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Article: Venezuela rejects a coup.(Editorials)(Too bad Bush didn't do the same)(Editorial)
- Article from:
- The Register Guard (Eugene, OR)
- Article date:
- April 21, 2002
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 The Register Guard. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Byline: The Register-Guard
Hugo Chavez of Venezuela ranks a strong second on the U.S. government's list of least-favorite Latin American leaders, right behind perennial No. 1 Fidel Castro of Cuba. But there's a fact that the Bush administration has proved embarrassingly willing to overlook: Chavez is also the freely elected president of his country.
Chavez openly admires Castro, supports guerrillas fighting in Colombia and is friendly toward Saddam Hussein of Iraq. He's a populist demagogue in control of a country that is the United States' third-largest supplier of oil. When Venezuelan military commanders, acting at the behest of business and labor ...