Mainland Cubanization

The more I look at the situation in Venezuela, the more I'm convinced they're getting exactly what they asked for in last year's elections.

While I was initially very skeptical (to say the least) of Jimmy Carter's endorsement of Chavez' re-election as legitimate, I'm starting to think maybe he was actually telling the truth. Yes, there were lots of possibilities for fraud, but in the end, Chavez has enormous support from the poor--which, as with most South American countries, constitutes the bulk of the populace. It's entirely possible Chavez really did get all those votes. The ignorant peasants put him there. Think of it as an object example of why our Founding Fathers initially limited voting rights to landed males with a positive net worth.

In any event, the legitimacy of the election no longer matters: Chavez is in power, and he's in the process of Cubanizing the country. And that's a potentially huge problem for the United States, as Venezuela is one of the largest oil exporters in the world. Condi Rice understates the seriousness of the matter considerably:

"I think we have to view, at this point, the government of Venezuela as a negative force in the region," said Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice

Oh, a "negative force," is it? Gee, ya think?

I hate to suggest it, but we may have to "pull a Noriega" in Venezuela. A hardline communist dictatorship sitting on some of the largest exploitable oil reserves in the western hemisphere is simply unacceptable.