MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Obama calls for a ‘constructive’ future relationship with Venezuela
President Barack Obama said within hours of the death of President Hugo Chavez Tuesday that the United States was interested in a “constructive” future relationship with Venezuela. Read full article
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Disclaimer & comment rulesNice letter Mr. Obama
Mar 06th, 2013 - 11:21 am - Link - Report abuse 0Now, please keep your CIA dogs on the leash.
Latin-America ain't your “Backyard” anymore.
We are all watching you............................... Closely.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dIiV4AKzOM
And here comes the vultures. We are all Chavez!
Mar 06th, 2013 - 11:23 am - Link - Report abuse 0Led by KFC. You speak for yourself.
Mar 06th, 2013 - 11:43 am - Link - Report abuse 0Listen to Latin America. Can you hear it? “Somos todos Chavez”
Mar 06th, 2013 - 11:46 am - Link - Report abuse 0We are all Chavez, what a moronic sophomoric statement.
Mar 06th, 2013 - 11:56 am - Link - Report abuse 0I hope the CiA cancer works on the rest of these Socialist dictators ruining their countries and making their people starve.
and fast.
@Think Will you be flying to Caracas to pay your respects with Crissy or stay sitting in comfort in western Europe????
Mar 06th, 2013 - 12:11 pm - Link - Report abuse 05
Mar 06th, 2013 - 12:15 pm - Link - Report abuse 0It's not me, they are saying it on the streets, painting it on the walls. “Somos todos Chavez”. I kind of like it.
Chavistas=Peronists=Bolivarian Socialists
Mar 06th, 2013 - 12:27 pm - Link - Report abuse 0and they should all be taken out of the gene pool for the good of humanity.
no disrespect mr obama but=
Mar 06th, 2013 - 12:28 pm - Link - Report abuse 0the United States reaffirms its support for the Venezuelan people ,
shame you could not do the same of the falklands people,
just a thought.
Obama is making the right move. The US made a mistake by increasing sanctions against Cuba when the Soviet Union broke up. They should have held out a hand of friendship. Nationalistic brainwashing only works with a Big Bad Enemy even if it is fictitious.
Mar 06th, 2013 - 12:44 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Already Maduro is spreading stupid lies about 'imperialist sickness' killing Chavez in order to keep the less than intelligent followers behind him. The US should not do anything to feed that myth.
I loved William Hague's statement, “I was saddened to learn of the death of President Hugo Chavez. As president of Venezuela for 14 years he has left a lasting impression on the country and more widely. I would like to offer my condolences to his family and to the Venezuelan people at this time.” :)
@1 Who'd want a “backyard” with so many diseases, slugs and corruption in it?
Mar 06th, 2013 - 01:27 pm - Link - Report abuse 0@2 So you're DEAD! And good riddance.
@4 Is that a squeak from a rat? Exterminate!
@7 That's because you're a moron! Sorry, shouldn't have said “moron”. Far too high on the evolutionary ladder. Got a foot out of the primeval slime yet?
@10 Yep, Elaine. Mundane phrases are very good. For now. When do you think he'll get around to the truth? “The people of Venezuela have a chance to throw off the shackles of tyranny and corruption. To take their share in the wealth of their country. To stand against the rule of criminals and despots. To reject people like Correa, Kirchner and Morales. To be free!”
Is that Susie you guys talk about all the time?
Mar 06th, 2013 - 01:32 pm - Link - Report abuse 0What has she against conqueror? Why abuse his alias like that?
Stevie,
Mar 06th, 2013 - 02:30 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Ain't no one here saying “Somos todos Chavez”. But we are not ALBA+1.
Chavismo dies with the man. Great intentions with hopeless policies. He pulled a lot of people out of poverty but in an unsustainable way. So much wealth squandered.
He could have left the country with world class infrastructure, hospitals and universities, but he leaves it unproductive, blighted by violent crime, corrupt and in a political vacuum.
