Chavez | VivirLatino

Posts Tagged ‘chavez’

Castro to Chavez: You’ve got mail?

12:56 pm By Maegan La Mala · Controversia| Cuba| Latin America| Politics| Venezuela · Comments Off

23 Nov 2007

We’ve told you about love notes sent between Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro in the past, but what about not-so-nice letters? The Cuban government is denying that in 2005, Fidel wrote a letter to Chavez “inciting him to shoot” those who oppose him. The letter had some other interesting things to say, like the following line allegedly penned by Castro:

“You know Hugo, that to end Yankee imperialism we have to do things well; the Arabs are already ready, Lula is working in Brazil and you have encouraged the FARC…”

The Cuban ambassador in Bolivia denies that the letter was written by Castro and said “Any moderately intelligent person would read the first two lines of that letter and realize that Fidel Castro didn’t write it. That’s why I must say that it’s a clumsy and vile manipulation to try to pass off a letter as written by Fidel.”

Via / Tiempos del Mundo

Chavez: Just say no to whiskey

7:33 pm By Maegan La Mala · Politics| Venezuela · 3 Comments

16 Oct 2007

Hugo Chavez doesn’t like Alejandro Sanz. He also doesn’t like alcoholic beverages, and is urging his people to come off the sauce. The Venezuelan president says that booze isn’t revolutionary and is raising the price of alcohol in an effort to make his compatriots into “new men”:

It’s all part of Chavez’s efforts to encourage Venezuelans to adopt the psyche of the “New Man,” a socialist revolutionary with a monk-like purity of purpose. Chavez often cites the life of Cuba’s iconic hero Ernesto “Che” Guevara as an ideal example — and complains that many Venezuelans’ values are not up to par.

“We’re one of the countries that consumes the most whisky per capita in the world. We should be ashamed,” Chavez said recently on national television. “I’m not willing to continue offering dollars to import whisky in these quantities. What kind of revolution is this? The Whisky Revolution? The Hummer Revolution? No, this is a real revolution!”

According to AP, Chavez is also tired of people boozing it up on beer in the streets, and is threatening to seize beer trucks that “sell beer like ice cream”.

Along with alcohol, Chavez is also looking to raise prices on tobacco and luxury cars.

Via / Yahoo! News

Chavez: Castro not dead (again)

7:02 pm By Maegan La Mala · Cuba| Internet| Politics| Venezuela · Comments Off

20 Aug 2007

Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez is denying reports again circulating on the Internet that Fidel Castro is either dead or dying. Chavez said on his weekly radio show yesterday that Fidel is “a fighter” and is “writing, and producing.”

“On the Internet there are rumors that Fidel is dead or that is he is intubated and they are just waiting for the moment when that happens. Fidel is producing, and I know, writing. I talked to him on his birthday and I sent him a portrait of Bolivar as a gift,” he said.

There you have it. If Fidel’s special friend says it, it’s got to be true. I for one am happy to hear that Fidel is producing and writing again, and I can’t wait to hear the def beats he lays down on his new tracks.

Via / Reuters and El Universal (Venezuela)

RCTV is now TVes

12:27 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Controversia| Media| TV| Venezuela · 3 Comments

28 May 2007

As many lamented the end of a Venezuelan institution last night with the closing of RCTV, as Maegan told us, there were others who celebrated its passing; among them the government figures responsible for the network that replaced it. Twenty-five minutes after RCTV said its last goodbye at midnight, TVes was born. The following video from YouTube user Nicolas Maduro shows the transition:

If that didn’t move you one way or the other, check out the images chronicling the closing on Flickr by users in Caracas.

Via / YouTube

Journalists wield a long banner for freedom of the press

3:48 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Activism| Media| Politics| Venezuela · Comments Off

21 May 2007

Freedom of the press doesn’t appear to be alive and well in Chavez’s Venezuela. In drastic moves like revoking the license of the country’s oldest television network, to more below-the-radar moves, Hugo Chavez has taken steps to control what media says about his government. Many journalists, not surprisingly, are outraged, and hundreds took to the streets of Caracas today to protest. In more than just a march, they took a document to the European Union and the Organización de Estados Americanos (OEA) headquarters to

“express their concerns about freedom of the press in Venezuela and the closing of Radio Caracas Televisión (RCTV).”

The journalists carried what they referred to as the “longest protest banner in Latin America”, which stretched over half a mile and weighed almost 400 lbs.

