The Latin Beat
There is always so much to report on the shenanigans going on Venezuela and other places in Latin America that it is hard to decide which to choose. Today, we shall report on the opening of a PDVSA office in Havana (for those not in the know that would be Petroleos Venezuelan) just another move by Chavez to be closer to his mentor and pal Castro. Of course, Fidel could not be happier now that he has found another oil producing country to help dig out Cuba from their permanent economic crisis. Now if he could only grow some vegetables. Since the only ones they tend to have are tomatoes and last I heard they are fruit.
Guess who? Yep the Fidelito brothers taking their show on the road.
Election of the next OAS Secretary General The OAS is an important organization and the USA has to be involved with its direction and its power. They are in the process of electing the new head and as Americans we should be watching.
"the future of the Organization of American States (OAS) lies in "helping fragile democracies like Ecuador, which is going on right now."
More of the interview follows:
MR. GOMEZ-PABLOS: Is Hugo Chavez -- if you were to single out the greatest menace for the region, considering the purchase of weapons and his engagement with the FARC, et cetera, would you single out Hugo Chavez as the greatest menace today for the region?
SECRETARY RICE: Well, I certainly think -- and we have said -- that we have serious concerns about the Venezuelan Government, about its behavior internally in terms of its own democratic government and in democratic institutions and its behavior in the region. The real threat, though, the real question, is: What kind of hemisphere are we going to be? Are we going to be a hemisphere in which people who are democratically elected govern democratically, in which there is transparency and accountability, in which democratic institutions are allowed to grow, in which there is a separation of powers between legislative branches and executive branches, in which there's a free press?
