behind is his handpicked successor, Nicolas Maduro, who stepped in as acting president. And it won’t be easy. “Venezuela is undergoing a cash-
fl ow problem,” explains Hooper, “and that’s not a good thing to have if you’re a country that produces somewhere around $100 billion in oil revenue each year. So they’re in a rough spot.” Maduro is expected to run the
Chavez playbook and vilify the United States. He already has intimated, for example, that the United States used biological agents to induce Chavez’s cancer. A former bus driver and labor leader, Maduro is known as a stolid negotiator who lacks his mentor’s rab- ble-rousing charisma. That could be a critical factor, given what lies ahead. Playing the U.S.-conspiracy card can only work for so long. Venezuela’s state-owned oil compa-
Close Ties to Iran’s Ahmadinejad V
enezuela’s Hugo Chavez looked skyward as if he were calling on
ny, PDVSA, is so dysfunctional that oil production and drilling are expected to remain fl at. Chavez heaped withering social-welfare obligations on PDVSA. Under Chavez, its workforce doubled while its oil production shrank by over 25 percent. Still, given the economic morass, changes in the “Bolivarian revolution” appear inevitable. This may mean cutbacks in gas subsidies, reduced oil deliveries to leftist allies such as Bolivia and Ecuador, or another devaluation of the nation’s currency. Any of these steps would test the delicate governing
coalition, especially if riots ensue. Especially problematic is Maduro’s relationship with the nation’s powerful military, which saw Chavez as one of its own.
Cuba’s communists would have had no choice but to negotiate with their U.S. adversaries long ago. Post-Chavez Venezuela was so
important to Cuba that many onlookers suspect it had a hand in picking Chavez’s successor. As Chavez’s health deteriorated, Venezuelan of icials made repeated trips to Cuba, where their leader was undergoing treatment. Ostensibly, this was to visit Chavez. But the New York Post’s Benny Avni reports the treks were to decide who would be the successor.
God’s protection in 2006, when he railed against the evils of capitalism before the U.N. General Assembly. But one of Chavez’s biggest allies, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, apparently believed that he was a believer in Islam, as well as a member of Hezbollah. The day after Chavez died, the president of Iran extolled him in a letter to the Venezuelan people that was posted on Ahmadinejad’s personal website. He called Chavez “a pure mobilized revolutionary and a Hezbollahi” — or member of Hezbollah. “Chavez was a deep believer and a follower of the path
of the Prophet,” Ahmadinejad wrote. Ahmadinejad led a 40-man delegation to attend Chavez’s state funeral in Venezuela. His remarks led to a stinging rebuke from his country’s mullahs, however. One ayatollah
BROTHERS IN ARMS Iran’s President Ahmadinejad at Chavez’s funeral.
called Ahmadinejad’s statement “heresy,” adding that Chavez “was not a Muslim.” And Ahmadinejad previously had gotten in trouble for treating Chavez as his spiritual brother. Three years ago, he
invited Chavez to pray at one of Shiite Islam’s most revered shrines. Clerics
objected that Chavez, as a socialist, was an atheist. They said he should not have been permitted to “sully the sacred site” with his presence.
Western leaders hope Venezuela’s day of reckoning will
lead to a regional political realignment favoring America and Brazil. In the long term, Venezuela’s energy resources could be developed if it had reasonable, honest governance. But surviving the next few years will require articulating
to Chavez’s adoring throngs why their standard of living suddenly plummeted, right after their dear leader’s death. As 50-year-old Vilma Nunez of Caracas told The Wall Street Journal, speaking of Chavez: “He deserves all these honors. Really, it’s very little for how much he loved us. He has physically left. But really he’s still with us.”
Exiled Cuban author and journalist
Carlos Alberto Montaner, writing in The Miami Herald, says the Castros knew from the outset that Chavez was doomed. He writes they kept his true medical situation a state secret, suggesting Chavez would recover “for the purpose of controlling and manipulating the transfer of authority in Caracas.” Cuba’s primary objective: to ensure
that Chavez’s successor would protect the exorbitant Venezuela subsidy received by their regime.
It appears to be no accident that Cuban leader Raul Castro immediately endorsed Chavez’s hand-picked heir apparent, Venezuela Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro. Maduro made so many visits to Cuba during Chavez’s treatment there that opposition leaders began to joke he had picked up a Cuban accent. As Havana-born GOP Rep. Ileana
Ros-Lehtinen told Avni, “Both regimes will continue to undermine U.S. interests, since Maduro will continue to be a puppet for the Castro brothers.” — L.B.
MAY 2013 | NEWSMAX 41
AP IMAGES
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92