Let me start by saying that I am a Venezuelan citizen, and that my parents still live there, so my views are not based on readings of the left or right side of the international press.

You are right about one thing: Chavez was joking about the effect of capitalism on Mars! so this is taken out of context to make him sound like a clown or an idiot.

However, when it comes to your comment about how great he is on controlling banks and managing national debt and natural resources, you are completely misinformed.

If you think Chavez is such a great leader, you should move there for 6 months with your family. If you don’t get kidnapped or killed, you may starve due to lack of jobs and decent sources of income, unless you accept to become a corrupt part of his “revolution”. If you want your kids to have a decent education, you’d have to pay a fortune on education and then you’d be worried they’d be the target of kidnappers. Do you think Chavez sent his kids to public schools?

Chavez took those peoples into his house after mudslides, yes. But they lost their houses during mudslides because those houses were not built properly, they were built by themselves without planning permissions or building regulations, and Chavez has been incapable of providing the poor with decent housing after 12 years in power.

While you’re there, if you happen to have an accident or if you don’t accept to bribe a police officer that decided to stop you for no reason, you’ll end up in jail, probably beside a drug dealer and a murdered all in the same cell, as there is no decent penitentiary system. Even if you have a good lawyer, there is no justice system so it doesn’t matter if you’re guilty or innocent.

There are political prisoners in Venezuela, there is a massive national debt, inflation is the highest in the continent… Chavez is destroying the economy by nationalizing everything and using inept people to manage key industries, just because they do what he says.

There’s is massive unemployment and children begging everywhere, and most importantly: there are no moral values or sense of security.

All of this after 12 years of Chavez being in power, so you can’t really blame the previous “capitalist” governments. Neither can you blame the “empire” as he calls the US, because in that time Chavez benefited from incredibly high oil prices. So he’s had more money at his disposal than any other government in Venezuelan history. And there are now more poor and unemployed than ever before.

All he’s done in 12 years is change the constitution and become the sole source of revenue for most of the population so that he can control them easily and he can stay in power for as long as he lives.

So next time you think Fine Gael are bad, think again.

And most importantly: before saying how great a foreign dictator is, go spend a bit of time in their country and see if that changes your mind.

Diego I appreciate your reply, and I have no doubt there is many many problems with Chavez and Venezuela in general. But be aware there are plenty of political prisoners in this country that the media never comment on. As you have seen in recent times there is rising unemployment and our government seems to be rife with corruption. Perhaps you need to reread my post though. I pointed out some of his changes I would welcome in this country. Is it now politically incorrect to do this? Yes he is classed as a dictator, but if you missed it for the last few years we had an unelected Taisesch who refused to leave office, the UK had the same experience after their war loving leader moved on, not exactly the same I know, but this country is being run into the ground on many levels. Might I also add that there is huge support for Chavez, perhaps similar to the recent support for FG and Labour. Maybe people are attracted to abusers of power.

Think you misread my post, I’d happily swap our ‘leaders’ for Chavez who controls banks, no national debt, refuses to deal with the most aggressive country in the world (US), and retains control of natural resources for public benefit rather than selling them off such as Fine Gael.