Saturday, May 24, 2008

Mr. O The presidential candidate out-hawks Mr. B the President on Chavez Mr. O, the man that is running for President against Mrs. C., managed to actually be more hawkish on Hugo Chavez than Mr. B. , which the media has barely reported so far. In his first significant speech on Latin America at the Cuban American National Foundation, Mr. O. said, without any ambiguity or hesitation: "No wonder, then, that demagogues like Hugo Chavez have stepped into this vacuum. His predictable yet perilous mix of anti-American rhetoric, authoritarian government, and checkbook diplomacy offers the same false promise as the tried and failed ideologies of the past. But the United States is so alienated from the rest of the Americas that this stale vision has gone unchallenged, and has even made inroads from Bolivia to Nicaragua. And Chavez and his allies are not the only ones filling the vacuum." And just in case someone had any doubt of whether he meant it or not, Mr. O. described Chavez very well: "In Venezuela, Hugo Chavez is a democratically elected leader. But we also know that he does not govern democratically. He talks of the people, but his actions just serve his own power." Jeez, has he been reading our blogs? But the phrase that has not made it much to the headlines, but I managed to catch as I luckily watched the speech live, was when he said: "We will support Colombia’s right to strike terrorists who seek safe-haven across its borders." Which so far has elicited no response from the quick trigger Venezuelan diplomats or even from the man himself. Maybe Ivan Marquez, the FARC leader purportedly hiding somewhere in Venezuela, should be very nervous of this. After all, he is now supposedly the number one man at that terrorist organization, after Colombia's Ministry of Defense formally announced Marulanda has been confirmed as dead. . 7:32:28 PM    comment []

Blogging: From labor of love to paid labor Blogging is at best and obsession, at worst a labor of love. In this almost six years, I have freely devoted my time (or obsession) to write it. Only twice have I received compensation in any form for it. In 2007, when I won the blogging award, a reader who came to visit from the US brought me a bottle of wine as a symbolic gift for the award. This week, two readers, one a relative, sent me three packages of real, actual, unique, pure, unadulterated white corn flower for my arepas in response to my recent post. I must be now in the upper income bracket for Venezuelan bloggers. For which I will remain eternally grateful... 7:08:18 PM    comment []