Article

2005-01-08 Caribbean-Latin America

Venezuelan authorities backed by troops seize cattle ranch

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Posted by Dan Darling 2005-01-08 1:39:56 AM|| || Front Page|| [4 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 The useless mouths of the breeding stock should be destroyed first to save grain.

Posted by Shipman 2005-01-08 11:32:15 AM|| 2005-01-08 11:32:15 AM|| Front Page Top

#2 More demagoguery from Chavez:
If anyone have the original transcript of this interview, please post it here. I got this copy by e-mail.

US bombing of Iraq 'horrendous terrorism', Venezuela's Chavez tells
Al-Jazeera 6 December 2004 BBC Monitoring Americas (Source: Al-Jazeera TV,
Doha, in Arabic 0000 gmt 3 Dec 04)

In an interview with Al-Jazeera, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez
salutes the TV channel, which he says is a beacon for truth in the Arab
world, and tells viewers that South America's growing rejection of
globalization makes confrontation with the United States "inevitable".
Chavez says that respect for national sovereignty prevents him from
sending a message to Arab regimes concerning US hegemony, but he uses a
Biblical quotation to suggest they should study Venezuela's example of
defiance.

The following is the text of the recorded interview with Chavez by
Faysal al-Qasim in Doha from the "Exclusive Interview" programme;date not given; broadcast by Qatari Al-Jazeera satellite TV
on 3 December; Chavez speaks in Spanish fading into superimposed
translation in Arabic; subheadings inserted editorially:

[Presenter Faysal Al-Qasim] Mr. President, I would like to welcome you
to the Al-Jazeera channel and I would like to begin straight away.

Undoubtedly, you are aware that you are very popular in the Arab world
and millions of Arabs support you. I read a commentary some time ago
which says if President Chavez were to run in an Arab presidential
election he would win more than 90 per cent of the votes - I mean a genuine
90 per cent and not falsified. The average Arab admire you because of
two things.
The first is your care for the poor and downtrodden in your country and
the second is your defiance of the only superpower in the world;
namely, the United States of America. Let us begin with the United States.
What makes you defy the United States? Do you not fear for your future
and the future of your country?

[Chavez] First of all, brother Faysal, I would like to thank you and
the Al-Jazeera channel and to tell you that I am very happy to be on this
programme, because we in Venezuela recognize that Al-Jazeera is a
symbol of courage, principles and dignity, and that it always tells the
truth.

[Presenter]You are welcome.

[Chavez] Moreover, allow me to send heartfelt greetings to all the Arab
peoples. I greet them deeply and sincerely and express solidarity with
them. We love Arabism, we love the Arab peoples and we feel that we are
responsive to their originality, principles and struggles.

[Presenter] Thank you, Mr President, and I am sure that we will discuss
your stands on Arab issues. Your stands are well-known,especially
concerning Iraq and other issues. We will discuss this later. But let us ask
about your stand in relation to the United States. As I said, many in
the Arab world admire your defiance of the only superpower in the world.

What makes you challenge this superpower? What capabilities do you have
in your possession?

[Chavez] To start with, fighting poverty was the basis of our
revolution.

It is also the path of the Saviour Jesus Christ: Blessed are the poor
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. We in Venezuela are fighting within
a revolution to really wipe out poverty. Poverty does not only mean
material poverty, but also spiritual and cultural poverty and lack of love
for the homeland. When one of us takes this path, at least in Latin
America, he will find himself face to face with the imperialist desire to
maintain control over our people. Therefore, confrontation with the
United States becomes inevitable.

[Presenter]But Mr President, do you not fear for yourself?

Why do you not see those who defied the United States in the past,
beginning with [Salvador] Allende in Chile, then Mossaddeq in Iran, and
ending with Saddam Husayn in Iraq and also Al-Qadhafi, in one form or
another after he renounced much of his stands. Do you not fear that you
will face the same fate as these leaders who tried to challenge this
superpower?

