VENEZUELA BEWARE
Hugo Chavez is a dangerous man. When will people ever learn? For a while I thought Chavez was just a local nut case who sought fame and fortune in his home country. Latin America has a long history of petty dictators that have done nothing but ruin their own countries. Anyone south of the border can get mileage by trashing the U.S. but most are of little importance or danger to the world-the U.S. usually finds a way to dispose of them.
For all practical purposes, the people of Venezuela have tossed any hope of democracy out the window-at least for the forseable future. Any time a leader can get his nation to give him absolute power, tyranny cannot be far behind. Soon the opposition will be hunted down and the prisons will overflow with journalists who do not tow the Chavez line. It is sad. While their is no question that the U.S. has not been a good friend to the people of Latin America, it is a shame that they will throw their lives and freedom down the tube to the first fast talker that takes on the giant in the north.
Chavez does not seem like the kind of man that will stop with just controlling his own country. Remember the Sudatenland?
