Venezuela’s presidential ape, Hugo Chavez (the orangutan himself) is looking for help in all the wrong places. Cuba, once an extremely prosperous nation with incredible history, natural resources, breathtaking beauty, an energetic and vibrant people, world-renown celebrities, a magnificently successful tourism industry and a bustling economy was converted into a septic tank by Fidel Castro, who is as worthless as cow manure. He and his gay brother, Raul Castro, have (by default) proven once and for all that communism is a flawed system of government destined to failure. The Castro regime couldn’t even help Venezuela in the production of candles, much less an energy crisis. Why these brain-dead people south of the border (the Venezuelans in this instance) continue to elect and/or support communist scum such as Hugo Chavez, Evo Morales and the like is beyond reasoning. All I can say is: the masses really are stupid!
Venezuela, strap yourselves in and get ready for a wild ride; the worst is yet to come. TGO
Refer to story below. Source: Associated Press
By CHRISTOPHER TOOTHAKER, Associated Press Writer Christopher Toothaker, Associated Press Writer Wed Feb 3, 10:58 pm ET
CARACAS, Venezuela – President Hugo Chavez has turned to his friends in Cuba for help in tackling Venezuela’s energy crisis, drawing criticism for seeking advice from the communist-led island that has struggled with its own electricity woes.
Chavez gave few details on Wednesday about what is expected of Cuba, but insisted that “it’s valuable experience that’s serving us well.” He said that he spoke for hours Tuesday with Cuban Vice President Ramiro Valdes after his arrival in Venezuela to lead the consulting team.
The decision to seek help from Cuba bewildered Venezuelans coping with the nation’s power shortage.
“It’s laughable that he’s looking for help from Cuba,” said Aixa Lopez, director of the Committee for People Affected by Power Outages, which monitors the extent of current energy shortages and rationing in Venezuela.
Chavez blames a drought for bringing the country’s hydroelectric reservoirs to their lowest levels in decades, prompting a wave of planned and unplanned blackouts across the country.
Critics acknowledge the lack of rainfall, but blame Chavez’s government for failing to upgrade power generation capacity even as the oil-rich country’s consumption has soared.
Cuba itself has suffered a series of electricity crises since the collapse of the Soviet Union removed a major source of oil and financing. It now gets much of its imported oil from Venezuela.
The island’s communist government has had some success against once-routine blackouts by upgrading generating capacity and imposing sometimes draconian energy-saving measures.
Even so, Cuban officials last summer were forced to idle some state factories while turning off the lights and air conditioners in many government office buildings, banks, retail stores and other businesses. Officials have hinted at even more strict conservation methods will be imposed throughout 2010.
Chavez has experimented with similar measures, ordering some public institutions to close at 1 p.m. and partially shutting down state-run steel and aluminum plants. Officials also are installing tens of thousands of energy-saving light bulbs imported from Cuba.
Cuba is already aiding Venezuela in a cloud-seeding effort the government hopes will ease the drought.
Valdes, who fought alongside Fidel and Raul Castro to topple dictator Fulgencio Batista in 1959, is a former interior minister and current minister of communications. For more than a decade, he ran Cuba’s Electronic Group, overseeing technology projects and skirting the U.S. trade embargo by importing tons of equipment into Cuba through third-party nations.
Lopez said the electricity crisis should be resolved by Venezuelans and not Cuba’s vice president.
“I don’t think that Mr. Valdez is the most suitable for the job because of what’s he’s done in Cuba is impose rationing,” he said “He’s not en expert in investment, maintenance and production.”
Chavez downplayed the criticism as something he expects from his opponents, saying: “Whenever Cubans come here, the counter-revolutionary fury immediately explodes.”
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Associated Press Writer Will Weissert contributed to this report from Havana.
