He was both. Don't tell me you're trying to draw conclusions on Chavez based on Saddam Hussein.

Yeah, but Chavez was elected! He was elected! He CAN'T be a dictator!!!!!




...yet.

*Sigh*

Okay, what makes you believe that he is, or will become a dictator?

How can you fail to see this as a move in that direction? How can you POSSIBLY miss that?

He won the election by a landslide, but it was widely admitted to having been rigged (not to the extent that he might have lost).
He is silencing opposition.
He is an extremist.

I could go on and on, but the point is too obvious to miss.


Now... for the record, I don't think he's smart enough, or powerful enough, to pull it off. I don't think he'll live that long. But he IS heading in that direction.

Because there is no tangible evidence that would lead me to believe that. The only premise you could base something like that on are suspicions, and possible indignation toward his anti-American sentiments. Not everyone against our government that lives outside the United States are dictators, you know.

I haven't seen any evidence of this that would lead me to believe this.

Nor any evidence of this. The only thing that you guys have presented are his silencing of calls for coups. Coups are illegal and they are silenced here in the United States too; but that doesn't mean we live in a dictatorship.

How so? His sentiments follow along with the popular support of Venezuela and indeed the growing sentiments of South/Central America, which trump national identity, independence, and opposition to American hegemony.

In fact, the only extremist positions are the rightest coups and the Augusto Pinochet-types.

Read and learn, Kitty Kat.

All is NOT well in Venezuela.

And by the way, Chavez HIMSELF once tried to overthrow the democratically elected Venezuelan government BY A COUP.

PO: SOCIAL UNREST IN VENEZUELA
Chavez Induced Denial - BrooWaha Los Angeles


This is just a sample. You can follow all the links you want.

Chavez will either plunge his country into deep, deep, tyrannical turmoil - or he'll be out of office (by assassination, coup, whatever.).

Watch it happen.

I was actually wanting impartial and factual sources, not editorials.

Also, I never said all coups were illegitimate, just that they were illegal. And they can, in some constitutions, be considered legal if the legitimacy and the legality of the leadership is in question. In the case of Chavez' coup attempt, I might not agree with that tactic (because indeed the target of the coup, Carlos Andres Perez, was impeached democratically after the coup failed), I think it was legitimate. Chavez had the will of the people on his side.

Perez sent Venezuela in a economic crisis, and was marked with kleptocracy. And when the popularity of his presidency went down, and when there was a number of protests and looting, Perez used violent force to suppress the people, freedom of speech, and instituted martial law. Thousands of Venezuelans died in the massacre, and mass graves were filled. If something like this happened in the United States, we would consider a coup as something patriotic.

The only vested interest in the coup sentiments against Chavez are those of restoring the rightest ideologies of Perez and perhaps institute a bloody, unpopular, military-controlled government like in Chile with Pinochet. A murderer, but nonetheless supported by the United States because it 'helped US interests in the region'. No wounder anti-'American imperialism' socialism is a growing sentiment in South/Central America. I think we just need to be more careful in who we do and don't support in the name of "American interests". Syriana is a good modern film in portraying this problem. And perhaps Lord of War.

Oh, okay. Have it your way.

Chavez is a peach. Everything is going great in Venezuela. He's not suppressing free speech. There's not enormous political and economic unrest in Venezuela. Chavez will certainly grow to be an old man who lives out his days in peace.

Believe whatever you want to believe.

Just don't do any reading. It might actually shake up your world...

So the coup was okay - even good - when Chavez was leading it.

But now that Chavez is President, it's okay - even good - for him to suppress free speech that might foment unrest and lead to a coup.


Wow. How self-serving of you.

Tell me, what is your love affair with Hugo Chavez? Is it that you, like him, are a socialist? Is it just your hatred of the United States?