Not because of this issue, but because his favorite person on this earth is Fidel Castro -- Chavez is turning out to be quite the dictator, and is severing all ties with the US.  Not only is he Communist at heart, but he harbors Al Qaeda, and gives them money (see www.nationalreview.com/comment/comment-osorio010803.asp )

I think that we should take this joker out.



Venezuela suspends anti-drugs cooperation

CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) -- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Sunday dismissed cooperation with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration as unnecessary in a new blow to his country's fraying ties with the United States.

The Venezuelan leader, an ally of Communist Cuba and harsh critic of U.S. foreign policy, said he had suspended cooperation with the DEA and accused the agency of spying against his government.

"The DEA was used as a cover... to carry out intelligence work in Venezuela against this government," Chavez told reporters as he voted in local municipal elections.

"Under these circumstances we decided to shut down these agreements... the DEA is not essential to the fight in Venezuela against drug trafficking. We will keep working with international organizations against drugs," he said.

A spokesman at the U.S. embassy in Venezuela could not be contacted for comment.

The suspension of cooperation on fighting drug trafficking follows Chavez's decision in April to end joint military operations and exchanges with the United States and order out U.S. instructors he said were stirring dissent against him.

Chavez gave no other details of his latest charges, but he often accuses Washington of plotting to topple or kill him.

The United States, a key client for Venezuelan oil, rejects Chavez's repeated accusations and views him as a threat to stability in the region.

Both countries had agreed until recently to work on combating drug trafficking, but cooperation has been strained by mistrust, corruption and the chilly relations between Caracas and Washington, foreign security officials say.

Venezuela is an important transport route for cocaine and heroin from Colombia to Europe and the United States.

Experts estimate as much as 300 tons of cocaine passes from Colombia through Venezuela each year while cash and guns are flown back the other way. Drug hauls by Venezuelan troops are small in comparison.

Venezuelan officials until recently had said they would continue to work with Washington on drug operations, but they admitted they had moved to curb some activities by DEA agents.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/americas/08/07/venezuela.drugs.reut/index.html

Photographer:
Ok, Smile if you welcome covert assistence to oust your ass!!


myitinaw

they have lots of OIL, lets kill him and get some cheap gas.

neutron bombs people.....I'm telling you.....NEUTRON BOMBS.

Venezuelans have given up on voting, because they know Chavez has completely rigged the system.

8/7/2005
Filed under:

   * Revolutions
   * Americas
   * Venezuela
   * Polls

—
BLEAK VENEZUELAN TURNOUT

First reports are in on today’s municipal elections in Venezuela.

Hugo Chavez is “winning.”

But turnout is so thin that the government has extended voting by two (update: now three) hours to try to make it a double-digit turnout. First reports say it’s running at about 8%. Updated, with the polls closed, the turnout is estimated at 20%. That’s an 80% abstention rate.

What a sad sorry affair this is. Jimmy Carter must be so proud of his job instilling confidence in the system last August, which by his own words, was the aim of his observation of Hugo Chavez’s recall referendum. Besides this, note that Venezuela had all the fanciest and highest tech electronic equipment for this vote. Neither has made Venezuelan voters confident in the system, given the turnout. Clearly something else is needed to instill confidence. It’s not there.

This is not the first time Venezuela’s polling hours have been extended. They were also extended during the recall referendum, but for very different reasons - because turnout was so high. Ironic. Obviously, public perceptions of fraud and retribution are so strong that very few people are willing to participate in the farce.

Bloggers here, here and here have warned that the fingerprint machines are recording voters’ choices, something that could lead to retribution for those whose choices do not win, and other setups that should lead to a rigged result. It’s a sad picture.

Miguel reports a ghost town at the polls in Caracas and has photos of the polling stations to show it.

Daniel has an hour by hour superb (Daniel at his best) summary of the voting situation in Yaracuy state to the west of Caracas, cattle country, where he says the voting stations were “deserted” and the only people in the area were soldiers in Cuban-like military uniforms, definitely an ugly site, he notes. How this this for an observation?

   In fact I could not help but to observe that the lottery ticket shop two blocks away had more people than the voting station. Obviously people know where the odds of a better future lay.

