He always played a bad guy.
Posted on 11/15/2010 8:22:53 PM PST by Kaslin
Geopolitics: Years ago, Americans worried about Venezuela's leftist Hugo Chavez becoming a new Castro — with oil. It happened. Now he's filling his cabinet with drug lords, and the threat morphs into something creepier.
Last week, Chavez promoted Major General Henry Rangel Silva to general-in-chief, the top position in the Venezuelan military command.
It was a rogue act because, in 2008, the U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control named Rangel and two other Chavez loyalists as "Tier II Kingpins" for material support of drug trafficking.
The U.S. designation came of an administrative process so strict and thorough the U.S. government could indict someone if it's right — and be sued if it's wrong. There have been no lawsuits.
Rangel is said to provide material support for Colombia's FARC communist terrorists, who control 60% of Colombia's cocaine production, pushing it into Mexico and other destinations.
With Mexico endangered by local cartels' trade with Venezuela's government-linked suppliers, the link to Mexico's drug war is very real. And it's a national security problem for the U.S. — a big one.
The promotion shows Chavez is surrounding himself with drug lords. Most leaders would expel someone with those credentials. Not Chavez. He almost seems to be flaunting Rangel and others like him. One can only conclude that Venezuela is now a narcostate.
(Excerpt) Read more at investors.com ...
Chavez scares me something awful.
Of course he needs drug lords and their allies. Socialism is going to bankrupt the country real fast, he needs more cash...quick. What better way than drug running?
He needs to be wacked. How hard can it be??
Eric Holder pardoned FARC members under Clinton, the Left in the US and Muslims all use drugs to pay for their militaries.
Honestly, I'm sick of this "kinder, gentler" nonsense. We've traveled that path for far too long; the thugs of the world still try to spit on us, just like before. The only difference is, now they laugh at us, too. Enough.
He could just print US currency like North Korea.
JFK, the last conservative democrat, would have taken him out.
JFK, the last conservative democrat, would have taken him out.
The answer to that question is pretty much a foregone conclusion. It is the choice more deleterious to the Great Satan.
Or the Federal Reserve - afterall it's only paper
The gangster with oil worries me less than the gangster in the White House.
Maybe its a good thing that he's incompetent (in the petroleum business). He would really be dangerous if they were producing as much oil as before at these prices.
Whack Chavez? Great idea, make him into a martyr in the Allende/Che Guevarra mode. No thanks. Castro has become a focus of hatred and derision among his countrymen. Please, please, don’t save Chavez’ tattered reputation.
You want to destroy the drug lords? End the “war on drugs”. For the same reasons that we repealed the Volstead Act. For the same reason, the mobsters will remain, but most of the profit will be gone.
Updated tagline
He always played a bad guy.
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