Hugo Chavez Is Dead!

  He did a good deal for Venezuela's poor, and his socialistic policies were more successful than socialism has usually been. On the negative side, he was sometimes repressive, and he was a fan of some really bad people.

On the Legacy of Hugo Chávez

http://www.thenation.com/article/173212/legacy-hugo-chavez#

Joe Kennedy sets the matter straight

Below is Fox News attack on Joe for his ads and his good rebuttal

Francisco Torro at The Atlantic on Chavez.

More at his blog, Caracas Chronicles, including a link to his March 6 column for Latitude @ The IHT on his fears for the future, which concludes:

It’s a deeply frightening time to be an independent-minded Venezuelan. None of the old trump cards that allowed Chávez to maintain his grip on power without resorting to mass-scale violence seems to be available to his successor. Without Chávez’s charisma, his personal authority or his magnetic hold over the mass’s imagination, all that Maduro brings to the table is eliminationist rhetoric.

Chávez has left Venezuela peering down into a precipice.

“According to news reports, Chavez has passed after a long battle against cancer. For over a decade Chavez had used corruption, intimidation, manipulation, and brutal tactics to rule over the Venezuelan people. Chavez misruled Venezuela with an iron grip on the government, economy, and the courts as he routinely bullied the media and the opposition to deny the people of Venezuela their basic freedoms. Today his death marks the end of this tyrannical rule but the road to democracy for the Venezuelan people is still very much uncertain.

Chavez not only led Venezuela into a spiraling economic downturn, but also deepened ties with fellow despots throughout the world that led to fear and instability in the Western Hemisphere. His ever growing cooperation with fellow state sponsors of terrorism, Iran, Syria, and Cuba, threatened U.S. interests in the region and around the globe. By providing aid and financial assistance to these rogue regimes, Chavez gave many human rights violators an economic lifeline in the form of oil subsidies to continue their tyrannical rule over their people.

The Venezuela people now have an opportunity to emerge from this oppressive regime and regain their democracy and human rights. However, this can only be done through a true democratic process with free, fair, and transparent elections. I am hopeful that democracy will rise from the ashes of the Chavez regime and again become a part of a new Venezuela. Now it is up to the Venezuelan people to redefine and rebuild their nation as a peaceful, democratic, and prosperous state free of the clutches of Chavez and his disastrous social and economic policies.”

U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), is Chairman of the Subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa.
 
Here is more by Jennifer Rubin
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/wp/2013/03/06/obamas-atro...

I just post the above as more samples of the thinking most commonly put forth here in the U.S. It may be good reporting and analysis, how could we really know with any great confidence. I suspect, though, that an appraisal of Chavezs that was slanted and spun as far in his favor as these appear to be slanted towards his  demonization would read as purple puff pieces.
 I find the whole Chavez story, what I know of it to be very interesting as part of the international puzzle, but I think the facet that should be most important to us is the actions of our own government in that story.
 I do not trust Rep. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), jennifer Rubin, or U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), to give me a fair honest, story about Chavez or about how the U.S. acted.
 A lot of the time, most of the time maybe, we can only judge between the various stories we hear based on which story has the ring of truth. To me, none of the above meet that test. 
  The next link is to a documentary film made in association with the Irish Film Board. Some annoying drumming can be avoided by jumping ahead to the 2:30 mark to the intro that is worth watching as a setup. It then goes in documentary fashion to acquaint the audience with Chavez. I recommend all of it but you might want to skip ahead to the twenty minute mark when you will have a camera's eye view inside the Government Palace as the coup comes to a head. You can watch people seriously heart broken that their government is being overthrown and seriously scared of what may happen to them at any time. You can see how the private media in Venezuela played their part and how it was all reported in our media and by our government. You can here our leaders saying that Chavez does not have popular support. [That is now known to most anyone sentient to be a lie so now his vocal critics are saying he had become a tyrant by the end] You can see evidence as to which side is most responsible for the demonstrations becoming violent. You can see indications along with claims about the extent of our government's overt meddling and of its encouragement of Chavez' opposition.
 You probably still won't know what to believe, not with any certainty, but I think it is very possible that you will, like me, hear what sounds like it has the ring of truth about what was happening then. It might be a whole new sound track for this passion play. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Id--ZFtjR5c&feature=player_embedded#!

On Eve of His Funeral, Debating Chávez’s Legacy
By William Neuman, New York Times, March 7/8, 2012

CARACAS, Venezuela —[....]

“It didn’t catch on,” said Alejandro Toledo, a former president of Peru. “The important thing is that Mexico has not followed his example, Chile has not followed his example, Peru has not followed his example, Colombia has not followed his example, Brazil has not followed his example. I’m talking about big countries with large, sustained economic growth.”

Venezuela had one of the lowest rates of economic growth in the region during the 14 years that Mr. Chávez held office, according to World Bank data. It has high inflation and chronic shortages of basic goods. It has one of the highest rates of violent crime, and it is riven by bitter political divisions.

“Those indicators were not lost on other parts of the hemisphere,” said Patrick Duddy, a former United States ambassador to Venezuela.

And while poverty went down significantly during Mr. Chávez’s years as president, other countries, like Brazil, Peru and Colombia, made progress in reducing poverty while following paths very different from that of Mr. Chávez.

Brazil, in particular, stands out as a regional success story, using market-oriented policies and innovative social programs to move millions from poverty into the middle class.

“The intention of Venezuela to be the shining light of the new left has not been realized,” said Leonardo Valente, a professor of international relations at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. “The other countries that have governments to the left and center-left are looking to Brazil and other countries that have a different position, a more balanced position.” [....]

Alma Guillermoprieto: The Last Caudillo