Another Communist Nation on U.S. Doorstep?

Another Communist Nation on U.S. Doorstep?

Wes Vernon
Thursday, May 24, 2001

WASHINGTON - "It’s only a matter of time before he comes out and tells the world he’s communist.”

That was a Venezuelan cab driver’s assessment last February of that country’s president, Hugo Chavez.

Washingtonians awoke Wednesday to see a full-page ad in the Washington Times imploring "the people of Venezuela and the International community” to urge "the immediate resignation” of Chavez.

Paid for by anti-communist Venezuelans calling themselves the National Emergency Coalition, the ad charges that "a grave crisis” has gripped their land "that threatens the Rule of Law, freedom of expression, due process, private property, national identity, sovereignty, the safety and security of the citizenry, the dignity of the Armed Forces, causing the disintegration of the country and putting the constitution in grave peril.”

Charging that Chavez attained his office through "electoral fraud, the coalition cites the following:

Chinese and Cuban communists involved in the country’s internal affairs.

Indoctrination of children through ideologies, "alien to human nature, foreign to our history and traditions.”

Illegitimate oil exploration contracts granted to China and Cuba.

Dismantling and "tendentious reorganizing” of the armed forces through "Castroite Communist armed militias.”

Use of government monies for personal aggrandizement of the president, "with a Castroite-Communist bent.”

The pilfering of the treasury by the president.

Deceit, arrogance, demagoguery and abuse of power by Chavez.

Election fraud.

Assault on private property.

We "demand the immediate resignation of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and his cabinet with a view to the restoration of the rule of law, private property, and national sovereignty, and ordered liberty,” the ad concluded.

Still to come: the reaction of the "international community.”

Months ago, the European Union tried to ostracize Austria because someone in a right-of-center coalition government had once upon a time said something nice about the Nazis - a comment he had repeatedly retracted.

Now here's someone who is not a minority voice in a coalition government, but is the president of the country.

It remains to be seen if the "international community” is at least as indignant about left-wing dictators as it is about fringe right-wing politicians.

Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
Castro/Cuba
China/Taiwan
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