Thor Halvorssen:
On Feb. 4, 1992, then-Lt.-Col. Chavez tried to assassinate Venezuelan President Carlos Andres Perez. Members of the years-long conspiracy had formally vowed to "kill the commander, if necessary" and to "wash the country's blemished honor with blood." Early that February morning, Chavez's rebel forces stormed the presidential palace, indiscriminately firing on loyalist soldiers and killing several dozen people.
Though the first family was in residence, the coup failed, and Chavez was court-martialed. Several months later, the imprisoned Chavez again plotted to murder Perez and to overthrow the government.
At his command, rebel aircraft ruthlessly pounded the president's residence while other insurgents took over a television station and broadcast a tape of Hugo Chavez announcing that the government had fallen. Chavez then invited the people to take the streets. They didn't, and his coup failed once again.
In more than one public speech since becoming president, Chavez has boasted that his intentions back then were not just to topple the government, but also to execute President Perez. In 2002, as the families of his victims mourned the 10th anniversary of their loss, Chavez memorialized his unsuccessful assassination attempt by decreeing that henceforth, Feb. 4 would mark a day of "national celebration."
Just last month, calls for President George Bush's death emanated from a Venezuelan government-funded conference —the 16th World Youth and Students Festival, Aug. 7-15, in which Chavez and His cabinet took an active part. (The "festival" is a communist gathering that in past decades had been hosted in Moscow, East Berlin, Havana and Pyonyang.)
Participants' political sympathies were obvious as the international delegates, some wearing T-shirts emblazoned with the image of Josef Stalin, networked in Caracas and discussed their respective struggles for communist revolution. Enormous portraits of Che Guevara, Karl Marx, Hugo Chavez, Vladimir Lenin, Fidel Castro and Ho Chi Minh adorned the general meeting hall.
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How can the Venezuelan government justify condemning Robertson when it spends millions of dollars hosting a conference that promotes violence, hate and assassination? And why does the U.S. media, which blitzed Robertson, give Chavez a free pass?
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