Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez dies

[desicanuk]

Good riddance.Any body can buy popularity.The man bribed voters using Venezuela's oil wealth.He also sold oil to Cuba below market value.He hollowed out the democratic institutions of Venezuela.The infrastructure is crumbling.His social programs are unsustainable.The country is broke.Lets see who among his so-called
friends are going to help.His anti-Americanism was irrational.He will soon be forgotten.

 

[IBSA]

CIA it is stated tried to kill him many a time.

And many equate CIA's power to God's!

Castro suffered 638 attempts of assassination by CIA according to Cuban secret service.

If all this was God whom did, something is wrong with this God. Maybe he isn't a so powerfull god as many americans believes. Maybe this God nor exists. One such powerfull god don't can to fail so much.

 

[IBSA]

Congratz to the CIA on another successful South American hunt.
@IBSA when is brazil going to grow enough balls l(ike argentina has for the last several decades) to truly free south america.

I have no idea.

I'm pessimistic on Brazilian regional leadership. We don't have a ideology to guide our foreign policy. There are lack of strategic view.

Chavez in someway to fill this ideological empty with his Bolivarianism doctrine. But now without Chavez, I think this doctrine will lose strength and there is no other to replace it. Brazil will not offer other regional project capable to unite South American countries in a common goal.

Who knows a day which Brazil has military strenght enough to frighten foreign power as USA, UK or France, and global political power gaining a permanent seat in UN/SC - though it would be without veto - the things starts to change in South America. Until this day reach, I don't have much faith in Brazilian regional leadership.

 

[IBSA]

Successor, a devotee of Sathya Sai Baba

Nicolas Maduro (left-down) and Sathya Sai Baba (right)

Nicolas Maduro, the Venezuelan vice-president and the successor of Hugo Chavez, was a follower of Sathya Sai Baba. According to sources, Maduro had visited Baba at his ashram in Puttaparthi in Anantapur district of Andhra Pradesh.

Though sources could not recall the details of the conversation Maduro had with Sathya Sai Baba, they said that the death of Baba was discussed in the Venezuela Parliament at the behest of Maduro. Sathya Sai Baba died due to multi-organ failure on April 24, 2011.
Maduro is said to have visited Baba at his ashram in 2005 along with his wife Flores.

"There are photographs of Maduro sitting on the floor in front of Baba during his visit. We also heard that he had attended a spiritual lecture given by Baba," the source said.
The source said Maduro was given a large, framed photograph of Sathya Sai Baba and the photograph was hung on a wall in Maduro's office.

"There used to be a bee-line of the heads of states and prominent personalities in Puttaparthi and they all used to wait for Baba's darshan. Maduro was also one of them in those days," the source explained. In a statement, Sathya Sai Central Trust confirmed that Maduro had visited Puttaparthi during his tenure as the foreign affairs minister of Venezuela.


Successor, a devotee of Sathya Sai Baba - India - DNA

 

[nrupatunga]

Chavez's death sparks angst among allies used to deeply discounted oil

Cubans remember the so-called Special Period of the 1990s, when the Soviet Union's sudden collapse plunged the island into years of economic depression, with cars and buses disappearing from the streets for lack of fuel and rolling blackouts leaving the capital in darkness.
Now Cubans fear a return of hard times following the death of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, whose billions of dollars of oil largesse helps the island's economy function. Some Havana residents were even talking about hoarding candles on Wednesday.

More than a dozen other countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, many of them economic minnows, have benefited to the tune of billions of dollars from the Petrocaribe pact that was created in 2005 with the goal of unifying the regional oil industry under Venezuelan leadership and countering U.S. influence.

Cuba alone receives about 92,000 barrels of Venezuelan oil a day to meet half its consumption needs, worth around $3.2 billion a year, according to an estimate by University of Texas energy analyst Jorge Pinon.
Havana pays about half the bill through a barter exchange in which tens of thousands of doctors, teachers and other advisers provide services in Venezuela. The rest goes into 25-year credits with 1 percent interest.

