-cost medical clinics for the poor. He said his was
not a
political mission, but a humanitarian one.
Chavez has been called the "anti-Bush." He has embraced virtually every
enemy of the United States, past and present, from Saddam Hussein to
Moammar
Khaddafy to the Taliban and Iran.
And although his government repeatedly denies it, a large body of
evidence
suggests that Chavez is harboring and supporting the FARC guerillas of
neighboring Colombia, one of the largest and most dangerous terrorist
organizations in the world.
Chavez calls the United States the world's greatest menace and says he
simply wishes to be left alone to do his work. But there is a growing
fear
that Chavez is preparing to export his Bolivarian revolution to his
neighbors. Why else would he need 100,000 recently purchased Russian
AK-47s?
Why announce plans to increase the size of the army reserves from
50,000 to
1.5 million? Why the ties to guerilla movements?
Chavez says the arms buildup is defensive. His opponents disagree.
Taylhardat says, "He wants to do now what Castro failed to do in the
60s,
when he sent out Che Guevarra to export the Cuban revolution to the
rest of
the continent."
Chavez said, "The U.S. administration is behind the opposition in
Venezuela,
and Mr. George Bush has a black hat, black horse and black flag. He is
the
main instigator and the main planner of all the movements that have
attacked
us."
Chavez says the U.S. is plotting to have him killed, and he says if
that
happens, oil shipments to the U.S. will stop. It is a strange
relationship
between business partners. But get used to it. Hugo Chavez remains the
most
popular politician in Venezuela. And he shows no sign of going away.
He states, "I bet a dollar to Mr. Bush to see who will last longer, him
there in the White House or this Venezuelan, Hugo Chavez, here in the
Miraflores Palace. Let's see who lasts longer, Mr. Bush."
In his fight with America, Chavez intends to be the last man standing.
--
"You think the Republican National Committee could get this many people
of
color in a single room? Only if they had the hotel staff in here."
Howard Dean
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