25 Aug 2005 Questions for Hugo Chavez

Let me get this Hugo Chavez thing straight.

A businessman and religious broadcaster (Pat Robertson) who ran for president 17 years ago against the current president’s father more-or-less calls for the assassination of Chavez, who himself is allied with Fidel Castro, a man who kills his political enemies. Despite apparently supporting political assassinations when Castro does it, Chavez does mind when he himself is the putative target, so he responds with a threat…

…to retaliate by selling oil to lower-income Americans at below-market prices.

This is a retaliation? It sounds like a favor.

If Jimmy Swaggart were to be mean to Jacques Chirac, would Americans get a cheese discount?

There’s another thing about the story about Chavez’s ire that caught my eye:

The Venezuelan government is asking for assurances from the U.S. government that Mr. Chavez will be adequately protected when he visits New York for a special session of the U.N. next month.

Say what?

If Chavez thinks Pat Robertson’s assassination advice to the U.S. government is something to worry about, isn’t the U.S. government the last entity in the world to which Chavez should appeal for security?

Let Fidel do the honors, I say.

Besides, why should the U.S. provide security to anyone visiting the United Nations? If you aren’t man enough to walk down the streets of Manhattan, ask your own government for security, Hugo. Or ask those oil-for-food scandal guys you are visiting. Why should the American taxpayer pay any of your travel bills?

If you really want to retaliate against America, Hugo, do it in a big way: Steal the U.N. right out of New York. We’d be so humiliated. Go ahead — I dare you.

Addendum: E-mail correspondent Kathryn Atkinson takes issue with the notion that Fidel Castro has killed political opponents:

I was rather confused, which political enemies has Castro killed? Salvador Allende? Nasser? Oh no that was the you lot. Your article is uninformed propaganda and quite frankly retarded. Hugo Chavez will be in New York and like George Galloway in the senate will hit your flagging, increasingly unpopular neo-con government for six. I’m also confused about this Christianity lark “it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven” George Bush is a Christian? judging by that biblical quote surely socialism is an inevitable by-product of Christianity. Please can you explain this glaring contradiction to me, it would be much appreciated. Go ahead — I dare you.

I print an occasional e-mail like this because it is important to remember that some people still believe Castro’s propaganda.

Addendum 2: Now I’m getting hostile mail from Fidel lovers. What’s with you people? The man’s a monster. He’s not even sexy. What gives?