[shanec]

I spent a lot of time with Major Castillo earlier this month at the Altamira Plaza in Caracas. He's a man of integrity who is deeply concerned about the fate of his country under the Chavez regime and has put his life on the line to expose the abuses of it. He needs to be heard far & wide. (See my first posting on FR from down there here.)

More on why what happens in Venezuela should matter to us here in the USA, well beyond just stable oil supplies, here at these recent FR posts of articles direct from more top Chavez military officers who recently left him...

Terror Threat from Venezuela: Al Queda Involved

Chavez bio-weapons lab in Venezuela for Saddam and Castro

And, still more direct from their web site by clicking this banner below...

-Shane

[river rat]

Jihadists, communists, Leftist Media in the U.S., Leftists in Congress, Euroweanies, ACLU, Liberal defense "lawyers", most Democrats and the Teacher's Unions.....all the same to me..... Enemies of the Republic...

Semper Fi

[McGavin999]

Is the strike still going shane? We never seem to hear a word about this unless we come across something here on FR.

[koax]

i never understood why they let chavez go when they had him locked up several months ago.

[AnnaZ]

Interesting stuff. (I lived in Caracas for three years, during Chavez's coup attempt, and I had an office in Plaza Altamira.)

[knighthawk]

I always wondered why at the INA, the Iraqi news agency, Saddam or the Iraqi government congratulated Chavez all the time, and backed him.

[Balata]

Great post shanec.

Pssst..._Jim, pass this along.

[madfly]

fyi

[MattinNJ]

I said it before and I'll say it again. Venezuela needs a Franco or a Pinochet to step up to the plate. Compare Spain and Chile (both kicking ass and taking names) to Cuba whose heroes were slaughtered at the Bay of Pigs because of that treacherous scumbag JFK. The Venezuelans can strike all they want but that S.O.B is going to have to catch a bullet with his forehead. Who's going to do it-some popularly elected official. That poor bastard will wind up in a damp cell with the jumper cables from a car battery clamped to his manhood. It's going to take a General or an Admiral to do the job.

Oh, spare me the "You must be a fascist" flames. I'm a Republican conservative and a capitalist pig to my core. I am just realistic enough to know that i's going to take a military coup to get rid of this guy. A mandate from the flag waving people isn't going to get the job done.

[AuntB]

Thanks for your post, shanec. I've not been paying attention to what's been going on lately....looks like I'd better start!

[Deathmonger]

Taking Chavez out seems like a much more important priority to me than Saddam. No one has suggested that Saddam funds al Qaeda, and Chavez is in our sphere of influence.

[madfly]

fyi

[madfly]

fyi

[fogarty]

Hate to break it to you, but Bush and Rumsfeld don't care. Cheney doesn't care. They are either ignorant or uncaring about the Communist bloc which has formed to our south. When Brazil put a Communist, Lula, in power last year, you could barely hear a whisper from the administration.

The fact is, the Bush administration is so hellbent on Iraq that they are overlooking serious crisis points all over. Even worse they are proposing this war on Iraq is about terrorism - when in fact spots such as Venezuala and Chavez (not to mention Saudi Arabia) have a much more clear direct link to Al Qaeda.

[MissAmericanPie]

I'm sure we will get around to Hugo sooner or later.

[Thane_Banquo]

Interesting, but I would like to hear it from a more well-established source, like the Washington Times or Post. Of course, the New York Times would never carry a story like this, since they would never criticize a fellow leftist.

[WRhine]

Thanks Shane for providing that valuable, inside information. I had no idea what was going on down there under Chavez.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Sept. 30, 2001- Petroleum World - Chavez's New Situation For President Chávez, the decision is awfully difficult. He is of the conviction that he is one of the main political players of the world. That he's recognized as a leader called upon to promote the universal struggle against globalization and neoliberalism. No one ignores that his efforts helped in the rebuilding of OPEC, whose head, Alí Rodríguez, -a man of his trust- was his choice for the position. To bring OPEC back to life he went to Baghdad to talk to Saddan Hussein andto condemn the embargo against Irak. He went to Libya to meet with Gaddafi at the residential ruins because of U. S. missiles in 1989 and to offer his fraternal solidarity. He brought Mohammed Khatami to Caracas and later visited him in Teheran, in the process of reaching concrete and strong agreements with Iran. The most important was the making of the axis of a powerful alliance to turn oil into a strategic element against globalization.

A momentous choice is before him. As President he has journeyed the entire planet blaming globalization and neoliberalism as the root of the pain of peoples. In all scenarios he has said that savage capitalism breeds on the power of an empire who practices it and imposes it on others. A new balance in world power is indispensable to humanize globalization and slow down neoliberalism. He believes to have conquered universal admiration in the frontal, daily battle against unipolarity. Does the empire hope to have us bring down the flags?

