April 9, 2006

Be Off, Or I'll Kick You Downstairs!

Hatched by Dafydd

Mentally unstable Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is now threatening to expel U.S. Ambassador William Brownfield from the country... for the crime of having been hounded by a Venezuelan mob.

No, really. This isn't a rib. Yesterday, an independent mob of independent protesters independently decided to chase after Brownfield's motorcade, pelting his car with independent eggs and independently thumping on the windows whenever the vehicle was slowed by traffic. A police car tailed the independents, doing nothing to stop them... but of course, there was no connection between the hooligans and the Chavez government; they are totally independent.

And today, Chavez went on TV to publicly threaten to punish our ambassador to Venezuela by expelling him:

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said the U.S. ambassador was "provoking the Venezuelan people" and threatened Sunday to expel the American diplomat, whose convoy was chased by pro-government protesters.

"I'm going to throw you out of Venezuela if you continue provoking the Venezuelan people," Chavez said in a nationally televised speech addressed to U.S. Ambassador William Brownfield.

And how, exactly, did Ambassador Brownfield provoke the Venezuelan people?

Brownfield had visited a ballpark in Caracas' Catia slums, a Chavez stronghold, to donate baseball equipment to a youth league.

The Los Angeles Times, hardly a chum of President Bush or his ambassadors, gives a few more details about Ambassador Brownfield's crime spree (hat tip Captain Ed):

Brownfield was handing out baseball gloves, bats and catchers' equipment to 140 youths at a sports stadium when several dozen protesters showed up and began throwing objects at the ambassador, U.S. officials said.

An official who identified himself as police commander Luis Villasana then approached Brownfield and ordered him and his staff out of the stadium.

Brownfield was accompanied by two former Major League Baseball players from Venezuela and had addressed a crowd that included the youths' parents. Before leaving, he told reporters at the scene that his intention had been to show baseball "as transcending politics."

Protesters on about 12 motorcycles then chased the ambassador's motorcade after he left the stadium and continued to throw objects at the car and pound on it when his vehicle became stuck in traffic, witnesses said.

This particular riot was witnessed by many Venezuelans. Presumably most of the country then writhed as they suffered through the spectacle of el Presidente threatening to expel an ambassador for his perfidy in handing out baseball equipment to a local youth baseball league.

If they follow the news, they must also know that Chavez repeatedly accuses the United States of sundry bizarre plots and conspiracies against his life (exploding cigars, perhaps?) They know that their President-for-Life has danced as close as he can to initiating a war with the U.S. without actually declaring one. He has openly buddied up to North Korea, Iran, and al-Qaeda; he foments Communist revolution throughout Latin America; and he makes constant threats to attack America with the mighty Venezuelan Army. Back to AP:

Chavez says the United States [is] plotting against him, an accusation American officials deny. The United States, however, has said Chavez is stifling democracy.

His subjects must be wondering "what have we gotten ourselves into?" I suspect they live in perpetual fear that someday, somebody is actually going to take the wild, Tourettes-like outbursts of their leader seriously.

Huh. Maybe Hugo Chavez is a Democrat, after all!

Hatched by Dafydd on this day, April 9, 2006, at the time of 4:46 PM

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Comments

The following hissed in response by: AcademicElephant

Along these lines, keep an eye on Peru tonight. The last thing Chavez needs is another crazy friend in the region.

The above hissed in response by: AcademicElephant [TypeKey Profile Page] at April 9, 2006 7:08 PM

The following hissed in response by: Terrye

Chavez is a good example of what years of drug use can do to you.

BTW, one of the reasons Bush has not been nastier with Vincente Fox is that an election is coming up and the opposition leftist party is getting support from Chavez.

Yo's think by now that the folks in Latin America would have figured out that the whole marxist thing is over with. I guess they are still a century behind.

The above hissed in response by: Terrye [TypeKey Profile Page] at April 9, 2006 7:16 PM

The following hissed in response by: RBMN

Some day, Hugo Chavez is going to go too far. Maybe this year. Maybe three years from now. Do something like invade the American embassy to do a search for some kind of evidence.... He's going to do something outrageous like that. It's just in his nature. You can tell. It's like leaving a five-year-old alone with a forbidden cookie jar. Sooner or later, that lid is going to come off the jar and cookies are going to disappear.

The above hissed in response by: RBMN [TypeKey Profile Page] at April 9, 2006 11:30 PM

The following hissed in response by: Don

So what did the Ambassador reply? Something like 'Don't throw me in that Briar Patch, Brer Hugo!'.

Or perhaps an old favorite of mine: "First Prize, one week in Caracas. Second Prize, TWO weeks in Caracas!"

The above hissed in response by: Don [TypeKey Profile Page] at April 11, 2006 7:49 AM

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