Thousands of Venezuelans march in support of Chavez

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Xinhua

Thousands of Venezuelans march in support of Chavez
(Xinhua)08:00, January 24, 2013 CARACAS, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) --

Thousands of supporters of Venezuela' s ailing President Hugo Chavez flooded the streets of the capital Caracas Wednesday in support of their leader, who has been hospitalized in Cuba for over a month.

Chavez's followers set out from three different locations to converge in the downtown area's Jan. 23 district, in honor of Democracy Day.

The cheering supporters wore the signature red color of Venezuela's ruling United Socialist Party and carried banners that read "We are all Chavez."

Wednesday's rally is the second of its kind this year. Chavez was reelected to another six-year term on Oct. 7, but was unable to attend his inauguration on Jan. 10 as he is convalescing in Havana from a fourth cancer operation conducted on Dec. 11.


Read more: http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90777/8104981.html

[brooklynite]

1. There never seems to be a problem marching in SUPPORT of an Authoritarian leader...

[Judi Lynn]

3. That's what your life experience has taught you?

What about all the people who poured into the streets during the VietNam war? What authoritarian leader were they supporting?

What about the people who have gone to President Obama's inaugurations? Them, too?

You'd be doing yourself a world of good by spending some of your precious venting time doing research, instead, just like so many progressives do.

[brooklynite]

6. Having grown up in Country ruled under Martial Law, yes it has.

The fact that Chavez was opposed to the policies of the Bush Administration or of Big Business doesn't show me he's a respecter of Democratic principles. He certainly isn't for the people of Syria, or Libya or North Korea. The enemy of my enemy isn't necessarily my friend.

[Judi Lynn]

7. Bush's administration was wildly opposed to the policies of the elected Venezuelan President.

How is it that point has escaped you?

[brooklynite]

10. Did you read my last point?

Bush was also wildy opposed to the policy of Saddam Hussein, so by your standards he must also have been a paragon of democratic virtue.

[Judi Lynn]

11. No, I hadn't read your last post. Now that I have, you sound silly to me.

Give up trying to throw that worn-out right-wing spin into this thread.

DU'ers have been seeing it coming at us for years, over, and over. each spinner expecting it to finally mean something, after all this time.

Simply ignorant.

When you do your research on US/Latin American relations you will realize you finally have nothing to say from your position.

People here who support leftist Presidents do it because they KNOW something about the subject, not because they support any old leftist leader. We spend time learning about the things we care about, not trying to shout down right-wingers who are butting into Democratic message boards.

Your posts simply don't make sense. You should already recognize it.

[fascisthunter]

25. thank you....

somebody needs to powder their nose or take the expensive poodle for a walk to shit somewhere a homeless person isn't allowed to sleep. Not sure which is better anymore.

[ErikJ]

2. Venezuela Oil Production Growth: Chavez Presidency May Have Squandered Oil Riches

Interesting article from HuffPost summarizing Chavez' 14 year record.

Venezuela Oil Production Growth: Chavez Presidency May Have Squandered Oil Riches By IAN JAMES 09/23/12

CARACAS, Venezuela -- On the streets of Caracas, vast slums blanket the hillsides while squatters hang laundry in the windows of abandoned buildings. Trash-strewn alleys are riddled with potholes and lined with broken streetlamps. The city's main waterway, the polluted Guaire River, is known more for sewage than swimming.

While oil has ushered in spectacular construction projects for glittering Middle Eastern cities, including the world's tallest building in Dubai and plans for branches of the Louvre and Guggenheim museums in Abu Dhabi, it's brought relatively meager changes to Venezuela, which holds the world's largest proven oil reserves.

Nearly 14 years after President Hugo Chavez took office, and despite the biggest oil bonanza in Venezuela's history, there's little outward sign of the nearly one trillion petrodollars that have flowed into the country.

Venezuela has undoubtedly changed during Chavez's tenure. The populist president has used the oil wealth to buttress his support through cash handouts, state-run grocery stores and a gamut of other social programs. With more money in the economy, incomes are higher and the number of people living in poverty has fallen.

Unemployment has dropped from more than 13 percent in 1999 to about 8 percent. The country has also achieved rapid improvement on the U.N. Human Development Index, which measures a range of indicators from living standards to life expectancy.
.........................................clip

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/23/venezuela-oil-production_n_1907170.html

[MyNameGoesHere]

5. There is little outward signs? ? Oh right because poor people have been lifted up

and they didn't build 1000 Walmarts. I forgot the measure of progress is how many new mega stores and million dollar condos there are. And of course VZ isn't pumping out 100's of new millionaires a year. Wow stupid poor people, you're not progress.

[hack89]

9. Food shortages and a skyrocketing murder rate

are not the signs of a healthy country.

[MyNameGoesHere]

14. Hmm neither is shooting kids in the face.

but yet we are considered a first world success story. Imagine that.

[hack89]

15. Their murder rate is orders of magnitude higher

kidnapping has become a national past time.

And the difference is we have cut our murder rate in half and are enjoying historically low level of violent crime. They are going the opposite direction.

[MyNameGoesHere]

16. There are maybe 30 or more countries that have a higher murder per capita rate than the USA

Yet I do not see one propaganda article on those countries. Makes you wonder. Seems like some are buying into the propaganda.

[hack89]

17. What makes it propaganda? You disagree with it? nt

[MyNameGoesHere]

27. Well I stated why I thought it was propaganda.

You missed the point, or you just refused to look at the facts and keep believing a one sided story. Hey that sounds like_________?.