[Chavez] It is not only the issues that you presented. We also must say
that Washington's imperialist position and Latin America's position
regarding emancipation go back 200 years in history; that is, since the
days of [Simon] Bolivar, because the liberator Bolivar was called by
colonialism in North America the mad southern rebel. We in fact are not
afraid. Bolivar used to say: I always fear the power of God, or whatever
you care to call him. Those of us who adopted the people's struggle to
regain the independence of our homelands and liberate the people do not
fear anything, because the love that we feel and with which we work is
so immense that it eliminates all feelings of fear. We are not afraid.

[Presenter] Mr President this is fine but how long will you remain
steadfast? You are aware that the United States has tried to get rid of you
by all means through its agents at home - as we read in the news
through the opposition, through demonstrations and by putting economic
pressure on your currency, the bolivar. So far you are still firm. But how
long will you be able to remain firm?

[Chavez] We are not on the defensive. I am a soldier and I studied in
detail the tactics of war and now we are in a political war. We are on
the offensive. Please do not look at me as a boxer who is cornered
against the ropes and is defending himself. No, I am on the offensive,
because attack is the best form of defence. We are waging an offensive
battle.
Yesterday, in Teheran, the spiritual guide Khamene'i told me a true
statement: Power, power. I can see that as you put your questions you
raise your fist, the sign of strength. That is what I admire in the Arab
people,their strength. I would like to say that strength is not only
expressed by the sword; it is the moral strength. It is the strength of a
unified and enlightened people and this is one of the tasks that
Al-Jazeera is taking on; namely, building the enlightenment of the people.
Therefore, the Venezuelan people's strength now is not represented by
their triumph over the military coup and the political and economic
plots and the transgressions against our oil industry and so on. The
Venezuelan people's strength is represented by their moral strength and their
unity - the unity of people who want to resist and carry out an enlightened
offensive.We are now in an offensive war. I do not mean by this only us in
Venezuela but also Latin America, which is once again defying
imperialism.
If you visit Latin America, and I invite you to visit Venezuela and go
around in the continent with your camera, you will find millions of men
and women black people and Indians, children and the poor - tired of being always on the defensive and receiving blows. Therefore,
they are on the offensive and I am one of them.

[Presenter] Very beautiful message to Arab regimes . Can we understand
from what you say that it is very possible for you to say 'no' to the
United States; that the United States is not irresistible and that you
can defy it? In this case,how do you view the Arab position? US orders
are being implemented here to the letter. Can we understand from your
words, which are extremely defiant,that this is a message to the Arabs,
especially the Arab regimes, which,as many people say, are capitulating
to US conditions and dictates? Can the Arabs say no to the United
States in light of what you said?

[Chavez] I always have principles and we always must respect the
principle of respecting the sovereignty of every state and the independence of
every state. We should proceed from this principle.
I wonder, for instance, who am I to come to Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the
United Arab Emirates, Iran, Libya or Algeria and give them lessons?
I am a friend of the governments of all these states, irrespective of
their political and philosophical trends. Who am I to tell them what
they should do and on what path they should walk? In the final analysis,
the Arab peoples must define the course and the direction that their
homelands must take.
Allow me to end my answer with these words. I am a Christian and the
Bible says on the question that you have asked and the answer that I have
given: He who has eyes to see, let him see; and he who has ears to
hear, let him hear.
We find this good example in the Bible.

[Presenter] Then in short we might understand this as a message from a
Latin American revolutionary directed at the Arab people?

[Chavez] Of course, the Arab people and the world. I was in Madrid two
weeks ago and I talked to thousands of Spanish workers and I spoke to
thousands of students in the University Complutense of Madrid. Then I
went to the Philosophical Studies Institute in Moscow. I spoke to
thousands of students and I addressed millions of people, men and women, in
Europe, Central Asia and recently in the Middle East. My message is:
I, Hugo Chavez, and millions of Latin Americans believe that the only
road that our people must pursue is the revolution, but this should be a
moral revolution, a social and economic revolution. It will be the only
means to defeat poverty, be fair to our people and wipe out
imperialism.

[Presenter] Mr President, you said in one of your speeches, and I
quote you word for word: The 20th century was the century of bipolarism,
but the 21st century will not be a unipolar century but a century of
multipolarism. You said that we all must press for this objective. Let Asia
live united, let Africa be united and let Europe be united. Of course
you mean that they should be united against the United States. What is
the possibility of this unity being realized against the United States,
the superpower that is in control today?

