Great speech by Chavez at the U.N.

[Martin]

I love the way he talked down to bush. lol.

"And the devil came here yesterday. Yesterday the devil came here. Right here." [crosses himself]

"And it smells of sulfur still today."

Yesterday, ladies and gentlemen, from this rostrum, the president of the United States, the gentleman to whom I refer as the devil, came here, talking as if he owned the world. Truly. As the owner of the world.

I think we could call a psychiatrist to analyze yesterday's statement made by the president of the United States. As the spokesman of imperialism, he came to share his nostrums, to try to preserve the current pattern of domination, exploitation and pillage of the peoples of the world.

I just hope the world leaders out there UNDERSTAND most the citizens of the U.S. are totally against our current administration. We have no choice but to remain sitting here like ducks until 2008 when we can elect another president. (unless our military turns against the administration like they did in Thailand yesterday..highly doubtful though)

Bush has screwed up our world relations beyond repair...And he doesnt even seem to care...He wants to screw it up even more if he can.

Full Speech -

http://drudgereport.com/flash2.htm

PRESIDENT CHAVEZ DELIVERS REMARKS AT THE U.N. GENERAL ASSEMBLY
SEPTEMBER 20, 2006

"Representatives of the governments of the world, good morning to all of you. First of all, I would like to invite you, very respectfully, to those who have not read this book, to read it. Noam Chomsky, one of the most prestigious American and world intellectuals, Noam Chomsky, and this is one of his most recent books, 'Hegemony or Survival: The Imperialist Strategy of the United States.'" [Holds up book, waves it in front of General Assembly.]

"It's an excellent book to help us understand what has been happening in the world throughout the 20th century, and what's happening now, and the greatest threat looming over our planet. The hegemonic pretensions of the American empire are placing at risk the very survival of the human species. We continue to warn you about this danger and we appeal to the people of the United States and the world to halt this threat, which is like a sword hanging over our heads. I had considered reading from this book, but, for the sake of time," [flips through the pages, which are numerous] "I will just leave it as a recommendation.

It reads easily, it is a very good book, I'm sure Madame [President] you are familiar with it. It appears in English, in Russian, in Arabic, in German. I think that the first people who should read this book are our brothers and sisters in the United States, because their threat is right in their own house. The devil is right at home. The devil, the devil himself, is right in the house.

"And the devil came here yesterday. Yesterday the devil came here. Right here." [crosses himself]

"And it smells of sulfur still today."

Yesterday, ladies and gentlemen, from this rostrum, the president of the United States, the gentleman to whom I refer as the devil, came here, talking as if he owned the world. Truly. As the owner of the world.

I think we could call a psychiatrist to analyze yesterday's statement made by the president of the United States. As the spokesman of imperialism, he came to share his nostrums, to try to preserve the current pattern of domination, exploitation and pillage of the peoples of the world.

An Alfred Hitchcock movie could use it as a scenario. I would even propose a title: "The Devil's Recipe."

As Chomsky says here, clearly and in depth, the American empire is doing all it can to consolidate its system of domination. And we cannot allow them to do that. We cannot allow world dictatorship to be consolidated.

CHAVEZ (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): The world parent's statement -- cynical, hypocritical, full of this imperial hypocrisy from the need they have to control everything.

They say they want to impose a democratic model. But that's their democratic model. It's the false democracy of elites, and, I would say, a very original democracy that's imposed by weapons and bombs and firing weapons.

What a strange democracy. Aristotle might not recognize it or others who are at the root of democracy.

What type of democracy do you impose with marines and bombs?

The president of the United States, yesterday, said to us, right here, in this room, and I'm quoting, "Anywhere you look, you hear extremists telling you can escape from poverty and recover your dignity through violence, terror and martyrdom."

Wherever he looks, he sees extremists. And you, my brother -- he looks at your color, and he says, oh, there's an extremist. Evo Morales, the worthy president of Bolivia, looks like an extremist to him.