Via / El Universal (Venezuela)

Image via El Impulso, by Globovision

For democracy’s sake, Lula won’t seek a third term

5:23 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Brazil| Latin America| Politics · Comments Off

18 May 2007

Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva announced earlier this week that he won’t run for a third term as the leader of his country, and in what may or may not be a nod to his Venezuelan counterpart said:

“I do not play with democracy. And because I don’t play with democracy, I will not consider the hypothesis of a third term,” said the leader in the first press conference he’s given since he was re-elected in October of 2006 and the second since he assumed poswer of the governments in January of 2003.

Could be trying to tell Huguito something? Lula went on to say that if he were a legislator, he’d try to set term limits of 5 years, which is one term in Brazil.

Via / El Universal (Venezuela)

Chavez: Castro is back in power

7:19 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Cuba| Latin America| Politics| Venezuela · Comments Off

13 Apr 2007

Fidel Castro’s unofficial spokesperson, Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez, announced today that the Cuban leader is “informally” back in the driver’s seat:

“There were moments in which he delegated completely his duties, but now he has taken on most of them again, though not formally,” said Chávez in a press conference with foreign correspondents when asked about the health of the Cuban president.

“I’m sure of it,” the Venezuelan president said.

Chávez also claims that in recents months he’s unwillingly become one Castro’s closest confidants, and received a written message last night from the Cuban leader in which he describes his recent health struggles. Chávez also claims that Castro has been keeping tabs on “the oil market, foreign trade with Venezuela, the Posada Carriles case and the continuous threats to Venezuela and Cuba.”

I wonder if Fidel has been reading VL?

Via / 20 Minutos

Castro to Chavez: “I can die but you can’t”

1:29 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Cuba| Politics| Venezuela · 2 Comments

26 Mar 2007

Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez said Saturday that Fidel really was on the verge of death a few months ago, but that the Cuban leader was more concerned about Chavez not dying than himself. Awwww.

“Fidel, when he was cofined to the bed — because he’s not in the bed anymore — was in very delicate health,” said Chavez before a crowd in an event related to the unified government party that he is creating.

Chávez said that he had told Fidel that he could not die. “But there he was, having already been in danger of dying for many days, and he said ‘Chávez, I can die now. You don’t worry about me; you are the one who can’t die.”

On Sunday, Chavez announced on his weekly radio show that he has a plan for “collective property”, which would take large “idle” parcels of land from their owners and into the hands of the Venezuelan people. Man, he was serious about that socialism thing.

Via / El Mundo and Yahoo! News

Castro won’t stop calling Chavez

12:55 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Cuba| Politics| Venezuela · 2 Comments

14 Mar 2007

Chávez and Castro are always on the phone (ever heard of email?). Chávez would never admit it, but I wonder if he gets tired of Fidel constantly calling. Spain’s 20 Minutos reports that Castro’s aides say he never stops using the phone and (he must be really bored) called and interrupted a meeting between Chávez and the president of Haiti, Rene Preval, and got himself involved in the conversation.

What do these two Latin American leaders chat about on the phone? It’s pretty much all La Revolución all the time. Cuba’s Granma published the latest conversation:

CHÁVEZ: How can you interrupt me, I’m talking to the the Industry Minister of Haiti. You are interrupting me now…

CASTRO: Because I am nosy…

CHÁVEZ: You have always been nosy. All this people’s revolution in the streets, it’s your fault. ¡Viva Fidel, damn it! (…) How are you?

CASTRO: I’m very good. I’ve been following everything closely. I haven’t missed one speech from any of the events.

Castro on the road to recovery?

12:45 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Cuba| Health| Politics · 14 Comments

9 Feb 2007

IM-Fidel%20Castro%20I.jpg After numerous false alarms about Castro being on the verge of death, could it be that the 80 year-old Cuban leader is now getting back to his old self? CNN reports that the Venezuelan ambassador to Cuba is hinting at it:

Cuban President Fidel Castro’s health is improving because he is now eating, Venezuela’s ambassador to Cuba said Thursday.

Castro, who has handed power over temporarily to his brother, has not appeared in public for more than six months since undergoing emergency surgery for intestinal bleeding.

The operation meant Castro, 80, initially could not eat, but there also were media reports that at the end of last year his health worsened again and he had to be drip-fed.

“Fidel is improving progressively. The problem is that originally he could not take in foods but now he is taking in foods and that has improved his health significantly,” Ambassador Ali Rodriguez told Venezuelan state television.

VivirLatino