NO BEER DAMNIT!!!

OK, I realize this is an old article, but it really caught my attention, and I implore everyone to read how ludicrous it is.  President Hugo Chavez created another decree that banned the sale of alcohol last weekend for the Holy Week.  Apparently, Venezuela consumes more alcohol than any other Latin American nation, so steps were taken to prevent some more fatalities.  Here is an example of a few quotes within the article that are worth noting.

Authorities also banned liquor sales on Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday, while on Saturday bars, restaurants and liquor stores can sell alcohol from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Until Thursday, alcohol can be sold only from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

 This made absolutely no sense considering people can stock up on their booze either before Thursday or after Saturday.  I would think that sales of alcohol actually might boost because people buy a little extra.

Life is worth more than capitalist interests,” Pedro Carreño, the interior minister, told reporters.

Wow. Read this article.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/04/world/americas/04venez.html?ex=1176523200&en=eb45178c97d3cb6b&ei=5070

Oil Politics in Venezuela

   Chavez is at it again, creatingdeadlines for and making accusations against the large oil companies from the United States and Europe and ultimately just complicating things for himself.  The United States imports roughly 60% of our oil, and over 10% of that comes from Venezuela.  On the other hand, we have been importing over half of the oil produced by Venezuela.   Therefore, shaky politics and the worsening ties between the two countries is only going to hurt other countries if something drastic occurs.  While Chavez claims to be diversifying his relations for other people to buy his oil, the main country to fill the American thirst for oil would be China, who is not ready to take that position for a few more years.  As of now, it could appear that Chavez may have the upper hand in the situation, but until he can create more stability in Venezuela, it doesn’t appear like he is ready to take over all oil production in the country (if that were to be his goal), and squander such a vast natural resource like many of the other oil countries.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/10/business/worldbusiness/10showdown.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&hp

Venezuela and Capybara, not Chavez…?

So, it’s almost Easter time, and everyone (in Easter celebrating regions) are preparing a feast of some sort, or at least getting ready to.  While turkey might be a favorite in the United States, other nations have other different preferences.  Venezuela has a pretty unique on in fact: the capybara.  It is a delicacy in the country that was so popular it was nearly wiped out by poachers.  President Chavez is even a fan claiming to eat “capybara empanadas washed down with papaya juice.” While the ways in which the animal are hunted and killed are sometimes criticized and scrutinized, it doesn’t change the fact that its meat can cost sometimes more than twice that of beef.  By the way, the capybara is also the largest rodent in the world.

            Lately, every time I search for a news article about Venezuela, typical results will be negative related to the deteriorating relationship between the S and Chavez, or just criticism about Chavez and his government.  So when I ran across this article (the headliner for the mericas region of the New York Times website), I was a pleasant relief.  Reading this article will remind people that although the Venezuelan government is an adversary to the S government, politics are not the only thing going on in the country.  However, it is still ironic and humorous that a story about the capybara hunting in Venezuela should make headlines on nytimes.com.

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/21/world/americas/21rodent.html?ref=americas

Another Needle in Bush’s side?

Recently, the United States has created reports claiming that Venezuela has been lacking in its part to fight against the cocaine production in Latin America.  Those in charge of the report claim that prior to Chavez’s government Venezuela was one of the most efficient and cooperative countries in battling the coca eradication in the region.  Now, while there has been much crackdown in Columbia, a lot of production has moved to Venezuela and the US feels like Chavez is not doing enough.  This appears to just be another example of how relations are deteriorating between the United States and Venezuela.  What is more, to contradict American reports, Chavez has also talked with Iran and is in the process of building a remote plane to scour the Columbia border in its part to fight drug trafficking. 

On that note, more advancement has developed between Venezuela and Iran in response to American influence around the world.  The two nations have created a Boeing 747 flight that travels between Tehran and Caracas with one stop in Syria.  Furthermore, Venezuela is strengthening its relationship with the Iran (in spite of the American government) by supporting the Iranian Uranium enrichment program.  How the US responds to these actions will interesting enough, but already the Bush administration seems to be taking some action to stem more anti-US development in the Latin American region.  Bush has set out on a trip to counter rising leftist sentiment that is lowering American popularity in the region.  Of course, it doesn’t help Washington that Hugo Chavez has been somewhat generous in the region; offering aid to several nations (Nicaragua for an example).

Just a Headline

Venezuela Spending on Arms Soars to World’s Top Ranks

This is somewhat of a continuation off of last weeks blog about Chavez buying all the new military equipment.  This article in the New York Times, follows up on the last providing more commentary from several of the Venezuelan officials and their justification for stocking up on the arms. 

Venezuela’s arms spending has climbed to more than $4 billion in the past two years, transforming the nation into Latin America’s largest weapons buyer and placing it ahead of other major purchasers in international arms markets like Pakistan and Iran.

Looking throughout the article, I cant help but notice that Venezuela has bought around 100,000 Kalashnikov assault rifles from Russia and intends to open a Kalashnikov factory to produce more of the weapon.  What seems interesting to me, is the fact that Venezuela only has a standing army of roughly 34,000.  Now I realize that it is important to have a stockpile of weapons, but as I have mentioned in earlier blogs, what are the chances that some of these weapons may end up in the hands of people outside of the military.

Another tidbit that jumped out at me  is that Venezuela is also considering building a remotely piloted patrol aircraft with Iran.  Part of their reasoning and justification for constructing these planes is to ‘combat environmental destruction in Venezuela.’  That sounds relatively harmless…doesn’t it?