The imperialists see extremists everywhere. It's not that we are extremists. It's that the world is waking up. It's waking up all over. And people are standing up.

I have the feeling, dear world dictator, that you are going to live the rest of your days as a nightmare because the rest of us are standing up, all those who are rising up against American imperialism, who are shouting for equality, for respect, for the sovereignty of nations.

CHAVEZ (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): Yes, you can call us extremists, but we are rising up against the empire, against the model of domination.

The president then -- and this he said himself, he said: "I have come to speak directly to the populations in the Middle East, to tell them that my country wants peace."

That's true. If we walk in the streets of the Bronx, if we walk around New York, Washington, San Diego, in any city, San Antonio, San Francisco, and we ask individuals, the citizens of the United States, what does this country want? Does it want peace? They'll say yes.

But the government doesn't want peace. The government of the United States doesn't want peace. It wants to exploit its system of exploitation, of pillage, of hegemony through war.

It wants peace. But what's happening in Iraq? What happened in Lebanon? In Palestine? What's happening? What's happened over the last 100 years in Latin America and in the world? And now threatening Venezuela -- new threats against Venezuela, against Iran?

He spoke to the people of Lebanon. Many of you, he said, have seen how your homes and communities were caught in the crossfire. How cynical can you get? What a capacity to lie shamefacedly. The bombs in Beirut with millimetric precision?

CHAVEZ (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): This is crossfire? He's thinking of a western, when people would shoot from the hip and somebody would be caught in the crossfire.

This is imperialist, fascist, assassin, genocidal, the empire and Israel firing on the people of Palestine and Lebanon. That is what happened. And now we hear, "We're suffering because we see homes destroyed.'

The president of the United States came to talk to the peoples -- to the peoples of the world. He came to say -- I brought some documents with me, because this morning I was reading some statements, and I see that he talked to the people of Afghanistan, the people of Lebanon, the people of Iran. And he addressed all these peoples directly.

And you can wonder, just as the president of the United States addresses those peoples of the world, what would those peoples of the world tell him if they were given the floor? What would they have to say?

And I think I have some inkling of what the peoples of the south, the oppressed people think. They would say, "Yankee imperialist, go home." I think that is what those people would say if they were given the microphone and if they could speak with one voice to the American imperialists.

And that is why, Madam President, my colleagues, my friends, last year we came here to this same hall as we have been doing for the past eight years, and we said something that has now been confirmed -- fully, fully confirmed.

CHAVEZ (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): I don't think anybody in this room could defend the system. Let's accept -- let's be honest. The U.N. system, born after the Second World War, collapsed. It's worthless.

Oh, yes, it's good to bring us together once a year, see each other, make statements and prepare all kinds of long documents, and listen to good speeches, like Abel's (ph) yesterday, or President Mullah's (ph). Yes, it's good for that.

And there are a lot of speeches, and we've heard lots from the president of Sri Lanka, for instance, and the president of Chile.

But we, the assembly, have been turned into a merely deliberative organ. We have no power, no power to make any impact on the terrible situation in the world. And that is why Venezuela once again proposes, here, today, 20 September, that we re-establish the United Nations.

Last year, Madam, we made four modest proposals that we felt to be crucially important. We have to assume the responsibility our heads of state, our ambassadors, our representatives, and we have to discuss it.

The first is expansion, and Mullah (ph) talked about this yesterday right here. The Security Council, both as it has permanent and non-permanent categories, (inaudible) developing countries and LDCs must be given access as new permanent members. That's step one.

CHAVEZ (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): Second, effective methods to address and resolve world conflicts, transparent decisions.

Point three, the immediate suppression -- and that is something everyone's calling for -- of the anti-democratic mechanism known as the veto, the veto on decisions of the Security Council.

Let me give you a recent example. The immoral veto of the United States allowed the Israelis, with impunity, to destroy Lebanon. Right in front of all of us as we stood there watching, a resolution in the council was prevented.