Russia Today's Spanish service accuses U.S. of killing him:
Mar 06th, 2013 - 02:36 pm - Link - Report abuse 0“Eva Golinger: Hay evidencias que EE.UU. habría inducido el cáncer a Hugo Chávez”:
http://actualidad.rt.com/actualidad/view/88236-chavez-venezuela-eeuu-armas-biologicas
And on Youtube: http://actualidad.rt.com/actualidad/view/88236-chavez-venezuela-eeuu-armas-biologicas
You mean like the right-wing uses to do everytime they get elected? Chavez has done better than any of those. Without the need to kill and torture his oppositors.
Mar 06th, 2013 - 02:39 pm - Link - Report abuse 0You can look in the stars for a change, or start killing.
Stevie,
Mar 06th, 2013 - 03:18 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Chavez had many qualities and was a champion for the poor. But he also got lucky. He presided over a period of record oil prices and other than buying the eternal love of many, most of that income was wasted. Look what Norway has achieved with its oil revenues.
“Without the need to kill and torture his oppositors” - do you not remember the 2006 public protest? 100s of thousands took to the streets and Chavez had his snipers open fire. 19 shot dead on the streets. You can indirectly add to that the 20 people murdered every day in Caracas.
Why idolize someone who achieved so little with so many resources? Because he talks a good game? Because he called Bush the “devil”.
Why set the standard so low for South American leaders?
We are so much better than that.
How much does the President of Arge....I mean Venezuela earn that he can ammas a net world of 2billion U$? I mean, he was born poor and was a convicted criminal of a coup. A nice little nest egg his daughters are getting.
Mar 06th, 2013 - 03:37 pm - Link - Report abuse 0http://en.mercopress.com/2013/03/06/obama-calls-for-a-constructive-future-relationship-with-venezuela#comment223960: As you say he pulled a lot of people out of poverty. The previous regime had forty years and pulled nobody out of poverty. That was a waste of wealth - and time.
Mar 06th, 2013 - 04:07 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Chavez, for good or bad, was necessary to break the power of the oligarchy.
He did not pull them out of poverty, he made them dependant, dependant on him. That is not the same has pulling them out of poverty. Giving them jobs, the means tohouse and feed themselves unsubsidised, that is pulling them out of poverty.
Mar 06th, 2013 - 04:20 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Once again, I find it so interesting that the “right wing” commenters use phrases and words to describe Chavez, and fail to see that the exact same words can apply to Obama, or the Queen (your's, of course, briton), or to Merkel or Cameron or any of the other servants of the Oilgarchs. Get over the “conservative vs. liberal” side show and begin to see that you are all slaves to a system that plays you like a violin, all of the time. Picking nits between two halves of the same program is beyond wasteful, it means that you continue to hold a false duality in place. Always, always, follow the money (the very big money), and there you will find your true enemy.
Mar 06th, 2013 - 04:26 pm - Link - Report abuse 0#18 Supposedly, if you track the rise of oil prices & income, much LESS poverty was eradicated than is usually experienced historically for that rise.
Mar 06th, 2013 - 04:48 pm - Link - Report abuse 0(Oil was nationalized decades before Chavez and went from $9 to over $108 a barrel. Am I correct?)
This may be because he gave it away, like the 100,000 homes in the U.S that get free heating oil.
But with the shortages of even arepa flour, beansand cooking oil, it's ok to question. It could also be a Bernie Madoff type thing.
The Chavez family has ~ $2 B. The Castro brothers have another $2B. Where did they get that?
Argentine Investments, simples.
Mar 06th, 2013 - 05:00 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Ayayay.....for Bolivian socialist, not all things are equal and they certainly are not being served the same pie that their peasants are being served from. Very few capitalists acquire that much wealth. Really tells you something. But in the eand, these criminal thugs with the do good facade get their due date in hell. I hope the devil has a barbed penis as he spends enternity bending Chubby over.
