Why The Left Should Cringe at The Mention of Hugo Chavez
Alvaro Vargas Llosa has an op-ed for RealClearPolitics that focuses on why liberals should be distancing themselves from Hugo Chavez. Llosa deserves alot of credit for that position, especially in light of the fact that liberals have seemed more than willing to get pictured with him recently. Of the 9 items that should concern liberals, these are the 2 that stick out most to me:
4. CHAVEZ WANTS TO BECOME A WORLD BANK. Few causes have impassioned the left more in the last few decades than the foreign debt of underdeveloped nations, which is attributed to a conspiracy on the part of big banks and their government backers. Chávez is fast becoming a creditor to many Latin American nations by buying their sovereign bonds (which are issued only after he offers to buy them.). He has become an IMF and a World Bank onto himself. Argentina and Ecuador combined owe him a bit less than $2 billion so far.
This should scare the daylights out of people. Anyone that thinks that Chávez is content with being Venezuela’s president haven’t been paying attention. This man wants to be the big fish in a big pond. Him being the banker to the Caribbean isn’t something that I’m comfortable with.
5. CHAVEZ POLLUTES THE ENVIRONMENT. The left has denounced industrial capitalism as an assault on the environment and has called time and again for the replacement of oil as a primary source of energy because of its polluting effects. But Chávez´s government owns scores of refineries and cashes in big time on the processing of his sulphur-heavy crude. In the U.S. alone, Citgo, the affiliate of Venezuela’s state oil concern, owns eight refineries and pays Chávez almost $500 million a year in dividends!
Citgo is something that everyone should be wary of. In fact, I’ve advocated the boycotting of Citgo stations for quite awhile now. The money Citgo makes helps fund drugrunners in Columbia, anti-democracy rebels throughout Central America and props up Castro. If you want Chávez´s wings clipped, that’s the fastest, most direct way.
At the day’s end, Chávez´s powergrabbing ways should make Americans very nervous. Clipping his wings now is the intelligent thing to do.
Cross-post at LetFreedomRing