Blogs > Liberty and Power > Three Cheers for Hugo Chavez

Aug 17, 2004

Three Cheers for Hugo Chavez


by Liberty and Power


Not all Free Market advocates are opposed to Hugo Chavez. Jude Wanniski, under the title"Three Cheers for Hugo Chavez," posted a link to the column by the BBC’s Greg Palast, along with this comment:

"There`s been lots of ink spilled on the recall election of President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, but most of it that I`ve seen in the major media gave little indication why we should have expected his victorious outcome in Sunday`s voting. Yes he`s a lefty, but what have the right-wing political leaders of Latin America done for their economies in recent years? All Chavez needs is a little more supply-side advice on macro-economics and Venezuela could boom, even with lower oil prices. Greg Palast, who covers Venezuela for the BBC`s"Newsnight", got his arms around the relevant issues in this analytical piece that appeared in the London Guardian Monday."

Dick Cheney, Hugo Chavez and Bill Clinton's Band.


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Pat Lynch - 8/18/2004

I just don't see how this makes the libertarian case for Chavez. So we are supposed to trust a president to help the "peasants?" When was the last time a politician helped the poor? By giving more money to the government so he and his cronies could steal it? You don't have to like income inequalities, but taking land from people violates property rights - full stop. Correct me if I'm wrong, but weren't those the same arguments that Robert Mugabe made in Zimbabwe? Chavez doesn't seem very pro market or free trade to me. Markets and free trade help the poor; large state programs staffed by Cuban imports throwing out crumbs don't.