[hack89]

29. By any standard Venezula is a sick society

skyrocketing crime, food shortages, shocking murder rate.

those are facts.

[Judi Lynn]

18. You reminded me of the dirty Honduran government we're supporting,

sending money, using for several US military installations. Honduras has the worst record, highest per capita in the world.

Do we EVER hear any of the right-wingers who crowd in to post at the Democratic Underground foaming at the mouth about Honduras, going on and on and on and on about it? Not a word, and it's been going on for years, now.

They also never saw fit to howl about the political enemies who have been boiled alive as a nightmarish new twist in torture, used to death, literally, by _{George W. Bush's} little sadistic friend, Uzbekistan's Islam Karimov.

[bitchkitty]

19. Nope, they never, ever post about Honduras.

And to me, that's a dead giveaway that many of them aren't just posters on a Democratic message board - they're not here because they want to discuss politics. They're here because they're being paid to direct or disrupt the conversation. Fucking scum of the earth, IMHO.

[Judi Lynn]

20. No one could say it better. Perfectly accurate. n/t

[joshcryer]

21. No one here adulates about the corrupt Honduran government.

Like they do, on a regular, consistent, head in the sand basis over Venezuela.

[MyNameGoesHere]

28. I actually talk to people from both sides of the economic spectrum in VZ

Guess who supports which side? Not one of them loves Chavez but those who have been lifted out of living in garbage dumps seem to appreciate him a tad bit more. I think the only thing that burns my ass about all of this, is we are setting up to be the banana republic makers again. Good old corrupt dictators supported by Uncle Tio, Vs. mildly corrupt elected presidents. Let me see, which would I choose?

[joshcryer]

30. The Aben Perl? The Boligarchs? The Fonden Fund?

There was a recent post in Lat. Am. criticizing the Colombian government for $5 million in graft. Those posters don't do it when it comes to Venezuela. That's why I care to even waste my time because I think there's a vacuum for criticism of said governments.

$700 million of the Venezuelan's people money was lost in the Aben Perl. This is no joke. How many houses could that have built? How many poor could've been fed or educated? I expect better.

[joshcryer]

22. Yeah, but you don't see LBN posts cheering those countries, either.

[ErikJ]

12. Manufacturers would help

I admit I hardly know enough about Venezuela or Chavez to judge but it sounds like Chavez;

1. isnt either making enough revenue from oil to help enough or he and his cronies are stuffing it in Swiss banks like so many leaders do
or
2. Private enterprise like manufacturers arent willing to believe enough in Venezueala to risk starting companies.

Its a fine line. You need adequate infrastructure for manufacturing but if they dont trust Chavez enough that he wont expropriate their business then it aint gonna happen.

[Judi Lynn]

8. Oh, another hit piece from the Associated Press. Imagine that. n/t

[OverseaVisitor]

26. YOU MEAN HE ACTUALLY DID IT

Nearly 14 years after President Hugo Chavez took office, and despite the biggest oil bonanza in Venezuela's history, there's little outward sign of the nearly one trillion petrodollars that have flowed into the country.

Venezuela has undoubtedly changed during Chavez's tenure. The populist president has used the oil wealth to buttress his support through cash handouts, state-run grocery stores and a gamut of other social programs. With more money in the economy, incomes are higher and the number of people living in poverty has fallen.

Unemployment has dropped from more than 13 percent in 1999 to about 8 percent. The country has also achieved rapid improvement on the U.N. Human Development Index, which measures a range of indicators from living standards to life expectancy.
.........................................clip

Oh my he squander all the oil riches for these haha

Whiners crying cause it did not instead go to them the elite few hahaha.

[UTUSN]

4. NEWS?!1 *late* breaking news?!1 How many thousands?!1 n/t

[Judi Lynn]

13. Chavistas out in force, Venezuela VP back to Cuba

Chavistas out in force, Venezuela VP back to Cuba
AFP Updated January 24, 2013, 9:47 am

CARACAS (AFP) - Tens of thousands of Venezuelans marched in the streets of Caracas in support of cancer-stricken President Hugo Chavez Wednesday, overshadowing a much smaller rival rally by the opposition.

Vice President Nicolas Maduro told the pro-government rally he would return to Havana to visit Chavez, who has been convalescing in Cuba since his latest surgery last month, but whose condition is improving, according to Caracas.

Opposition leader Henrique Capriles, who lost to the 58-year-old Chavez in October's election, meanwhile challenged the ailing leader to speak to the nation if he is able, saying the Venezuelan people deserve "peace of mind."

Chavez supporters -- clad in red shirts bearing the phrase "Chavez is all of us" -- however seemed to need no reassurances about their president's prolonged absence from the oil-rich South American country.

More:
http://au.news.yahoo.com/world/a/-/world/15935856/marchers-rally-for-ailing-chavez/

[center]

Supporters of Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez hold up a photo of him at an event
commemorating the 1958 fall of the country's dictatorship in Caracas, Venezuela,
Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2013[/center]

[bitchkitty]

23. That's rich -

Capriles concerned about Venezuelan people's "peace of mind." What a slimy opportunist he is, no doubt salivating for another chance to stop the Bolivarian revolution.

[Judi Lynn]

24. Yep. Capriles: a real man of the elite people! He's the oligarchs' "great right hope". n/t