Pot calling kettle...

Okay, so we all know about the Human Rights Watch folks getting kicked out of Venezuela. Apparently there were 'meddling' in Venezuelan affairs.

Um... So a few folks from this organization go to Caracas and hold a press conference and say that human rights in Venezuela are slowly deteriorating due to Chavez heavy handed ways, and they are removed from the country.

That's far more innocent than the revelations about the Venezuelan government connections to the FARC found on the now famous laptop computer taken from the Ecuadorian encampment of the FARC by Colombian troops. I guess that's not 'meddling' in the affairs of Colombia.

Or the revelations coming to light in the 'maletagate' (suitcase-gate) case in Miami where Venezuelans were detained in Argentina with a suitcase of $800,000 (and reportedly millions more that went unfound) bound for the presidential campaign of Cristina Kirchner. Nope, that's not meddling either. That's just good old graft.

Nor the money funneled to Daniel Ortega's presidential campaign in Nicaragua, or to similar efforts in Peru, Ecuador, or Bolivia to name a few. Nope, these aren't meddling in affairs. Not at all. These are just good business.

Aside - I wonder if Chavez has attempted to funnel money to Barack Obama's campaign fund. I'm sure that it would be easier to do up here, don't even have to try to sneak a suitcase full of money into the country. In no way am I making an accusation, just would be very curious to know if an attempt has been made, and by which means.

Chavez loves to use the word 'imperialist' in reference to the US. In effect, he's setting up his own empire in Latin America by selling oil to nations in the region at a preferential rate, financing guerrilla groups in countries that oppose him, pledging troops to places like Bolivia where uprisings are threatening the presidency of Chavez' puppet Evo Morales, and on, and on, and on. Chavez isn't building his empire by war, he's building it by rhetoric, and money. Money talks loudly in Latin America. Always has, and always will.

For instance, in Nicaragua, Venezuelan aid has gone missing. Suspicion is that it has gone into President Ortega's coffers someplace. Even Ortega himself doesn't know exactly how much his country has received from Venezuela. On may he said it was over $500 million. Someone must have told him that over half that had been siphoned off into his own personal bank accounts, because in July, the amount he reported in a speech with Chavez by his said dropped to just over $200 million. Regardless, the aid isn't showing up in the Nicaraguan budget, leading some to think it's going directly to President Ortega.

HA HA HA HA HA..... oops!

Chavez was happy to hear that Lehman Brother's has gone kaput. He said they should have been looking out for themselves instead of putting out negative reports about Venezuela.

Maybe Chavez should have checked with his personal wealth manager to find out if the Lehman demise would affect his portfolio. According to the Wall Street Journal, Venezuela stands to lose about $300 million in debt instruments that Lehman had agreed to cash. Oops.

Sure, it's not billions, but it's not chump change either.

It's just funny that Chavez ridicules Lehman, but forgets he has business dealings with them.

Citgo receives oil from US Strategic Reserve

What?!?!?! Are you kidding me?

Apparently, Citgo needs oil for some reason after Gustav rolled through Louisiana, and they have requested it from the US Strategic Oil Reserve.

As of the report, they were the only ones to have asked.

I guess Venezuela is hurting for oil? Wonder what gives on this.

Response to Dallas Morning News Editorial

I responded to a Dallas Morning News editorial on Chavez and the lack of US involvement in South America.

I'll let you read the editorial on their site, but here is my response:

There is an easy solution to the Venezuelan problem - start producing more of our own oil, and reducing our demand on Venezuelan oil. This is what should have been started back when Chavez came to power many years ago, or at least when he nationalized the oil industry. Take away his petrodollars, and he's nothing. He thumbs his nose at the US, and we pay him anyway. It's insanity.

Yes, the US needs to counter-act Chavez, but we need to do it by bolstering our allies in the region, and adding more. We need more allies like President Uribe of Colombia who aren't afraid to stand up to Chavez.

I don't think that the US government takes Chavez too seriously (until maybe now with Russian bombers landing on Venezuelan soil), because his threats have been hollow. He choses his words vey carefully - 'if' the US invades there will be no oil. Yeah, doesn't take a genious to figure that if you are invaded by a country to which you supply oil, you aren't going to continue to do business with them or they with you. But at the same time, Chavez needs our petrodollars as much as we need his oil so his oil isn't going anywhere for the time being.

