Apr
1
2011
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WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING

Senate and House Foreign Relations Subcommittees on Western Hemisphere
March 31, 2011 Hearings

“We should immediately focus on replacing the oil from autocrats like Hugo Chávez in Venezuela for that of stable and trustworthy allies like Canada… [The dependence on Venezuelan oil] makes the State Department a hostage when they should be denouncing the Chávez regime for its broad violations of human rights and its support of terrorism.”
Florida Congressman Connie Mack

“My own view and the figures and statistics I have read suggest an explosive growth in the movement, the transit, principally of cocaine and coca-related products through Venezuela on their way to market, a growth of somewhere between 500% and 1,000% over the last seven or eight years. Logic and geography suggest that much of that pushing out through Venezuela heads through Eastern Caribbean and then across the Atlantic to West Africa and to markets in Europe…”

“It is my opinion, which I believe has been expressed by a number of senior U.S. government officials across the last two or three years, that a substantial amount of the senior FARC leadership, three members of its seven-member secretariat, do in fact have near-permanent presence on the Venezuelan side of the border.”
Assistant Secretary of State William Brownfield
U.S. Ambassador to Venezuela (2004-2007

“Venezuela, for example, reportedly has maintained an unofficial friendship with Colombia’s FARC guerrillas who have sustained their struggle to overthrow the Colombian government mostly through drug trafficking. In 2010, much of the suspect air activity departing South America to Central America and the Caribbean came from Venezuela’s southwest border with Colombia, as tracked by the U.S. Joint Interagency Task Force South. Currently, a Venezuelan businessman is being held in Colombia in connection with 5.5 tons of cocaine that turned up in Campeche, Mexico, in 2006.”
Steven Johnson, Director of the Americas Program,
Center for Strategic and International Studies

 
Apr
1
2011
Posted by
editor
Comments

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING

Senate and House Foreign Relations Subcommittees on Western Hemisphere
March 31, 2011 Hearings

“We should immediately focus on replacing the oil from autocrats like Hugo Chávez in Venezuela for that of stable and trustworthy allies like Canada… [The dependence on Venezuelan oil] makes the State Department a hostage when they should be denouncing the Chávez regime for its broad violations of human rights and its support of terrorism.”
Florida Congressman Connie Mack

“My own view and the figures and statistics I have read suggest an explosive growth in the movement, the transit, principally of cocaine and coca-related products through Venezuela on their way to market, a growth of somewhere between 500% and 1,000% over the last seven or eight years. Logic and geography suggest that much of that pushing out through Venezuela heads through Eastern Caribbean and then across the Atlantic to West Africa and to markets in Europe…”

“It is my opinion, which I believe has been expressed by a number of senior U.S. government officials across the last two or three years, that a substantial amount of the senior FARC leadership, three members of its seven-member secretariat, do in fact have near-permanent presence on the Venezuelan side of the border.”
Assistant Secretary of State William Brownfield
U.S. Ambassador to Venezuela (2004-2007

“Venezuela, for example, reportedly has maintained an unofficial friendship with Colombia’s FARC guerrillas who have sustained their struggle to overthrow the Colombian government mostly through drug trafficking. In 2010, much of the suspect air activity departing South America to Central America and the Caribbean came from Venezuela’s southwest border with Colombia, as tracked by the U.S. Joint Interagency Task Force South. Currently, a Venezuelan businessman is being held in Colombia in connection with 5.5 tons of cocaine that turned up in Campeche, Mexico, in 2006.”
Steven Johnson, Director of the Americas Program,
Center for Strategic and International Studies

 
Mar
18
2011
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In Case You Missed It…Articles Roundup Week of 3/18/11

In this week’s roundup…President Hugo Chávez’s legacy of corruption, expropriations, and ties to terrorist groups and rogue leaders, the newest addition to his list of “enemies” of his socialist revolution, President Barack Obama’s first trip to Latin America and what it means to regional leaders like the Venezuelan strongman, and one of Venezuela’s symbols of corporate productivity and responsibility turns 70.

Gustavo Coronel: The Four Hotbeds of Corruption in Venezuela, Latin American Herald Tribune

Hugo Chávez became president of Venezuela in 1998 on the strength of his promises to stamp out corruption. Venezuela had been a democratic showcase for the hemisphere from 1958 to the early 1970’s but after receiving a huge oil income in the mid-1970 the quality of government deteriorated and waste and corruption set in. By 1998 most Venezuelans were deeply disappointed and wanted a radical change. They got it with Hugo Chávez.

Pollster: Private sector is vital to supplying the market, El Universal

The supply of products in the domestic market should not be left in State hands only, said Luis Vicente León, the director of polling firm Datanálisis.

Leftist leaders in Latin America should be ashamed of embracing Moammar Gadhafi, Rome News Tribune

Hugo Chávez is trying to come to the rescue of his friend and fellow “colonel,” Moammar Gadhafi. The Venezuelan president has offered to mediate Libya’s civil war, and warned against any foreign intervention in support of Libya’s opposition, which now controls much of the east of the country, including the port of Benghazi, home of the Hugo Chavez soccer stadium.

What Obama Must Do On His First Official Trip to Latin America, Fox News

The perceived lack of interest by the United States also sends a message to Chávez and like-minded leaders that they can abet corruption, illicit drug trafficking, Iranian adventurism and terrorism with impunity.

Chávez Tries to Rally Venezuela Against a New Enemy: Breast Lifts, The New York Times

President Hugo Chávez is known to have expressed little patience for imported leisure pursuits like golf or Scotch whisky tippling. Now he has reserved some ire for another practice that is beloved in Venezuela: breast augmentation surgery.

VenEconomy: Polar, One of Venezuela’s Assets, Latin American Herald Tribune

On Monday, March 14, Empresas Polar celebrated its 70th anniversary and a long history of productivity, innovation, and successes. It is not in vain that Empresas Polar has become the standard-bearer of transparent management and corporate and social responsibility in Venezuela. Since March 1941, Empresas Polar has been innovative in the brewing of beer, establishing international quality standards.