Hugo Chavez has prostate cancer

[Warren Dew]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/ju ... -venezuela

RC: And what would this case then tell us about the independence of the judiciary in Venezuela? Is there independence of judiciary here or does the executive control it?

NC: You would know better than I do. I can only cast suspicions. I haven't investigated it closely. My suspicion is that the judiciary is not as independent as it should be. We may compare it to Colombia next door. Colombia's human rights record is incomparably worse. The judges in the constitutional court have been investigating cases of corruption, crimes at the highest level, and they have been intimidated. They have received death threats, and they have to have bodyguards and so on. And apparently that's continuing under [President José Manuel] Santos.

RC: But in the case of Judge Afiuni what do you make of the intervention of the president calling for her to be jailed for 30 years – what should one conclude from that?

NC: It's obviously improper for the executive to intervene and impose a jail sentence without a trial. And I should say that the United States is in no position to complain about this. Bradley Manning has been imprisoned without charge, under torture, which is what solitary confinement is. The president in fact intervened. Obama was asked about his conditions and said that he was assured by the Pentagon that they were fine. That's executive intervention in a case of severe violation of civil liberties and it's hardly the only one. That doesn't change the judgment about Venezuela, it just says that what one hears in the United States one can dismiss.

Thus illustrating that Chomsky is still an idiot, as always. Bradley Manning isn't a judge, and his case wouldn't have anything to do with the independence of the judiciary even if he had been tortured, which he wasn't. Chomsky is just trying to weasel out of the fact that his pal Chavez is an evil dictator and always has been.

[sandinista]

Thousands march in show of support for Chavez

CARACAS, Venezuela — A march by thousands of Venezuelans to mark the country's bicentennial Sunday quickly turned into a show of support for ailing President Hugo Chavez, who remained in Cuba recovering from the removal of a cancerous tumor.

The president's red-clad supporters waved flags, beat drums and chanted "Long live Chavez!" They also displayed signs reading "Get well soon, commander" and "Venezuela is with you."

A message on Chavez's Twitter account said he was doing his "daily exercises and receiving that bath of love" from the demonstrators in Caracas.

"It's the best medicine!" he said in the message.

Chavez's Twitter account posted four messages within three hours Sunday, including one referring to the "Bolivarian youth" marching on the streets: "I see you, I hear you."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43626021/ns ... rt-chavez/

on Chomsky:

Chomsky Says UK Guardian Article "Quite Deceptive" about his Chavez Criticism

This is not the first time Rory Carroll has taken a highly selective interest in Chomsky's views on Latin America. When Chomsky signed an open letter in 2008 critical of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, Rory Carroll also jumped all over it. At about the same time, Chomsky signed an open letter to Colombian President Alvaro Uribe about far more grave matters but it was ignored by the Guardian. At the time, I asked Rory Carroll and his editors why they ignored it but they never replied to me. They also ignored an open letter to Uribe signed by Amnesty International, Human Rights watch and various other groups. I asked Carroll and his editors why that open letter was ignored and - as usual - no one responded.[1]

There is clearly good reason not to trust Rory Carroll or the Guardian in their reporting about Venezuela, so I contacted Chomsky by email and asked him the following questions. His replies are below.

http://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/6323

[Coito ergo sum]

Rather than just state that he was misquoted, Chomsky should explicitly state what a true, accurate and non-deceptive quote or paraphrase would have been.

Let's hope Chavez releases the Judges he arrests and imprisons because they don't render the decisions he wants:

Mr Chavez ordered Afiuni's arrest after she freed a businessman jailed on charges of circumventing currency controls. His pretrial detention had exceeded Venezuela's legal limits and the judge said she was following UN guidance.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/world/chomsky-to- ... z1RMRsK4dV

[sandinista]

Rather than just state that he was misquoted, Chomsky should explicitly state what a true, accurate and non-deceptive quote or paraphrase would have been.

Let's hope Chavez releases the Judges he arrests and imprisons because they don't render the decisions he wants:

"judges"? or judge? I suppose we can also hope that countries the world over release all political prisoners, drug abusers, and people held without charges.

A Few Facts about Recent Venezuelan Laws and the Case of Judge Afiuni

http://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/5908

I have to say that I find it strange for people abroad concerned with justice and Venezuelan progress, to defend people like Judge Afiuni. I think she deserves to have the same treatment as any other citizen that is being judged for similar reasons and is under custody because there is the expectation of his or her escape. Afiuni already has privileges, including being in a fairly comfortable cell with TV and lap top, plus she enjoys visits at times no other inmate may have.

