The Unbearable Lightness of Living in Venezuela

Venezuela started from behind already when Chavez was "voted" President a few years ago. But America has been on the road to socialism for several decades maybe even since the early 1900's. It might be a good idea to look at Venezuela - the biggest producer of, of, of, ....NOTHING. Is that where we want to go? Let's rediscover capitalism and freedom from big government and we'll unleash the can do spirit of Americans. Read this informative piece by the great writer and reporter on South American Politics, Mary Anastasia O'Grady.

This is the busiest crossing along the 1,375 mile Venezuelan-Colombian border. It is also the best place to observe what happens when the commanding heights of Hugo Chávez's Bolivarian revolution collide with real life—aka, the market economy.

Crime—kidnapping, robbery and extortion—is a big risk for travelers here and so is dealing with Mr. Chávez's National Guard, which is notoriously corrupt. It has hundreds of highway check points throughout the country and every Venezuelan I talk to is uneasy about its arbitrary power. But I've come to see how Venezuelans are able to get by under price and capital controls, the slow suffocation of the private sector, a skyrocketing crime rate and a variety of shortages. I also want to better understand how people in the provinces feel about their government.

Ironically, a bizarre form of market economics may be playing a key role in Mr. Chávez's survival. Venezuela imports nearly everything it consumes, and Colombia has long been one of its major suppliers. But in a fit of pique last year, when Colombia agreed to allow the U.S. to use its air bases for drug surveillance, Mr. Chávez announced that he would restrict trade with his neighbor.

Food imports are now denied health-department permits, and expiring import permits for some other goods are not being renewed. Mr. Chávez says that the country can get what it needs from allies like Brazil, Argentina and Nicaragua.

Yet there is a long line of trucks waiting to enter Venezuela. A partial explanation is that some of these trucks are carrying goods produced outside of Colombia. Venezuelan ports have deteriorated so much under Mr. Chávez's rule that importers are increasingly offloading in Colombian ports and using overland transportation to the final Venezuelan destinations. This theory is supported by a recent report in the Colombian daily El Tiempo that said 50,000 tons of food had spoiled in Venezuela's northern Puerto Cabello because of government mismanagement...Read "Chavismo Meets the Market" at WSJ

Evo, Correa, Chavez, Morales, Ortega, Zelaya, FARC-The Despicable 7

Mary Anastasia O'Grady has a good column in WSJ explaining how Chavez and the Colombian FARC are using Venezuela to export 60% of the cocaine abroad. Venezuela is also a safe haven for these bandits. Zelaya, the ousted President of Honduras was also planning to use this country as a haven for drug export. Obama has it wrong - the Honduran people had it right - they wanted to get rid of a crooked man who was shredding their Constitution. (READ at WSJ)

Hondurans don’t want Mr. Zelaya in their country because he leads a violent, antidemocratic mob, and he tried to use it to undermine the country’s institutions in exactly the same way that Venezuela’s Hugo Chávez has done. Mr. Chávez has also coached Nicaragua’s Daniel Ortega, Ecuador’s Rafael Correa and Bolivia’s Evo Morales. Those democracies, too, have been seriously compromised.

...But even if Messrs. Obama and Calderón don’t care about the freedom of Hondurans, they can’t ignore the likelihood that the establishment of a chavista government in Honduras would raise the cost, in blood and treasure, of their war on drugs.

The FARC connection could go a long way in explaining why Mr. Chávez is pushing so hard for Mr. Zelaya to be restored to power. It is already well established that the Venezuelan strongman actively supports the FARC in South America. Rebels have a safe haven across his border ...

A July report from the U.S. General Accountability Office found that Venezuela has become a major transit route for Colombian cocaine, 60% of which is exported by the FARC. The GAO also found that high-ranking members of Mr. Chávez’s government and the Venezuelan military are accomplices. ..

The leaders at the summit today are going to talk about their war on drugs. Perhaps Mr. Calderón and Mr. Obama will tell us why they are backing an ousted Honduran politician whose supporters make common cause with drug-trafficking terrorists. All North Americans deserve an explanation.

Obama's Big Lie on Free Trade with Colombia

Leftists in Colombia are in bed with Democrats in Washington and both want to undermine democracy in this struggling nation. Obama's lie is his contention that Uribe's government is killing union members. "That is a flat out lie" and it's a shame because I, who have lived in Colombia many years, can state that Uribe has been positively the greatest President Colombia has ever had in modern times and has done so much to help this country pick itself up and progress. But Obama is in the pocket of BIG LABOR in the United States and it's a crying shame that United States can send goods to Colombia but Colombia cannot send goods to us. Why? Because of corrupt politicians and corrupt Unions in the US who are after power and big money.
NOTE: McCain is FOR FREE TRADE with Colombia. For goodness sake look at this man Obama before you push the button on November 4th. (Wall Street Journal). Listen to Mary Anastasia O'Grady an expert on Latin America.