Mr. Danger

If you're ever bored and have an extra, oh say...6 hours of free time, then check out Hugo Chavez' Alo Presidente, his talk show that airs every week or two (or whenever he feels like it). They literally last 6 or 8 hours, but luckily there are those who sift through these epic, Castro-like diatribes and pull out the interesting parts.

One particularly entertaining episode occurred a few months back, (on a cattle farm somewhere in the interior of the country of all places) when Hugo went off on George Bush, calling him a donkey, an alcoholic and a mass murderer among other things. He even throws in a little English to spice things up.

All humor aside, these type of episodes reinforce my opinion that Chavez is not as serious a threat to regional stability as the USG makes him out to be. His influence seems to be waning, evidenced by the 'anti-Chavez' effect in last spring's Peruvian elections, and with the Venezuelan opposition finally getting its act together in the run-up to December's presidential elections, he may have to concentrate on domestic issues for the next few months instead of jetting off to Havana to dry hump Castro every other week...