Since Afiuni knows the judicial position she is in, she keeps on playing the card of being a political prisoner, which of course she is not. We have no news of Afiuni being a political partisan of any group or defender of any ideology. Simply, Afiuni was a judge that received a pay off for the release of Cedeño and now is eager to part the country and enjoy the money. If we had had a violent revolution we could fight corruption with violent means, but since our revolution follows a democratic and peaceful path, we can only put the felons in jail. To forego that option would be to forego law, on the one hand, and open the door to further violations on the other.

[Coito ergo sum]

Rather than just state that he was misquoted, Chomsky should explicitly state what a true, accurate and non-deceptive quote or paraphrase would have been.

Let's hope Chavez releases the Judges he arrests and imprisons because they don't render the decisions he wants:

"judges"? or judge?

One or more.

I suppose we can also hope that countries the world over release all political prisoners, drug abusers, and people held without charges.

LOL - but, you don't call Venezuela "Venezueduh" or lambaste Chavez for doing these things. You do namecall other nations, and lambaste other leaders.

A Few Facts about Recent Venezuelan Laws and the Case of Judge Afiuni

http://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/5908

I have to say that I find it strange for people abroad concerned with justice and Venezuelan progress, to defend people like Judge Afiuni. I think she deserves to have the same treatment as any other citizen that is being judged for similar reasons and is under custody because there is the expectation of his or her escape. Afiuni already has privileges, including being in a fairly comfortable cell with TV and lap top, plus she enjoys visits at times no other inmate may have.

Since Afiuni knows the judicial position she is in, she keeps on playing the card of being a political prisoner, which of course she is not. We have no news of Afiuni being a political partisan of any group or defender of any ideology. Simply, Afiuni was a judge that received a pay off for the release of Cedeño and now is eager to part the country and enjoy the money. If we had had a violent revolution we could fight corruption with violent means, but since our revolution follows a democratic and peaceful path, we can only put the felons in jail. To forego that option would be to forego law, on the one hand, and open the door to further violations on the other.

Oh, I'm sure...sounds like it... per wikipedia:

Afiuni said she was following United Nations' guidance when she released Cedeño, who had been detained longer than the time allowed under Venezuelan law.[7][8] The pretrial detention process had been repeatedly delayed because prosecutors failed to appear at hearings.[9] According to Venezuela's attorney general, Luisa Ortega Diaz, the release on bail was determined at a hearing without prosecutors present.[10] Cedeño states that "my trial was improperly suspended in 2008, when a jury was poised to acquit me after a trial which lasted more than two months", and that Afiuni's decision was rendered "in the presence of two representatives from the Attorney General's Office".[11] He also says, "In light of the opinion of the U.N. Working Group, and given the unexcused absence of the prosecutors and the lack of objection by the other government representatives who were present, Control Judge Afiuni granted my conditional release ..."[11]

But, just like typical Left-wingers, the people you quoted expressed their preference....if we had a violent revolution, we'd put them up against the wall and shoot the fuckers...right? That's what would happen...so, that makes it o.k. to arrest a judge for doing her job, because the capitalist running dog should have been imprisoned no matter what.

Now, she's been in jail for 19 months, and can't get a trial date. LOL.

[sandinista]

LOL - but, you don't call Venezuela "Venezueduh" or lambaste Chavez for doing these things. You do namecall other nations, and lambaste other leaders.

your point?

to arrest a judge for doing her job

If, by "doing her job" you mean taking bribes.

[Coito ergo sum]

LOL - but, you don't call Venezuela "Venezueduh" or lambaste Chavez for doing these things. You do namecall other nations, and lambaste other leaders.

your point?

You first. What's yours?

to arrest a judge for doing her job

If, by "doing her job" you mean taking bribes.

Proof? There has been the assertion, but apparently the matter can't get to trial.

No innocence until proven guilty in your book? The "intelligence agency" comes and hog-ties a judge for letting a defendant go (after the prosecutors fail to show up and cause several delays in the proceedings to the point where the delay exceeds that allowable by Venezuela law) and then they throw her in jail for 19 months and still haven't tried her, and you just go on and believe the dictator? Must be nice to have all that Kool-Aid available up in Canuduh!

[sandinista]

coming from a guy who defends a country that runs gitmo (where people have been imprisoned for up to 10 years with no trial), uses extraordinary rendition, and sends individuals to be tortured. typical. talk about drinking the fucking kool aid.

