What to do about Chavez?

[WMS]

Well, given that he's hell-bent on confronting the U.S. - he's looking for any excuse to embargo oil to the U.S. and send oil and gasoline prices even higher - it shouldn't be surprising that this happened:

[from Stratfor, although it's actually about a NYT article, emphasis is mine]
"1219 GMT - The United States, which has concluded that normal relations with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez no longer are possible, is considering a long-term strategy to oppose Chavez, The New York Times reported April 26. The article cited U.S. officials as saying that a multiagency task force has been working on developing a more confrontational approach toward Venezuela that could include increasing Washington's support for anti-Chavez groups in Venezuela and pushing neighboring countries to isolate Caracas."

And as you may guess by now, I support this, if for no other reason than having a rabidly anti-American proto-tyrant in control of substantial oil reserves is not a good thing for the United States. Besides, he started this fight with his typical Third World leftist idiotic knee-jerk anti-Americanism - and if he's screwing with U.S. citizens, he should take a look at what happened to Manuel Noriega.

Welcome to realpolitique, Hugo Chavez. You only think the U.S. has been hostile to you so far...time to find out what it's really like.

P.S. With all his oil money, do you think he's reduced the poverty rate? NO! He's spent it on weapons instead. If a rightist regime did this, the internationalista left would bitch about it forever. But there's an awful lot of silence coming from them...

[WMS]

Actually, from Stratfor: [emphasis mine]

"The protests against Bolanos in Nicaragua are the latest manifestation of spreading regional unrest that also has affected Ecuador, Bolivia and, to a lesser extent, Peru. Stratfor does not think the political unrest in these countries occurred coincidentally. The protesters and the tactics they employ are very similar. Students, public transportation unions and organized labor groups have been at the forefront of demonstrations in all three countries, including the protests that toppled former Ecuadorian President Lucio Gutierrez on April 21 and nearly compelled Bolivian President Carlos Mesa to resign in February and March.

The individuals and groups leading these protests -- including Bolivian indigenous leader Evo Morales, Quito Mayor Paco Moncayo and Sandinista university leader Martinez in Managua -- belong to a Venezuela-sponsored regional group called the Bolivarian Congress of the Peoples (CBP). The CBP's membership is a mirror image of the Sao Paulo Forum (FSP), a regional group co-founded in 1990 by Cuban leader Fidel Castro and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio "Lula" da Silva.

The FSP functions as a region-wide venue for debating and coordinating leftist ideas and political agendas. However, the three-year-old CBP is an activist grassroots organization that is pushing aggressively for changes of government in countries which leftists in the region perceive as too closely aligned with the United States.

Government officials in La Paz and Managua and independent sources in Quito believe that increasing anti-government protests during the past year in Bolivia, Ecuador and Nicaragua have received international political and financial support through groups affiliated with the CBP. These sources believe the governments of Cuba and Venezuela are working with the support of U.S.-based leftist nongovernmental organizations to organize, encourage and even finance grassroots popular protests against pro-U.S. governments.
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Uh, Chavez is going well past changing things in Venezuela - he's trying to turn all of Latin America hostile to the U.S. Yipe.