RIP President Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías

[Taverner]

Descanse en paz, compañero Chavez...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-21679053

[reteachinwi]

1. Extrañaremos su alma

[limpyhobbler]

2. +1 nt

[bemildred]

4. RIP. nt

[johnnykooks]

5. RIP Hugo Chavez

You were a much better human being then any republican that ever existed.

[truebluegreen]

6. +1000

Welcome to DU.

[johnnykooks]

7. Thank you very much

Its great to be here!

[ananda]

8. Salute.

To a great human being.

RIP

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

14. Castro, I suppose

Ol' Fidel's been the object of irrational demonization and uneducated hate for five decades running.
He can handle the job.

[Bake]

16. I imagine Fidel will be joining Hugo in the not too distant future.

Bake

[TBF]

19. Anyone who does not give up the desired resources cheaply

of course. Plenty of Africa to worry about right now ...

[Whisp]

10. RIP.

Truly a sad day.

[bvar22]

11. The Venezuelan People owe him a lot,

...as well as the People of many Latin American countries.
His administration catalyzed a change for the better in South and Central America.
I hope his influence lives on.

VIVA Democracy!
I pray we get some here soon!

[malaise]

15. Caribbean people owe him even more

We got lots of oil via amazing deals

[Hell Hath No Fury]

12. Viva Chavez -

[unreadierLizard]

13. I love how

disagreeing with how he trampled on the right of his people to dissent to his policies, jailing and exiling opposition politicians on trumped up charges at will gets you automatically branded a "right wing sympathizer" now a days here.

He did do good. No one is denying that.

But was it worth trampling on the freedom of the people who he claimed to be trying to uplift?

[PennsylvaniaMatt]

18. Exactly! You said it!

[Carnage251]

23. Warning DU is filled with Chavez apologists who support him because the U.S rightwing hate him

they let that and the fact the he nationalized various industries cloud their judgement over him.

[Cleita]

24. That's why we like him.

He nationalized various industries that were sucking the country and the people of Venezuela dry. Nothing wrong with that. We should be doing the same, then maybe we wouldn't be facing the problems we are today.

[Carnage251]

25. Yeah let that cloud your judgement

Here's a nice profile from Human Rights Watch.
Abortion is illegal in Venezuela.
Venezuela is ranked 117th out of 179 countries in the Press Freedom Index.

But lets forget all that simply because you and others would rather be cheerleaders for people that republicans despise.

[Cleita]

26. I already read that and I remember debating all those incidents in the past and

it turns out that they weren't exactly as reported in the English press. They were pretty much debunked.

[noiretextatique]

33. here are some more statistics

about infant mortality, unemployment, etc. all improved under chavez.

http://www.opeal.net/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=12577:how-has-venezuela-changed-since-hugo-chavez-took-power?

[Taverner]

32. Not all of us here think Capitalism is good or even works nt

[Colorado Rambler]

17. And coming soon to a military base near you

I wonder how long before the US decides to save Venezuela from all those evil drug cartels and their WMD's? Any country with so much oil and now so little leadership deserves a little outside intervention, don't you think?

[Cleita]

28. Yikes, don't even put that into words.

The government lurkers might think it's a good idea.

[ellie]

20. RIP Hugo

[Nanjing to Seoul]

21. via con dios, presidente chavez!

eom

[flamingdem]

22. And thanks for helping cuba

And the poor in the usa too

[shcrane71]

27. RIP

[pa28]

29. RIP. There goes a great man. n/t

[Arcanetrance]

30. I really don't feel one way or the other

The man was human be did some good things and some things I don't really agree with. I worry more about the people of Venezuela and hope they get through is with little bloodshed and hardship. As I said earlier Chavez was human he will never be a saint it's for history to judge his actions.

[Arctic Dave]

31. Vio con Dios

May his legacy live on.