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...et al, ad nauseum. Anybody willing to place bets on how long until we (well, let's be honest, the Yanks) have to march into Venezuela?
or part of a 'real' Imperialist power? Pax Anglophonica?Bruce Monkhouse said:..and once again,....tick, tick, tick,....
How long before we have no choice but to become a "real" fortress North America?
http://www.plenglish.com/article.asp?ID=%7B0080DE49-E8F3-41DF-8DA8-14C95B86C6DD%7D&language=ENFidel Castro Presides Over Venezuela Military Graduation
Havana, Aug 3 (Prensa Latina) President Fidel Castro presided over the graduation ceremony of Venezuelan military in Havana, in which he highlighted the timely value of the Bolivarian Revolution.
The Cuban leader spoke at the "Libertador Simón BolÃÂvar" Venezuelan Army AcademyÂ's 46th graduation ceremony, whose graduate officers elected him their patron.
In the closing speech, he stressed the Bolivarian revolution has arrived at just the right moment to contribute to the second and definitive independence of Latin America, as Simón BolÃÂvar dreamed.
The solemn ceremony took place Tuesday evening at the Revolution Palace Council of State where the statesman personally delivered the diplomas to each of the 75 graduates.
He said the presence of the South American officers is proof that our Latin American homelands are producing the most necessary, profound, and most just of revolutions.
President Castro called this decision of the Venezuelan military academic institution spontaneous and unexpected, something unimaginable only a few years ago, and he accepted it in the name of the Cuban people.
Those who do not understand the phenomena taking place in BolivarÂ's homeland and other Latin American latitudes add to the calumny and lies, as well as creating conditioned reflexes among the people to keep them in ignorance and oppression, he said.
The Head of State warned that these adversaries donÂ't have to worry because, he said, President Chávez and I are not subverting the order, as they accuse us. There are others who, for many years have maintained an unsustainable order, he countered.
He pointed out that changes are inevitable due to the objective conditions urged by the people, whose consciousness is growing. We hope change comes as peacefully as possible, because none of us wants war, he emphasized.
Never lose patience. The lies used as instruments of domination will be overcome, Fidel Castro told the Venezuelan lieutenant colonels.
The President predicted that what is happening in Venezuela today will not only have repercussions in Latin America, but also among the US people, who mobilized against the war in Vietnam and demanded that the child Elian be returned to his country.
He told the officers of the South American nation to be inspired by the worth of independence. From men such as you spring those leaders with a sense of justice, bravery, dignity and reason, he stressed.
Fidel Castro further said that the Bolivarian RevolutionÂ's ideas of justice can benefit the entire world, presenting challenges such as the sovereignty of the human species.
You have every possibility of making those dreams come true, he concluded, in reference to the as yet incomplete true independence and unity of Latin America.
By decision of the Cuban Council of State, the Venezuelan graduates, presided over by director of the military academy, Brigadier General Carlos Antonio Centeno Mena, received the Combat Brotherhood Medal.
The Cuban President was presented with a replica of a Venezuelan Navy submarine and batons used by the generals of that country, and then left with the Venezuelan military delegation, who were accompanied by close family members.
Caracas Ambassador to Havana Adán Chávez was among those attending the ceremony, as were high level Cuban officers of the Revolutionary Armed Forces.
http://blogs.salon.com/0001330/2005/06/14.html#a2328Parade cancellation: The more that is explained, the more implausible it gets
Chavez confirmed tonight that the military parade of June 24th. was cancelled for security reasons. According to the President, the Army detected a plan to kill him during teh parade. He added that this is not the first time that the parade is cancelled, which I do not recall ever being cancelled. Chavez even said that we have too many parades. This from the same man that loves to play soldier, wear uniforms and hold parades as he did during the first few years in office, when he was not afraid to go out in public.
Well, the June 24th. parade takes place in Campo Carabobo, some 30 Kms. away from the city of Valencia, and it is a monument built in remembrance of the last battle for the independence of Venezuelawhich took place right there. Now, this is the most unlikely place to attempt an assasination. It is essentially a park with monuments, mostly open air, explicitly delineated which could be easily sealed and surrounded by military a couple of days before. And nothing should happen to teh President or those participating in the parade. You can see pictures of Campo Carabobo here or here.
Of course, all of the above is true unless those trying to kill Chavez will be the same ones that are participating in the parade. Unless they are themselves members of his beloved military, which nobody has said. There are many problems within the military today. Some groups are upset over the cubanization of Venezuela, others at the levels of corruption reached out and within the military, others at how PDVSA has been weakened to what they think is dangerous levels and even some others at the destruction of the military institution and the attempt to create alternate parallel structures like the reserves. In fact, rumors are going around that over half of the officers in the Chiefs of Staff course have resigned because of the imposition of Fidel Castro as the Godfather/sponsor of their graduating class by Chavez himself. This out of no more than fifty members, the cream of the crop of each year's military class. By resigning, you destroy your military career, you will never go above the level of Lieutenant and you will likely be retired anyway.
You can do so much positive spinning of the news. But the stories are getting too implausible to be believable. This is very dangerous, there are some real nuts (Yes, even more than the current ones, believe it or not!) in the Venezuelan military. Very scary indeed!
http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/mpapps/pagetools/print/news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4688117.stmVenezuela medics march over jobs
Hundreds of Venezuelan doctors have marched through the country's capital, Caracas, demanding the expulsion of Cuban doctors.
President Hugo Chavez says he invited the medical staff into the country to provide free health care for the poor.
But Venezuela's doctors, who are also asking for better wages, say the Cubans are taking their jobs.
They say the government is trading its oil revenues to pay for some 20,000 Cuban doctors and dentists.
Dressed in white medical gowns and bearing national flags, some 400 doctors and medical staff carried banners reading 'No More Cubanisation!' as they marched.
Doctors for oil
Under a special programme set up by Mr Chavez and his ally Cuban President Fidel Castro, Cuban doctors, dentists and nurses work in newly set-up medical centres in Venezuela's poorest areas.
In exchange, the oil-rich country sends Cuba 90,000 barrels of oil a day.
The "Barrio Adentro" or "Into the Neighbourhood" programme has won Mr Chavez great popularity among the country's poor.
It is believed to have helped him win a referendum last year.
But organisers of the march say salaries have remained unchanged for four years and many cannot now find work due to the influx of Cuban doctors.
'Indoctrination'
They say that while the Cuban-staffed clinics are equipped with medicines and modern machines, public hospitals often lack basic medical equipment.
"Venezuelan doctors are underpaid and many are unemployed," trauma specialist Pedro Carvallo told Reuters news agency.
He said many Cuban doctors do not hold proper medical qualifications.
"These Cubans are political agents who come to indoctrinate, not to work as doctors," Mr Carvallo said.
Mr Chavez says the Cubans have accepted jobs in areas, including crime-ridden slums on the outskirts of towns, where many Venezuelans refuse to work.
Fidel Castro has said that he aims to increase the number of Cuban health care workers in Venezuela to up to 30,000 by the end of the year.
http://www.cubanet.org/CNews/y05/may05/13e2.htmMedical post closed for lack of doctors
HAVANA, Cuba - May 10 (Adrián Leiva / www.cubanet.org) - The urgent care medical post next to the El Cerro bus station in Havana has been closed until further notice due to the scarcity of physicians occasioned by the wholesale shipment of doctors to other countries.
Patients who used the medical post to seek treatment for asthma, hypertension and other ailments now have to go to the Antonio Maceo polyclinic or to the Salvador Allende or JoaquÃÂn Albarrán hospitals further away.
After the Cuban government started sending physicians abroad as both a propaganda measure and as a source of hard currency, medical services just double up on the remaining physicians. Lately, the situation has become exacerbated by the shipment of what some say may be up to 10,000 doctors to Venezuela, to cooperate in President Chavez' neighborhoods program. In return, Venezuela has been shipping 53,000 barrels of oil a day to Cuba.
do you mean it as a curse word, or like as saviour? I don't get it, maybe because I've never even been to Newfoundland.Island Ryhno said:Sorry atticus, that's a Newfinism, we put everything in front of christ, blue christ, thundering christ. It's an expression we use, in this case it regards the liberal government and idealism. By the liberal christ. Make sense? Sorry if it doesn't. Just one of those things.
edadian said:America in the Phillipines, in South America and in other parts of the world was as brutal and evil as any empire in history. The atrocities commited in the name of American security, influence or democracy are numerous and not forgotten by the victimized countries or peoples.
edadian said:Having taken American Foriegn Policy history at University I know a bit of what I speak.