Chavez praises Carlos the Jackal
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Independent Minds
Hugo Chavez has defended the alleged terrorist mastermind Carlos the Jackal, saying the Venezuelan imprisoned in France was an important "revolutionary fighter" who supported the cause of the Palestinians.
The Venezuelan president praised Carlos — whose real name is Ilich Sanchez Ramirez — during a speech last night, saying: "I defend him. It doesn't matter to me what they say tomorrow in Europe."
Ramirez gained international notoriety during the 1970s and 80s as the alleged mastermind of a series of bombings, killings and hostage dramas. He is serving a life sentence in France for the 1975 murders of two French secret agents and an alleged informant.
"They accuse him of being a terrorist, but Carlos really was a revolutionary fighter," Chavez said during a televised speech to socialist politicians from various countries, who applauded.
In his speech, Chavez also sought to defend other leaders he said are wrongly labeled "bad boys" internationally, including Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe and Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Chavez called both of them brothers and said he now wonders whether Ugandan dictator Idi Amin was truly as brutal as he was reputed to be.
"We thought he was a cannibal," Chavez said, referring to Amin, whose regime was notorious for torturing and killing suspected opponents in the 1970s. "I have doubts. ... I don't know, maybe he was a great nationalist, a patriot."
Chavez has previously called Ramirez a friend, and a controversy erupted in 1999 after the leftist leader confirmed he had written a letter to him in prison, in response to a note from Ramirez.
Chavez's remarks on Friday were among his most strident in support of Ramirez. He said he believes Ramirez was unfairly convicted, and called him "one of the great fighters of the Palestine Liberation Organization" at the time.
Ramirez was captured in Sudan in 1994, and whisked in a sack to Paris by French agents. He was convicted three years later.
He is also accused of having a role in two 1982 bombings — on a Paris-Toulouse train and outside the Paris office of an Arab-language newspaper — and is suspected in two other train bombings on Dec. 31, 1983.
Chavez didn't refer to any of the accusations against Ramirez, but suggested the Venezuelan is paying a price for backing the Palestinians' cause — which Chavez also supports.
Venezuela broke off diplomatic ties with Israel in January to protest its military offensive in the Gaza Strip, and since then Chavez has often traded verbal barbs with Israeli officials.
On Friday, he protested remarks by Israeli President Shimon Peres, who predicted during a visit to Argentina that the people of Venezuela and Iran will make their leaders disappear before too long.
"Talking about Chavez, among other things he said he will soon disappear — just like that, which has different connotations," Chavez said. "Imagine if one of us said something similar talking about him or them — any of them, the 'good guys."'
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Comments
Wasn't Carlos captured in an 'extraodrinary rendition' and 'rendered' to France illegally and in breach of both national and international laws? The French govt kidnapped him, which is interesting since many EU countries are quite rightly speaking out against the policy of US 'rendition' by capturing suspects off the streets and flying them to countries where 'justice' is certainly more favourable to the interests of the interested party/country.
Shouldn't his illegal kidnapping first of all be ruled illegal? One law for them and another law for others it seems.
FACT to remember about France. A ship belonging to Greenpeace, in New Zealand waters at Auckland was blown up by French secret service agents. This was to stop the environmental group's protest at French environmental terrorism in the pacific. France ordered the destruction of this ship and it killed Greenpeace members on board. Is this not 'state sponsored terrorism'? France then bullied the New Zealand govt who caught and tried these terrorists. France threatened sanctions, an economic blockade of NZ goods in France and used their trading power to force NZ to release these secret service agents into French 'custody' They promised they would serve the rest of their sentence in France. As soon as they arrived in France they were pardoned by the French president.
France has no right to convict anyone of 'international terrorism' as they are the hypocritical perpetrators.
Nelson Mandela and the ANC were accused of lots of things, in fact if it was still going on today just imagine the wonderful array of legislation brought in by new labour to deal with these organisations or individuals they don't like. Where you stand is also where you sit.
you are full of crapola.
We will never know whether Chavez's words have been taken out of context.
Or, perhaps, translated incorrectly, just the way the media does this with 'enemies of the empire' such as Ahmadinejad.
I was surprised to read that peres is still free and about. Isn't he supposed to be in jail for corruption, assault, or rape? Or was this israel's president?
VIVA CHAVEZ!!
Chavez, ranting & spending while his country's economy goes into a tail-spin.
Such leadership.
Suggesting Amin was a great nationalist with the implication that his racism and violence is excusable though. The Nazis were and the BNP are Nationalist. Should we furrow our brows and search for the alternative truth ? Or should we condemn it as fundamentally wrong ? (hint. the answer is option 2)
Chavez is unconventional because he's willing to have these free-thinking discussions in public but this is generally, and probably correctly, seen as a lack of judgement in a leader. Especially in opening up excuses for morally inexcusable behaviour.
The mitigating factor for me is that , fortunately, it doesnt really matter in world terms what he says and its only of curiosity value.
Viva
Since we clearly can't trust the govt and they have been caught redhanded making stuff up, what else have they been making up? What was the equvalent of 'spin' back then? who knows what lies we have been fed in the past to believe that certain leaders were evil? how do we know that zimbabwe and north korea aren't subject to a massive spin operation by the west and it's media? The US elections were rigged for bush just as mugabes elections were supposedly rigged so who are we to tell zimbabwe what to do?
As seen the afghani elections were rigged by corrupt officials yet the UK etc still wants to do business with Karzai. Interesting isn't it.
=============
Dear rocket1111,
For the record, the US Presidential election was NOT rigged for Bush. This statement is pure propaganda. If the truth be known, with help of Acorn - Gore lost by a huge land slide. After Gore’s global warming BS, it’s a good thing this con artist did not win that election. Remember, Gore invented the internet, too? So, he said.
I want to see them explain their illegal wars, lies, spin, phoney dossiers, and war crimes, human rights violations, killing prisoners, the torturing and illegal rendition policies. I want the tribunal to investigate UK complicity in renditions, allowing US rendition flights to land and refuel and fly over the UK.
I want to see the trial open to the public and broadcast live on TV.
I want to see their excuses. I want to see their justifications for perverting the course of justice. For conspiracy to commit illegal wars. Complicity to commit torture.
I can't wait to sit in the public gallery.
Mugabe (Amin, Saddam, Hitler , N Korea, USSR, Iran etc.) won't stand for that. Opposition is brutally subdued.
Sure, Bush exploited a terrible voting system to swing a close election result. The result inside the US was the most unpopular President in history and the ultimate peaceful vanquishing of the Republican party.
Hitler DID make the trains run on time and revive Germany. Mugabe DID fight Arparthied in Rhodesia , he DID try to reallocate Colonial land. Saddam DID bring a kind of stability and prosperity to Iraq. But they became supreme rulers, brutal and corrupt monsters which noone can deny.
Chavez is right to try to grab the benefits of Oil for his country and region and away from the multinationals .... but lets hope he doesnt fail the test like those he appears to be an apologist for. But the signs are not good....
What he has done in Venezuela is close to a miracle, ripping his country away from the American Oil companies and giving the Venezuelan people something to live for instead of poverty.
And the Americans have the gall to call him a NAZI for actually doing something for his people.
As for Shimon Peres, he disappointed not a few and dashed Palestinian hopes when, as Israeli president, he did not do very much to bring about peace in the Mideast, by making efforts to bring about a solution to the conflict. Many people, international leaders as well as Palestinians, had placed much hope on him - for naught.
One wonders what he meant by saying that leaders of Venezuela and Iran could be made to disappea1r?
Well, we all know how actively Israel leaders could conspire unilaterally, and also on behalf of the U.S.
One should keep this in mind when criticising Chavez. He's a talker, but not a life-taker!
The guy calls Mugabe his brother for christ's sake...This is supposed to give us hope?
