Yesterday saw the passing of Venezuela's controversial leader, Hugo Rafael Chavez Frias. Not being a big fan of him personally, I hadn't originally planned on posting anything until I saw an article on the Wall Street Journal detailing some of the tweets posted on his behalf:
The tweets ranged from the slightly heartless:
Representative Serrano's tweet didn't seem terrible until I read his official press release. Again I don't think it should be celebrated when an elected official dies however much you might disagree with his policies, but that doesn't mean we should hide the truth either. Mr. Serrano's post can't seem to sing enough praise for Chavez while really downplaying any of his criticisms. Yes Chavez was democratically elected, but only after a failed coup attempt in the early 90's. Venzuala's elections were considered free and fair by independent parties, but these parties don't factor into consideration the fact that there were a string of politically motivated arrests and suppression of the media throughout Chavez's presidency. Finally, Chavez formed an "axis of unity" with Iran against U.S. interests which I'm sure he knew would be particularly offensive to the U.S.given its relationship to past Axis powers. Hopefully, this does represent a new beginning for the end of the neo-Communists in Central and South America. The U.S. needs to aggressively pursue better relations with the next Venezualan president and start work on thawing relations with Cuba as the Castro legacy reaches its end as well.
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