In the 48 hours following the terrorist attack he vanishes from sight. He would later say that he was in meditation. How can he forget that Fidel has delivered to him the relay symbols, ushering him as the rising leader in the battle against the empire? How can it be forgotten that Ghadaffi has pointed to him as the head of a new movement to conquer the dignity of imperialism's oppressed peoples? How not to recall that wondrous day in Malaysia, when rulers of 77 countries asked him to lead Southern nations in their renewed efforts towards justice and equity? Or the mail exchange with famous fellow Venezuelan Carlos Ilich Ramírez -"EL Chacal"- for whose extradiction so much has been done by the Ambassador to Paris? In his lonely reflection he turns his sight onto a magazine on his desk: The New Yorker with the 22 page report written by Jon Lee Anderson. The President has read it several times. He reads again the final paragraphs.

"Chávez acknowledged that there is still misunderstanding and confusion in the U. S. over his policies. On this he said: "Until recently, what was under discussion, here and abroad, was to appease Chávez." Let's be nice to him to see if we can tame him" easily.

But it seems this beast is not too easy to tame." He lowered his voice and, this time, he did not smile. "This is an ideological conviction of mine and nothing will change that."***

Fidel, Saddam and Hugo --An improbable but growing friendship of three military revolutionaries*** Mr. Chávez is the most intriguing new leader to emerge in Latin America since Mr. Castro - and he is the lynchpin between Mr. Castro and Mr. Saddam. Although Cuba had been sending doctors and health workers to Iraq for years, there had not been any major contacts between the two countries until Mr. Chávez appeared on the scene. This fall, Mr. Chávez became the first democratically elected foreign head of state to visit Iraq since the Gulf War, ostensibly to invite Mr. Saddam to a summit of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. But it also was an in-your face gesture toward the United States.***

[Rockitz]

I have a friend who was once a snipper for our government. He used to be called upon to take flights to far away lands and assassinate people he did not know. Hopefully there are others who have taken his place. I can't think of a better excuse for such action than this scumbag.

[Orion78]

PING!!

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Transcript of House Western Hemipshere Subcommittee Hearing, October 10, 2001***(J. Curtis Struble, Deputy Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs, U.S. Department of State)…………….. Further south, in what is known as the tri-border area, where Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay converge, we see the longstanding presence of Islamic extremist organizations, primarily Hizballah and, to a lesser extent, the Sunni extremists group of al Gamaat, IG, and Hamas. These organizations are involved in fundraising activities and proselytizing among the large expatriate population from the Middle East that lives in the tri-border area and also on Venezuela's Margarita Island. These organizations engage in document forgery, money laundering, contraband smuggling, and weapons and drug trafficking. Hizballah is the prime suspect behind the 1992 bombing of the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires and the 1994 bombing of the Argentine Israel Mutual Association community center. These attacks were characterized by the same faceless cowardice that we saw on September 11, and they remain unsolved to this day, although I am pleased that the trial in the 1994 bombing is now underway in Buenos Aires. We hope the perpetrators will at last be brought to justice.

……………..In the tri-border area of Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay, Middle East terrorist organizations such as Hamas and Hizballah train terrorists and conduct fundraising activities in an area which has a growing population of Middle Eastern and South Asian immigrants. Funds raised in the tri-border area are sent directly to the Middle East to support the operation of these organization, possibly even the planning and execution of terrorist acts. I have no doubt that funds raised in the tri-border area have made it to the pockets of Al Qaeda and Osama Bin Laden. Afghanistan produces 75 percent of the world's heroin. The Taliban reaps tremendous profits from such trade and use them to sponsor Osama Bin Laden and other terrorists. As Americans, we must recognize that fighting the war on drugs is tantamount to fighting the war on terrorism. Every time an American boy buys cocaine or heroin, they are directly funding the terrorists who are responsible for the deaths of over 6,000 innocent Americans.

Today, the Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere will hear from a distinguished panel of official witnesses who will provide us with important testimony about the type of terrorist organizations operating in our hemisphere, the links between international terror and drug trafficking, and the efforts of the OAS and its member states to help our nation win the war on terrorism. While I have no doubt that these panelists will provide the Subcommittee with excellent testimony, I am profoundly troubled that Otto Reich has yet to be confirmed as the Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs. At this time, the President needs to have his nominee confirmed and in place to fight both drug trafficking and terrorism in Latin America.

……………..Mr. STRUBLE. There are large expatriate populations in a number of areas in Latin America. The tri-border region has been mentioned before. There is also Santa Margarita Island in Venezuela, the Colon Free Trade Zone in Panama, and then a number of others throughout the hemisphere. We are quite concerned about the possibility or in some instances the certainty of financial transactions from these areas supporting terrorist groups in the Middle East. Mr. Mack alluded before to the efforts of INL over a number of years to give countries the tools, help them develop the tools, and work multilaterally in this hemisphere to control money laundering through more effective sharing of financial transaction information.****