Should those who support Mr. Chavez and his various propaganda campaigns think "those murders were a long time ago so they shouldn't really count anymore," then maybe recent history will prove more relevant and chilling. According to our own State Department, the human rights violations in the Venezuela of today include unlawful killings, disappearances involving security forces, torture, the abuse of detainees, arbitrary arrests and continued attacks on the independent media.
Beyond that, in late 2006, the House Committee on Homeland Security outlined why our U.S. military and intelligence officials believe that Venezuela is emerging as a "hub of terrorism" in the Western Hemisphere. The report stated that Mr. Chavez is providing support — including documents — that could prove useful to radical Islamic groups. The report detailed how the Venezuelan government had issued thousands of cedulas — the equivalent of U.S. Social Security cards — to a number of suspect nations, including Middle East nations that host foreign terrorist organizations.
As U.S. citizens, companies and media outlets assist Mr. Chavez or happily take his money, they should also ask themselves why thousands of supporters of Hezbollah — the terrorist organization dedicated to the destruction of Israel and the United States — gleefully carry Mr. Chavez's picture through the streets of Lebanon? Why do they love him so?
In a sad and telling bit of irony, as Mr. Chavez sends his oil to the poor of the United States, his own people are going without milk, eggs, rice, toilet paper and basically every other staple. As they suffer from Latin America's highest inflation rates, they are forced to line up for hours or even days just to find and buy the necessities needed to feed themselves and their children.
Knowing that, why don't Joe Kennedy and all those who support the Chavez-Citgo oil program here sell the oil they get from Venezuela on the open market, and then use that money to buy food for the people of Venezuela?
That, or they could simply stop shilling for one of the world's leading terrorists.