You're kidding me right?

Chavez accuses Bush of being a genocidal terrorist.

Chavez must be making reference to the war in Iraq in making his claim. This isn't a new claim by Chavez. The famous 'you are a donkey Mr. Bush' clip from his one man show, Chavez calls Bush a 'genocida'.

The part that gets me is the following quote from Chavez:

"Venezuela's people today are better fed than ever."

Really? Not according to first hand reports from Venezuela, where propane gas is in shortage, and staples such as harina pan, milk, etc. are in shortage. Deny, deny, deny, deny.

Eres mentiroso Senor Chavez!

Terrorist Sponsoring State Designation

As I've stated before, and is relatively obvious, the US silently supports Chavez and his regime and agenda via the oil market. The US buys crude oil from Venezuela, and Venezuela in turn uses that money for various things, including weapon purchases from Russia, along with money funneled to the FARC, and other nefarious corruption schemes.

Even the US Navy has a contract with Citgo to sell gasoline on Naval bases. Citgo used to be Cities Services, and was bought out in the '90s by PDVSA, which is the state-run oil company of Venezuela. The contract runs through 2010.

As the article points out, there has been a call in the US to designate Venezuela as a terrorist sponsoring state due to links with the FARC - a designated terrorist organization by all of the world. This would curtail business transactions, including oil sales, between Venezuela and the US and other countries who adhere to the financial embargoes on countries thus designated. It would allow the US to get out of this sticky contract with Citgo.

Chavez in the past has threatened to cut off it's oil supply to the US for various reasons; this being his only trump card to play in his one-sided war of words with the US and particularly the Bush administration.

The fact that the US State Department hasn't come out and specifically said it wouldn't designate Venezuela as a terrorist-sponsoring state leaves me with the feeling that the Bush administration is calling Chavez' bluff on his threat. The idea being that there is more at stake for Venezuela than for the US. I've not heard any pundits back up this theory, but it struck me as I read the article.

Could be interesting.....

Cocaine seized in Venezuela, go figure....

There is cocaine flowing through Venezuela. Police seize 3 tons of the stuff in Valencia.

So the question I have is; if 3 tons of the stuff are found, how much is getting through? Call me skeptical, but I bet this is the sacrificial load to ensure the world that Chavez isn't in cahoots with the FARC in trafficking their drugs.

Contrast between neighbors

The recent tit-for-tat episode between Venezuela and Colombia brought to the forefront the military capabilities of both countries.

Each side as their strengths and weaknesses. Venezuela has far less troops than Colombia, and Venezuelan troops aren't well trained. On the other hand, Venezuela has more fire power (more artillery, bigger and better aircraft, and tanks). The Colombian Army doesn't have tanks due to the nature of where they operate: mainly in the Andes mountains and jungles, neither place conducive to using tanks, but has been engaged in an on-going war with the likes of the FARC and ELN for the past 40 years. Venezuelan troops have been acting in more humanitarian capacity (by design).

Venezuela is gearing up a militia to defend the homeland in case of an invasion. If you believe Chavez' rhetoric, the US is just chomping on the bit to come and invade his country. As the article also points out, this militia acts as means to rescue Chavez in case of another attempted coup; the last one supported by commanding officers in Venezuela's military.

I would agree with the first article's assessment that Chavez wouldn't be the one to push Venezuela into a war. While he isn't the brightest bulb in the bunch, he's not stupid enough to go against a military force that is bigger and better prepared than his.

The real concern with the ramping up of militias in Venezuela is what will happen when Chavez is defeated in the next election. While that election is in 2012, events may transpire between now and then that bring about the fall of Mr. Chavez term as president. While Chavez' popularity is on the decline in Venezuela, there remains a small stalwart segment of supporters (those that Chavez was supposed to help, but who aren't much better off now than they were before other than they now have weapons to help them express their pent up anger) ready to defend him and fight for him.

At that point, the concern would be that these civilian militias step in, and all out civil war will ensue. That's the point at which the world will find out where the loyalties of the Venezuelan army lie, and if the opposition to Chavez has been able to arm itself as well.

So the powder keg is really Venezuela itself and it's being fueled by petrodollars, and Chavez rhetoric.

FARC - Venezuelan sponsored terrorism

Members of the US Congress are asking the US State Department to put Venezuela on the list of nations that support terrorism.

Of course, Chavez response is to go into his 'imperialism' speech. He'll never answer the question as to whether Venezuela aids and abets the FARC or ELN. Nope, just blaming the hand that feeds him.

Unfortunately, this just feeds into his ability to divert attention from the real problems in Venezuela. It gives him one more piece of coal to stoke the fires of anti-US sentiment among his now dwindling supporters.

I don't think the American lawmakers understand that the best way to keep Chavez quiet is to ignore him. He's a bag of hot air that is all bluff and bluster, and no bite. (Just look to the incident with Colombia for further evidence of that point.) Just as Venezuela depends on Colombia for imports, Venezuela (and Chavez' corrupted cronies) depends on the US for the oil dollars.

I don't think GW and his administration stay up at night worrying about Chavez, as where Chavez and his cronies seem to be in a tizzy about the US.

Good analysis from The Guardian....

Even though they've been partial to Chavez in the past.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/mar/08/colombia.venezuela

Good news...

Not that the death of anyone is good news, but it doesn't hurt that it's #4 FARC leader Ivan Rios. And killed by his own security chief. Maybe things are turning? Marulanda, watch your back.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601086&sid=aEeWlqGo0GbU&refer=latin_america

Hopefully the US and Colombia will pay the bounty on Rios' and that will cause other's to be encouraged to do the same to #1 on down.

Also, there is speculation as to why Chavez and Correa backed down so quickly at the Rio Group Summit. Could it be that Uribe is a brilliant poker player and didn't show all of his cards when he released the emails from the retrieved laptops?

And the capture of a big arms dealer in Thailand is being linked to the info on the computers as well.

Not a good week for Correa or Chavez, who I'm sure thought things would be in a different place at this point. Now Chavez and Correa will have to deal with the real issues at home: natural disastes in Ecuador and Chavez disasters in Venezuela.