By the way, the US has been doing a lot of invading before the 20th century, check out James Polk and the mexican-american war (I think even Linclon called shenanigans on that one)

For those that say that the US is not worse than Spain, the romans or the mongols…well, mongols lived many centuries ago, everybody was an asshole back then,the same with romans .When Spain invaded Mexico , they mixed with the natives, created a rich colony both economically and culturally and paved the way for Mexico to become the country that it became during the end of the 19th century (at is peak)…When americans invaded mexico they took half the teritory…just sayin

Thanks for your post. Believe me this topic scares me more than most people on this forum could understand. Not only do I have 2 brothers and their families, not to mention friends, living in this disaster zone, I moved to Peru to try to avoid his craziness only to have him set up Humala as his puppet candidate.

It´s very scary especially when you hear people who do not live in the region praise him for his “great” reforms. If you have not lived through the fear of the constant threat of violence, then you really need to keep your mouth shut (obviously not directed at YOU particularly… )

In any case, thanks for your post!

I’m from Brazil and I’m part of the minority group that is concerned about the degeneration of democracy in the region. Most of this degeneration is supported by Mr. Chavez in many ways.

Unfortunately most of the Brazilians are crazy about anything that vaguely resembles socialism. Even it is only in the name and the red beret.

Regards

For quite a number of reasons, the first being that I am a Venezuelan citizen who has seen the country go to the crapper since he became president.

Oil prices (remember oil is Venezuela´s prime natural resource) has been at record highs for near his entire time as president and yet the country´s infrastructure has not improved one bit. In fact, the main brigde leading to the capital´s (Caracas) airport was unusable for quite some time because he refused to have it fixed.

Anyone who voted NO against his constitutional amendments are now on a (black) list. This means that you cannot apply to any official positions, and are hassled every time you need a new document (my brother has now been waiting for 6 months to hear back about his passport… n the meantime, he cannot leave the country).

You cannot take your money out of Venezuela (as in, a foreign bank) and venezuelans are only given a small amount of dollars a year to travel. That is why there is a thriving black market. If you trade a dollar at a bank you get about 2500 bolivares but in the street you can rake in at least 5000 per dollar because people are so desparate to stockpile dollars.

However, all of that pales in comparison to the worst consequence of his regime: an unprecedented increase in violence. Last year, 2,165 died as a result of VIOLENT crime in Caracas alone. The first half of 2009 carries a death toll of 1,499 people which means estimates for the year are above the 3000 people mark. Compare that to the 4400 deaths of US servicemen/women in 6 years in a WAR ZONE. Every other week you hear stories of people you know who have been murdered (usually as a result of theft). Just last week I had to console my sister-in-law because her cousin´s wife (who was 4 months pregnant at the time) was shot and killed as a result of a band of a**holes who wanted to rob her car.

This and more is why I think Hugo Chavez sucks.

*****

@Mark (128):

I´m confused… What purpose would that serve? I´m trying to say that you cannot really blame someone who hates you because you supported a brutal regime simply because it was good for your wallet (or for any number of other selfish reasons). Now, can you please clarify your point?

Great list regardless.

@scotsworth (127): Also, a suprisingly high percentage of readers are also morons. You reckon there’s a corrolation there?