[Chavez] The United States or any other imperialist power.
Even if this imperialism comes from the stars or from outside our
planet, I call it imperialism, whether it is the United States or any other
power. The only way to confront the United States and the hegemony of any
other power and reach a multipolar world, a world of which our liberator
Simon Bolivar,our spiritual and eternal guide, spoke of, will be through
a balanced world.
On this subject, I can say that I arrived in Doha yesterday and also
that when I come to Qatar I feel at home. I started to read the unity
declaration which we intend to sign. It is a document presented for our
study in order to be signed at a meeting in South America, a meeting
which will be held a few days from now in the Ayacucho region of Peru,
where the Venezuelan Marshall [Sucre] realized his last victory over
Spanish colonialism in South America. It is the birth certificate of the
South American union. I prefer to call it Unsur, the Union of South
American Nations. It is an expanse of land which covers more than 17m sq. km;
it is South America. It is a continent in its own right. It is a
beautiful continent, because it is the reservoir of the greatest amount of
drinking water in the world.It is the biggest store of the living species
on earth.
It competes with the Middle East in its oil and gas wealth and its
petrochemicals and energy,the like of which is not found in the world.
Millions of people live there, generous and heroic people.
It is a new civilization and a mixture of Europeans, Africans and the
original inhabitants of America. I mean that the establishment of a new
pole in South America was an old dream of liberator Simon Bolivar, a
pole which will cooperate with the multipolar world, exactly like the
African Union. I spoke on this matter with Col Mu'ammar al-Qadhafi in
Tripoli a few days ago and I felt the Unity of Africa was progressing. We
need an African unity. I was with Spanish Prime Minister Zapatero and I
will return to Madrid tonight.
European unity is strong and firm. It forms another pole in the world.
Another pole can be composed of Asia - China, India, Sri Lanka and
Malaysia.
I know that my friend, the former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir
Muhammad, is here and I send him my greetings. I mean that the world
should be multipolar and the 21st century should be a century of peace and
will provide the opportunity for people to live as brothers and sons of
the same God.

[Presenter] Very beautiful. But you are aware, Mr President, that the
United States is continuing with the same momentum.
In the past you described President [George W.] Bush as a devil, as I
read sometime ago. You also described the new secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, as illiterate and you proposed to your friend, President Fidel Castro, to
send her the book Robinson Crusoe to learn the alphabet. Now what do you
expect will happen in this world under this leadership, which you
described as devilish and illiterate?

[Chavez] Thank you for describing my remarks several times as
beautiful.
It is a way of describing what goes on in ones mind or conscience. What
can we do regarding the imperialist power of the United States? We have
no choice but to unite, as we have said. We have to unite in South
America, Africa and Europe. Please follow our recent tour Madrid, Tripoli,
Moscow, Teheran, Doha and then Madrid; and later our trip to Ayacucho
in Peru and then to Brazil, where there will be a conference for the
Mercosur [Common Market of the South] nations. After a few days in
Caracas, I will visit China. We must understand that we are not on a
recreational or tourist trip. We are working to gather forces, thoughts,and
political and economic forces as the only means, and I repeat, not only to
remain on the defensive, because I do not imagine that the world will
continue with its defensive position. No, it is the offensive of the
hour.
I believe that here lies the secret. We are on the right path and I am
convinced of that. Not only this, but let us say, brother Faysal, that
in general, there is a dialectical and deductive method. Let us take
the Venezuelan issue for instance. How could Venezuela stand firm in the
face of a military coup that was planned in Washington and which was
encouraged by the CIA and was backed by Washington's economic,
technological and intellectual resources and pressures? What made the military,
economic and reactionary political leaderships and the backward trade
unions and the private media unite? The plotting of all these powerful
forces was supported and backed by Washington. The wily United States was
involved in this plot against Venezuela. I was imprisoned and a
putchist government was installed. I was exiled to a remote island and my
ministers were arrested.
Then they practised all kinds of repression against the people. How can
you explain the fact that in less than 48 hours, the tyrants in
Venezuela were wiped out? The explanation is that the people are enlightened
and free.
The people have regained their historical value. They are united
people. The soldiers who were united with their people made this miracle
possible.
A short while ago you mentioned to me Allende in Chile. They used the
same methods on us that they used against Allende 30 years ago. But this
time they found a difference between the two cases. For instance, the
Chilean socialist revolution by Salvador Allende was peaceful and
democratic, but it was not armed. The Bolivarian revolution at the beginning
of this century was peaceful and democratic but it had weapons, lethal
weapons in the hand of the sons of our people who were ready to defend
our sovereignty and our revolutionary project. South America rejecting globalization

