Cuba and Venezuela

US-Latin America issues with Fausta Rodriguez-Wertz

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GUEST:  Fausta Rodriguez-Wertz, editor of Fausta’s Blog, joins me for a discussion of the latest US-Latin America stories of the week……We will look at the latest from the Mexican cartels……the new book about Fidel Castro and drug traffic……

Click to listen:

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/cantotalk/2015/05/06/us-latin-america-issues-with-fausta-rodriguez-wertz–jorge-ponce

 

Cuba leading anti-Obama attack

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(My new American Thinker post)

Back in the days of “we are the change we’ve been waiting for”, we were told that a new President Obama would improve our standing in the world. In other words, voting for McCain or Romney would make us unpopular.

It turns out that these people were right: I voted for McCain and then Romney and everybody is in an uproar with the U.S.

Whatever happened to the Obama charm? I’d guess that it met reality!

According to news reports, Latin America is angry at the U.S. because the Obama administration is targeting key players in the Maduro government:

Latin American leaders have rallied around embattled Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro as relations between Washington and Caracas have plunged to a new low.
Governments from Havana to Buenos Aires have denounced Mr. Obama’s executive order labeling Venezuela as a national security threat as unwelcome U.S. meddling in regional affairs.
Analysts say the move may do little to improve the volatile situation in Venezuela and could well worsen it.

Here are a couple of thoughts:

First, this is just another example of Latin American leaders playing the “gringo card” to distract locals from a murder in Argentina, corruption in Brazil, a president acting like a dictator in Ecuador and a Mexican left still angry about reforms to public education and energy.

Second, this is a good lesson for the “yes we can screamers” who thought that you could change the world with a smile and bouquet of red roses.  In fact, nothing has changed. The Latin America left hated Bush because he was the president of the U.S.  So now they hate Obama because he’s the president of the U.S.

Third, where is the evidence that Cuba is changing since we decided to sit down with the Castro regime?  Cuba is out front denouncing the U.S..

Again, the Obama people were right. I voted for McCain and Romney and we are more unpopular than ever.

P.S. You can hear my show (CantoTalk) or follow me on Twitter.

Maduro ‘muy malo,’ Castro ‘mi nuevo amigo’?

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(My new American Thinker post)

 

The U.S.-Cuba talks remind us that there are huge differences between the countries, from resolving the issue of the assets stolen from U.S. citizens to the case of Joanne Chesimard, who killed a New Jersey law enforcement officer years ago.

Add to this another ship full of weapons bound for Cuba, and you have a good reason for putting these talks on hold until further notice.
I cannot believe that this is what President Obama envisioned in mid-December when he called for a new approach toward Cuba.  It looks like the only one with a new approach in this relationship is the U.S.!

Over the last few days, the Obama administration confused us once again.
On one hand, President Obama issued another executive order regarding Venezuela (via Fausta’s Blog):

This new authority is aimed at persons involved in or responsible for the erosion of human rights guarantees, persecution of political opponents, curtailment of press freedoms, use of violence and human rights violations and abuses in response to anti government protests, and arbitrary arrest and detention of anti-government protesters, as well as the significant public corruption by senior government officials in Venezuela.  The E.O. does not target the people or the economy of Venezuela.

At first glance, we say: good job!  It’s about time that the Obama administration stood with people in the streets fighting for more freedom and democracy.  They didn’t in Iran in 2009, but we are happy that someone is telling the president that citizens are being crushed in the streets by government authorities.  One boy was even killed recently.

On second thought, we are puzzled:

Why not declare something similar about Cuba?  Don’t they know at the Obama White House that Cuba and Venezuela are the same?  After all, who has provided the island with subsidized oil for some time?  Who has trained the Venezuelan military?  Whom does Maduro call when he has a problem?  He calls Raúl Castro!

As we single out Venezuela, the Obama administration continues to push for Cuba to be removed from the State Department list of terrorist nations.  The Obama administration has apparently not heard that another ship full of weapons was intercepted bound for Cuba:

The Chinese captain of a freighter stopped by the Colombian authorities is under house arrest in Cartagena for allegedly carrying unregistered weapons and military equipment bound for Cuba.
The Hong Kong-registered Da Dan Xia has been impounded for a week after local authorities claim 100 tonnes of gunpowder, 99 projectile bases and 3,000 artillery cartridge cases were discovered aboard, reports AFP.

Of course, maybe President Obama has not read the Latin America section of his favorite newspaper.  After all, doesn’t he find out everything from the papers?

We understand that each country is different and you have to act accordingly.  However, Cuba and Venezuela are the same.  The leaders are the same and should be treated as anti-American thugs who need someone to bail them out from their misguided socialist policies.

It’s time to push them back and work on regime change, the only solution that will really help the people in these countries.

P.S. You can hear my show (CantoTalk) or follow me on Twitter.  

An update about Venezuela and Latin America

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We spoke with Fausta Wertz, editor of Fausta’s Blog, about the situation in Venezuela.

Fausta published a new post called “The left and reality“:

“Lefties firmly believe the deceased Hugo Chavez “improved the economy drastically and ameliorated poverty drastically” because GDP went up, and fewer people were living below the poverty line by the time he died last year.

The numbers are there: GDP did go up, and yes, fewer people were listed as living below the poverty line. Whose numbers?

The numbers came from the Venezuelan government.

The International Monetary Fund keeps a List of IMF Member Countries with Delays in Completion of Article IV Consultations or Mandatory Financial Stability Assessments Over 18 Months.

As of the writing of this post, Venezuela hasn’t held an Article IV consultation with the IMF in 99 months.

Let me translate that into plain English: The Venezuelan government has not allowed its own numbers to be verified for almost a decade.”

You can also hear our show with Fausta here: