Reply #8: Lula da Silva and Hugo Chavez are close friends and allies.

[Peace Patriot]

They meet every month to discuss economic/political/social issues, have engaged in many economic/political/social projects together, and Lula has pointedly and repeatedly backed Chavez every time that the U.S./CIA/corpo-fascist press has launched a particularly vicious attack on Chavez.

For instance, when the the Bushwhacks sent down their dictate in 2006 that Latin American leaders must "isolate Chavez," Lula did the opposite--he took the occasion to visit Venezuela on a high profile visit just two weeks before the Venezuelan 2006 presidential election. His endorsement of Chavez couldn't have been more obvious. When the U.S./Colombia bombed/invaded a border area of Ecuador, nearly starting a war with Ecuador/Venezuela in 2008, Lula credited Chavez with preventing the war. He called Chavez "the great peacemaker" as a result of that incident. Lula has also said, of Chavez, "They can invent all kinds of things to criticize Chavez, but not on democracy!"

Lula has also fully backed Venezuela's application to become a full member of Mercosu (South American trade group). Lula's and Chavez's positions on issues such their opposition to U.S. supported rightwing coup in Honduras, their friendly relations with Iran, their assertion of their countries' sovereignty on control of major resources such as oil, their strong opposition to the presence of the US 4th Fleet in the Caribbean and the US militarization and occupation of Colombia, the need for a Latin American "common market" AND a "common defense" and on many other important matters, are identical. (It was Lula da Silva who proposed a "common defense" within the context of USASUR). On economic and social policy, Chavez is to the left of Lula but they strongly share social justice goals and a philosophy of "raising all boats" (helping smaller or poorer countries, Latin America pulling together).

Your rightwing Venezuelan "tea bagger"-type fantasy that Lulu would oppose Chavez in a Venezuelan election is typical of your "Alice in Wonderland"--upside down, inside out, backwards--views. It is jabberwocky. And your state of denial about the achievements of the Chavez government would be pathetic if it wasn't such a piece of crappy propaganda. The Chavez government is like night and day compared to previous Venezuelan governments, which were run by the rich rightwing oil elite FOR the rich rightwing oil elite. Chavez's accomplishments on poverty reduction, education, economic growth, oil contract negotiations (getting a much better deal for Venezuela), employment, citizen participation in government and politics, clean elections, universal medical care, equal rights for women, gays, African-Venezuelans, the Indigenous and other excluded groups, low government debt, good credit and high cash reserves, and regional planning, have been nothing short of awesome, considering the forces against the Chavez government, including not just hostility from the U.S. and our corporate rulers and war profiteers but active coup attempts and non-stop lying and disinformation.

Why don't you go try and sell your load of crap to Venezuelans, hm? Because they don't buy it, that's why. So what are you doing here, constantly ragging on the Chavez government to Democratic Party activists in the U.S.? More USAID/CIA money for rightwing groups in Venezuela? War on Venezuela? Your fortunes, as a rightwing Venezuelan (if you are, indeed, a Venezuelan) are dependent on our tax dollars and U.S. corpo-fascist support. The majority of Venezuelans know you well and regularly vote against your corpo-fascist agenda, in big numbers. But your views are welcome "inside the Beltway." Is that who you are aiming to please? The Venezuelan rightwing cash cow? And you think by trying to keep Democratic Party leftists stupid and disinformed, you aid the cause of a US-supported fascist return to power in Venezuela? Or are you just generally an oil corporation apologist--since you have also made pro-Chevron (not to mention racist) comments on Chevron's horrendous oil spill in Ecuador?