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Chavez endorses Obama, kind of

Mon, 11/03/2008 - 1:08pm

When you watch this video of Hugo Chávez speaking about Barack Obama, you feel like it was probably the closest the Venezuelan president could bring himself to a complimenting an American leader. Quoted in Spanish newspaper El Pais, he says [our translation]:

Tomorrow the U.S. will have an election. The world awaits the arrival of a black president to the United States, we can say this is no small feat [...] We don't ask him to be a revolutionary, nor a socialist, but [we ask] that he rise to the moment in the world."

Chávez also says he will sit down and speak with Senator Obama, should he become president, and urge him to lift the embargo on Cuba. He seems particularly pleased that Obama is black, a detail that fits nicely with Chávez's own rhetoric of freeing the enslaved indigenous from the throws of capitalism.

So does this mean it's not so much the United States that Chávez finds so displeasing as it is President George W. Bush himself? It's no small news for Chávez, who recently kicked out the U.S. ambassador in Caracas, to promise friendly ties with "the Great Satan" under a new administration.

Of course, the U.S. public has grown equally skeptical of Chávez, so Obama might not be so grateful for the public endorsement. Yes, it is slightly reminiscent al-Qaeda's sort-of endorsement of John McCain. But privately, the Obama camp must be gratified to see that even the United States' most bitter critics are now trying to win the senator's good graces.

Elizabeth Dickinson | Permalink |

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( filed under:

Latin America | Decision '08

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Comparing his words to Al-Queda?

by Paul Escobar on Mon, 11/03/2008 - 5:55pm

This is just offensive.
What did Chavez say to warrant a comparison to "Al-Queda"?

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First of all, the quote you cited is not an endorsement.

Chavez just referenced world & public opinion: Obama will win.

And since Obama called for discussions, Chavez proposed some topics.

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Secondly, it's your country's actions that are "slightly reminiscent" of terrorist endorsements.

Your right-wing government, lead by Bush Jr., backed the 2002 military coup against the elected Chavez government.

Your liberal media establishment, the NY Times & Washington Post, fully supported the illegal overthrow.

After that, both teamed up to finance & back the Venezuelan oppositions recall & strike attempts.

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So it's actually shocking that Chavez would want to improve relations with your nation.

Chavez & al-Qaeda

by teodoro on Mon, 11/03/2008 - 9:29pm

@Pablo
Why are comments from a dictatorial anti-US figure endorsing a particular candidate for president reminiscent of al-Qaeda's backhanded endorsement of another candidate for president? Both rule dictatorially, one through rule of law and the other through religious terrorist manipulation. And Chavez' ties to FARC do not exactly make him "Mr. Rogers" material (talk about being one's neighbor!)

If you cannot see the comparison, not stated to be exact, but "slightly reminiscent" then your perspective is obviously skewed.

To Teodoro Petkoff...

by Paul Escobar on Mon, 11/03/2008 - 11:11pm

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,234539,00.html

"The president was re-elected by the decision of the Venezuelan people," Brownfield told Union Radio. "We recognize that and we're ready, willing and eager to explore and see if we can make progress on bilateral issues."

- William Brownfield, United States Ambassador to Venezuela

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http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/584b2938-e59b-11dc-9334-0000779fd2ac.html

"Four hostages held for more than six years by leftwing Colombian guerrillas have been released as part of a deal brokered by Hugo Chávez, Venezuela’s president.

Gloria Polanco, Luis Eladio Perez, Orlando Beltrán, and Jorge Eduardo Géchem, former Colombian lawmakers, were picked up from their jungle prison in the country’s south on Wednesday by two Venezuelan helicopters marked with the Red Cross insignia."

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http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news/3547

Representatives of the International Police Organization (Interpol) told Ecuadorian Presidential Adviser Fernando Bustamante in a meeting last week that its investigation of laptop computers “does not determine if the computers provided were found in the guerrilla camp of the FARC during the incursion on March 1st, if they effectively belonged to Raúl Reyes, and even less so their contents,”

“Between March 1st and 3rd... there are no indications that user files have been created, modified, or eliminated, but neither is there evidence that demonstrates that this has not been done,” INTERPOL told Bustamante.

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http://www.alternet.org/columnists/story/87821/?page=entire

On January 13 2008 - Chavez said: "I do not agree with the armed struggle, and that is one of the things that I want to talk to Marulanda (the head of the FARC who died last March) about."

http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news/907

On January 30, 2005 - Chavez added that in spite of his admiration for Argentine revolutionary Che Guevara, he said Che's methods are not applicable. "That thesis of one, two, or three Vietnams, did not work, especially in Venezuela."