Fourthly, we have to strengthen, as we've always said, the role and the powers of the secretary general of the United Nations.

Yesterday, the secretary general practically gave us his speech of farewell. And he recognized that over the last 10 years, things have just gotten more complicated; hunger, poverty, violence, human rights violations have just worsened. That is the tremendous consequence of the collapse of the United Nations system and American hegemonistic pretensions.

Madam, Venezuela a few years ago decided to wage this battle within the United Nations by recognizing the United Nations, as members of it that we are, and lending it our voice, our thinking.

Our voice is an independent voice to represent the dignity and the search for peace and the reformulation of the international system; to denounce persecution and aggression of hegemonistic forces on the planet.

CHAVEZ (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): This is how Venezuela has presented itself. Bolivar's home has sought a nonpermanent seat on the Security Council.

Let's see. Well, there's been an open attack by the U.S. government, an immoral attack, to try and prevent Venezuela from being freely elected to a post in the Security Council.

The imperium is afraid of truth, is afraid of independent voices. It calls us extremists, but they are the extremists.

And I would like to thank all the countries that have kindly announced their support for Venezuela, even though the ballot is a secret one and there's no need to announce things.

But since the imperium has attacked, openly, they strengthened the convictions of many countries. And their support strengthens us.

Mercosur, as a bloc, has expressed its support, our brothers in Mercosur. Venezuela, with Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, is a full member of Mercosur.

And many other Latin American countries, CARICOM, Bolivia have expressed their support for Venezuela. The Arab League, the full Arab League has voiced its support. And I am immensely grateful to the Arab world, to our Arab brothers, our Caribbean brothers, the African Union. Almost all of Africa has expressed its support for Venezuela and countries such as Russia or China and many others.

CHAVEZ (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): I thank you all warmly on behalf of Venezuela, on behalf of our people, and on behalf of the truth, because Venezuela, with a seat on the Security Council, will be expressing not only Venezuela's thoughts, but it will also be the voice of all the peoples of the world, and we will defend dignity and truth.

Over and above all of this, Madam President, I think there are reasons to be optimistic. A poet would have said "helplessly optimistic," because over and above the wars and the bombs and the aggressive and the preventive war and the destruction of entire peoples, one can see that a new era is dawning.

As Sylvia Rodriguez (ph) says, the era is giving birth to a heart. There are alternative ways of thinking. There are young people who think differently. And this has already been seen within the space of a mere decade. It was shown that the end of history was a totally false assumption, and the same was shown about Pax Americana and the establishment of the capitalist neo-liberal world. It has been shown, this system, to generate mere poverty. Who believes in it now?

What we now have to do is define the future of the world. Dawn is breaking out all over. You can see it in Africa and Europe and Latin America and Oceanea. I want to emphasize that optimistic vision.

We have to strengthen ourselves, our will to do battle, our awareness. We have to build a new and better world.

Venezuela joins that struggle, and that's why we are threatened. The U.S. has already planned, financed and set in motion a coup in Venezuela, and it continues to support coup attempts in Venezuela and elsewhere.

CHAVEZ (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): President Michelle Bachelet reminded us just a moment ago of the horrendous assassination of the former foreign minister, Orlando Letelier.

And I would just add one thing: Those who perpetrated this crime are free. And that other event where an American citizen also died were American themselves. They were CIA killers, terrorists.

And we must recall in this room that in just a few days there will be another anniversary. Thirty years will have passed from this other horrendous terrorist attack on the Cuban plane, where 73 innocents died, a Cubana de Aviacion airliner.

And where is the biggest terrorist of this continent who took the responsibility for blowing up the plane? He spent a few years in jail in Venezuela. Thanks to CIA and then government officials, he was allowed to escape, and he lives here in this country, protected by the government.

And he was convicted. He has confessed to his crime. But the U.S. government has double standards. It protects terrorism when it wants to.

And this is to say that Venezuela is fully committed to combating terrorism and violence. And we are one of the people who are fighting for peace.

