Chavez Plans Expropriation of Nearly Complete Megamall; AP Avoids Key
Hugo Chavez has announced that he plans to expropriate a huge and nearly complete shopping mall in Caracas. The Spanish language web page of Constructora Sambil that describes the project (pictured at the right) says that it's 21,600 square meters. Chavez appears to have no idea what he will do with it. The Associated Press's Ian James apparently had no idea what to do with that shocking bit of…
Venezuela Squeezed by Lower Output, Lower Prices; Only UK Paper Seems
Matt Drudge learned long ago that jumping across the pond in the late evening and perusing the British press is a way to get a head start on the news, and in some cases to get news that the American press is ignoring. The situation with Hugo Chavez in Venezuela is an example of the latter. If it happens, call it The Caracas Crackup -- The UK Telegraph is reporting that the inevitable…
Orlando Sentinel Editor Plays Softball with Castro-backer Hugo Chavez
"Softball Chavez Interview From Leader of U.S. Editors" That's not exactly the kind of headline Charlotte Hall would like to see on Cuba Solidarity Day, but it's how Gawker summed up the Orlando Sentinel editor's sit-down with Venezuela's Hugo Chavez.Hall, who also serves as president of the American Society of Newspaper Editors, pitched a friendly game of softball with Castro regime backer…
WaPo Notes Chavez Backing for FARC Terrorists, Six Days After WSJ Had
Six days after Wall Street Journal's Jose de Cordoba and Jay Solomon published their front-pager, "Chávez Aided Colombia Rebels, Captured Computer Files Show," the Washington Post turned out its coverage of the development by staffer Juan Forero, who pulled a few punches by failing to directly finger Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez: CARACAS, Venezuela, May 14 -- High-ranking officials in…
Reuters Hypes Hugo's Excellent Adventure in Marxist Farming
Leave it to Reuters in this April 29 article, to express surprise that Hugo Chavez' planned economy, complete with “land reform,” price controls and forced production, is failing. Even worse, reporter Frank Jack Daniels relied on a Marxist outlook and socialist jargon to pretend that those tired policies weren't to blam. Chavez wants to increase domestic food production; so, of course, the…
Venezuela: 'Baywatch' More Appropriate for Kids Than 'Simpsons
Who knew that Bart Simpson still had it? Years after "The Simpsons" merged into the American cultural mainstream, the show is still raising hackles--in socialist Venezuela where a government regulatory agency decreed it was "inappropriate for children."Replacing the "inappropriate" show will be reruns of, and this is not a joke, "Baywatch: Hawaii," the late 90s lifeguard show famous for its…
CBS/AP Fail to Call FARC Narco-terrorists Terrorists
Leftist Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez is threatening neighboring Colombia with war after that country successfully killed via airstrike FARC terrorists in a camp in Ecuador. Yet in reporting the story, CBSNews.com and the AP downplayed the terroristic nature of the leftist rebel movement.The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) has been on a Comprehensive List of Terrorists and Groups…
Reuters Wonders If Chavez Can Measure Up to Castro's 'Heroic Status
"Chavez inspires left but [is] no icon," insists the headline for a February 21 story by Reuters reporter Frank Jack Daniel. Daniel took time to examine what role Chavez could play in rallying Latin American leftists now that the Fidel Castro has kindly retired to let little hermano Raul take the wheel for a while indefinitely.Daniel practically makes Chavez sound like the Barack Obama of Latin…
Bombings in Chavez’s Venezuela Go Unnoticed by Major Media
On February 18, the Zenit News Service reported that the apostolic nunciature in Caracas, Venezuela - the Holy See’s equivalent of an embassy in the country - was bombed on Thursday [February 14]. The bombing "caused only minor damages. The facade of the structure was also vandalized by political graffiti." The Zenit story was one of only four items on the bombing that came up during a Google…
CBS’s Rodriguez Asks Chavez’s Ex-Wife: ‘Is He a Communist
During a two part interview on the Thursday and Friday CBS "Early Show," co-host Maggie Rodriguez asked Hugo Chavez’s ex-wife, Marisabel Rodriguez, "Is Hugo Chavez a charismatic leader or a mad man?" This was followed later by the question, "Is he a Communist?" To which Marisabel Rodriguez responded: "If he's not, he's very similar to one."Maggie Rodriguez, who is Cuban-American, had several…
