Why don't we invite Hugo Chavez? (56)

Okay, so we're getting set to invite two imperialists whose armies are in the middle of immoral wars in Iraq and Afghanistan respectively.

So why not invite a genuine democrat like Hugo Chavez? No leader on earth has done more to empower his citizens. People talk about democracy here, but Venezuela is an example of real grassroots democracy in action. Ordinary people have succeeded despite the pressure of a hostile US, and gang of corrupt oligarchs who have already tried one failed coup. So why not invite the bold Hugo? Or does he have to invade somewhere first?

And your evidence for either of these positions would be?

and he changed trhe constitution so he could stand for a third term
thats not democracy

hes openly said he supports them

I was waiting for this chestnut to be brought out. Always great when an often repeated lie, that you know you can refute is wheeled out.

First of all, what you are referring to is the referendum on term limits which was passed in 2009. A democratic decision made by the majority of venezuelans. In this referendum, it was proposed that the upper limit on term limits be removed.

Term limits do not exist for heads of government in most of the main western countries. Britain don't have them, Germany don't France don't, Canada don't, ditto Australia. Term limits were only intruduced in the States in the forties or fifties, they are not an inherent part of democracy. Especially when the people of the country vote to abolish them.

Bear in mind also that the reason this had to go before the people as a stand alone issue, was that they had already rejected a constitutional reform package, very narrowly in a referendum in late 2007. Under Venezuelan Law you cannot hold the same referendum twice, So Chavez accepted his defeat and moved on. So much for being anti-democratic.

Hugo Chavez carrer

July 28, 1954: Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías was born
1980:he founded the secretive Revolutionary Bolivarian Movement-200 (MBR-200) to work towards overthrowing it. After the Democratic Action government of President Carlos Andrés Pérez
1992:ordered the violent repression of protests against spending cuts, Chávez led the MBR-200 in an unsuccessful coup d'état against the government for which he was imprisoned.
1998:Getting out of prison after two years, he founded a political party, the Fifth Republic Movement, and was elected president of Venezuela in 1998. He subsequently introduced a new constitution which increased rights for marginalised groups and altered the structure of Venezuelan government, and was re-elected in 2000.
2000: Became the 56th president of Venenzuela.
2002: The opposition movement meanwhile, fearing that he was eroding representative democracy and becoming increasingly dictatorial, attempted to remove him from power both through an unsuccessful military coup in 2002 and a recall referendum in 2003.
2006.Re elected again in to power following which he founded a new political party, the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), in 2007

Hugo chavez was against American foregin policy Allying himself strongly with the socialist governments of Fidel Castro in Cuba, Evo Morales in Bolivia and Rafael Correa of Ecuador, he has supported Latin American and Caribbean cooperation and was instrumental in setting up the pan-regional Union of South American Nations, the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas, the Bank of the South, and the regional television network TeleSur.

and i was told i knew nothing about current affairs.

Great post Biggles.