Luis Posada Carriles is the name of that terrorist who is protected here. And other tremendously corrupt people who escaped from Venezuela are also living here under protection: a group that bombed various embassies, that assassinated people during the coup. They kidnapped me and they were going to kill me, but I think God reached down and our people came out into the streets and the army was too, and so I'm here today.

But these people who led that coup are here today in this country protected by the American government. And I accuse the American government of protecting terrorists and of having a completely cynical discourse.

CHAVEZ (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): We mentioned Cuba. Yes, we were just there a few days ago. We just came from there happily.

And there you see another era born. The Summit of the 15, the Summit of the Nonaligned, adopted a historic resolution. This is the outcome document. Don't worry, I'm not going to read it.

But you have a whole set of resolutions here that were adopted after open debate in a transparent matter -- more than 50 heads of state. Havana was the capital of the south for a few weeks, and we have now launched, once again, the group of the nonaligned with new momentum.

And if there is anything I could ask all of you here, my companions, my brothers and sisters, it is to please lend your good will to lend momentum to the Nonaligned Movement for the birth of the new era, to prevent hegemony and prevent further advances of imperialism.

And as you know, Fidel Castro is the president of the nonaligned for the next three years, and we can trust him to lead the charge very efficiently.

Unfortunately they thought, "Oh, Fidel was going to die." But they're going to be disappointed because he didn't. And he's not only alive, he's back in his green fatigues, and he's now presiding the nonaligned.

So, my dear colleagues, Madam President, a new, strong movement has been born, a movement of the south. We are men and women of the south.

With this document, with these ideas, with these criticisms, I'm now closing my file. I'm taking the book with me. And, don't forget, I'm recommending it very warmly and very humbly to all of you.

CHAVEZ (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): We want ideas to save our planet, to save the planet from the imperialist threat. And hopefully in this very century, in not too long a time, we will see this, we will see this new era, and for our children and our grandchildren a world of peace based on the fundamental principles of the United Nations, but a renewed United Nations.

And maybe we have to change location. Maybe we have to put the United Nations somewhere else; maybe a city of the south. We've proposed Venezuela.

You know that my personal doctor had to stay in the plane. The chief of security had to be left in a locked plane. Neither of these gentlemen was allowed to arrive and attend the U.N. meeting. This is another abuse and another abuse of power on the part of the Devil. It smells of sulfur here, but God is with us and I embrace you all.

May God bless us all. Good day to you.

(APPLAUSE)

END

[Swiss Miss]

Nice one Chavez! It's nice to know there are some people in politics who aren't concerned with smooching Bush's bootie!


I'm wondering if Bush will respond... Has he?

[Martin]

Originally Posted by Swiss Miss

I'm wondering if Bush will respond... Has he?

I dont know but that was so excellent yesterday.

Whats even funnier is how Republican FoxNews is critisizing him every chance they can. Their saying stuff like "How Dare Chavez Blast The United States".

Im starting to watch CNN more now.. Their the democratic station in my eyes. They played the ENTIRE Iran President statement at the U.N two days ago. And FoxNews only played like 2 minutes of it.

[RadioactiveMan]

Originally Posted by Martin

"How Dare Chavez Blast The United States"

What would they like, everyone to shut up and let Bush do whatever he wants? I guess I already know the answer to that.

[Swiss Miss]

Chavez to discount oil for U.S. poor

By IAN JAMES, Associated Press Writer
Fri Sep 22, 12:59 AM ET

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez visited a Harlem church Thursday and promised to more than double the amount of discounted heating oil his country ships to needy Americans. He also took another swipe at President Bush.

A day after he called Bush "the devil" in a speech to the United Nations, Chavez said of the president: "He's an alcoholic and a sick man."

Bush has acknowledged that he had a drinking problem when he was young but says he gave up alcohol 20 years ago.

Chavez received a round of applause from the crowd at Mount Olivet Baptist Church, which included activists and other supporters as well as actor Danny Glover. Some laughed and applauded when Chavez compared Bush to cowboy movie icon John Wayne.

