It is not averse to publishing criticism of Chavez. I just read an article there that criticizes his proposal for the Bank of the South as containing too many neo-liberal elements.
http://venezuelanalysis.com/articles.php?artno=2094On the whole, the site is sympathetic to Chavez, Venezuela and the Bolivarian revolution that is sweeping South America. But that was my point. If you want information about Venezuela that is not rightwing/corporatist crapola--lies, disinformation, fascist framing--go there. It presents the alternative view. Broaden your mind. Find out what LEFTISTS think--to balance what our war profiteering corporate news monopolies are shoving down your throat, 24/7.
The DUers who keep calling Chavez a "dictator" are not only repeating Bush State Department propaganda, they are contributing to the stupidity of other DUers and Americans in general. There is an enormously important revolution occurring in South America. Venezuela is only part of it. It has vast political and economic implications. It is vitally important that we understand this revolution, for many reasons, not the least of which is to try to keep our own brutal fascist/corporatist government from funding and supporting death squads, assassinations of democratic leaders, torture of innocent people, and rightwing dictatorships, as the U.S. did in the 1980s under Reagan. There is considerable evidence that that is exactly what Bush has been doing in Colombia. To keep focusing on one personality--Bush's 'demon' du jour--and ignore the millions of people who SUPPORT Chavez's ideas (Latin American self-determination and social justice), not just in Venezuela (where Chavez won reelection in December with 63% of the vote), but also in Bolivia, Ecuador, Argentina, Brazil, Peru, Paraguay, Uruguay, Nicaragua, Mexico, Cuba and other countries--is to make yourself utterly blind to what is happening.
How is this narrow focus on Chavez--and the constant repetition of Bushite lies--helping anybody? How does it improve knowledge and understanding to keep reviling this one person, with the same Bushite "talking point" over and over? What do Venezuelans say? Don't their votes count? What does socialist Evo Morales, the first indigenous president of Bolivia, say? What does Rafael Correa, the new leftist president of Ecuador, say? What does Nestor Kirchner, the leftist president of Argentina, say? What do THEY think of Chavez? What do their supporters think?
Ah, there's the rub. Chavez is HUGELY popular in South America. All of these other presidents are CLOSE FRIENDS of his. They are embarked on the same journey--social justice and regional integration in South America. They are part of the same peaceful, democratic, leftist (majorityist) revolution.
"Dictator"? Right. Tell me that Evo Morales--the union leader who led the popular uprising against Bechtel Corp. and went on to be elected president--would lend his support to a "dictator." To maintain this "talking point"--that Chavez is a "dictator"--you have to reckon with Morales, Correa, Kirchner, and Fernando Lugo in Paraguay, and Lula da Silva in Brazil, and Ortega in Nicaragua, and Vazquez in Uruguay, and all of the millions of South Americans who find common cause with Venezuela and the Bolivarian revolution.
You are insulting Venezuelans--and, indeed, most of the people of South America--by the implication that they can't tell the difference between bold, strong, visionary, democratic leadership, and dictatorship.
Me? I like to hear both sides, all sides. And then make up my own mind. I read widely on South American subjects. I think Bush's line that Chavez is a "dictator" is utter bullshit, and, like everything else the Bushites say, contributes NOTHING to reasonable discussion or understanding.