With jerky gestures, sniffles, and bloodshot eyes, Huey will declare on Aló, Presidente: that it’s snowing in Venezuela at the height of summer. Then he’ll rub his fingers furtively into his gums.

Venezuela is now suddenly much more attractive to hipsters and Wall Street traders.

Venezuela’s actaully already pretty attractive to people who believe that self-determination is desirable for all nations not just the ones the US approves of.

This site is guilty of the same Castrophobic, sell-out politics as most Latin media outlets…stick to writing to bitchy celebrity gossip, please!

@ dutchtwista: “Phobia” denotes fear, as opposed to the neverending amusement / pity / anger / frustration / cigar envy we feel regarding Fidel.

Additionally, Hugo Chavez is as worthy a target for gossip of the bitchy and/or celebrity variety as any other public figure. In fact, some of us have his poster hanging over our beds, right next to Gael Garcia Bernal.

@dutchtwista: Snark knows no boundaries, but don’t look to it to set political boundaries. I certainly don’t. This might be more appealing to read for edification.

@…dijo Alex: I think you forgot ‘astonishment’ at his staying power for a 48-year streak of thumbing his nose at the world’s largest superpower. (Admittedly at a high price…) And besides, he and his barbudos were pretty sexy back in the day. They were like the brown political version of the Beatles. Before they started jailing journalists and each other.

hmm…i dunno, i always found the “disgusted, not afraid” defense to be a less than convincing, or humane rationale, when applied to that other -phobia which need not be named.

Certainly Hugo & Fidel are fair game for critiques of all degrees of seriousness, no disputing that. By the same token so is the Bush Administration’s hypocritical position toward those leaders and the US media’s highly disinformed coverage of them. So far, Guanabee’s allegedly satirical take is indistinguishable from openly hostile sources like the NY Post…hope that evolves into a more nuanced stance in the future.

@dutchtwista: Just because we make fun of Chavez doesn’t mean we don’t make fun of Bush (and The Post for that matter.) Don’t you get it? We hate everybody.

@La Cindy and the rest of the pitufos: Hating everybody and making fun of everything but your own inflated sense of self is not something to be proud of or parade around. Seriously, you can’t not think!

@dutchtwista: nice to read a post with something to say, whether i agree is an entirely separate matter…

God, the comments on this post make me hate minorities.

People with no sense of humor: die in a fire. Kthx.

people with too much power, whether they be approved by the US or by their own ‘self determination’ are dangerous, indeed. i had no real thought on el Huey’s rise to power until the sweet lady at my friend’s garage sale told me how she was not returning to Venezuela because she had nothing to go back to and that she was afraid that the Venezuela she once loved was going to be flushed down the drain.

when applied to that other -phobia which need not be named

fear of lunch running out? i’m very afraid of that.

and being called a ‘pitufo.’ wtf? we’re in third grade now?

el smrtpitufo…disculpe uste—smart or otherwise.

It’s interesting that we get caught up in the man’s thinking of black and white, good and bad, blue and red, green and red and all that other duality bs. Seems to me that the part of history that unites Latin America (you know, the one where being indigenous equaled/equals a death sentence, the one that is still happening) should trump that. Blaming Huey and writing him off as a looney is plain indulgent and unenlightened.

Come to think of it some of that history was, in fact, taught in third grade. Maybe the pitufo reference is not so off the mark after all…

We latinos are the definition of sellout. Dont you see we sell our lands, our cultrure, our woman and our leaders. Im proud to be latino!! Now where can I go to be exploited economically!

@medfire: well, um…to your question: if you’re already in the States, you’re all set on that front.