He called Bush's policies in Iraq criminal, adding he hopes Americans will soon "awaken" and elect a better president. While he opposes Bush, Chavez said the American people "are our friends."

He announced that Citgo, the U.S.-based refining arm of Venezuela's state-run oil company, plans to more than double the amount of heating oil it is making available under the program for low-income families to 100 million gallons this winter, up from 40 million gallons.

Chavez started the heating oil program last winter, accusing Bush of neglecting the poor.

Insults have increasingly flown between Caracas and Washington since 2002, when the U.S. swiftly recognized leaders who briefly ousted Chavez in a coup, before Chavez returned to power amid massive street protests.

The Venezuelan leader repeated his warning that if the U.S. tries to oust him, he country would halt oil shipments. He added that he'd like to see a U.S. president "who you could talk with."

Chavez said some people have warned him about his safety after he called Bush "the devil."

"They've told me since last night, because I said he was a devil ... to be careful, because they could kill me," Chavez said, without elaborating. "I'm in the hands of God. I'm not afraid."

House majority leader, Rep. John Boehner (news, bio, voting record) of Ohio, called Chavez a "power-hungry autocrat" and said his speech was "an embarrassment and an insult to the American people."

U.S. officials regularly call the Venezuelan leader a destabilizing force, and Bush has said he sees Chavez as a threat to democracy. Chavez has called Bush a "devil" before in speeches at home.

The American civil rights leader Rev. Jesse Jackson met with Chavez Thursday night, saying he was concerned by the name-calling and believed both sides need to tone down their rhetoric.

"Of course he feels that the U.S. government is part of trying to pull a coup on him... But my appeal to him is get beyond the anger," Jackson said.

"I think that he should not be calling President Bush 'devil.' President Bush should not be calling him 'evil' or calling him 'tyrant," Jackson said. "We must cease these hostilities."

The United States continues to be the top buyer of Venezuelan oil, bringing the South American country billions of dollars in earnings that help fund Chavez's popular social programs.

Chavez's opponents accuse him of squandering Venezuela's oil wealth through preferential oil deals overseas. But Chavez said he is giving away nothing, and that Venezuela also gains by receiving everything from cattle to medical equipment in exchange for oil shipments to Latin American countries.

Citgo said its discounted heating oil will benefit some 1.2 million Americans in 17 U.S. states this winter, including Indians in Alaska, some of whom were flown to New York and attended the ceremony in traditional dress. They performed a dance and offered Chavez a walrus figurine carved out of whale bone as a gift.

"This will go a long way for a lot of families," said Ian Erlich, a leader of the Alaska Intertribal Council who said many struggle to afford heating oil where he lives in Kotzebue, Alaska, north of the Artic Circle.

While the program started mainly in the Northeast last winter, this winter it is being expanded to Alaska, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana, Virginia, Maryland, and the cities of Washington, D.C., and Pittsburgh, Pa.

Damn, the Democrats must be slipping Chavez a little somethin somethin... This is a brilliant tactic to ensure that the lower class Americans are (as if they weren't already) anti-Bush and anti-Republican. All it takes is for them to see Venezuela stepping in to care for the low class Americans instead of Bush. What a slap in the face.

Funny, Danny Glover was there cheering on Chavez too.

[waltky]

Uncle Ferd says, "Yea, like now Chavez gonna be head schoolmaster of Venezuela...

Chavez Threatens to Take Over Schools
Sep 17, -- President Hugo Chavez threatened on Monday to take over any private schools refusing to submit to the oversight of his socialist government, a move some Venezuelans fear will impose leftist ideology in the classroom.

All Venezuelan schools, both public and private, must submit to state inspectors enforcing the new educational system. Those that refuse will be closed and nationalized, Chavez said. A new curriculum will be phased in during this school year, and new textbooks are being developed to help educate "the new citizen," added Chavez's brother and education minister Adan Chavez in their televised ceremony on the first day of classes.