Nicaragua, perhaps the second-most dependent on Venezuelan oil after Cuba, gets nearly all its 12 million barrels a year from Caracas, worth about $1.2 billion, said Nestor Avendano, an economist and president of the consulting firm Consultores Para el Desarrollo.
President Daniel Ortega, a staunch Chavez ally, pays about half up-front and finances the rest over 23 years at 2 percent annual interest.

The Dominican Republic gets just over 40 percent of its oil through Petrocaribe, and saves roughly $400 million a year from the arrangement. Struggling Jamaica, where debt is a whopping 140 percent of gross domestic product, gets roughly two-thirds of its crude through Petrocaribe.

 

[asianobserve]

Chavez's Body To Be Permanently Displayed, Venezuela's Vice President Says

 

[amoy]

After Chávez, politicians cannot ignore Venezuela's poor (+video) - CSMonitor.com

Reaching the people

Condemned by his critics for causing rampant inflation, crime, and corruption, Chávez's special brand of populist-fueled socialism struck a resonant chord with Venezuelans fed up with the decades of exclusive "politics as usual" that preceded his time in office. His electoral base has been the poor and working class, who felt for decades they were brushed aside by the two parties that dominated the political spectrum.

Coining the term "socialism for the 21st century," the former Army paratrooper shored up unprecedented support during his tenure by investing the country's vast oil wealth in subsidies and popular assistance programs providing anything from free medical care to housing and groceries.

Almost 60 percent of Venezuelans favor his policies, according to Luis Vicente Leon, president of the polling firm, Datanalisis, though he also calls the number "incredibly volatile."

But "the situation today in Venezuela is very difficult," says Herbert Koeneke, a political science professor at Simon Bolivar University, referring to skyrocketing public debt accrued during the Chávez years and a faltering oil industry.

RECOMMENDED: Hugo Chávez 101: a quiz about Venezuela's president

Despite having the world's largest proven oil reserves, South America's largest oil exporter is now importing oil products from the US to meet its domestic demand. Production has dwindled by an estimated 25 percent since Chávez took office. The US Energy Information Agency reported last year that 89,000 barrels were exported daily to Venezuela.

And that presents an added challenge to his successor – whether it's Maduro from the PSUV, or the opposition's expected candidate, Henrique Capriles.

"An election without Chávez could increase the opposition's prospects should shortages of food, medicines, and other basic goods continue intensifying in Venezuela," IHS Global Insight Latin America analyst Diego Moya-Ocampos said via email.

The latest polling data from Hinterlaces, collected prior to the announcement of Chávez's death, shows that if Maduro and Mr. Capriles face off in a presidential election, Maduro is projected to win 50 percent of respondents support; Capriles 36 percent; with 14 percent of respondents undecided. And though Maduro had Chávez's backing, that doesn't make him Chávez.

"The popularity of Chávez is not solely based on his policies but rather on Chávez himself," Mr. Leon says.

"He's a phenomenon," says Eduardo Brown, a retired public administrator, while paying his respects to the president at the Plaza Bolívar last night. "It's his charisma, the rational behind his actions. He's the only president that has truly reached the people."

Similar to Putin in a way?! @asianobserve

 

[amoy]

I have no idea.

I'm pessimistic on Brazilian regional leadership. We don't have a ideology to guide our foreign policy. There are lack of strategic view.

Chavez in someway to fill this ideological empty with his Bolivarianism doctrine. But now without Chavez, I think this doctrine will lose strength and there is no other to replace it. Brazil will not offer other regional project capable to unite South American countries in a common goal.

Who knows a day which Brazil has military strenght enough to frighten foreign power as USA, UK or France, and global political power gaining a permanent seat in UN/SC - though it would be without veto - the things starts to change in South America. Until this day reach, I don't have much faith in Brazilian regional leadership.

Get some faith!

CSM says nice things abt Lula >> Chávez vs Lula: Two distinct approaches to poverty reduction in Latin America - CSMonitor.com

Both Hugo Chávez in Venezuela and Luiz Inácio "Lula" da Silva in Brazil dramatically reshaped their societies, reducing inequality to its lowest level in decades. But to many observers, the differences in their approach may have long-lasting implications: While Chávez boosted the poor at the expense of the economy and the country's democratic institutions, they argue, Lula took a more moderate and potentially sustainable route.