Daniel says that Mercal soup-kitchen coupons were reportedly handed out to chavistas who showed up to vote. In addition, Miranda state reportedly had busing in of non-locals to vote in the local elections, the media are covering that actively. He said when he voted, no one showed up at all. And voting had been extended from 6 to 7 yet again. Chavistas are saying it’s due to ‘high’ turnout and are making keister-covering statements on the state television. Sounds pathetic.

Nothing yet from Tomas Sancio in Miranda state, but will continue to monitor for his reports.

Miguel has a new post saying that Venezuelan government officials are admitting that turnout is exceptionally low, and voting hours are extended: “so that militants can vote.” (Do they mean FARC, I wonder? Does crossing the border from Colombia takes extra time?)

Meanwhile, a Chavista apologist named Oscar Heck at the spyware-laced VHeadline writes that the four private television stations are not covering this event. I would await a second confirmation from a reliable source but it’s here if you want to look at it.

Daniel reports that the ‘boring’ election is not so boring anymore - the cries of fraud have begun amid disputes over the extended hours of the polls - Venezuelan law says that extensions can only occur if there are people waiting in line to vote - not the case here. The election officials on television are defensively saying they did everything right and it wasn’t their fault turnout was so invisible. They sound nervous.

Stay tuned, as more updates roll in…


www.publiuspundit.com/?p=1495

We tried to get him out a few years back, but no one had the cajones to send in any hitters -- we just tried to assist the local opposition folks, etc, same old pansy-approach.

1) Kidnap him.
2) Drain him of all useful intelligence.
3) One shot to the head.
4) Unmarked grave.

... You cannot even imagine how negatively influential Hugo Chavez is on America. We make a big brouhaha chasing bin Laden around caves when we should be (perhaps are) actively working to dispose this character.

From the Heritage Foundation

Using Oil as a Political Tool
Chávez uses oil as a political tool to advance his hemispheric and global ambitions. He played a key role in the 1999 and 2003 OPEC decisions to cut production and coordinate policy aimed at driving oil prices higher. In 2000, Chávez visited Iran, Iraq, Libya, and Saudi Arabia, further agitating for production cuts and quota enforcement. The same year, he promised Fidel Castro 53,000 barrels of oil a day on concessionary terms in exchange for the services of Cuban doctors, teachers, and intelligence experts.

Besides supplying the United States with 1.5 million barrels of oil a day (mbd), Venezuela provides most of the petroleum consumed by U.S. allies in the Caribbean and Central America. Their leaders know that opposing Chávez in any significant fashion could result in less favorable sales terms or cuts in deliveries. In September 2003, President Chávez accused the Dominican Republic of harboring Venezuelans--like former President Carlos Andrés Pérez--who allegedly might conspire against his government. He then stopped oil deliveries, prompting a temporary energy crisis while Dominican officials scrambled for new suppliers.

Beyond the hemisphere, Chávez is preparing to shift PDVSA's customer base toward Asia and an increasingly oil-thirsty China, making Venezuela less dependent on petroleum sales to immediate neighbors. A deal signed on July 14, 2004, to build oil and gas pipelines between the Maracaibo Basin in Venezuela and the Caribbean and Pacific coasts in Colombia may seem innocuous, but it would enable Venezuela to ship petroleum to China without using the Panama Canal. This would make it more critical than ever for Chávez to secure a pliant government in Colombia to keep this facility operating in Venezuela's interest.16 Chávez would thus have the luxury of cutting deliveries to those who opposed him, forcing them to seek other sources at greater cost. By destabilizing and replacing democratic governments in hydrocarbon-rich Bolivia, Colombia, and Ecuador, he also could achieve a regional energy monopoly that could support rogue regimes and frustrate U.S. interests in the hemisphere.

Quoted: ... You cannot even imagine how negatively influential Hugo Chavez is on America. We make a big brouhaha chasing bin Laden around caves when we should be (perhaps are) actively working to dispose this character.

The man sends money to Al Qaeda.  According to GWB's speech, that makes him an enemy.    We ARE good enough to make it look like the opposition was behind any hit we planned.  Why are we letting this joker continue to breathe?  The previous poster is right, he's using oil as a tool.

