Like all good socialists Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez believes private property is theft, so he wants to steal it back in the people’s name. Chavez remains on an expropriation roll, having gobbled up huge sections of the Venezuelan economy, reportedly $22 billion in transactions in the past four years. For the powerful and prominent he has offered compensation, drawing on Venezuela’s oil wealth, but for many promises and litigation lead only to misery and despair.
Franklin Brito was a 49-year agronomist and modest property owner with a grievance against the Venezuelan government who wanted is day in court but became a victim of Kafkaesque frustration and denial of justice.
In December 2009, the hunger-striking Brito was taken into custody and placed in the care of the State. He died August 30th in a Caracas military hospital. The family intends to make the details of his “incarceration” and medical mistreatment known via the Inter-American Human Rights Commission, which has already issued a comprehensive report on the aggressive destruction of individual rights occurring in Venezuela.
The Chavez regime denies Brito had a valid land claim. It argues he was mentally unstable and had become a tool of the Venezuelan opposition. The official communiqué states: “we are obliged to reject the pharisaism of the media machine, the opposition with only electoral ends, and the authorities of the Church, which encouraged Brito’s extreme decisions in order to cause a death serving their dirty flags.” Case closed!
The machinery of “the Bolivarian Revolution” and “Socialism of the 21st Century” continues to grind on, running roughshod over property rights and rule of law, ignoring the legitimate complaints of citizens, and quick to label anyone who opposes the increasingly brazen concentration of power in the hands of an authoritarian regime as either crazy, a class enemy, or a tool of U.S. imperialism.
Brito paid a high price for the injustices committed by a State that is increasingly without rule of law. In Venezuela he has become an instant symbol of the growing opposition to Chavista misrule. Brito’s sad fate and the forced march to Cuban-style communism will influence voters’ decisions when Venezuelans go to the polls on September 26 to select a new national legislative body and seek to regain a real voice in shaping Venezuela’s future.
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21 commentsAnd people in the Obama administration admire this man? Sometimes I feel like Alice, and I'm falling in the rabbit hole…and falling…and falling…
How could this be? I thought Chavez was O'Bama's "good buddy."
Where is Michael Moore when you need him? Maybe a documentary???
and the band plays on….
Chavez is Obama's "good buddy". They share the same ideology and Communist
rules for their countries. Just look at what Obama is doing with millions of acres of Western lands or oil leases offshore. Anyone that does not recognize that Obama is dragging us down that same rat hole as Chavez, are either blind fools or share the same idiology as they do.
This is more proof that NObama has a socialist agenda with his side kick Chavez doing the same things NObama is doing !!! Grabbing land in the name if progress, allowing "OPEN BORDERS" to increase the number of potential Democratic voters and all these things are against what the American Citizens majority wants and soon will be demanding !!! NObama's Treason must be stopped and he must be charged by a Congressional Investigation because we know the Injustice Dept. is in his pocket and they will never charge him with anything not even littering or loitering !!!
Doesn't this sound familiar with the way the Obama administration acts. If you don't agree with me or my policies, you are called a racist, bigot, right wing nut case etc., etc. All the time he and his henchmen (ie. Holder) continually are disregarding our own laws and by-passing the system with Executive Orders.
November can't come soon enough. But keep in mind that we have close to 60 days of a lame duck session of congress and God only knows what garbage will be passed by Washington.
Is Chavez secretly running the U.S. government?
All this is frighteningly familiar; just not as loud.
Where are Sean Penn and Danny Glover when you need them? Guess they missed this part of Venezuela's wonderful society and their great leader.
Where are Sean Penn and Danny Glover when you need them? Guess they missed this part of the wonderful Venezuelan society and their great leader's benevolence towards his people. Gosh!, and they think we should follow Chavez's lead. Wouldn't that be terrific??
Gosh! Ray, Chavez seems far away until you look at our President and what he has been doing ceaselessly. Hugo's tactics look very much like our very own Communist President's works. GM Bondholders are no different than Venezuelan victims, and all of us Americans have more Socialism to 'look forward' to as if we are not Socialist enough. They steal our lives, our economic edge, then give niggardly back some small part so Americans are as harmless as the Third World peasants forevermore. This Sovereign is not amused.