Mar 06th, 2013 - 05:26 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Some animals are more equal than others
Mar 06th, 2013 - 06:05 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Russians now just a little bit concerned that the many billions of dollars of arms deals with Venezuela to buy tanks, SAMs, etc, might not be rock-solid:
Mar 06th, 2013 - 06:07 pm - Link - Report abuse 0http://en.ria.ru/business/20130306/179851612/Venezuelan-Politics-May-Blow-Cold-on-Russian-Contracts.html
20
Mar 06th, 2013 - 06:56 pm - Link - Report abuse 0you lost me ?
@20 rylan23
Mar 06th, 2013 - 07:28 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Once again, I find it so interesting that you tag some commenters “right wing” and then use phrases like: “you continue to hold a false duality”, hence perfectly demonstrating the false duality you hold.
Look inside your head and under your bed and you will find your true enemy.
@14 Russia's secret service does a pretty good job killing its own people - notably the Litvenyenko incident with polonium.
Mar 06th, 2013 - 08:19 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Seems they are out to make mischief and to gain influence in SA. Watch this space. So far they have resisted the temptation to cosy up to CFK - probably because she's so unstable.
@10 ElaineB Hague has a great way with words - a real diplomat.
Obama was PRESIDENT and he & Michelle didn't have a million dollars, including equity on his Chicago house, until his book deal. Perspectivr: One million seconds comes out to be about 11½ days. A
Mar 06th, 2013 - 08:28 pm - Link - Report abuse 0billion seconds is 32 years.
Chavez gone but somebody is going to have to get off the pot and start to make a dent in the serious and pernicious that Venezuelans face - and that hasn't been adequately addressed by “Chavismo” - Bolivarian or Cuban style - since 1998:
Mar 06th, 2013 - 09:09 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Homicide rate - Venezuela #5:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_intentional_homicide_rate#By_country
Human Development Index - Venezuela #73:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_intentional_homicide_rate#By_country
Press freedom - Venezuela #117:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_intentional_homicide_rate#By_country
Global Peace Index - Venezuela #123:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_intentional_homicide_rate#By_country
Corruption Perception Index - Venezuela #165:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_intentional_homicide_rate#By_country
Amazing how much poverty was reduced in other South American countries during the same time. The Economist had a great graph that showed that Peru exceeded Venezuela and did it without destroying its economy and solely relying on oil.
Mar 06th, 2013 - 10:25 pm - Link - Report abuse 0http://www.economist.com/blogs/americasview/2013/03/venezuela-after-chávez
Venezuelans are now on average poorer than they were 10 years ago and Venezuela has lost some of its best and brightest to emigration.
It will take a generation to recover.
all the world can do now,
Mar 06th, 2013 - 10:25 pm - Link - Report abuse 0is wait and see
http://en.mercopress.com/2013/03/06/obama-calls-for-a-constructive-future-relationship-with-venezuela#comment224011: Irrespective of how you characterize the reforms made made in Venezuela over the past 14 years had you flown into Caracas in the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s or 1990s you will have immediately realized that things were not working under the old regime. Under Chavez things changed and he was consistently supported by the majority of voters.
Mar 06th, 2013 - 11:18 pm - Link - Report abuse 0yup things changed with chubby............2 billion things changed, his bank account. poor are still poor with handouts. With all that oil he could have made real change rather than make him and his goons filthy rich with token chances.
Mar 06th, 2013 - 11:49 pm - Link - Report abuse 0@1 What about my theory that most of S America is living in the time period of the American '70s?
Mar 07th, 2013 - 05:11 am - Link - Report abuse 0the United States remains committed to policies that promote democratic principles, the rule of law, and respect for human rights,”
Mar 08th, 2013 - 01:18 am - Link - Report abuse 0The VENEZUELAN PEOPLE have to lift that veil off their eyes and see through that absurd hatred Maduro is spewing about the US.
”the United States remains committed to policies that promote democratic principles, the rule of law, and respect for human rights,”
Mar 08th, 2013 - 01:54 am - Link - Report abuse 0Hahahaha! Tell that to Iraq. Whisper it in Guantanamo. Spread the word in Afghanistan.
USA is just being misunderstood!
@31
Mar 09th, 2013 - 01:24 am - Link - Report abuse 0so what?
the USA is in the same position
mind you own country, dirty arse aussie!
