[lbo-talk] 2 items re Hugo

[Bhaskar Sunkara]

I don't mean to overstate the importance of this, but it's worth mentioning
that Chavez's affection with Qaddafi goes back quite a bit-- "The Green
Book" was on the reading lists of the young officers in the Movimiento
Bolivariano Revolucionario 200.

Also, Chavez sees the events unfolding as an attempted destabilization of a
friendly OPEC nation by Western powers.  Hugo isn't a prophet.  He's a left
populist managing a capitalist state.  Better than the alternatives to the
right in the region.... but when he supports repression against the popular
movements in Iran or Libya, I'm not exactly surprised.

On Tue, Mar 1, 2011 at 7:53 PM, <dredmond at efn.org> wrote:


>
> Can anyone more familiar with Venezuela explain just why Chavez has been
> buddying up to Qaddafi's horrible regime? Is Chavez being taken in by the
> latter's bogus anti-imperialist rhetoric, or is this the limit of
> persona-based populism, which is based on handshakes with leaders instead
> of deeper social transformation? Is there noone on Chavez's staff who is
> watching the plentiful Youtube videos of Qaddafi's thugs machine-gunning
> unarmed protestors?
> __________________
>