Will somebody please point out 5 political differences between Ghavez and Obama.
"When you put lipstick on a pig it's still a pig."
America is not very far from this sorry state of afairs. The dems and obama are set to do the same here, after all one of the compaign platforms of obaam was "spread the wealth". Land equals wealth, and spread means to take away from. He is one of the admirers of chavez, so it only follows that obama follows his friend in "spreading the wealth".
This is how it's always done with socialists. Whomever they rob, it's always done in the name of "THE PEOPLE". Just like when the teachers go on strike for higher salaries, more generous benefits, higher pensions and tenure, it's always "FOR THE CHILDREN".
Perhaps you may recall that when our government took over 60% to 70% ownership of G.M and Chrysler we citizens were told it was we, the public, who actually owned these companies, since the money for their bailouts came from taxpayer money. I've been paying federal income taxes since 1962 and am still doing so. I don't know about the rest of my fellow taxpayers, but I have not yet received my shares of stock in these companies. I have not received any dividends. I have yet to be invited to a board meeting, nor have I received the opportunity to cast any proxy votes. In fact, I don't recall ever being asked to vote on the proposition of whether to extend these bail-out loans to these two companies.
My fellow taxpayers, I say it's time for a new "board of directors" and a new "Chairman of the Board".
The US government is trying to convert another 14,000,000 acres of land to government control. This will eliminate jobs, resources, tax revenue, and access.
Another current plan is to put all land within 1/4 mile of salt water along much of the Washington State coast into National Heritage status. Again, it is a US government plan to deny property rights.
Vote the BUMS OUT!
Join the American Land Rights Association and other groups in fighting this insidious land grab. http://www.landrights.com
If not you, who?
If not now, when?.
Correction: Make that http://www.landrights.org.
Hasn't local city and county governments in this country already taken private property for reasons other than "eminent domain"?
It used to be unthinkable that private property could be confiscated for the better good of many.
That the Supreme Court would allow this is disheartening.
Can we be heading toward more violations of private property thefts?
Look at the US map at http://www.landrights.org/LandscapeGrab.pdf and see just how much land the Progressives want to seize.
The Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009
When you read the National Landscape Agenda just published by
the American Society of Landscape Architects, consider it to be a
partnership with the Big Park 8 volume National Park expansion play
published by the National Parks and Conservation Association.
The plans together paint a target on your back.
When either plan talks about new parks and conservation areas, they
are always talking about the removal of existing families, ranchers,
businesses and the historic peoples of the area.That means land acquisition. Land acquisition is government forced acquisition of private property using Kelo type condemnation otherwise called eminent domain.
If they don’t use condemnation, it means the landowners are forced to
sell “willingly” under threat of condemnation. Condemnation is always
used by the Park Service as a threat to get you to sell “willingly.”
When the National Park Service condemns a landowner and they go to
court to fight over price, if the landowner settles before a judge rules,
the sale is always listed by the Park Service as a “willing seller” situation
when the NPS reports to Congress.
You can look at the maps and get an idea of whether you or your
neighbors, friends or local community are targets and are in danger.
You need to begin to fight the National Landscape Agenda now and urge
your friends and others to do the same thing.
Look at Big Park. That is the 8 volume plan by the National Parks and
Conservation Association first written in 1988. It is still fresh today.
Especially with the author of the Big Park 8 Volume NPCA Plan being
Destry Jarvis, the brother of Jon Jarvis, the new director of the National
Park Service.
Reading this article reminds of the things that are now done in our country. The strong arm action that demonizes any who speaks in out opposition to government. Remember the Obama affection shown for Hugo Chavez?
Because of our Bastard press most people don't know how close to a banana Rep, like this, we are!
The dems and obama are big fans of chavez, so it only leads one to believe that as chavez goes so does obama. One of the platforms for Ho Chi Minh, the communist leader of Vietnam, was to "spread the wealth". I do believe I heard those words from obama in 2008. If we let the dems , obama, and the liberals of this country keep dictating policy all we own will be taken over by the "guvment" and then "spread the wealth" will began in all its glory.
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