Chavez is the quintessential moron-usurper. He shoud have been left in prison, but Caldera had to release him as a theatrical stunt.

As for the "Cerro" people in the shantytowns of Caracas (Chavez's main constituents), this is the social dregs of South America -- a result of non-existent immigration controls while the country was still operating rationally by people with some kind of work ethic.

Venezuela has always had a serious "national character" problem (as Bolivar himself noted). Dominant behaviors there include a preponderance of lying, cheating and apathy. Apathy especially enabled this asshole Chavez to be "elected." His aping of the likes of Castro would be a contemptible farce, if only he were not importing scores of Cuban thugs to direct his home-grown henchmen.

The sooner a freelance hit team puts a bullet through Chavez's skull (and does away with the Cubans in Venezuela), the better chance has Venezuela of reestablishing a normal (if still somewhat corrupt) basis for responsible nationhood.

My credentials: I am married to a Venezuelan woman, and have spent enough time in the country to see much more than the media puts out.

JK