Just as the Castro show slouches toward its final curtain...enter Hugo, state left (very left)

Venezuela's Hugo Chavez has told his nation that now that he has won re-election, the socialist revolution can begin in earnest. Chavez has promised to follow the nationalization of the oil industry with the nationalization of the telecommunications and power sectors. He has also refused to renew the broadcast license of the only television channel that was openly critical of his dictatorial rule. He has called for permanent re-election and changes to the constitution to allow him to rule by decree.

The bottom line: Chavez's socialist revolution is neither revolutionary, nor socialist, but rather the sad slide of another Latin American country into dictatorship and communism. Yes communism. For all of his talk of socialism, Chavez has, in fact, now veered from his "Bolivarian" model of tolerance of capitalism so long as the proceeds are largely appropriated for state building into the direct control of government of the means of production. Who controls the means of production is the key distinction between socialist and communist models. While Chavez has been a democratic socialist up to this point, he appears to all observers to have now assumed the mantle of communist dictator.

This is just one more important chapter in the "reddening of the South" that I have described in previous posts. For those observers who believe that I have reached to far in predicting a new wave of dangerous, far left ideologies controlling Latin America, I would remind you that Chavez came to power promising continuing neo-liberal policies, economic stability, and protection for civil rights and capital investment. The reality has proven far different. This week, Daniel Ortega, former Sandanista leader and known communist, was sworn in to office in Nicaragua promising to maintain civil liberties, protect foreign investment and maintain neo-liberal policies. Standing at his side during the ceremony...Hugo Chavez, as well as Bolivia's Evo Moralez and Ecuador's Rafael Correa (South America's Axis of Evil). A gushing letter from Fidel Castro (he was to sick to attend) also adds to the sense that we are witnessing something more dangerous then a couple of frustrated socialists running their own nations into the ground.

In fact, this alignment of wicked and deeply economically ignorant leaders represents a far greater threat to US interests than most analysts have realized. Not only do these nations control a large chunk of US foreign oil and natural gas supplies, they also control much of the world's cocaine trade which provided ready cash for subversive and covert activities (witness Columbia). The continuing emphasis on the Arab world and Bush's Iraq disaster has taken America's eye off the ball in our own hemisphere and in that time our enemies have consolidated power and gathered their strength while colluding with the same Arab countries that seek to destroy us.