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Caribbean-Latin America
Venezuela eyes U.S. military on Curacao
2005-02-28
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) -- Venezuela's navy is taking a close look at the American military presence on the nearby island of Curacao to determine the intention of U.S. operations there, Venezuela's navy commander said Monday.
Navy Cmdr. Armando Laguna said the Venezuelan navy was "taking precautions" as it observes the presence of U.S. Marines, along with military planes and amphibious vehicles on the Caribbean island. He did not provide details regarding what measures the navy was taking.
Cruising by looking at the Marines who are looking back making faces at them.
Laguna told the state-run television channel the navy "detected a series of (military) units" on the island, located roughly 46 miles (75 kilometers) northeast of Venezuela's Paraguana Peninsula.
Getting a prickly feeling on the back of your neck, Hugo? Good.
"We took precautions to determine what the intention is," said Laguna, adding that the U.S. Navy often carries out exercises in southern Caribbean but failed to notify Venezuela's military on this occasion.
Fancy that

There was no immediate comment from the U.S. Embassy in Caracas.
Not that we'd tell State if we were up to anything
Posted by:Steve

#21  jimmuh as a human shield? Two-fer! Launch the killer rabbits©!
Posted by: Frank G   2005-02-28 11:36:28 PM  

#20  ...First, it's now Officially Obvious(TM) that Chavez now suffers from Noreiega's Disease, a little know affliction that renders the sufferer incapable of knowing exactly what he's screwing with.
Second, a prediction: Jimmah will fly to Venezuela, denounce the coming invasion, and stand as a human shield with Hugo, figuring we won't DARE mess with him.

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski   2005-02-28 11:34:43 PM  

#19  "Chavez retains the support of a slight majority of Venezuelans"

If Chavez really had the support of "slight majority", why did he need to obstruct and cheat on the referenda?
Venezuela - Chavez Obstruction of the Presidential Recall Referendum
Dr. Constantine Menges Senior Fellow at the Hudson Institute
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2004/4/6/102346.shtml

The latest referendum has been dissected by reknown mathematicians and the likes showing evidence of fraud.
Here is a great summary of all the studies: http://blogs.salon.com/0001330/categories/rrModels/
And has anyone here seen the latest photos of the fake crowds of the fake revolution? Littlegreenfootballs linked to it a few days ago: http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=14854

Posted by: TMH   2005-02-28 9:22:53 PM  

#18  Sorry my fellow hawks, but I do not think it wise to respond to Chavez's provocations in any way except isolation. As Liberalhawk pointed out, Chavez's posturing is for domestic consumption and while it might be good to puncture his puffery, I think he is more clever and dastardly than you might believe. His goal is to suppress internal opposition and consolidate power in the classic totalitarian style. He is distributing weapons to his supporters on the pretext of mobilizing defenses against American invasion. Our Armed Forces should be as far away as possible so that it is clear to all of S. America and the world how empty and false such pretexts are.

The biggest problem is that, for now, Chavez retains the support of a slight majority of Venezualans - he's the first Commie to win an election. We cannot move against him and be true to our principles while he retains this support. We will have to be patient and wait for his support to erode, even if it takes years and lots of suffering.

There is a large base of opposition - basically all of Venezuela's middle and upper classes - including some of my friends. No doubt many of them would welcome American armed intervention - they loathe Chavez. But they have made many mistakes until now, including when they were in power and in misplaying their cards since Chavez came to power. The failed coup was a colassal blunder. Now they have to pay the price but the first step to eroding Chavez's base is to start being smart - not desperate and foolhardy.
Posted by: John in Tokyo   2005-02-28 8:30:46 PM  

#17  #13. They might not have to wait long for the American lefties. Jimmy Carter and the Carter Center are on the way back to Caracas "to help consolidate peace and democracy." Jimmah figured he didn't demoralize the Venezuelan's enough the last time he 'helped' democracy's cause there.
Posted by: GK   2005-02-28 7:18:55 PM  

#16  I think it would be wonderful if the US found a way to quarantine a few Venezuelan oil tankers enroute to Cuba. Hold them a day and let them go. Send a powerful message that if we wanted to screw with them it would be very easy. Their entire economy depends upon US patrolled oceans.
Posted by: RJ Schwarz   2005-02-28 7:15:19 PM  

#15  ...the Venezuelan navy was "taking precautions" as it observes the presence of U.S. Marines, along with military planes and amphibious vehicles on the Caribbean island.

And?


Greeting from our guys on Curacao for Hugo "The Magnificent"
Posted by: BigEd   2005-02-28 6:30:04 PM  

#14  I'll wager the locals take care of this inside 8 years.
Posted by: Shipman   2005-02-28 4:47:41 PM  

#13  Not to worry Hugo, your not in real trouble until John F. Kerry leads a congressional delegation to save you goverment. It's about the time that these LLL Yahoos leave that you start hearing the sound of JDAMS landing on your office.
Posted by: Cyber Sarge   2005-02-28 4:02:18 PM  

#12  Crazyfool, I think the Venezuelans are going to have to stew a bit longer.
Posted by: buwaya   2005-02-28 3:41:38 PM  

#11  I wonder how many of venezualiens (sp?) are, after seeing what is going on with the Iraqi elections, are quietly praying for an invasion......

"Oh please... Oh please... Oh please..."
Posted by: CrazyFool   2005-02-28 3:27:17 PM  

#10  He is running out of lies to tell stuff to say on his multi hour Sunday tv show.

Is there any sane democracy anywhere that has a multi hour TV show of the head of state ranting?
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom   2005-02-28 3:13:29 PM  

#9  Hey, Kimmie sabre-rattled and got offers of free stuff from Clinton. His buddies in Iran sabre-rattled and got offers of free stuff from the Euroweenies. Why not give it a try?
Posted by: Tom   2005-02-28 3:00:16 PM  

#8  tell em they are under attack and you can stay in office
Posted by: juriseqs   2005-02-28 2:58:27 PM  

#7  Liberalhawk, precisely. Its Chavez sabre-rattling, maybe trying to get a rise out of the US.
Posted by: buwaya   2005-02-28 2:56:04 PM  

#6  they are there to back up Coast guard drug ops, cruise ship antiterror efforts and oil refinery protection.
Posted by: juriseqs   2005-02-28 2:38:20 PM  

#5  this is just propagamda from Chavez to get locals to rally round the flag. The US aint doing anything about him anytime soon.
Posted by: liberalhawk   2005-02-28 2:30:15 PM  

#4  Love it. Rattling the guys with all the epaulets and medals, huh? Be sure to watch for subs and covert insertions... get those clips and ammo for the 100,000 AK's? No?

Time to start jerking Hugo's chain in a big way and he'll overreact
Posted by: Frank G   2005-02-28 2:29:54 PM  

#3  ...the Venezuelan navy was "taking precautions" as it observes the presence of U.S. Marines

Yeah. Probably passing out the life jackets...
Posted by: tu3031   2005-02-28 2:26:57 PM  

#2  Hopefully Chavez would not wake up at all. He would disappear in a fireball the moment anything started.
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats   2005-02-28 2:26:47 PM  

#1  If the US were to take Venezuela down there would be no signs and portents in the days ahead. Chavez would learn about it when he heard the gunfire and shelling.
Posted by: rjschwarz   2005-02-28 2:17:54 PM  

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