Just what the curriculum will include and how it will be applied to all Venezuelan schools and universities remains unclear. But one college-level syllabus obtained by The Associated Press shows some premedical students already have a recommended reading list including Karl Marx's "Das Kapital" and Fidel Castro's speeches, alongside traditional subjects like biology and chemistry.

The syllabus also includes quotations from Chavez and urges students to learn about slain revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara and Colombian rebel chief Manuel Marulanda, whose leftist guerrillas are considered a terrorist group by Colombia, the U.S. and European Union. Venezuelan officials defend the program at the Latin American Medical School - one in a handful of state-run colleges and universities that emphasize socialist ideology - as the new direction of Venezuelan higher education.

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[waltky]

Chavez hackin' rights in Venezuela...

Critics: Changes could erode rights in Venezuela
October 18, 2007 -- Legislature weighs 25 constitutional amendments pushed by Venezuela's leader; Pro-Hugo Chavez assembly already has OK'd 33 other changes to constitution; Critics say changes will let Chavez declare state of emergency, suspend rights; Rights to a fair trial and an attorney are among those feared to be at risk

Venezuela's National Assembly began this week to weigh passage of 25 constitutional amendments sought by President Hugo Chavez, which critics said could result in the suspension of due-process protections. The pro-Chavez legislature already has approved 33 other changes to the constitution. They are to be considered in a referendum slated for December 2.

"We will do what we have to do to approve the constitutional reforms that the president proposes because that is what the people want," said Iris Varela, a pro-Chavez member of parliament. But Jose Miguel Vivanco, Americas director at the New York-based Human Rights Watch, expressed fear the changes could do more harm than good.

"This amendment, if approved, would allow President Chavez to invoke a state of emergency to justify suspending certain rights that are untouchable under international law," Vivanco said. These include the presumption of innocence and rights to a fair trial, to an attorney, against self-incrimination, for a defendant to know the charges and evidence against him, and against double jeopardy, he said.

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[waltky]

Another great speech by Chavez ends in his 'McCarthy moment'...

Shut up, Spain king tells Chavez
Saturday, 10 November 2007, Spain's King Juan Carlos told Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez to "shut up" as the Ibero-American summit drew to a close in Santiago, Chile.

The outburst came after Mr Chavez called former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar a "fascist". Mr Chavez then interrupted Spanish PM Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's calls for him to be more diplomatic, prompting the king's outburst. Latin American, Portuguese, Spanish and Andorran leaders were meeting in Chile.

'Democratically elected'

Mr Chavez called Mr Aznar, a close ally of US President George W Bush, a fascist, adding "fascists are not human. A snake is more human."

Mr Zapatero said: "Former President Aznar was democratically elected by the Spanish people and was a legitimate representative of the Spanish people."

Mr Chavez repeatedly tried to interrupt, despite his microphone being turned off. The king leaned forward and said: "Why don't you shut up?"

According to reports, the king used a familiar term normally used only for close acquaintances - or children.

More BBC NEWS | Americas | Shut up, Spain king tells Chavez

[waltky]

Chavez losing important supporters...

All or nothing for Chávez
21 November 2007 - Former allies of Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez are beginning to turn against him

In recent years, King Juan Carlos I of Spain has emerged as a respected arbitrator of diplomatic disputes in Latin America. It was therefore entirely out of character when, during the Ibero-American summit on 10 November, he jabbed a finger at Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, invited him to "shut up" and stormed out of the debating chamber. The king's outburst was matched for shock value by the response of his Prime Minister, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero. Irritated by Chávez' repeated references to the conservative former Spanish prime minister Jose Maria Aznar as a "fascist", the socialist Zapatero asked Chávez to show more respect. In the space of two minutes, Chávez had managed not only to enrage a taciturn constitutional monarch but also to temporarily reconcile two of the most strident adversaries in European politics.

