Hugo Chávez - A Great Loss to the Poor

[HoosierGuy]

Hugo Chavez died a few days ago. Most of the big American news companies are following the big business line that Chavez was more or less a thug or enemy of the U.S.

I'm sure Chavez was no angel and you probably can't be in politician in Venezuela and be a nice guy. But one thing is for sure - the U.S. big business people including the U.S. oil industry hated that man. Also the healthy in Venezuela hated him too. Usually when a man is hated by the wealthy and rich, that man is doing something right for the people.

It's too bad America is cursed with deceitful congressmen. We need more people like Chavez in congress, fighting for the poor and going after the truly evil people who work against the American people.

Hugo Chávez's Venezuela: highlights from our Reddit discussion | World news | guardian.co.uk

[pam]

Oh give me a break. Hugo Chavez was evil evil evil.

[john doe]

Yeah, I've always said that a man who skims a $2 Billion personal fortune looting his own country while acting as its leader is obviously a friend of the poor. I mean, look at who his friends were--the Castros, Ahmedinajad, Sean Penn, the Kims, Oliver Stone, among other notable greats. Yep, this was a man of the people, whose only crime was loving poor people perhaps a bit too much.

[Palerider]

Hugo only helped himself...

[Guest LiterateParakeet]

Missionaries from the US were taken out of Venezuela during Chavez's time...because it was no longer safe for them

One of my old companions told me she was trying to get out and go to Spain...and then wait the many years it would take to get a visa to come to the US. She felt she needed to go to Spain because is she waited she might not be allowed to leave Venezuela. She's not rich.

I'm glad Chavez is gone.

[Saldrin]

Hope ol Hugo roasts, what a waste of a human being.

[Guest]

I actually have a dear friend who grew up in Venezuela, pre-Chavez. She mourns her country after what he did to it. She loved Venezuela but left as a young adult because she couldn't stand to stay and see it ruined. She misses what was, but has no desire to ever return.

I'd love to see you try and have a conversation with her about it.

[HoosierGuy]

Yeah, I've always said that a man who skims a $2 Billion personal fortune looting his own country while acting as its leader is obviously a friend of the poor.

When the ultra wealthy and oil barons hate a person, that is evidence that person is doing something good. And as I said, I'm sure he had a bad side but even in that link I posted the journalist said he was not that bad.

Edited March 9, 2013 by HoosierGuy

[pam]

HG have you talked to anyone that has lived in or is from Venezuela? Well I have. They are happy he is gone. I would much rather get an opinion from those that have had to live under his oppression than from some random journalist.

Edited March 9, 2013 by pam

[pam]

When so many countries were looking at alternative fuels such as E-85, Chavez thought it a good thing to produce. So he ordered farmers to grow corn so that E-85 could be produced. So much corn was used for the production, that the poor in the nation couldn't even afford to purchase it themselves to make tortillas to feed their families. Oh yeh...he was an advocate for the poor all right.

[MorningStar]

Well then. I guess when murderers, child molesters, and kidnappers anger the wealthy, they must be doing something right too, huh?

[Dravin]

Well then. I guess when murderers, child molesters, and kidnappers anger the wealthy, they must be doing something right too, huh?

Remember, it doesn't matter what you do to the poor, it only matters what you do to the rich.

[john doe]

When the ultra wealthy and oil barons hate a person, that is evidence that person is doing something good. And as I said, I'm sure he had a bad side but even in that link I posted the journalist said he was not that bad.

By 'ultra wealthy' and 'oil baron' you mean Hugo Chavez, right? Because he was both, in case you didn't know. As for not being that bad, are you referring to his shutting down of media outlets who spoke out against him, or the jailing of his political opponents? Yeah, he was a peach of a guy. Until you spoke up and disagreed with him. Of course, you support that same approach here in America, don't you?

[Just_A_Guy]

Chavez was a great friend to the poor in Venezuela. He helped their ranks to grow beyond anyone's wildest dreams.

[Backroads]

When the ultra wealthy and oil barons hate a person, that is evidence that person is doing something good.

