Venezuela couldn't last until 2007 when Chavez's term expires,
When President Bush travels to South America in late March, he will find a region that, despite recent political and economic reforms, is still on shaky ground.
Nowhere has that been more evident the last few weeks than in Argentina and, especially, Venezuela.
In Argentina, massive street protests have become a way of life. Millions of people are fed up with the way the government has handled the nation's economy.
In Venezuela, an even worse crisis seems to be brewing. For three weeks, there has been growing pressure on President Hugo Chávez to resign. ...
Although Chávez won by a landslide -- 80 percent of the vote -- his popularity has sunk since he took office. And no wonder. He approved many populist policies for which his government cannot pay. ...
In the international arena, Chávez has alienated traditional allies, including the United States, while befriending totalitarian regimes, such as Cuba, Iraq and Libya, and embracing leftist guerrillas in neighboring Colombia.
If the Venezuelan leader does not change his authoritarian ways, he could throw his nation into the kind of turmoil not seen since the last dictator, Marcos Pérez Jiménez, was overthrown 44 years ago.
Even with that worsening situation, the United States, while monitoring events in Venezuela, should not become directly involved.
The last thing Washington needs is a nation of 24 million people who, despite being unhappy with Chávez, might resent U.S. meddling even more.