@37 Why you hating that woman have rights as humans now?
Mar 09th, 2013 - 02:11 am - Link - Report abuse 039
Mar 09th, 2013 - 11:16 am - Link - Report abuse 0What?
@38 thanks Sussie - I love you too!
Mar 09th, 2013 - 12:14 pm - Link - Report abuse 0http://en.mercopress.com/2013/03/06/obama-calls-for-a-constructive-future-relationship-with-venezuela#comment224011: Health and education for the poor have both improved during the Chavz administration. Those improvements alone go a long way to pulling the poor out of poverty.
Mar 09th, 2013 - 01:31 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Are there independent, credible evaluations of Chávez' social and economic programmes? I had assumed that the news reports of the success of these programmes was a given (such as Misiones bolivarianas: http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misiones_bolivarianas), but there are now reports emerging that suggest at least some of the MBs haven't performed as expected (and hoped):
Mar 09th, 2013 - 02:28 pm - Link - Report abuse 0- “These programs were typically very badly managed. A study by two Venezuelan economists published in 2008 found that Chavez’s flagship adult literacy program costs between 200 and 400 times more than the adult literacy program in Brazil. Not 200% more. Two hundred times more.”
- “Even using the most favorable estimate, [the economists] could identify no more than 92,000 people who were taught to read and write by the program, a shocking number considering the Education Ministry claimed to have hired over 210,000 literacy trainers in that time.”
- “Other programs deformed and stunted the nation’s economy: The state energy monopoly sells gasoline to Venezuelan motorists at 9¢ a gallon. This subsidy costs the Venezuelan treasury more than $20-billion a year — double the national budget for health and education programs combined.”
And so on and so on:
http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misiones_bolivarianas),
#43 what was so ironic about his gasoline policy was that he purchased the bulk of it from the USA because they could refine the total demand of Venezuela's needs. He sold to the evil US empire and purchased gasoline from it.
Mar 09th, 2013 - 03:01 pm - Link - Report abuse 0While there is no doubt that he did things for the poor, seemly great things from poverty's POV. They pale in comparison of what COULD have been accomplished considering the vast wealth of oil reserves Venezuela has.
Venezuela has 5 times the more murders than the USA and Argentina per capita
89% has access to healthcare
83% has access to fresh water....WTF!
7 times more babies die in Venezuela during childbirth than the USA, which is odd as they have nearly the same doctors per capita.
He tossed them a bone and could have taken them OUT of poverty rather than making the dependent on government handouts.
http://en.mercopress.com/2013/03/06/obama-calls-for-a-constructive-future-relationship-with-venezuela#comment225213: There independent evaluations of the administration's programs - they are made by the voters.
Mar 09th, 2013 - 03:29 pm - Link - Report abuse 0I do agree that Brazil's transition has been far better managed than Venezuela's. However Lula has not run for office in Venezuela and the voters must select the best candidates that they are presented with.
There independent evaluations of the administration's programs - they are made by the voters.
Mar 09th, 2013 - 04:57 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Well, there is the stupidest statement you have ever made and you've had some doozys!
You could say that for every Dictator ever “elected” since Caesar!
How in the world can you type if you are so stupid?
http://en.mercopress.com/2013/03/06/obama-calls-for-a-constructive-future-relationship-with-venezuela#comment225335: In a democracy it is the voters that make the judgement - not economists or any other apparatchiks. The voters make this judgement using the ballot box.
Mar 10th, 2013 - 12:41 am - Link - Report abuse 0Hep Venezuela has the same per capita doctors as the USA and 3 times the mortality rate at birth. That is an improvement?
Mar 10th, 2013 - 03:50 am - Link - Report abuse 0Poppy, an improvement is a change for the better, must be compared to the situation before, not an entirely different country. Do you have any idea how Venezuela was before Chavez? Don't worry responding, we both know the answer to that question.
Mar 10th, 2013 - 02:42 pm - Link - Report abuse 0You're such a world traveler stevie!
Mar 10th, 2013 - 03:35 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Commenting for this story is now closed.
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