I'm going to need a better explanation of how this is so. Maybe a flow chart...

And as I said, I'm sure he had a bad side but even in that link I posted the journalist said he was not that bad.

Oh my goodness! A random journalist said he wasn't that bad! I wrote for the teen section of our newspaper in high school and just because my teenage self had an opinion on boy bands or swim team shavings or whatever else I wrote about didn't make it so.

[bytor2112]

Slate Magazine ( very left) wrote the following:

What has Chávez bequeathed his fellow Venezuelans? The hard facts are unmistakable: The oil-rich South American country is in shambles. It has one of the world’s highest rates of inflation, largest fiscal deficits, and fastest growing debts. Despite a boom in oil prices, the country’s infrastructure is in disrepair—power outages and rolling blackouts are common—and it is more dependent on crude exports than when Chávez arrived. Venezuela is the only member of OPEC that suffers from shortages of staples such as flour, milk, and sugar. Crime and violence skyrocketed during Chávez’s years. On an average weekend, more people are killed in Caracas than in Baghdad and Kabul combined. (In 2009, there were 19,133 murders in Venezuela, more than four times the number of a decade earlier.) When the grisly statistics failed to improve, the Venezuelan government simply stopped publishing the figures.

[SanctitasDeo]

I am willing to consider Chavez as a full human person rather than a caricature. I won't condemn him to hell myself. However, I can't say that he was much of a friend to the poor. He was a skillful populist. Perhaps he cared about his country to an extent, but I find it rather more likely that he cared mostly about himself and his rule. To say otherwise, knowing how he lived and what he could have done for the people in his country would be, I think, frighteningly naive. He was no more good for his people than Lenin, Castro, Stalin, perhaps even Kruschev, were, on balance, for theirs. He may have done some good, but at what cost?

We watched part of his show (yes, he had his own television show) the other day in class. It was calculated to help him keep in control. He reminds me of Vladimir Putin in some ways, although their rules have had fairly different foundations.

The PBS Frontline episode about his TV show is here: The Hugo Chavez Show | FRONTLINE | PBS

[SanctitasDeo]

I would thank bytor for his comment, but the button seems to be missing.

[Renato]

I AM VENEZUELAN, Lamanite PEOPLE WERE TO BE IN MANY NATIONS TRAMPLED, USA AND WAS ONE OF THEM, SO DO NOT UNDERSTAND THE SCRIPTURES, REACHED THE END OF THE YOKE upon the Lamanites.

[HoosierGuy]

NPR talked to a professor of political science about Chavez.

The main question is: He came to power promising to make life better for the poor of

Venezuela. Did he succeed?

The professor said: "Well, I think he succeeded. We'll have to see whether or not he's institutionalized that success, but he definitely redirected a good portion of the nation's oil export wealth down towards the poor. There's little doubt that he launched major programs in housing. Probably health care is the signature program. Subsidized food in the poor areas of the country. So, in a lot of ways, I think he followed through on that promise."

It's no shock. Hugo takes the money from the greedy people and re-directs it to the poor for housing and healthcare. What does he get out it? Branded a devil by the radical American politicians.

And no, I'd rather not speak to anyone that was wealthy enough to move from Venezuela. I'd rather speak with someone who is too poor to move and stuck in Venezuela.

Any Praise For Hugo Chavez? : NPR

[HoosierGuy]

Hugo is not the bad guy in all of this. The oil companies are the ruthless ones. 100% ruthless.

[Just_A_Guy]

It's no shock. Hugo takes the money from the greedy people and re-directs it to the poor for housing and healthcare. What does he get out it?

You mean, besides the $2 billion personal fortune?

[Backroads]

It must be so nice to view the poor only as a vague group you can pity so people will think you are so charitable.

[NightSG]

At first, when I saw the title, I was all like

Then I realized somebody actually bought into Chavez's propaganda, and I was like

[Guest LiterateParakeet]

Hugo is not the bad guy in all of this. The oil companies are the ruthless ones. 100% ruthless.

So Oil companies are the reason US missionaries/Americans are not safe in Venezuela?