The incident highlighted a significant trend - Chávez is beginning to attract criticism not just from his established enemies but also from those, like Zapatero, who were previously inclined to support or indulge him. It is a trend replicated at the domestic level. University students, a constituency that has traditionally provided one of the bulwarks of support for radical socialist reformers, have in recent weeks played a leading role in mass protests against proposed constitutional reforms scheduled to face a national referendum on 2 December. If approved, the reforms will effectively re-constitute Venezuela as a socialist republic while removing limits on the number of presidential terms Chávez can serve.

As well as the students, Chávez has begun to lose the support of relatively moderate factions within his governing coalition. The Democratic Socialist Party (Por la Democracia: Podemos) has been pushed into semi-opposition since Chávez attempted to force it to join a United Socialist Party of Venezuela (Partido Socialista Unido de Venezuela: PSUV) following his victory in presidential elections in December 2006. Meanwhile a collection of smaller parties on the moderate left and centre-right have come out in opposition to the constitutional reform proposals in recent weeks.

All or nothing for Chávez - Jane's Country Risk News

See also:

Chavez-Church Clash Raises Questions About Influence of Liberation Theology
November 21, 2007 - Plans to amend the constitution to push Venezuela further along a socialist path have put President Hugo Chavez at odds with many of the country's church leaders. Their opposition may reflect a weakening of the hold that "liberation theology" has had on the region.

Catholic bishops have been among the most outspoken critics of the amendments, while many Protestant evangelicals also are concerned about the changes, which include the elimination of presidential term limits. The "reforms" have split the country and led to street protests, some of them violently disrupted. A national referendum on the proposed constitutional changes is scheduled for December 2.

In recent months, Chavez has attacked the bishops for voicing concern about the amendments, calling them variously "Pharisees," "hypocrites" and supporters of tyrants. At the same time, the president -- who is himself a Catholic -- has used classic liberation theology language to describe Jesus Christ as a revolutionary and a socialist.

Venezuela's Catholic bishops, in a recent statement, voiced concern about the potential for further violence and appealed for calm. But they also defended peaceful demonstrations, rejecting claims that protests are part of a conspiracy to destabilize the state. Archbishop Roberto Luckert, vice president of the Venezuelan Bishops' Conference, has accused Chavez of "picking a fight with everyone."

Another top church leader, Cardinal Jorge Urosa Savino of Caracas, said in a television interview that the changes would leave no room for any ideas other than socialism, and would put an end to "freedom of conscience, freedom of opinion, freedom of expression [and] economic freedom."

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[waltky]

Maybe he should be feeding his people instead of runnin' his mouth off all the time...

Venezuelans struggle to find staples in spite of oil wealth
Thursday, November 22, 2007 -- The lines formed at dawn and remained long throughout the day -- hundreds upon hundreds of Venezuelans queuing up to buy scarce milk, chicken and sugar at state-run outdoor markets staffed by soldiers in fatigues.

President Hugo Chavez's government is trying to cope with scattered shortages of some foods, and long lines at state-run "Megamercal" street markets over the weekend show many Venezuelans are willing to wait for hours to snap up a handful of products they seldom find in supermarkets.

"You have to get in line and you have to be lucky," said Maria Fernandez, a 64-year-old housewife who was buying milk and chicken on Sunday. She said trying to find milk is a constant frustration. She had almost managed to get powdered milk at a private supermarket -- only to watch someone else walk away with the last can.

The long lines for basic foods at subsidized prices are paradoxical for an oil-rich nation that in many ways is a land of plenty. Shopping malls are bustling, new car sales are booming and privately owned supermarkets are stocked with American potato chips, French wines and Swiss Gruyere cheese.

Yet other foods covered by price controls -- eggs, fresh chicken -- periodically are hard to find in supermarkets. Fresh milk has become a luxury, and even baby formula is scarcer nowadays. The shortages are prompting some Venezuelans to question Chavez's economic policies while he campaigns for constitutional changes that, if approved in a Dec. 2 referendum, would let him run for re-election indefinitely.

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