Chavez of Venezuela

Best article on Hugo Chavez I've read yet. Chavez is not without shortcomings. There are vague intimations that his limelight hogging is behavior unbecoming to a leader and vociferous charges that he has done too much to consolidate his power in the Venezuelan government. But the bottom line is, elections are held regularly and Chavez win. The U.S. cannot credibly call itself pro-democracy and undermine Chavez's regime at the same time.

It is scandalous enough that the U.S. government did not come out in condemnation of the 2002 coup that displaced Chavez for 48 hours. But the evidence shows that we were, at the very least, complicit in the scheme through our prior knowledge. Yep. We're pro-democracy. Until people have the audacity to pick somebody we don't like.