Venezuela for dummies

Posted on Friday, 02.28.14

Venezuela for dummies
BY HUMBERTO FONTOVA

The U.S. imports over five times as much oil from Venezuela as from
Kuwait. Been to the pumps lately? Wonder what's going on? Venezuela is
in turmoil, that's what.

Hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans have taken to the streets. Hundreds
have been tear-gassed, beaten and arrested by Cuban-trained police and
at least a dozen shot dead by Cuban-trained paramilitary storm-troopers.

In brief Venezuelans have had it with the corruption, repression,
shortages, censorship, 56 percent inflation rate, crime and general
privations brought on by the late Hugo Chávez's "Bolivarian Revolution,"
especially as implemented by Chávez's successor Nicolás Maduro, who won
last October's elections — most non-Hollywood observers believe — by
stealing them.

Now Maduro and his cronies are stealing the country blind. It's all
under the guise of something the Chavistas call "21st Century
socialism," stealing businesses and replacing the owners and managers
with vengeful, bumbling and rapacious government hacks. So the results
exactly mimic those of old-fogey 20th Century socialism. Here's a nation
sitting atop the world's largest oil reserves and earning $100 billion
in oil revenues annually — while its citizens can't find toilet paper in
any stores.

But no matter how hard daily life becomes for Venezuelans, no matter how
menacingly looms the prospect of national bankruptcy, no matter how
drastically oil production drops — President Maduro keeps shipping
100,000 barrels of oil to Castro's Cuba daily. Venezuelan subsidies to
Cuba last year were estimated to total $10 billion. That's more than
double what the Soviets used to send.

So, as you might imagine, the Castro regime's interest in the Maduro
regime's survial is pretty keen. To keep U.S. oil-supplier Kuwait out of
the hands of a neighboring terror-sponsoring regime back in 1990, the
U.S. employed some pretty serious firepower, if I recall.

"Blood for Oil!" shrieked protestors worldwide.

"Well?" Many responded. "So what?" Rush Limbaugh was among the few to
man-up, shuck the script, and blurt the truth. Operation Desert Strom
was simply about securing: "the free flow of oil at market prices."

Indeed, if a nation decides to spill the blood of its servicemen, let's
hope it's for a vital national interest. And what could be more vital
than securing the flow through its very jugular?

As a response to Cuba's takeover of Venezuela, the massive protests this
blatant colonialism has sparked throughout that hapless nation, and the
absurd accusations against the U.S., Secretary of State John Kerry
recently responded thusly: "This is not how democracies behave. I call
on the Venezuelan government to step back from its efforts to stifle
dissent through force and respect basic human rights. The solution to
Venezuela's problems can only be found through dialogue with all
Venezuelans, engaging in a free exchange of opinions in a climate of
mutual respect."

Maduro and his colonial master Castro are surely quaking.

An estimated 50,000 Cubans infest Venezuela. The media (especially those
networks and agencies bestowed Havana bureaus) all claim these Cubans
are all "doctors and teachers." Actual Venezuelans know better. In fact
the Venezuelan secret police is essentially controlled by KGB-trained
Cubans. President Maduro's very platoon of bodyguards is headed by Cubans.

The hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans (mostly college students)
taking to Venezuela's streets are demanding, essentially, that the
Venezuelan government abide by the Venezuelan constitution and end their
pathetic subservience to the Castros.

"Cubans go Home!" chant many Venezuelan protestors. Another dig came
from the leader of the Venezuelan opposition party behind most of the
protests, Leopoldo López, shortly before his arrest. "Come on, Maduro,"
tweeted the 42 year old Harvard-educated firebrand. " You don't have the
guts to arrest me. Or are you waiting your orders from Havana?"

The orders came shortly after his tweet. As we go to press Leopoldo
López remains under arrest.

The Venezuelan regime rants and raves about "Yankee Imperialism!" But
the Venezuelan people fully recognize their genuine imperial masters.
Most Venezuelans blame the Maduro government's dirty work, including the
dozen dead demonstrators, on paramilitary storm-troopers called
"colectivos" (collectives.) "Chávez called them (the colectivos) the
armed wing of his Revolution," revealed Anthony Daquíne ex-security
assesor of Venezuela's Interior Ministry. "In essence they are
paramilitary groups. The leaders of the collectives have traveled to
Cuba for socialist education and military training."

Hugo Chávez's inspirational debt to Ernesto "Che" Guevara is such that
he titled his regime's socio-economic model, "Mision Che Guevara." So
unsurprisingly, many of these Cuban-trained storm-troopers regard Che
Guevara with great affection, even as their inspiration.

"Youth must refrain from ungrateful questioning of governmental
mandates! Instead they must dedicate themselves to study, work and
military service! The very spirit of rebellion is reprehensible!" raved
Che Guevara in a famous speech in 1961.

"My nostrils dilate while savoring the acrid odor of gunpowder and
blood. Crazy with fury I will stain my rifle red while slaughtering any
vencido that falls in my hands" raved Ernesto Guevara in a book later
known as The Motorcycle Diaries. The Spanish world vencido, by the way,
translates into defeated, hence surrendered, hence defenseless.

So, indeed, what could be more fitting than murdering unarmed youngsters
on orders from Cuba while worshiping Che Guevara?

Humberto Fontova is the author of four books including "Fidel;
Hollywood's Favorite Tyrant" and "Exposing the Real Che Guevara and the
Useful Idiots Who Idolize Him."

http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/02/28/3965735/venezuela-for-dummies.html