Word: venezuelan
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...world leaders would consider it a good day if the King of Spain were to tell them publicly to "shut up." But then, few heads of state are as skillful as Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez at turning a foreign diplomatic rebuke to domestic political advantage. Chávez's radical left-wing rule resides in his populist challenge to "imperialist" threats - and what more convenient symbol of colonial oppression for Chávez (besides his favorite, the U.S.) than the Spanish throne, which plundered South America for three centuries before it was thrown out in the 1800s...
...seems less than ruffled at being told by King Juan Carlos, "Por qué no te callas?" - Why don't you shut up? - over the weekend at the Ibero-American Summit of Iberian and Latin American leaders in Santiago, Chile. The king got fed up when the Venezuelan firebrand went on one of his rants and repeatedly accused former Spanish Prime Minister José MariaAznar of being a "fascist" who had supported a 2002 coup attempt against Chávez. Chávez later spun Juan Carlos' outburst as a monarchical affront to democracy (though Juan Carlos was, in fact...
Back in Caracas today, Chávez is conveniently leaving the comments of Zapatero, who is supposed to be one of his leftist kindred spirits, out of the discussion. "What Zapatero said must have really bothered Chávez," says Venezuelan author and Chávez biographer Alberto Barrera. "It broke with the leftist fundamentalism on Latin America that he demands all his allies follow...
...veranda at the governor's residence in the southwestern Venezuelan state of Barinas, Narciso Chavez stands up, lifts a leg and stomps the ground several times, laughing. He is demonstrating the country-and-western dance moves he learned years ago at bars near Daytona Beach. Nacho, as he's nicknamed, studied English in Florida, had a son with his American girlfriend in Ohio, and claims he's still the best English teacher in his hometown. More to the point, perhaps, he's the younger brother of President Hugo Chavez, which may be how he came to be stomping around...
...fiscal responsibility and privatization failed, tainted by endemic corruption and the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) unsuccessful recipes for growth. At this point, any marketing expert would have guessed what the Latin American public wanted to hear.It was only a matter of time before someone like Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez came to power to challenge the influence of foreign capital and call for an anti-imperialist crusade. His authoritarianism is attractive because, instead of letting foreign companies make money from high oil prices, nationalization has channeled those funds to welfare at home, a policy that...