# President Chavez vs. the Netherlands

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-chavez-vs-the-netherlands/521697>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [December 18, 2009, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-chavez-vs-the-netherlands/521697 "2009-12-18T01:10:56Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 6

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**Author:** ![kitemaker\_chuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a88e4f/32.png) [@kitemaker\_chuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitemaker_chuck)\
**Post date:** [December 25, 2009, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-chavez-vs-the-netherlands/521697/101 "2009-12-25T18:54:00Z")

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> [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#):
>
> \*\*kitemaker\_chuck \*\*–Chavez is a clown & a cretin. Chavez is a troll.
> 
> Ignore him.

The “ignore him” sounds like good advice, but he keeps getting mentioned in news reports for doing things that are hard to ignore.

The latest I heard was that he wanted to toss Toyota out of the country for not building the types of vehicles he wants built. (I saw that in a report from Reuters.)

He also wanted (in lieu of any Christmas observances) for parents to read to their children stories about Bolivar.

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**Author:** ![PrettyVacant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/49beb7/32.png) [@PrettyVacant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PrettyVacant)\
**Post date:** [December 25, 2009, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-chavez-vs-the-netherlands/521697/102 "2009-12-25T22:13:47Z")

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Crazy for an elected leader to say stuff like that.

If we don’t watch him carefully he might starting introducing really mad ideas like UHC when he didn’t mention it once during his election campaign - oh wait, they already have UHC.

And heaven forbid (a) parents should be encouraged to read to their children, and (b) they should be encouraged to read stories of positive role models. Far better they stand in school yards reciting vacuous nationalistic propaganda every moring before lessons.

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**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\
**Post date:** [December 25, 2009, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-chavez-vs-the-netherlands/521697/103 "2009-12-25T22:15:01Z")

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> [@PrettyVacant](#):
>
> Where did this “everyone is an imperialst pawn” come from

Here:

> [@](#):
>
> It’s refreshing to see in this thread a manifestation of the naked fear of democracy in Latin America that has infected USA foreign policy for 50 years.

You characterize criticism of Chavez as “naked fear of democracy in Latin America” and link it to US foreign policy. The irony is that democracy is exactly what I _do_ want in Latin America, and what I’m seeing Chavez attempting to slowly subvert.

I don’t care if the entirety of South America boycotts all US products and declares a universal Obama Is A Doodyhead Day, so long as there’s a free media and free and fair elections.

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**Author:** ![Mighty\_Girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@Mighty\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Girl)\
**Post date:** [December 26, 2009, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-chavez-vs-the-netherlands/521697/104 "2009-12-26T05:03:41Z")

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I don’t know about the rest of Latin Am., but here in the Dominican Republic Chavez is generally seen as a big-mouthed clown, and we wished he shut up and stopped trying to elect himself as the spokesperson for the rest of Latin Am.

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