Chavez: Halloween part of U.S. culture of terror

http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/americas/10/30/chavez.halloween.ap/

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) -- President Hugo Chavez urged Venezuelan parents not to dress their children in costumes for Halloween, calling it a U.S. custom that has no place in the South American country's cultural traditions.

Speaking during his weekly radio and television show Sunday, Chavez called Halloween a "gringa," or North American, custom.

"Families go and begin to disguise their children as witches," Chavez said. "That is contrary to our ways."

Chavez said he was urging Venezuelans to reflect on the subject. In recent years it has become common to see Venezuelan parents holding parties for children dressed as ghouls, animals and witches.

In one odd incident a week ago, authorities found more than a dozen jack-o'-lanterns left in spots around Caracas bearing anti-government messages and what appeared to be bomb-like fuses. Police and firefighters removed the pumpkins with caution, though the jack-o'-lanterns reportedly bore messages saying they were not explosives.

Paper skeletons bearing anti-Chavez messages also have appeared in spots across Caracas recently, and government officials have blamed sectors of the opposition with aiming to create chaos.

Chavez did not refer to those incidents in his comments on Halloween. But he urged parents to think about whether it was appropriate to dress up their children as part of a foreign custom, calling it "the game of terror."

He said that is part of the U.S. culture -- "terrorism, putting fear into other nations, putting fear into their own people."

Chavez, a tough-talking nationalist, is a fierce critic of President Bush who blames Washington for "imperialist" actions in countries from Iraq to Haiti.

Chavez says that he is leading a socialist "revolution" to help the country's poor, and that it should include emphasizing Venezuelan cultural traditions over U.S. customs that have been adopted in various countries and reinforced by images of American life on television and in Hollywood movies.



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The Venezuelan government has detected a thought crime in progress! You were thiking it would be better to be a "beer ref" than a "red neck NASCAR dad" for Halloween. Please stay still, you will be processed shortly.

This guy's really a piece of work, huh?

I see how lots of kids in my country know more about north american traditions than our own and it kind of freaks me out...but Chavez is getting really ridiculous with this...

motherfucker has gone too far...

yeah, call our president names and we dont care, but start shitting on our holidays and you going down Chavez

what happened to that terrorist who said that Chavez should be killed, on the US tv?

He's on national television on a daily basis, taking money from the elderly and the meek.

I think it's funny how he would criticize the US for instilling terror in it's citizens, then use the spector of US invasion to terrorize his own people into keeping him in power.

why he wasnt arrested? thats terrorism

i dont like this politic, so can i go to your tv and say "Oh well, We shoud Kill George W. Bush"


thats exactly the same thing, but i bet that i will be arrested in 10 minutes

Nice attempted thread jack.

sorry

It is funny...but it's also the pot calling the kettle an asshole...

both presidents are Asses.

Seriously. Commie better recognize.

One on the left, one on the right.

I didn't get the chance to abuse any doorknocking scumbag kids last night and tell them to pack their shitty Americanite customs back across the Pacific.

I like this Chavez guy.

There is no arrow.

I think there's a difference between "Someone should kill this person" and "I intend to kill this person." I don't think its protected speech, but making threats against the President is the kind of thing to get the Secret Service's attention, and they might pay you a visit, but I don't think they are within their rights to arrest you. Please correct me if I'm wrong but methinks that they need to have reasonable suspicion that you will act on it.



*On Topic* I was actually offered $20 to take Mr. Chavez out. I considered it, but $20 isn't enough to cover airfare. I know its rather trite, but this man has all the markings of a populist, so unless I'm missing something he's doing not much more than placating the masses. But he has my vote because he makes government fun!!!

sure, but its the same thing to say "We Should Kill Chavez" and "We Should Kill George W. Bush"

if nothing happened to the guy who said the thing about Chavez, EVERYBODY has the right to say the same about GWB

I'm ok with that, I just think that killing GWB would be a bad idea because it might leave him a positive legacy.