Hugo Chavez has died

[Lief 🗽]

ChairmanSanchez, you're seriously embarrassing yourself. Please read some unbiased sources on Chavez and the past decade of Venezuelan history before you come here and spout lies about him.

RIP to a great man, who truly cared about the people of Venezuela. He was far from perfect, but he was much better than what had come before him and I fear will be much better than what will follow.

[Lief 🗽]

People need to stop watching FOX News.

Not just Fox News; most Western sources (at least English-language ones) were very biased against the man, even ostensibly left-wing ones like the New York Times or the Guardian.

[Lief 🗽]

Thatcher and Chavez really aren't comparable at all, sorry guy.

[Lief 🗽]

Thatcher and Chavez really aren't comparable at all, sorry guy.

Your a horrible person, you know that right?

That may be, but my point still stands. Chavez nationalized oil companies and took a lit bit of the wealth from the richest strata of Venezuelan society to redistribute to those in extreme poverty. Thatcher destroyed and economically devastated entire communities across northern England in an ideological crusade.

LOL. I've never heard of people killed by Chavez regime. It seems that the propaganda machine works well.

He is not sending in tanks to Tiananmen Square, but the man was no hero. He funded FARC, the terrorist group that has lead to thousands of deaths in its war against Columbia.

You know that the FARC was active, alive and kicking in Colombia decades prior to Chavez. Do you want to make the man who has died guilty of all the dead in the neighbouring country? Do you know something about narcos, paracas and other lovely Colombian gentlemen? Come on, it's not the moment for the "Chavez is Evil" time. Watch Fox News if you want that kind of primary and biased stuff. By the way, I'll never claim that the man was a hero, but certainly he was democratically elected, like it or not. And, as some people is trying to tell you, not all his record is so bad.

FARC has been around since the 1950s. That is common knowledge. Quit talking down to me; I am not another Palin-Beck rightwinger.

If you're not, you really should quit acting like one (and show basic human dignity).

Human dignity is for those who deserve it; human dignity is reserved for respectable leaders, like Lula in Brazil.

Lula is a big fan of Chavez and would certainly disagree with you that he is not deserving of respect.

[Lief 🗽]

Leif is your opinion of Reagan similar to your opinion of Thatcher? I'm just curious; it seems to me that many on the lest tend to group them as twins.

No, I'm hardly a fan of Reagan, and I think he was a bad president, but his policies were nowhere near as vindictively cruel or destructive as Thatcher's were. There's a reason why wide swathes of Britain actively loathe Thatcher, to a degree that's really not comparable at all to the left's dislike of Reagan in the United States.

[Lief 🗽]

You lot are so anti-American that you'll forgive anything for someone who OPPOSES THE EVIL AMERICANS!!!

Yes, I remember all the forum lefties who mourned Kim Jong Il after he died.

[Lief 🗽]

Chavez was no better a leader than Kim Jong-il? wtf

[Lief 🗽]

I support Bashar al-Assad? Wow, that's news to me. I like Chavez because he was anti-American? That's also news to me! Kindly fuck off if you're going to resort to making up what I think or believe in.

Chavez's foreign policy has nothing to do with my opinion of him (and in fact I think his buddying up to the Iranian regime, for example, was gross). I like him because he was a decent man who tried to make his country a better place and fought against entrenched interests that had perpetuated inequality and stood against democracy in Venezuela for decades before Chavez was elected.

[Lief 🗽]

And hopefully his oppressive, undemocratic regime shall die with him.

Yes, winning 13 out of 14 elections during his presidency is very undemocratic. Hopefully the heroic lovers of democracy that attempted to overthrow him in a coup will now replace him.

[Lief 🗽]

Venezuela has some of the freest, best-run elections in the world (certainly better than those in the United States). But if it makes you feel better to put quotations around things, be my guest.

[Lief 🗽]

Regarding Sanchez's hypocrisy accusations: sure, there are people I won't drop a tear when they die. Yet I find it despicable to go on a gloating "yay, bastard is dead" spree just freaking minutes after learning about this. You can't help it? Do it in private. I can't speak for the others, but I never go that low. You're entitled to your opinion, there will be plenty occasions to discuss Chavez in near future, but have some ing decency. Defense like "others do the same" is lame. You're supposed to be better than a mindless crowd.

Grow up, kid. I mean it sincerely.

This.

I honestly don't think any leftist (apart from the usual trolls) will cheer when Thatcher dies.

Plenty of people in Scotland and England (and Ireland and Argentina...) will cheer when Thatcher dies.