An interesting piece popped up in our newsfeed this morning, a retrospective of sorts on all things Hugo Chávez- related that happened last month and prompted Time to call August “one of the wackiest months in Venezuela’s recent history.” Poor choice of adjective, sure, but the highlights are worth mentioning—especially since we don’t consider them so much wacky as par for the course under Huey and a glimpse into the next decade and a half of administration there:

• Huey wants capitalism abolished, yet bars in Caracas overflow with imported liquor and fake tits. (Sounds like L.A. to us.)
• When Huey proposed his constitutional reforms, the speech “lasted so late into the night that lawmakers couldn’t help but tuck into a bunch of empanadas in the legislative chamber.” Is that a food reference or a sleep metaphor?
• That same session featured a theatrical performance of Simon Bólivar speeches by an actual actor. We wonder if George Washington slapstick in Congress would spice up C-SPAN. (Probably not.)

• Irked by a critical op-ed piece, the communication ministry issued a press release calling the New York Times “nothing more than of one the media arms of the Bush government.” Ha ha ha ha ha. That’s rich.
• Remember those cans of earthquake-relief tuna that Huey used as propaganda in Peru? Apparently, so does Time—and fondly.
• Starting the third week of this month, the country’s time zone will move back by half an hour. Been there, done that.

Time Out of Joint in Venezuela [Time]
Image [Google]
Earlier, Hugo Chavez Coverage on Guanabee