Hillary Clinton's Chamberlain Moment With Hugo Chavez

Hillary Clinton Smiles at El Dictator Chavez

President Barack Obama enjoyed his last day of vacation in Hawaii knowing that he had used once again his Secretary of State to send greetings to another dictator. Hillary Clinton made headlines on January 3rd when she met with Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez and was looked like  she was experiencing a Neville Chamberlain deer in the headlights moment with Adolf Hitler.

Some may argue Chavez is not a dictator but in fact Venezuela lacking in a free press granted President Hugo Chavez broad powers Friday to enact laws by decree for 18 months, undermining the clout of a new congress that takes office this month with a bigger opposition bloc. Should be enough time for him to "eliminate" any opposition to his "policies." Chavez had previously cracked down on "freedom of the press." Chavez also has been supporting Nicaragua, a communist dictatorship who illegally invaded and took an island belonging to Costa Rica. Chavez has already given president of Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega, almost $1 billion in aid.

As ALG president Bill Wilson called it "Obama’s Appeasement to the South" and said, [the event was a] "photo-op coup for the Venezuela dictator that recently expelled U.S. envoy Larry [Palmer] for allegedly being 'disrespectful'. In reality, Palmer was voicing U.S. concerns that Columbian drug cartels are being financed by Venezuela. Now, Clinton has been reduced to meeting with the despot and either objecting to his despotism — in a respectful way, of course — or worse, not at all. . . .

Weakness invites aggression, and it is clear that the ineptitude of the Obama Administration has not gone unheeded in the region. In the last week of the year, Chavez expelled U.S. envoy Palmer for his comments about Venezuela’s proxy war against U.S. ally Columbia. Columbia, like Costa Rica, is in danger from these insurgent forces seeking to topple freedom in the region.

Venezuela has unsurprisingly refused to condemn the Nicaraguan invasion of Costa Rica in the Organization of American States, and itself has a horrendous record of suppressing opposition in its country. Chavez has made himself dictator-for-life and has eliminated privately-run press organizations.

And Barack Obama has done nothing, and his stooge, Valenzuela, since being appointed to his post continues to project a weak U.S. posture in the region. That won’t be changing any time soon, and certainly not in time to save nations like Nicaragua from once again falling into the grips of an authoritarian regime.

Freedom will not long endure in the Americas without U.S. leadership, and under the Obama Administration, Central and South America are becoming less free." [Full Story]

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Tags: Costa Rica, Daniel Ortega, Foreign Policy, Hillary Clinton, Hugo Chavez, Neville Chamberlain, Larry Palmer, Nicaragua, Obama Administration, Obama's Foreign Policy, State Department To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!