Joe Kennedy Pimps for Chavez

Hugo Chavez, friend of the Kennedys.

Just disgusting.

A lawsuit by the Washington-based group Judicial Watch alleges that Chavez not only provided financial support to bin Laden, but that Al Qaeda is currently operating a training camp on the Venezuelan island of Margarita. Others have charged Chavez is providing false identity documents to individuals from the Middle East, to facilitate their entry into the United States. He also supports Colombia’s FARC terrorists.

Let us pause to reflect on the glories Kennedy’s favorite Marxist is inflicting on his nation:

*In a move decried as censorship by everyone from the Organization of American States to Human Rights Watch, on January 18, Chavez announced that he would close Radio Caracas Television. The 54-year-old station is his main media critic.

*Under the Chavez-sponsored Law on Social Responsibility of Radio and Television, reporters face up to 20 months in prison for “disrespect” of the maximum leader.

*Freedom House ranks Venezuela under Chavez 34th out of 35 countries in the Western Hemisphere in press freedom, ahead of only Cuba. But Castro has been in the business of throttling dissent for almost 50 years. Just give Hugo a little time.

*On the day that he moved against Radio Caracas Television, Chavez’s rubber-stamp National Assembly gave 1-877-Dial-Hugo-4-Marxism the power to rule by decree for 18 months in 11 key areas.

*Chavez has announced his intension to nationalize Venezuela’s energy, oil and telecommunications industries. He’s looted the country’s National Bank of billions.

*Those who signed a 2004 petition to recall Chavez (more than a million marched through the streets of Caracas at the time) have found themselves frozen out of state jobs and contracts, denied public assistance, and have even had applications for passports rejected.

*Chavez has announced his intention to rule Venezuela until 2031 – making him a president-for-life in all but name.

*Chavez is reported to have closed deals for the purchase of $3 billion of Russian arms, including fighter jets, military helicopters and 100,000 Kalashnikov rifles. Since no army is poised on its borders to invade Venezuela, it’s reasonable to assume that, when the time is right, all of this will be turned on opponents of the regime.

*Chavez is trading Venezuelan oil for Cuban police-state expertise. Since 2005, he’s imported tens of thousands of Cubans to staff key positions in the nation’s military and intelligence services.

The noose is tightening on the people of Venezuela. The above are all inexorable steps toward achieving Chavez’s grand vision of “Fatherland, socialism or death.” Hugo, Hugo uber alles….