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Caribbean-Latin America
Rival Chávez factions resort to deadly force
2006-07-17
Splitters!
Cracks are becoming fissures in Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez's self-declared revolution, as armed groups of leftist supporters clashed in recent weeks in a rough and poor barrio in skirmishes that left at least four dead.

The gunfights are the first between Chávez supporters in public and seem to illustrate the rough scramble over the benefits from Chávez's oil-fueled government as well as bitter jealousies among leaders of Chavista groups. ''Wherever you go in this country, you'll find a [poor neighborhood] . . . where there are internal fights,'' said Alberto Garrido, a longtime Chávez watcher and author of several books on the man and his ideology.
Posted by:mojo

#9  Don't kill each other. That would break my heart!
Posted by: Iblis   2006-07-17 21:20  

#8  VZ is just slipping back to the bannana zone, couldn't stand good times.
Posted by: 6   2006-07-17 18:13  

#7  Hugo is such a fan of Marxism that he has now created his own version of the Red Guards wars in China. Also, arming the most likely candidates for gang activity is not the smartest move in the world. I am sure the local branches of the cocaine cartels are ever so grateful for the new hardware.
Posted by: Shieldwolf   2006-07-17 15:25  

#6  In some ways, Chavez reminds me of Alexander Kerensky, best known as being the president of the short-lived democratic Soviet Union, and having the personality of John Kerry mixed with Pee Wee Herman, alternatively boring and bureaucratic, and paranoid and panic-stricken.

He issued guns to the peasants, too. Guns that were used to overthrow his government a short time later.
Posted by: Anonymoose   2006-07-17 14:46  

#5  Sounds like Massachusetts...except everybody's got automatic weapons.

So it's more like Detroit, then?
Posted by: Rob Crawford   2006-07-17 14:46  

#4  Some Tupamaros maintain their vigilante role and run government literacy and after-school programs, while others engage in criminal activities. But all are armed and seem to have benefited financially and socially from Chávez's rise to power. Some have government jobs, while others are living off the leftovers from the government's increased social spending.

Sounds like Massachusetts...except everybody's got automatic weapons.
Posted by: tu3031   2006-07-17 14:30  

#3  Red on red!
Posted by: Mike   2006-07-17 14:23  

#2  Wow, good thing he gave them all those guns...
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats   2006-07-17 14:08  

#1  Not another head butt?
Posted by: Perfesser   2006-07-17 12:57  

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