[Presenter] In light of what you said, it can be argued that the
victory is not for Chavez and the Bolivarian forces but it is for all the
forces that oppose the hegemony and savage globalization. Through your
strong words and stands towards the United States, we understand that you
are also against globalization. We know that you turned a cold shoulder
on all the instructions from the International Monetary Fund and orders
from the World Bank and redirected the oil revenue to new social
programmes and numerous humanitarian projects all over the country, making
many people recall the atmosphere of the first years of the Cuban
revolution. It is all very well to say that this is a victory against
globalization but the question is: The entire world is marching towards
globalization. Why do you want to stop the globalization train and return to
socialism although the train is moving?

[Chavez] No, I cannot do that. I am just one person like you. By the
way, I heard that you incite controversy in the Middle East on this
programme of yours, is this not so?

[Presenter] Exactly.

[Chavez] It is the Opposite Direction programme. Is this not so?
But let me answer your question. Let them as they are. The issue in
question does not at all mean that I am going to stop the train, brother
Faysal. What I say is that from the viewpoint of Latin America one
should not be Don Quixote. We should be realistic. I speak about Latin
America and the Caribbean region and I cannot speak about the peoples of the
Arab world. I cannot talk about the peoples of Asia, but about the
peoples of Latin America. We are moving in the opposite direction to the
globalization. It is untrue that globalization is moving ahead in Latin
America as a sign of victory. No, the liberal project was implemented
there and impoverished whole nations such as the peoples of Argentina and
Bolivia. In 1989, the Venezuelan people rebelled. The same thing
happened in 1992. The people brought me to lead their lives because I came
from among people who rebelled against the neo-liberal project. In 1991
[2001,ed.], the Argentine people rebelled and toppled the government and
controlled the streets. Thus, [Argentine President] Nestor Kirchner
came to present a national solution aimed at profoundly changing the
economy in the opposite direction to neo-liberalism. The Brazilian people
brought Lula [President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva] in order to oppose
neo-liberalism and globalization.
The Bolivian people rebelled. Millions of people brought down a
government that was capitulating to neo-liberalism and to Washington.
Thus, we find a state of rage among all the original peoples. This is
happening almost in all of Latin America and the Caribbean. We are
defeating neo-liberalism and globalization there.

[Presenter] Very beautiful. Opposing neo-liberalism and globalization
there.

In other words, there is a trend in Latin America in general,
particularly in Venezuela, towards socialism in one form or another, in the
direction of the left. We know that there is a leftist government now in
Brazil and there are other leftist trends in other countries. But the
question is: Why do you want to apply socialism once again? We have an
Arabic popular adage that says: Going for pilgrimage while the pilgrims
are coming back. They say that this adage applies to you. Socialism
failed in the Soviet Union. China is heading towards market economy and
liberalism and you are opposing globalization. Why are you swimming against
the tide, in the opposite direction?

[Chavez] The Soviet Union fell, but socialism has not fallen.
That is what I will say first. When the Soviet Union and the model that
prevailed then fell, we felt that what Lenin and then Trotsky proposed
from the beginning, especially after Stalin, was distorted and this
distortion led to the fall of the Soviet Union as a model.
However, we must admit that the neo-liberal model, which wants to
control the world, is also falling. We cannot allow this model to succeed,
because it will take us to the fifth hell. It will soon threaten life
itself on this planet. Indeed it will threaten the existence of the globe
itself. We must bypass these models. I said at Madrid University a few
days ago that I was gathering new ideas, because we need an advanced
phase of enlightened thinking. Each project and each revolution needs a
certain ideology and this is the ideology that we need. We in Venezuela
dare and say this is the revolutionary democracy and we must proceed in

=== message truncated ===

Posted by Anonymous4724 2005-01-08 12:02:02 PM|| 2005-01-08 12:02:02 PM|| Front Page Top

#3 Chavez must die. Publicly and painfully.