And did I see you say he is honest? It is honest to tell your people you are building a beter society for them while actually you spend 100s of millions of dollars on fighter jets? Is it honest to subsidize food for poor people so that after standing in line for more than an hour (and thats just to enter the store) I can then buy milk without calcium? Is it honest to deny there is a crime problem when we have 2.5 times the homicide rate of Baghdad? Is it honest to give free university education when said university level is hardly more difficult than what 10 year olds learn in Britain? (I am not exagerrating). So that when you go to a clinic in a barrio some of the doctors who graduated from those universites aren't fit to put on a frigging bandaid.
And maybe the people who criticize Chavez are not persecuted but they are harrassed. They risk losing their jobs if they dont support him. They get shot at during political rallies.
At night I don't hear gunshots but gunfights. People tell me it didnt use to be like that 10 yrs ago.
Throughout the city the sidewalks are cracked and there is garbage everywhere. People tell me it didnt use to be like that 10 yrs ago. Rent is more than twice as high as two years ago (good job fighting poverty when your inflation is the highest in the continent). Same goes for food and bus tickets. Oh and the salaries have gone up 10 percent.
It pains me to see a lot of people in Europe idolise the guy without apparently knowing a thing about what goes on in Venezuela. I am a socialist too and I believed in a lot of things Chavez wanted for his people. After living there I see how he is destroying his country instead of improving it, dividing his people instead of uniting them. The worst is that he now seems addicted to power. i don't think he will ever leave office peacefully.
Compare him to Urribe over the border, and Venezuelans would most likley prefer Chavez, rather than a common situation in Colombia where paramilitaries operate everywhere at their leader's beck and call. No one in his right mind would wish this for Venezuela, unless you think it's all right. There was an attempt some years back to get rid of Chavez, and he probably hasn't forgotten that, and that is why he appears oversensitive at times. . . . understandably.
So don't wonder why Chavez thinks he has to spend money on weapons, not that it would be better to spend it on street repairs, but what do you expect him to do? Any better ideas???
Cracked roads are everywhere in Latin America, and slums galore, no jobs, no food, beggars, criminals, holdups, you name it. Think of Guatemala, where a thirty-year civil war took place. Have things improved? Find out for yourself. As for inflation, all countries in the world, even the rich ones, are feeling the pinch, thanks to the international crisis due to Wall St. and investment corruption - or haven't you heard of it`? No, Chavez isn't the worse of the lot. The grass always looks greener on the other side.
May I add to your list of what Chavez has given his people ? Power cuts, water shortages, food shortages, censorship of the press and a capital city with the highest crime rate on the continent.
As for food shortages, if you mean the occasional milk, or flour shortages....it's still not that bad that Venezuela's moneyed class can't throw parties with enough food for invited guests. The good life still goes on....without anyone being imprisoned, or tortured or made a desaparecido for criticising their president. Look to your neighbour over the border - would you prefer HIM as your president?
Colombia tried to negotiate with the guerrillas, gave them territory the size of Switzerland and all they did, was to increase their kidnappings and forced recruiting, strengthen their armies and subdue the poor morons who happended to live on the DMZ. The guerrillas are by far, way more bloody than the paramilitaries, by no means a small feat, the way they torture and execute people is beyond belief, last week for instance, they burnt a bus who would tried to escape their road block, they shot at the driver and the set the bus on fire with everyone inside, killing 6 people, 2 of them children, they have masacrated and killed so many indians this year, i could go on and on.
Uribe gets critic every single day from the press and the opposition, and yet they are still there. Yes there are union workers being killed, but the reality is they can't even protect their own members of the government. Was there any outrage when the 19 members of the cali parliament were executed by the Farc? Did you see the protests against the Farc btw? The majority in Colombia is against them, this is a fact. There was a reason he was elected and reelected, to fight and finish the FARC, and he has done everything to achieve this.
The idea of "La revolucion" may look romantic in Europe, but in practice its just shit.