[Tyrannical]

So Chavez is a sick prick

[Cormac]

coming from a guy who defends a country that runs gitmo (where people have been imprisoned for up to 10 years with no trial), uses extraordinary rendition, and sends individuals to be tortured. typical. talk about drinking the fucking kool aid.

You are defending the indefensible.

Two wrongs don't make a right.

Yes, America often makes a very large and stinking pigs ear of foreign policy, (and has been doing so since beginning foreign adventures in places like the Philippines, and many South American countries).

BUT,

That doesn't in any way take away from the fact that Chavez has all the hallmarks of a dictator - a corrupt,violent, narcissistic, murderous, nasty piece of work. If it looks, waddles, and quacks, it is probably a duck.

[Coito ergo sum]

coming from a guy who defends a country that runs gitmo (where people have been imprisoned for up to 10 years with no trial), uses extraordinary rendition, and sends individuals to be tortured. typical. talk about drinking the fucking kool aid.

You don't see the difference between picking up prisoners on a battlefield (Gitmo prisoners) and holding them as enemy combatants or prisoners of war and pulling a judge off the bench in a civilian criminal trial and jailing her without trial for 18 months?

In a war, prisoners of war are held for years and never tried. That's normal. It happens in every war and is in fact absolutely specifically specified and called for by the Geneva Convention on Prisoners of War. Prisoners of War are NEVER FUCKING TRIED unless they actually commit a crime, and fighting in a war against the United States is not a crime. That's why prisoners of war are detained until hostilities are over and then released.

If a person is an unlawful combatant, like Gary Powers who flew the U2 or other non-uniformed enemy combatants not covered by the Geneva Convention, then they are handled under the uniform code of military justice, and there is no right to speedy trials and whatnot.

You want to sit there and compare how the US treats prisoners and suggest that it's worse than what fucking Venezuela does? Are you out of your mind? A 2011 Human Rights Watch report described conditions in Venezuelan prisons as "deplorable" and among the worst in LATIN AMERICA! Fuck, dude. These are countries whose police forces kidnap Americans and Canadians and hold them in prison for ransom on trumped up charges, and Venezuela's prisons are among the worst in all of Latin America. Latin American prisons make American and Canadian prisons look like fucking country clubs. Torture? You complain about the US sending 5 guys out of the country and supposedly, it is rumored, "tortured" - in Venezuela and other Latin American countries they don't blink an eye at torturing people.

Human rights organizations on torture in Venezuela: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3571383.stm Venezuelan ombudsman German Mundarain has said security forces tortured some protesters who were detained during recent anti-government demonstrations. And, http://daniel-venezuela.blogspot.com/20 ... zuela.html

You need to really understand how the world works, and how much less of this garbage we get in the US, Australia, Canada and western Europe, and how much more awful it is in latin America, Asia and Africa. You act as if there is some sort of comparison between the what goes on, and actually what the US and other western countries do is actually WORSE than what goes on in hell holes like Venezuela, etc. The facts just don't bear you out on that, though. You compare apples to oranges, and a drop in the bucket to the Pacific Ocean.

[Coito ergo sum]

coming from a guy who defends a country that runs gitmo (where people have been imprisoned for up to 10 years with no trial), uses extraordinary rendition, and sends individuals to be tortured. typical. talk about drinking the fucking kool aid.

You are defending the indefensible.

Two wrongs don't make a right.

Yes, America often makes a very large and stinking pigs ear of foreign policy, (and has been doing so since beginning foreign adventures in places like the Philippines, and many South American countries).

BUT,

That doesn't in any way take away from the fact that Chavez has all the hallmarks of a dictator - a corrupt,violent, narcissistic, murderous, nasty piece of work. If it looks, waddles, and quacks, it is probably a duck.

The logic is, though, that Chavez is just small potatoes - the little guy - compared to the US. Also, Chavez means well, and wants to steal from the capitalist running dog and give to "the people", so if he has to do some shitty things along the way, well, that's really the fault of the capitalist running dogs anyway because they won't stop interfering in the people's revolution....

[sandinista]

You don't see the difference between picking up prisoners on a battlefield (Gitmo prisoners) and holding them as enemy combatants or prisoners of war and pulling a judge off the bench in a civilian criminal trial and jailing her without trial for 18 months?

Of course, the whole gitmo travesty is much worse. By and far, not even a comparison.

n a war, prisoners of war are held for years and never tried.

Only these people have not been labeled as POW's.

Prisoners of War are NEVER FUCKING TRIED unless they actually commit a crime

Again, they are not classified as POW's.

You want to sit there and compare how the US treats prisoners and suggest that it's worse than what fucking Venezuela does?

