Hugo Chávez ya no es presidente de Venezuela

[wuapinmon]

Hugo Chávez has passed. It will be very interesting to see how the succession unwinds. I hope we don't see a civil war, but a peaceful transition, followed by elections.

[wuapinmon]

Regardless of what you thought of him, if you speak Spanish, this is some funny shit.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmZ8GWfX6DQ

[wuapinmon]

A decent BBC article about the Venezuelan economy: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-20795781

A fair documentary in English (with subtitles) about the man:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCa0iKCEmno

[wuapinmon]

The New York Times cleans up:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/06/world/americas/hugo-chavez-of-venezuela-dies.html?pagewanted=1&_r=0

ABC News in Spain is reporting that Chavez actually died in Cuba.

http://www.abc.es/internacional/20130305/abci-muere-hugo-chavez-201303052307.html#.UTad_JavWbQ.facebook

[GarthUte]

May he burn in hell.

[big z]

Regardless of what you thought of him, if you speak Spanish, this is some funny shit.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmZ8GWfX6DQ


How about a translation for those of us who don't?

[wuapinmon]

How about a translation for those of us who don't?

Well, that's a long translation, but essentially, it's about his ordeal of having diarrhea in public and all of the things that happen to him as he's trying to find a bathroom to relieve himself.

[Solon]

Hugo Chávez has passed. It will be very interesting to see how the succession unwinds. I hope we don't see a civil war, but a peaceful transition, followed by elections.

http://www.economist.com/blogs/americasview/2013/03/venezuela-after-ch%C3%A1vez


To the end, Mr Chávez’s rule was narcissistic, with country and constitution subordinated to his whim. In the tradition of the Latin American caudillo, he wanted to die with his boots on. When he was too ill to be sworn in for his new term on January 10th, his officials, with Cuban support, resolved to disregard the constitution that he himself had pushed through in 1999 and declared that the inauguration could happen at a later date. It will be harder for them to avoid the constitution’s requirement that in the event of the president’s death an election must be held within 30 days (though in practice a poll may be difficult to organise in such a short period).

Think they'll get Maduro elected in 30 days?

[LA Ute]

Rep. Jose Serrano, Democrat from New York: (https://twitter.com/RepJoseSerrano/status/309068896734961665)


Hugo Chavez was a leader that understood the needs of the poor. He was committed to empowering the powerless. R.I.P. Mr. President.

Human Rights Watch (http://www.hrw.org/news/2013/03/05/venezuela-chavez-s-authoritarian-legacy):


Hugo Chávez's presidency (1999-2013) was characterized by a dramatic concentration of power and open disregard for basic human rights guarantees.

After enacting a new constitution with ample human rights protections in 1999 – and surviving a short-lived coup d'état in 2002 – Chávez and his followers moved to concentrate power. They seized control of the Supreme Court and undercut the ability of journalists, human rights defenders, and other Venezuelans to exercise fundamental rights.

By his second full term in office, the concentration of power and erosion of human rights protections had given the government free rein to intimidate, censor, and prosecute Venezuelans who criticized the president or thwarted his political agenda.

Roger Noriega, a former U.S. Ambassador to the Organziation of American States and assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs:

Post-Chávez Crisis an Opportunity for Venezuela (http://www.american.com/archive/2013/march/post-chavez-crisis-an-opportunity-for-venezuela)


Alas, Hugo Chávez will not live long enough to atone for his abuse of millions of Venezuelans nor to correct the corrupt and destructive policies that have wrecked the country he leaves behind. Moreover, although his cronies and their Cuban handlers are maneuvering to hold on to power, a Chavista succession is neither stable nor sustainable. With more audacious leadership among Venezuela's democrats and intelligent solidarity from abroad, Chávez's legacy might be buried with him.

The foundations of Chavismo are being shaken by an impending socioeconomic meltdown, a faltering oil sector, bitter in-fighting in his own movement, complicity with drug-trafficking and terrorism, rampant street crime, the inept performance by Chávez's anointed successor, and growing popular rejection of Cuban interference, corrupt institutions, and rigged elections. Beset by these challenges and with Chávez no longer at the top of the ballot, the regime will use every advantage to engineer a victory in a special election to choose a new president.

[concerned]

Hopefully venezuala can make a transition to legitimate democracy, and not, as middle eastern countries have done recently, slide into dictatorship either left or right.

[LA Ute]

Hopefully venezuala can make a transition to legitimate democracy, and not, as middle eastern countries have done recently, slide into dictatorship either left or right.

Your avatar is awesome.

[concerned]

Your avatar is awesome.


that magazine cover has special meaning for me.

[GarthUte]

Hopefully venezuala can make a transition to legitimate democracy, and not, as middle eastern countries have done recently, slide into dictatorship either left or right.

It was in a leftist dictatorship under Chavez.

[concerned]

It was in a leftist dictatorship under Chavez.


right; I didnt mean to imply that it wasnt; that is what I meant by a transition.

[wuapinmon]

Hopefully venezuala can make a transition to legitimate democracy, and not, as middle eastern countries have done recently, slide into dictatorship either left or right.

With street crime in Venezuela at awful levels, I could see the older generation clamoring for the safety that brutal police states bring. There are people in Chile who fondly remember Pinochet. I even know of a faculty member at a school in Utah, perhaps now retired, who never spoke ill of Franco.

There's a certain safety in dictatorship, the severest Leviathan there is. You surrender everything in return for daily life not being dangerous, so long as you obey.

I just hope, for humanist and selfish reasons, that we don't see civil war. Bloodshed and astronomical gas prices ($7 a gallon, anyone?) would make for an unlucky '13.

[LA Ute]

The Ghost of Hugo Chávez (http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2013/03/hugo_chavez_s_legacy_the_former_venezuelan_preside nt_was_not_the_typical.html)

How his economically disastrous, politically effective ideology will haunt the country he ruined.


What has Chávez bequeathed his fellow Venezuelans? The hard facts are unmistakable: The oil-rich South American country is in shambles. It has one of the world’s highest rates of inflation, largest fiscal deficits, and fastest growing debts. Despite a boom in oil prices, the country’s infrastructure is in disrepair—power outages and rolling blackouts are common—and it is more dependent on crude exports than when Chávez arrived. Venezuela is the only member of OPEC that suffers from shortages of staples such as flour, milk, and sugar. Crime and violence skyrocketed during Chávez’s years. On an average weekend, more people are killed in Caracas than in Baghdad and Kabul combined. (In 2009, there were 19,133 murders in Venezuela, more than four times the number of a decade earlier.) When the grisly statistics failed to improve, the Venezuelan government simply stopped publishing the figures.

[wuapinmon]

Perhaps the best article I've read about the economy of Venezuela, especially when compared to what Brazil and Colombia did during the same epoch without turning to socialism.

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/03/hugo-chavezs-sad-oil-soaked-economic-legacy/273758/

[wuapinmon]

So, apparently, Chavez spoke with Christ and convinced him to pick a South American pope. http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/03/13/us-pope-succession-chavez-idUSBRE92C1FK20130313

[wuapinmon]

http://qz.com/85373/something-is-wrong-when-a-country-says-its-40-million-rolls-short-on-toilet-paper/

Venezuelan economy is a wreck, and the country is 40 million rolls of toilet paper behind on demand. They plan to import 50 million rolls.....soon I imagine.

[GarthUte]

http://qz.com/85373/something-is-wrong-when-a-country-says-its-40-million-rolls-short-on-toilet-paper/

Venezuelan economy is a wreck, and the country is 40 million rolls of toilet paper behind on demand. They plan to import 50 million rolls.....soon I imagine.

Hooray price controls!