Time for a driving accident... or him falling asleep while smoking a Cubano...

Quoted: Time for a driving accident... or him falling asleep while smoking a Cubano...

Driving Accidents are not a preferred method, because its effectiveness is unpredictable.  There are too many variables involved, and he could survive.  I see your point, however.  I would hope we are planning something, with the gloves off.

Quoted: Quoted: Time for a driving accident... or him falling asleep while smoking a Cubano... Driving Accidents are not a preferred method, because its effectiveness is unpredictable.  There are too many variables involved, and he could survive.  I see your point, however.  I would hope we are planning something, with the gloves off.

Looks to me like a guy with heart disease.

Quoted: neutron bombs people.....I'm telling you.....NEUTRON BOMBS.

From orbit?

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Time for a driving accident... or him falling asleep while smoking a Cubano... Driving Accidents are not a preferred method, because its effectiveness is unpredictable.  There are too many variables involved, and he could survive.  I see your point, however.  I would hope we are planning something, with the gloves off. Looks to me like a guy with heart disease.

You are right.  Looks like he might fall over any time now, heart disease can be a killer.

And he pays off the military to keep him in power..................that's typical in South America.

Quoted: Quoted: Time for a driving accident... or him falling asleep while smoking a Cubano... Driving Accidents are not a preferred method, because its effectiveness is unpredictable.  There are too many variables involved, and he could survive.  I see your point, however.  I would hope we are planning something, with the gloves off.

Perhaps Ted Kennedy could give him a lift sometime.

Quoted: Perhaps Ted Kennedy could give him a lift sometime.

We complain that other countries don't do anything with their idiots......but we allow Teddy to keep up with his trash year after year after year after year........

raven,

I have a co-worker from Venezuela who still has family there.  His mom didn't vote because she's scared to death of the consequences.  The reason voter turnout is so low is that if you vote against Chavez, you're life is in grave danger.  Their voting system is not anonymous.

Voting is electronic.  To vote you have to give your cedula (id) number and they scan your fingerprint first.  Then, after they have your fingerprint and ID, you use a touch screen to vote.  Your vote is then sent along with your corresponding ID number.

The Venezuelan gov then knows exactly how you voted and anybody who votes against Chavez or his people are listed in a specific database.  If your name gets put in that "anti-Chavez" database, you cannot get work (you'll be fired from your present job), you will be denied loans, you risk being "contacted" by pro Chavez street thugs, etc.

Also, pro-Chavez street gangs/militia have recently been seen using formal uniforms, Fal's, AK's, and even RPG's.

Quoted: raven, I have a co-worker from Venezuela who still has family there.  His mom didn't vote because she's scared to death of the consequences.  The reason voter turnout is so low is that if you vote against Chavez, you're life is in grave danger.  Their voting system is not anonymous. Voting is electronic.  To vote you have to give your cedula (id) number and they scan your fingerprint first.  Then, after they have your fingerprint and ID, you use a touch screen to vote.  Your vote is then sent along with your corresponding ID number. The Venezuelan gov then knows exactly how you voted and anybody who votes against Chavez or his people are listed in a specific database.  If your name gets put in that "anti-Chavez" database, you cannot get work (you'll be fired from your present job), you will be denied loans, you risk being "contacted" by pro Chavez street thugs, etc. Also, pro-Chavez street gangs/militia have recently been seen using formal uniforms, Fal's, AK's, and even RPG's.

Yep, he's become another South American dictator.  

Another Noriega in the drug business. His time will come.

Quoted: whatever you do, be surgical about it. Venezuala has SMOKIN' hot chicks.

Good point.

I don't know...he looks pretty hypertensive.  That blood pressure could cause a stroke or aneurysm, and if they play it right he could get both a stroke and an aneurysm.



Or a pulmonary embolism.  High altitudes can precipitate PEs, and Caracas is only about 1000m ASL, and he looks like a dead man walking.

Quoted: whatever you do, be surgical about it. Venezuala has SMOKIN' hot chicks.

Yes, I know.  I had to turn down three marriage proposals during my first three months in Venezuela.  They're so hot it hurts, if ya know what I mean.