Of course it's worse, all the prisoners tortured, held without charge or with no idea when they'll go to trial is far worse than one corrupt judge.

Are you out of your mind?

no, but apparently you are.

A 2011 Human Rights Watch report described conditions in Venezuelan prisons as "deplorable" and among the worst in LATIN AMERICA!

Of course they are, I'm not or never have defended the conditions of latin american prisons.

Torture? You complain about the US sending 5 guys out of the country and supposedly, it is rumored, "tortured"

5 guys? Now I know you are out of your fucking mind.

You need to really understand how the world works

you are ridiculous.

and how much less of this garbage we get in the US, Australia, Canada and western Europe, and how much more awful it is in latin America, Asia and Africa.

I'm sorry, but do you have some kind of learning disability. If so, I apologize for making fun of you. If not, get a fucking clue. None of this has anything to do with quality of life in different countries. Fuck man, read some fucking history and figure out how countries got to be the way they are. Judging from the bullshit you're throwing around I would have to guess you've never been to Latin America

[Coito ergo sum]

You don't see the difference between picking up prisoners on a battlefield (Gitmo prisoners) and holding them as enemy combatants or prisoners of war and pulling a judge off the bench in a civilian criminal trial and jailing her without trial for 18 months?

Of course, the whole gitmo travesty is much worse. By and far, not even a comparison.

Not even close. Jailing the judge is against the law. Detaining unlawful combatants and POWs in Gitmo was legal under the Geneva Conventions.

[

n a war, prisoners of war are held for years and never tried.

Only these people have not been labeled as POW's.

Either way, whether unlawful combatants or POWs, the detention in Gitmo was perfectly legal. Some folks alleged they were POWs, and even if they were POWs then detention was proper. POWs have MORE rights, not less, than unlawful enemy combatants. If you're suggesting they were unlawful enemy combatants, then they still may be detained as they were.

[

Prisoners of War are NEVER FUCKING TRIED unless they actually commit a crime

Again, they are not classified as POW's.

Sure, they were. But, even if they weren't, the same is true for non-uniformed enemy combatants, like if the US discovered Nazis in the US in WW2 out of uniform - they wouldn't be Geneva Convention POWs, but they would only be entitled to a trial if the US code of military justice allowed for one. They would be unlawful enemy combatants.

[

You want to sit there and compare how the US treats prisoners and suggest that it's worse than what fucking Venezuela does?

Of course it's worse,

Of course Venezuela's treatment of prisoners, and massive violations of human and civil rights are far worse than anything the US has ever done.

[

all the prisoners tortured,

? Proof. Citation needed.

You mean a couple of instances of waterboarding?

[

held without charge

enemy combatants, whether POWs or not, need not be charged.

[
or with no idea when they'll go to trial is far worse than one corrupt judge.

No, it isn't. And, that one judge, who was arrested unlawfully by a corrupt regime, is just a drop in the bucket of Chavez's human and civil rights abuses.

[

Are you out of your mind?

no, but apparently you are.

You are either ignorant, or lying. I think the latter. You're probably aware of the monstrous record of Chavez, but you think it's justified because of your political leanings.

[

A 2011 Human Rights Watch report described conditions in Venezuelan prisons as "deplorable" and among the worst in LATIN AMERICA!

Of course they are, I'm not or never have defended the conditions of latin american prisons.

You did, when you claimed that the US was far worse than Venezuela. It isn't. The Venezuelan justice system is one massive human rights violation.

[

Torture? You complain about the US sending 5 guys out of the country and supposedly, it is rumored, "tortured"

5 guys? Now I know you are out of your fucking mind.

Citation needed. I'm waiting for your proof.

[

You need to really understand how the world works

you are ridiculous.

Right back atcha.

[

and how much less of this garbage we get in the US, Australia, Canada and western Europe, and how much more awful it is in latin America, Asia and Africa.

I'm sorry, but do you have some kind of learning disability. If so, I apologize for making fun of you. If not, get a fucking clue. None of this has anything to do with quality of life in different countries. Fuck man, read some fucking history and figure out how countries got to be the way they are. Judging from the bullshit you're throwing around I would have to guess you've never been to Latin America

You're a joke, man. You're a caricature in a fun house mirror.

I didn't refer to the "quality of life" in other countries, you obtuse fool. I was referring to the way they treat prisoners, dipshit.

I've been to Latin America more times than you, I'm sure, except in your dreams.

[sandinista]

Too ridiculous to even comment, you're a fucking parody of yourself, and a liar to boot. wow.