You're observation about 'leveling the playing field in the upcoming elections' is a bit naive. That Chavez recognized the referendum last December was a miracle. Reports are that regional elections will gain more opposition governors. Chavez has already moved to divide the country up into sectors for 'defense' purposes with generals over each sector, with the thought that these generals will effectively render the governors useless. You presuppose that Chavez is going to let the elections go on in a democratic fashion - you are sadly mistaken. It wouldn't even surprise me if he were to rig the elections in his favor or through them out altogether.

Drill Here, Drill Now

If there ever was an argument for 'Drill here, drill now...' that the Republicans chanted during their convention, or the protesters chanted during an event attended by Speaker Pelosi during the Democratic convention, it is a single human being - Hugo Chavez Frias, the President/Autocrat (I won't say dictator just yet) of Venezuela.

As I've said before in posts, Chavez thumbs his nose at the US every chance he gets, and he can do it with money that we supply him thanks to our dependence on Venezuelan oil. Sure, it's not the percentage of oil this country imports (Canada is tops), but it does account for 60% of Venezuela's oil exports. And as we all know, oil is king in Venezuela as far as source of revenue for the government. So the oil we import from Venezuela feeds the corrupt political system with Chavez at the helm.

For instance - the scandal where Venezuelan operatives were caught attempting to smuggle a suitcase with $800,000 into Argentina (with another $4.2 million possibly aboard) came from Venezuela's oil company PDVSA thanks to you and me who buy gas.

Not enough? Now, there are allegations on the same tapes used to prosecute the above case in Miami that Chavez' government attempted to bribe nations to vote for Venezuela when a seat became available on the UN Security Council. (BTW, this guy's blog is very good and very current on what's happening in Venezuela - it's a great read. He's a financial expert who I believe I've seen quoted on Bloomberg regarding Venezuelan economic issues.)

And so, with impunity Chavez can run his mouth (I wonder if he's auditioning for an Orbitz commercial), and expel the US ambassador and play war games with Russia and buy billions of dollars of weaponry all at the expense of the US. (Sorry Mr. Wright, I know that's probably a run-on sentence.)

So to Speaker Pelosi, all Senators and Representatives, and the future President of this United States please, please, please - DRILL HERE, DRILL NOW!!!!! Yeah, we won't reap the benefits of an immediate drop in the price of gas, but we could replace or reduce or demand for Venezuelan oil, and stop sending as much money to Chavez. Besides, he's on a trip now to China to explore shipping more oil there to replace the US as a buyer.

I'm back.... (it's been a while)

For the one or two readers that I used to have, I'm back. Took a long hiatus for many different reasons, but with the flare up of Chavez in the news I thought I'd jump back into the game.

In the intervening time between my last post and now, I actually had an 'RLM' (real life meetup) with Jungle Mom. See, my parents used to work with her and her husband in Venezuela. So there is a connection.

In June, I surprised my parents with a visit to their home in California. Turns out it was good timing because they had been invited to Jungle Mom's son's wedding in South Lake Tahoe, and they needed someone to drive them. So we spent a weekend in South Lake Tahoe, and I got to meet Jungle Mom and her family.

Anyway, I'll start posting again on Venezuela and current events down there, and maybe a few other things not so necessarily related to Venezuela as I'll use this to maybe vent some frustrations, etc.

Catch you on the flip side.

Richardson to Venezuela

Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico is heading to Venezuela to negotiate the release of 3 US hostages held by the FARC.

He had visited Colombia for the same purpose on a previous occasion.

The article touts Richardson's experience at the UN, and in negotiating other hostage releases. My question is, where was he when the 5 American missionaries were held hostage in Colombia and were eventually murdered?

And is Venezuela now the established conduit to getting hostages released by the FARC? If anything, to me this just adds to the validity that Chavez and the FARC are in bed together. And of course it goes beyond the mutual back scratching: FARC releases hostages to Chavez to make him look good, Chavez pleads the FARC case to the world.

Oh how I wish the full contents of those laptops become available. I'm sure that there is even more evidence on there linking Chavez, Correa and others (even US officials) to the FARC.