Opinion: Blowback on Blowback
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Last week’s column by Venezuelan ambassador Bernardo Alvarez was part of our new ‘Blowback’ feature, allowing for longer replies to our coverage than is typically afforded in the Letters page. To the extent that we can do so without vanishing into interminable orifices of self-reference, we’d like to keep up the discussion of Blowbackable items. And Hugo Chavez always draws a crowd. So without further ado, here’s what Hicksville, NY’s Bret P. Wallach had to say about Alvarez’ column:
Why do you allow a puppet of Venezuela’s dictator, Hugo Chavez, to write an editorial in your paper? You have just lowered your paper to their standards.
Did you really expect the writer, Bernardo Alvarez, the Venezuelan ambassador to the United States, to criticize his boss? Even he isn’t that stupid. He knows very well what would happen to him upon his return to Venezuela. When you give people like him a forum, you do nothing more than encourage our enemies. In my opinion, that borders on treason.
And here’s a comment from Gustavo Coronel of McLean, VA:
This reply by Venezuelan Ambassador to the U.S. Bernardo Alvarez to your editorial on Chavez’s atuthoritarian rule forgets that: (1), enabling laws granted to Venezuelan previous presidents were very short lived and restricted to emergency financial issues. The blanket type of enabling law granted to Chavez for 18 long months reinforces the dictatorial nature of his powers; (2), social programs instituted by Chavez are handouts of temporary impact and do not solve the long term educational, health and poverty problems of the people; and, (3), the subsidized fuel given to poor U.S. communities where average income is around $15,000 per year are a slap in the face to poor Venezuelans that have an average income ten times lower and who should get the full benefits of oil income now being given away to foreign countries like Cuba, Bolivia and Nicaragua, as well as to the U.S. ‘poor’.
As always, your thoughts are welcome too, in the comments.