Hey there loyal readers. We here at BoRev trust that you had a fantastic weekend, and that part of that weekend didn't include sorting through Venezuela-related news and sniffing out media bias and inaccuracies. It didn't for us, and we help keep this blog going. So now that Monday is upon us, let's quickly recap some of the bigger stories that you should all be talking about.
News Flash! Uribe is President: No, seriously. News coming out of the recent summit between Hugo Chavez and Alvaro Uribe is that Uribe -- who is Colombia's somewhat imperfectly elected president -- actually had to release a statement asking the ministers in his government not to seem so, you know, thirsty for Venezuelan blood. Referring specifically to Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos, the statement asked "complete prudence of all spokespersons of the Government" in handling relations with Venezuela. We don't know what's more sad -- that the man entrusted with Colombia's armed forces is chomping at the bit to send them across the border or that Uribe's control of his own government is weak enough that he has to resort to carefully worded statements to tell his ministers that an invasion wouldn't be kosher.
You Call it a Bailout, I Call it State Intervention in the Economy: OK, so this isn't exactly relevant to Venezuela, but bear with us. Over the weekend the U.S. government announced that it was planning on bailing out collapsing mortgage finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The U.S. media and political class is treating this as a necessary move to save the housing market from total collapse. We're all for making sure that hundreds of thousands of families aren't thrown out of their homes and the whole mortgage market doesn't come crashing down, but just imagine what the tone of the coverage would be had this happened in Venezuela. "Government Nationalizes Housing, Children Forced to Pledge Total Allegiance to Socialist Madman Dictator" might be a common headline. It's funny how one man's bailout (read government intervention) is another man's nationalization. It's even funnier how one is seen as a necessary evil and the other just seen as evil.
Chavez is an Evil Human Rights Violator!: Oh wait, no he's not.
Chavez is a Dirty Oil Horder!: Oh wait, no he's not.
Opposition Just Can't Decide: One day they call Chavez's government corrupt, next day they march to criticize a measure that would stop corrupt people from running for public office. What gives?
Venezuela the Totalitarian Gulag...: ...that continues to allow the pesky opposition to tie up traffic with their never-ending marches. (See above.) Seriously, Chavez doesn't have this whole "crazed communist dictator" thing down if he can't think to send out the troops to mow down a few hundred opposition protestors if they march against him. (Sarcasm alert! BoRev does not endorse, support or applaud the mowing down of opposition protestors by government troops. Now if the opposition were still in power and a bunch of dirty and ugly poor people came out, well, fire away!)
