Seems kind of scary at first glance, but then again when was the last time a repressive government trained its own citizens in guerrilla warfare? Chavez must be pretty confident of his own popularity to try such a thing. Maybe this is the kind of thing the founders meant by the 2nd ammendment.

Absolutely. What is scary at first glance is the US attempt to upseat Chavez by a coup d’etat, when he was democratically elected. Chavez clearly has the confidence of his people.

Its a bit worrying if you just read it but if your open minded you can see where Chavez is coming from. I dont blame him, if i was on Georges shit list id be training my people in Guerrilla Wardfare to further deter an attempted invasion. Funny thing is, the US hasnt learned that Guerrilla Warfare will always win over conventional forces…

You would think that Vietnam would have taught them that. All the same, ‘winning’ is a matter of persistence. According to conservative estimates even, 2 million Vietnamese paid with their lives, while only around 58,000 Americans died. The Americans have even forgotten the ‘Bay of Pigs’ where their forces failed to beat back a guerrilla resistance, and today in Iraq, where guerrilla resistence is always strong. George Galloway said it best, “Bush is willing to fight to the last drop of some one else’s blood.”

“I dont blame him, if i was on Georges shit list id be training my people in Guerrilla Wardfare to further deter an attempted invasion.”

Saddam did the same thing in Iraq, where do you think those elite Republican Guard units dissapeared to and who do you think is main fighting force behind the “insurgency”, but it didnt slow the US down any in invading. Unfortunately Venezuela’s stuck between a rock and a hard place. Denounced if they do anything to stop an invasion and doomed is they dont.

this is great, more power to Venezuela!! the vietcong, and cuba repelled the US so can venezuella. i only with my nation was worth fighting for!

The proof that I love my country and that I am a patriot of the US: I protest the people who have hijacked our government and our military for their own uses. My condolences to all families and countries that have had to cope with this insidious regime and endure the resulting losses of homes and loved ones. It will take a lot of Hugos to show these criminals that the world has had enough.

I have just returned from a long visit to Venezeula. I use to hold high hopes that Chavez was for real. I liked that he blew puffs of smoke right back into the US administration’s face, that he actually had the power of venezuela’s oil (and US dependency) behind him to belly up, real meat as far as the US’s interests are.. To boot, socialism and his unifying speech content. While I still enjoy his position in relation to the US administration, I found a great number of people in Venezuela dissatisfied with Chavez. When it comes down to it, he is a politician more than a revolutionary or a savior. Most of his promises for Venezuela’s domestic well-being were rhetoric and continue to be mere dangling carrots. He has done a bit with education, building schools around the country, as well as having a program where Cuba gets cheap oil in exchange for sending lots of well trained doctors around VZ. Needless to say there are plenty of problems in Venezuela, plenty of money to take care of them, and plenty of apathy, greed, ignorance, and laziness in much of the population to prevent them from being accomplished. As I heard people speaking, most who spoke against Chavez sounded identical to those here in the US who speak against Bush. Chavez uses rhetoric and projection onto Bush as a tactic in the same way Bush uses terrorists, to unify the people against a common enemy—or try at least. Having traveled all around Venezuela for the last two months I have seen so much that could easily be improved upon from infrastructure, public health, pollution, to education, and more. Of course there can always be improvements, anywhere..but..Venezuela is sopping rich with Oil money, the possibility to make it a reality is there. If Hugo were truly serious, so much could be addressed that isn’t.

thats my somewhat on the fly not the best, still reverse culture shocked 2cents. Still, I’m more in support of Chavez rhetoric of socialism than Bush’s of….lunacy

much criticism comes to Chavez from the left, and the so called libertarian left as well. but a big picture excercise I find useful is to think whether the Bolivarian Revolution is trying to change Vzla – U.S.A. relationship, or the relationship of Venezuelan people to the entire world economic system, in which U.S. is a big player but not the only one.

In other words, in the age of global government, can anarchists support a small government agaisnt the Big Brother? I believe the affirmative answer to this question is strategically sound and not a forfeit of revolutionary principles, but the line is blurry.

have you visited other countries in latin america>?

Indeed I have visited a few others, Bolivia, Peru, and Colombia. Yes I do believe ‘anarchists’ can support a small government against the big brother and that this is essential in actually displaying that there are alternatives to the world-wide status quo’s instituted by the US and other Big Brother type players. A picture exercise, if I read you correctly, does very well, and while may step on some toes of revolutionary principles, provides at least an alternative, at worst a turn towards dictatorship, and at best a demonstatably different pathway with more success.

I’ve been privately wondering about Chavez’s anti-Bush stance. The idea that it was distraction did cross my mind – it would be sad however to see yet another chance at a working socialist democracy get co-opted by rhetoric and empty promises.

you can find a pdf download of Che Guevara’s “Guerrilla Warfare” on the ‘currently reading’ list on my profile/blog page…

glacialimprint – did you hear about or attend the Alternative Social Forum?!?

check out:

Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Chavism and Anarchism, But Were Afraid to Ask

Venezuela: Anarchists and the Caracas Alternative Social Forum

Alternative Social Forum Update

Venezuela: Caracas Libertarian Declaration