Posted by Frank G 2005-01-08 12:03:46 PM|| 2005-01-08 12:03:46 PM|| Front Page Top

#4 Frank,

I agree with you 100%!
Please take a peek at www.aporrea.org. This is a website financed by his government, although he denies it. In it there is a picture of a muslim girl and above it reads the following caption: !Fuera yankis de Irak! !Solidaridad con la heroica resistencia anti-imperialista en Faluya! Translation: Yanks out of Iraq! Solidarity with the heroic anti-imperialist Resistance of Fallujah!
If you click on the picture of the girl, there is a especial issue on Iraq put out by the Venezuela Cultural Ministry. You can only imagine what it says!

Posted by Anonymous4724 2005-01-08 12:19:19 PM|| 2005-01-08 12:19:19 PM|| Front Page Top

#5 So it begins.

If I were Mr. Vestey, I would remove all items from that farm that I could and offer all the current hands a job in another country. Then plant everything that remains with some explosives. When the commies come to take the farm, BOOM!

Posted by beer_me 2005-01-08 1:02:02 PM|| 2005-01-08 1:02:02 PM|| Front Page Top

#6 South American-Arab Summit Draft Raises Concerns:

"In the document's section entitled Strengthening Biregional and Multilateral Relations, for instance, paragraph 2.9 calls for a U.N. conference ''to study'' terrorism and ``define the terrorist crime, and distinguish terrorism from the legitimate right of peoples to resist foreign occupation with a view to reach national independence............''

"....Still, Venezuela is likely to support the Arab-proposed paragraphs, and other South American countries may accept an only somewhat lighter version of them."

The above is a given!!!!

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/columnists/andres_oppenheimer/10576246.htm

Posted by Anonymous4724 2005-01-08 2:08:09 PM|| 2005-01-08 2:08:09 PM|| Front Page Top

#7 Die? LOL! I feel safer everytime I see the sash and he opens his mouth. A dangerous opponent indeed!

Posted by Shipman 2005-01-08 2:48:23 PM|| 2005-01-08 2:48:23 PM|| Front Page Top

#8 Shipman,

Are you saying he is more dangerous dead than alive? Are you fearing that he will become another Che Guevara if he dies now?

Posted by Anonymous4724 2005-01-08 3:51:32 PM|| 2005-01-08 3:51:32 PM|| Front Page Top

#9 he'd be just another wanna-be dictator with a face that doesn't look "finished". He weirds me out..

Posted by Frank G 2005-01-08 4:33:56 PM|| 2005-01-08 4:33:56 PM|| Front Page Top

#10 Anon4724, No I just figure his grasp is way bigger than his stomach. At some point even the poor will catch on to the game. :( Glad to see you at RB again.

Posted by Shipman 2005-01-08 5:52:25 PM|| 2005-01-08 5:52:25 PM|| Front Page Top

#11 One would think his amour propre, or at least his vanity, would clue him in that the colours of that horrible sash make him look bilious. A man in his position really can't afford to look ill for very long, or it foreshadows a permanent change in his health.

Posted by trailing wife 2005-01-08 7:46:25 PM|| 2005-01-08 7:46:25 PM|| Front Page Top

00:02 Mike Sylwester
23:58 Phil Fraering
23:55 BH
23:46 BH
23:41 lex
23:16 Mike Sylwester
22:54 Captain America
22:50 Captain America
22:46 Captain America
22:43 Captain America
22:40 .com
22:39 .com
22:36 Captain America
22:32 .com
22:31 lex
22:31 john
22:30 lex
22:30 OldSpook
22:30 Frank G
22:29 lex
22:28 .com
22:27 lex
22:25 Catfish
22:24 .com