Paranoia on parade in Venezuela

AP via Washington Post:

President Hugo Chavez told thousands of troops Friday that Venezuelans would defend the nation's social "revolution" with their lives if attacked by a foreign power such as the United States.

Chavez spoke to troops standing at attention while hundreds of demonstrators protested several blocks from the Cuban Embassy in Caracas, burning an effigy of Fidel Castro and saying they rejected Cuba's growing influence in the Venezuelan government.

Dozens of police halted the marchers with barricades one block from the embassy, where the crowd stood chanting "No to communism!" and "Get out, Fidel!"

The demonstration eventually broke up peacefully.

Wearing fatigues and a red beret, Chavez pinned awards on soldiers and announced a pay raise for the troops of between 50-60 percent. He warned that any foreign attackers "would have to face the counteroffensive to throw them off this land, whatever it costs us, no matter how many years it takes, and no matter how much blood is spilled."


The trouble with paranoids like Chavez is that wind up creating real enemies.

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