"Both were part of the so-called pink tide in Latin America – the shift toward the left – so there is a reason for putting them in the same box," says Gerardo Munck, a Latin American scholar at the University of Southern California. "But it is a mistake to say they are both the same. The policies of Lula and [current President] Dilma Rousseff have been very moderate."

And they look bhai bhai

 

[asianobserve]

After Chávez, politicians cannot ignore Venezuela's poor (+video) - CSMonitor.com



Similar to Putin in a way?! @asianobserve

The biggest problem with Venezuela is that it cannot refine its own oil (I think China is investing in refineries in Venezuela but they're not yet online). So the Venezuelans have to send their heavy crude oil to US for refinement and the US sends them back to Venezuela as a finished products. That's why even though Chavez hates so much the Americans he cannot cut off or even diminish Venezuela's trade with the Americans.

Russia is different in that it refines its own oil. In other words it has a mature oil refining infrastructure for its local market. It's biggest concern now is the possible dumping of US shale oil and gas which no doubt will pull down the prices of both commodities. This is not counting the possible shale oil and gas extraction by other countries including European countries. The latter it must be pointed out, especially Eastern Europeans, are itching to get away from Russia's bullying relationship. They no doubt would immediately shift to local and even US sourced oil and gas. Or even if some of the Europeans will continue to source out their oil and gas needs from Russia, reduced World markets of gas and oil would mean that Russia will not escape.

 

[W.G.Ewald]

He was a popular leader, who apparently cared for his people.

May he rest now in Peace.

That the constitution of Venzuela <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitution_of_Venezuela> did not provide a means for a clear succession to the presidency in the event of his death does not speak well for his socialist movement. Neither does the need to keep his body on display in perpetuity.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitution_of_Venezuela#A_strengthened_and_recallable_presidency

A strengthened and recallable presidency

It also increased the presidential term of office from five to six years, subject to a limit of two terms. The document also introduced provisions for national presidential recall referendums – that is, Venezuelan voters now were to be given the right to remove their president from office before the expiration of the presidential term. Such referendums were to be activated upon provision of petitions with a valid number of signatures. The new provision was activated for the first time when such a referendum was held in 2004, but it failed to receive majority support. See Venezuelan recall referendum, 2004. The presidency was also strengthened, with the power to dissolve the National Assembly under certain conditions.

In 2009, term limits (not only that for president) were abolished by a referendum.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venezuelan_recall_referendum,_2004

The Venezuelan recall referendum of 15 August 2004 was a referendum to determine whether Hugo Chávez, the former President of Venezuela, should be recalled from office. The recall referendum was announced on 8 June 2004 by the National Electoral Council (CNE) after Venezuelan opposition succeeded in collecting the number of signatures required by the 1999 Constitution to effect a recall.

The result of the referendum was not to recall Chávez (41% yes), but there have been some allegations of fraud. A 2004 report rejected the hypothesis of fraud.[1] In 2006 a peer-reviewed scientific study alleges that the yes vote in reality was around 56.4%.[2] In 2011 a special section of Statistical Science all six peer-reviewed studies supported the conclusion of fraud.[3]

 

[W.G.Ewald]

I am referring to UNCLE SAM buddy.....

Norteamericanos...

 

[W.G.Ewald]

The wild card in Venezuela: Armed Chavistas - DC Breaking Local News Weather Sports FOX 5 WTTG

The banner just inside the poor neighborhood in western Caracas reads, "Loyal to Comandante Chavez." The guard at the gate ensures no one enters without permission - not even the police.

The "23 of January" redoubt is home to a small army of pistol-toting young men who see themselves as guardians of President Hugo Chavez's "socialist revolution." These die-hard Chavistas say there is no way they will let Venezuela's "oligarchy" and its alleged Washington patrons return to power.

Beating back the opposition "would cost us blood, sweat and tears, but they won't be back," said Carlos Torres, the guard at the gate.

If Chavez's populist state is indeed threatened by domestic and foreign foes as claimed, this is the defense. On alert and, in many cases on edge, are hundreds of well-armed toughs who belong to such shadowy "collectives" as La Piedrita, which have been blamed for strong-armed intimidation of political opponents and worse.

 

[Damian]

Another country with "eternal president" fetish? :der: