Chavez Threatens 2 Spanish Banks

[davidinalameda]

Source: AP

CARACAS, Venezuela —
President Hugo Chavez threatened Friday to nationalize the Venezuelan subsidiaries of Spanish banks Banco Santander SA and Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA, if Spain's king does not apologize for telling Chavez to "shut up."

"Are we going to turn the page, are we going to forget? No!" Chavez told hundreds of thousands of supporters at a campaign rally ahead of a vote Sunday on changes to Venezuela's constitution.

"The only way this is going to be fixed is for the king of Spain to offer an apology for having attacked the Venezuelan head of state," Chavez said.

Otherwise, "I'll start thinking about what actions to take," he continued. "Spaniards bought some banks here, and it doesn't cost me anything to take those banks back and nationalize them again, and put them in the service of the Venezuelan people."

Read more: http://www6.comcast.net/news/articles/world/latinamerica/2007/12/01/Venezuela.Spanish.Banks/

[MADem]

1. Betcha those banks have done wire transfers up the ying yang by now.

Christ, he's NUTZO.

[enid602]

4. fool

Economics is not his strong suit.

[Zynx]

12. Also the last thing a developing country needs to do is to cut itself off

to sources of foreign credit. Even the United States relied on British credit in our early days.

[MADem]

15. They aren't getting as much food in either, since they told Colombia to shove it. NT

[fasttense]

19. Not so sure about that.

Seems to me when a foreign power buys up a bank, they want something in return. They don't do it out of the goodness of their heart especially considering Spain's history with South America. I bet Venezuela would do just fine without the King's banks and money. They have oil.

It was a totally different monetary system when the US was a new nation. The US had no gold reserves yet and that is why they had to borrow. Now a days, you don't need gold to run your country and huge oil fields sure help.

Sounds to me like Chavez is using the King's insult as an excuse to force Spain out of Venezuela's economy.

[bahrbearian]

43. Lets see Spainish Bank or $100 a barrel Oil, thanks Chimpy.

[devilgrrl]

2. It's just an avalanche of Crimes and Misdemeanors!!!! Next thing you know, he'll have a nuke!!!!

[davidinalameda]

3. so its okay for him to threaten companies because of a perceived insult

just asking

[enid602]

5. nationalize

If that were the case, Bush should be able to nationalize every foreign asset in the US; he's certainly been insulted enough. Hell, he could pay the national debt that way.

[merwin]

6. I don't think it's a "perceived insult". The phrase "shut up" cannot be perceived

in very many different ways :)

[bahrbearian]

44. Double Post.

[bahrbearian]

45. We should add him to the Axis of Evil too.

Thats working well.

[EFerrari]

10. He has one. And he calls it Sergio.

:rofl:

[rwenos]

7. Real Smart, Sr. Presidente!

No ruler of a third-world country can do without international bankers -- if only for the wire transfers and escrow accounts to facilitate selling all that oil.

Chavez is stupid if he thinks he can alienate the world's bankers. "The man with the gold makes the rules."

[fasttense]

20. Why couldn't Venezuela use wire transfers and escrow accounts if the King

couldn't own Venezuelan banks? That is a big leap from nationalizing a few foreign banks to shutting down all international business. Would the entire world stop buying Venezuela's oil just because Chavez doesn't like the King of Spain? I bet you China will buy their oil anytime.

Seems to me Chavez is bucking to kick out Spain for some reason.

[Union Thug]

8. Give 'em hell, Hugo! n/t

[EFerrari]

9. Dale!

lol

[cali]

11. is this still going on?

absurd.

[Swagman]

13. I don't think the King of anywhere should tell elected leaders to "shut up"

[boricua79]

24. agreed.

I agreed with Chavez on the dispute issue, though I thought he could have been more civil in where to show his displeasure with Aznar and the Spanish's actions during his Coup.

But...threatening Spanish banks? Not an option and not good politics/economics.

[Igel]

30. Absolutely.

And if the elected president of a democracy is slighted, he has every right to protect his honor, which is, of course, the honor of his country.

Since in a kingdom a ruler and his country are essentially the same thing, and a slight against the royal person is a slight against the country.

Wait. That can't be correct. That line of reasoning went horribly astray somewhere.

Gee, now I have to go and try to figure out where Hugo isn't acting like royalty in this particular matter ...


I know. I can make the distinction between royal person/state and elected leader trying to whip up populist support through highlighting and overblowing external threats and appealing to a king of chauvinist nationalist pride, so that the only way a true patriot could possibly vote against him is by being forced in a situation of opening himself up to siding with the country's historical oppressors. I could chant "Fatherland, socialism, or death" until I turn blue. And having unconfirmed Niger-like documents surface to buttress my case by saying exactly what I've been saying would be great, by the time critical thinking kicks in I'll have my way.

Wait. That means he's not a king, but a demagogue. That can't be correct.

Gee, now I have to go and try to figure out where Hugo isn't acting like a demagogue in this particular matter ... I have to start by assuming the conclusion and and then work my way around to it: He's an enlightened hero of the revolution, a disinterested fighter for peace, justice, truth, racial equality and social justice and the American way (well, nobody said that has to mean only "North American way").

I obviously need breakfast. My head's spinning so much that looks like circular reasoning. But that can't be correct. And yet more coffee wouldn't hurt. Cafe enleite, vem!

[Peace Patriot]

14. So Spain has been buying banks in Venezuela, have they? It supports my theory

that the subtext of this flap with the King was/is a plan by Spain to move into what they perceive as a "power vacuum" in South America, created by the utter revulsion that most people feel against U.S./EU 'neoliberalism" ("free trade" where the poor get shafted), which has destroyed whole economies in South America, and impoverished millions and millions of people, and the trend with these new Bolivarian democracies (Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, Argentina and Nicaragua), and their leftist allies (Brazil, Uruguay and to some extent Chile), to push the U.S. and associated global corporate predators and first world financiers (World Bank/IMF) out of the region.

I think the basis of the spat is economic, although what Chavez was trying to say, when he interrupted Spain's president Zapatero (who was speaking--the occasion for the King's "shut up") was that Spain had colluded in the 2002 U.S.-backed rightwing military coup attempt against the Chavez government, and the current socialist government of Spain had not disavowed that collusion. Chavez may also suspect that the current Spanish government is doing it again--is helping current U.S. destabilization efforts and other nefarious plots.

The underlying economic issue--or what may be the underlying issue--is Spain's arrogance (remember, they were the colonizers of South America) in presuming that there is a "power vacuum" in South America. What about the PEOPLE of South America? Should THEY not be "the power" in democratic countries? And we're talking about a whole lot of poor and brown people, traditionally excluded from politics and society, and brutally oppressed by the Spanish colonizers, with Spain having left a rather bitter legacy of racial prejudice. All the vibrant new leaders are brown-faced--and one of them, Evo Morales (Bolivia), is 100% indigenous.

Indeed, the Bolivarian Revolution is the coming to power, at long last, of South America's vast poor population, and their taking their rightful place in the politics of their countries, as the MAJORITY. It is a peaceful, democratic revolution, and a very remarkable one.

So, how does Spain fit into this picture? That is the question. And it is a great mistake to dismiss Hugo Chavez because he does not speak in the elegant (and crafty) tones of diplomacy. He speaks for the "man in the street" and for oppressed and impoverished women. They are sick and tired of being shafted by EVERYBODY--the U.S., Europe, Spain, their own rich elites, and associated global corporate predators. Exxon-Mobile, Chevron-Texaco, Bechtel, Chiquita (formerly United Fruit Co.), Monsanto--all preying upon South America's poor.

Would YOU speak politely to these fuckers, if you had the chance? I don't think I would--and I was raised in the enforced decorum of Catholic schools--and was given a "lady's education." Chavez was born poor, and received his education through the military. This gives him an unpolished bluntness, which our corporate news monopolies pick up on and ridicule. But Chavez is also self-educated and very smart. The painting of him as a "buffoon" or a "loudmouth" is way off the mark, and fails to account for his extensive influence and popularity. He is not buffoon. And when he speaks, he always makes sense.

In the current case--his threat to the Spanish banks--he is saying: We don't need you, Spain! We don't need you to replace the World Bank loan sharks. You have no inherent rights here because you were the colonizer. And if you don't stop colluding with the U.S., we'll throw you out, too!

Five or six of these countries have formed the Bank of the South, with Venezuela's leadership. Another grouping has formed Mercosur, a South American trade group, which Venezuela was just invited to become a full member of. And there are many other developments aimed at SELF-DETERMINATION and INDEPENDENCE, and also the sovereignty of Latin American countries and regional cooperation. Something like 80% of World Bank loans (feeding profits to U.S./EU investors) used to be in South America, reduced over the last several years to almost nothing (1% or 2%). Local financing, with a social justice-friendly loan system, and local development aims, is replacing the World Bank in this region.

This movement is real, and it is challenging the hegemony of every outside interest in South America.

The issue of Latin American sovereignty, especially with regard to Spain, is key to understanding the Chavez/King flap. It is economic. It is political. It is personal to some extent--because Chavez really was kidnapped and threatened. And it has a lo-o-o-ong history.

Chavez is nutso--someone upthread said. He has a 70% approval rating. He has won all of his elections with increasing percentages of the vote (most recently, 63%) in highly transparent and heavily monitored elections. Venezuela boasts a 10% growth rate, with the highest rate of growth in the PRIVATE sector. And it is flush with oil profits. So the government really can buy back the banks. And maybe they ought to, if, as I suspect, Spain is playing games with their sovereignty, and putting democracy at risk--aiding Bushite plots but seeming not to, or sitting on their hands, knowing things, but not informing the Chavez government.

Something that happened at this meeting of Latin American countries, Spain and Portugal, didn't get much attention, but it was important. Nicaragua proposed creating a new OAS, without the U.S. as a member. There was a four hour closed door meeting about it. Spain is associated with the ruling elites in Latin America, who in turn directly collude with the U.S. and with foreign corporations, selling their countries' natural resources off much too cheaply (in return for rich elite lifestyles), selling their countries' solvency to the World Bank (and often ripping off the money and leaving the poor to pay the debt), letting foreign corporations come in and privatize everything, and all the while acting like they were "born to rule." They have completely mismanaged South American economies, and have criminally neglected and oppressed the poor. Why should Chavez, a representative of this majority, pay any obeisance to these rich elites, and to their mother country Spain, which have created all this poverty, in cahoots with the U.S., which has supplied the torture training school and the weapons for oppressive militaries and paramilitaries, and CIA operatives and USAID money, to undermine and destroy democracy?

As Nicaragua suggested, they should break with the oppressor--the main one being the U.S. Spain is the old oppressor. And Spain appears to be in an ambivalent and compromised position in all this--even with its new socialist government. Chavez is like a rough and tumble union leader, powerful and streetwise, with raised fist, shouting "Never again!" Never again will they let these ruling elites destroy their economies and leave millions of people with inadequate food, no jobs, no schools, no medical care, no decent housing and no hope--with some of the richest oil, gas, minerals, forests, water and other resources all around them.

Fascists always call such union leader types "buffoons" and "loudmouths"--and "nuts." I'm surprised that some people don't seem to get it. But I guess they're not up on their labor history. Nor our political history. FDR was called a "dictator" by the robber barons of that era. It goes with the territory of populist leadership. But it's sad to see some folks who call themselves Democrats buy into it. And it's very dismaying to see it here at a supposedly leftist Democratic forum.

[Andrushka]

16. Great post

Once again , Peace Patriot, you put these people to shame.

And damn right: why should he be polite anymore? They are supposed to say to those who f*** them and then rob them "Thanks very much"?

[Judi Lynn]

17. Thanks for reminding us of the BIG story from those meetings,the closed meeting concerning a new OAS

suggested by Nicaragua.

Nicaragua, and the other countries in South and Central Americas have been hounded, pounded and threatened during their own elections by _Bush administration officials, in every case. The standard one is the immediate threat of withdrawing aid if the leftist wins the election.

The nastier thread gets delivered to the extremely poor countries whose poverty stricken citizens, not finding any sustainable work in their own countries have to go to the States to work, and send their money home to their families. _Bush has made it clear to these countries that, if they disobey him, if they anger him by electing a populist leftist leader, he will make sure the very opportunity to send home their money to their loved ones will be blocked, terminated, and the families will simply have to go pound sand.

I wonder why our corporate media won't ever even mention these intimidation tactics against the small, helpless countries? Only the ones who actually pay close attention even know this happens!_Bush even had his brother, _Jeb waddling down to one of the countries to deliver the threat in person.

Sure, they ALL want some privacy, some distance from the constant bullying and butting in. Damned glad to know Nicaragua brought up the subject, and that they all sat and discussed it together, WITHOUT a _Bush representative. Hot damn!

Thank you for reminding the ones of us who knew, and informing the ones of us who didn't!

[fasttense]

21. Good info Peace Patriot

It's what I was trying to say but with only a hunch and no facts. Thanks for the facts to back up my suspicions.

[Pavulon]

31. This is not leftist underground

or chavista underground. If he nationalizes banks EVERY lending institution will pull out. No foreign company will risk having its assets stolen. SO he will have to pay up front for everything. All infrastructure projects will become cash on the barrel head.

He is paid in dollars already, he can not change the currency that underlies the ENTIRE oil trading system.

SO if he goes through with it he is shooting himself in the foot.

In the end he runs a petro state. He can fuck it all up by playing animal farm and be papa che in a red shirt. Or he can run it like the gulf arabs do and everyone can be rich.

Bet he fucks it all up.

[EFerrari]

33. Thank you, Thought Police!

[Pavulon]

34. Sorry. That's what the banner says

not world socialist underground, not leftist underground. Democratic Underground. So all the sound and fury the poster threw, and the common sense response I posted, no response.

Only an attack.

I am just waiting for all the chavistas here to realize the water they are in has come to a full boil.

You think this moron will stop being a problem when hillary is elected to office? I think not.

[EFerrari]

35. I think he doesn't lose sleep worrying about the 101st Keyboard. n/t

[Pavulon]

36. What do you mean?

I do not understand the context of your post. You mean chavez? He does not worry to much sitting on a big pile of petro dollars from his biggest customer..us.

[Snarkturian Clone]

41. thanks for posting this.

I've given up on the chavez worshippers.

[davidinalameda]

46. so Juan Carlos is a fascist?

you really need to go back and read up on him

[Pavulon]

47. History, Franco spain and power, bah

it is just easier to spout crap. King bad, red shirt guy good....

Dont try and confuse people with that historical context stuff.

[davidinalameda]

48. I know but one can hope

that people can see Chavez for the dictator wannabe he truly is

but of course when you have people on here defending Castro, I'm not surprised about how willing they are to ignore Chavez' actions

[struggle4progress]

51. Wasn't Juan Carlos personally selected by Franco to restore the monarchy?

Juan Carlos signs the Letters of Credence for Spanish ambassadors. Wasn't the Spanish ambassador instructed to support the 2002 coup?

By the way, Juan Carlos seems to have rather limited diplomatic skills: didn't he just precipitate a diplomatic row with Morocco?

[struggle4progress]

52. Juan Carlos awarded a journalism prize for pro-coup propaganda

Obituary - Rafael Cabrices,defender of Puente Llaguno, dies 60

In the early hours of August 30th 2005, Rafael Cabrices died in the military hospital in San Martin, Caracas, of a massive heart attack. Cabrices came to public attention on April 11th 2002 during the coup d´état when he was filmed firing his 9mm pistol from Llaguno Bridge overlooking the Avendia Baralt allegedly at the “peaceful opposition march” diverted by Carlos Ortega and his fellow conspirators to Miraflores Palace in order to remove Chavez from power. It was the images filmed by a crew of the opposition channel Venevision with a voice-over that provided the “evidence” to accuse Chavez of massacring his own people, and justify the traitorous generals’ pronouncements not to recognize the Chavez government and hence consummate the coup.

The Venevision footage never showed the march in the Avenida Baralt, since it never took that route, but the images with the voice-over saying that the march was being fired on went round the world, effectively condemning the defenders (gunmen, in the opposition media) by “trial by television”. The reporter, Luis Alfonso Fernandez of Venevision, won the Journalism Prize from the King of Spain for filming the “Massacre of Caracas” and duly accepted the prize in person in Madrid – a plaque and US$6,000 - even though he knew that the march never passed through the Avenida Baralt. Nothing need be said about the gutter ethics of this individual.

It has been conclusively proven by video evidence available from Globovision and the live conversation between the anchor, Carla Angola and reporter Del Valle Canelon who stated, that the people on the bridge were firing at the Metropolitan Police and their armored vehicles, and not the opposition march. Globovision hid this video tape for more than a year, meaning that Cabrices and the others spent 11 months in custody when they were in fact innocent. At the trial, where the defenders of Llaguno Bridge were subsequently cleared, and when questioned in court about why the video was shelved, Canelon said that “there were many pressures on her (not to reveal the existence of the video)” ...

http://www.venezuelasolidarity.org.uk/ven/web/articles/rafael_cabrices_obituary.html

[robcon]

18. Hugo is only about Hugo. "L'etat, c'est moi" should be his motto.

Insult Chavez, nationalize banks. Talk about abuse of power!

[Peace Patriot]

37. He's giving the imperialists a taste of their own medicine, Robcon.

Latin Americans have always been at the butt end of U.S., EU, World Bank and global corporate predator threats, kneecappings, bullying and punishment--not to mention outright war, murder, assassination, torture, coups, and imposed rightwing dictatorships--if the people dare to go their own way. Bush recently sent Oliver North, for godssakes, to Nicaragua, to threaten them with cutoff of aid, if they VOTED FOR Daniel Ortega.

Chavez is turning the tables. He threatened to cut off Venezuelan oil to the U.S. if Bush/Cheney invade Iran. He's now warning Spain to stop playing games with the U.S. and World Bank financiers. And it's not about Hugo. It's about the PEOPLE HE REPRESENTS. He is speaking for THEM--for the excluded and oppressed and brutalized and impoverished MAJORITY. And the ruling elites in these countries, who have time and again colluded with the oppressors, selling their countries' sovereignty down the toilet, should be glad that the "threat" is peaceful and democratic, and that it is implemented in economic terms--social justice, fairness, use of a country's resources to defend itself and to bootstrap the poor--because the other alternative--continued oppression to the point of violent revolution--is ugly and rarely has a good outcome. Indeed, the ruling elites in Venezuela and other South American countries--a region that is swiftly going left--should be kissing the poor, dirty, unshod feet of the people whom they have oppressed, for their desire for PEACEFUL change, for FAIRNESS, in the context of liberal democracy. Fair play is all they want. The oppression has been hardly less brutal than that of the Tsar and the Bourbons in France and the emperors and warlords of China. And those revolutions were convulsive, and massively brutal and bloody.

In any case--whatever you think of it--the Bolivarians are, one by one, REMOVING the powers of the U.S., global corporate predators and first world financiers to threaten them. The World Bank. "Free trade." The failed but neverending "war on drugs." U.S. military bases. Dependence of local militaries on U.S. largess. Foreign and global corporate predator ownership of resources, infrastructure and land. U.S. "aid" that dumps U.S. agricultural products on local markets. Global corporate predator "job creation" so long as you don't have unions. All of these weapons of the super-rich are being removed, disempowered, legally challenged, and replaced with local or regional powers and initiatives.

And in so far as Hugo Chavez is an innovative leader and spokesperson for this historic movement--and he is that--it is NOT about Hugo Chavez, except in the minds and "talking points" of the global corporate predator press. It's about Evo Morales in Bolivia, and Rafael Correa in Ecuador, and Nester Kirchner in Argentina, and Lula da Silva in Brazil--as well as about Chavez--and it is, above all, about the millions and millions of people who support them, who put them in office, and whose policies they are DEMANDING of their leaders, and are achieving through democratic means.

And, really, the Bolivarians have the right idea. We need to challenge OUR Corporate Overlords, and OUR usurious and predatory banks, and OUR fascist ruling class. Demonizing Chavez has NOT wholly prevented these ideas for leaking into the northern realms, and THAT, truly, is Hugo Chavez's "sin." He is using his political power--given to him by the people of Venezuela, and protected by them, against coups and other plots--and Venezuela's oil wealth, to plant seeds HERE, that there is an alternative way to look at OUR OWN oppression--that it is not forever, that we, too, might declare our independence from our Corporate Rulers.

Demonizing Chavez is a very big error in understanding what is really happening throughout South America. We MUST understand why this politician is so popular, and how deep this revolution is. It is common sense--a practical matter of business and politics, and gaging our own future in THIS country--to truly understand these events. Harping on Chavez's personality, and his unpolished manner, is such a side-show! It's so off point. And I'm quite sure that it is a deliberate strategy of distraction by our corporate press and by the Bush State Department (and psyops and black ops departments). Chavez's pugnaciousness is part of his own personality, but it is ALSO the "south" speaking to the "north." This is an amazing, huge, earth-shaking historical development. It's NOT about Hugo Chavez. It's about the people of South America at long last REBELLING against the U.S., and throwing the U.S. and its devious powers, methods and institutions OUT OF THE REGION--PEACEFULLY.

Posts like yours narrow this enormous event down to your dislike of one politician, with your sour presumption that he speaks for one, himself. That is just factually so inaccurate as to be mind-boggling. How does that help us--that you think he's an egotist? He has a 70% approval rating, and enjoys friendship and support from leaders throughout the region. Your opinion tells us something about you, but nothing about him, or the revolution that he is ONE of the leaders of.

It's far more important to know, for instance, that Paraguay--with a center/right government--has joined the Bank of the South. And Brazil (the biggest economy on the continent)! THEY see great value in local regional banking, and have endorsed and join this banking project, which was Venezuela's idea. THEY would like to have more control of their countries' financial structure--to stop the bleeding to first world countries, and to initiate long overdue region-friendly development. This is NOT "abuse of power." This is SPREADING power around!

Also, it shows little understanding of diplomacy to ignore the insult to the people of Venezuela that the king of Spain inflicted. It has deep historical and racial meaning, and it has economic and political undercurrents in the present situation. The king of Spain is a monarch, elected by no one (by Franco, is the truth of the matter--a party of one). This is not to say he isn't a relatively benign monarch. He is. But he also represents the moneyed class of Spain and Europe. Hugo Chavez is an elected president--elected, overwhelmingly, time and again, by his people, in the face of continual overt and covert interference by the U.S., including a coup attempt that the previous Spanish government supported. One of the things that Venezuelans are attempting to accomplish, by electing and re-electing Chavez, is securing their SOVEREIGNTY--after centuries of domination by Spain, and more than a century of U.S. meddling and domination.

So, when Hugo Chavez tells Spanish banks to go to hell, he is speaking for many. And when the king of Spain tells him to "shut up," he is speaking for the rich. And when Hugo Chavez calls Bush "the devil" at the UN (to much applause), he is speaking for many. And when corporate news monopolies, Bushites and collusive Democrats call Chavez a "dictator," they are speaking for the rich. He is a "dictator" because he is helping to remove their powers over his country, and other countries. He is a "dictator" to Exxon-Mobile. But he is NOT a "dictator" to his people. There is no evidence of it. And there is overwhelming evidence to the contrary. They want him to be strong. They want him to resist both economic and political coups. They want him to speak for THEM. And he obliges. That's his job. That's what they elected him for--to assert their sovereignty, their strength, and their peaceful, democratic, pugnacious, unexpected, historic rebellion against oppressive powers.

And the king of Spain wants him to "shut up." Whoa! Can you just imagine how that was felt in the barrios of Caracas? It's not about the insult to Hugo Chavez as an individual. It's about the insult to THEM.

[Pavulon]

38. I am sure those in Ranchos

will immediately shift their portfolios to a different bank. Maybe a zurich based firm.

Chavez said he would TAKE spanish assets. That makes him a thief.

Hugo's family is getting PAID now. All of them are on the state dole.

This is about mountains of fucking money. Oil money. No more, no less.

Do NOT LOOSE SIGHT of that. Not about poor people, socialism, communism or cuba. Tens of billions in currency is the prize here.

Money and power, people have been killed for it since the dawn of mankind.

Napoleon the pig is no different.

[ohio2007]

22. Dec 3rd will be black monday for the Spanish bank branches over there

they may close their doors and declare a holiday due to the election result ?

That'll get a run on the banks and cause a spike in the inflation rate. maybe a depression?

nahhh..

[boricua79]

23. ahah...

Once again, I'm concerned by yet another Chavez move. Nationalizing banks on account of an insult from the monarch of the country they're based on?

What's next...China nationalizing Dell because Bush pissed them off?

Threatening nationalizations when they're not integral or necessary to the economy of a country on account of an "insult" is very bad politics. It scares potential investors away, harming the development of a country. Not to mention that it reveals a vengeful, immature streak in whoever utters them.

Chavez is fond of repeating the true assertion that Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11 and thus, should have not been invaded. Why target two banks who are not related to the monarch of spain?

I don't care how many DUers come to Chavez' reputation rescue...THIS IS NOT RIGHT.

You don't run a new Bolivarian Revolution of progressive politics, understanding, new ideas, power to the people, democratic development, etc. on threats to nationalize the economic interests of other nations.

And, on top of it all, it adds fodder to the "he's becoming Castro" image.

BAD political strategy all around....

[leaninglib]

25. The fat little fascist should be committed to an insane asylum.

[Joanne98]

26. Nationalize is the opposite of privatize....

They won't live our shit alone, so let's go after theirs. Great idea. I want to do that there. I'm sick of corporations and banks. They're evil!

[ohio2007]

27. Like Rwanda, the seizure of private enterprises will lead to mismanagement by Hugo's family

You don't think his family doesn't stand to profit from all this do you ?

[Pavulon]

32. NPR say yes!

they are already profiting. But NPR is part of the evil media controlled by the <whatever>..

[JeanGrey]

28. For God's Sake, What an Ego this man has. Is he STILL

ranting about this? Yawn..................

[Flanker]

29. Electoral whoring

nm

[Solar_Power]

39. Absolute power corrupts absolutely

[gtar100]

40. Just a guess - this has nothing to do with "shut up"; it's more like a chess move

The real substance is the threat to nationalizing the banks. There's got to me more to this story than feigned reproach to honor.

[Alexander]

42. Both Chavez and King Juan Carlos could have dealt with this better.

In the context of this particular action, Chavez is going overboard, and this is not helpful.

[frankieT]

49. NATIONALIZING is NOT stealing

For those who talk lightly about stealing, nationalization is always an option for any sovereign country. In that case Venezuela will repay its shares to spanish banks, IT IS NOT STEALING. Of course it's stupid to do that because of an insult. But Chavez nationalizaing oil companies was a very good move when oil was at 40$. It was obviously an ideological move, but still a good economic move for Venezuela's people, not for international foreign companies.

[cigsandcoffee]

50. What a child. Good Lord. n/t