About 12 yrs ago, I spent some time hitchhiking and taking busses all
over Venezuela so I got a good look at the country and the people. Gas
was very cheap then simply because they have lots of oil and they
refine it themselves. Chavez could easily sell cheap gas to the US
poor just as Mini-marts sell milk as a loss leader.
This does not make Chavez a good guy. Chavez has indeed done some good
things for the poor of his country and it would be difficult to do
worse than his predecessors. Taking a single look at the slums above
Caracas made me realize something was radically wrong with such a
situation in such a rich country. Once again, doing some good for the
poor does not make Chavez a good guy.
Human Rights Watch has condemned Chavez many times for his abuse of
power to suppress freedom of speech. Lefties always seem to do this,
they start out well but then cannot handle criticism. Castro looked
good at first but then came the arrests and firing squads. I wonder
when Chavez will start the firing squads. Maybe Venezuela will be
lucky and he wont be a Castro style megalomaniac. Chavez has the
opportunity to do some real good if he suppresses his dumb-ass rhetoric
and resists his paranoid tendencies.
Health care in Cuba is no good deal. Get a look at the care facilities
there and you'd think yourself lucky to be in the US. People dont tie
inner tubes together and cross stormy waters to get out of a nice place
in spite of what Harry Krause thinks.