Dancing on Pinochet's grave (Pt. II)

Kudos to columnist Eugene Robinson for calling a spade a spade. In his recent column, "Obituary for a tyrant and a thief," Robinson begins by saying:

I'll leave it to others to "balance" the commentary on Gen. Augusto Pinochet's death with praise for his free-market economic reforms. Pinochet was a despot, a murderer and a fraud. He cheated death until 91, finally succumbing on Sunday as loving family members stood at his bedside and caring doctors did all they could to ease his pain. His regime exterminated more than 3,200 human beings for their political views, and most of them had to die young, alone and in agony.

So keep that in mind when some people try to tell you that Pinochet really was an OK guy who did a lot of good for "our interests" in Chile. The people of Chile could not have hated the bastard more. In an election where he was the only guy on the ballot, he lost -- badly. That should give some indication of the opinion held by those who knew him best. Among his crimes, in all probability, was the car-bomb murder of an Allende diplomat in the United States.

American "interests" abroad often mean what's profitable for American corporations, and by that standard, Pinochet may have been terrific. But if you like things like democracy or civil rights or the rule of law, well... "not so much" as Sistah K would say.

Down in Venezuela, the voters have returned the colorful president, Hugo Chavez, to another six-year term. The GOP administration likes to call him a "dictator," by which they mean he's hostile to U.S. business interests. Yeah, he's nationalized the petroleum industry, and is spending the money on all sorts of public-works projects. And he's certainly got a socialist streak. But he's popular, and if you believe in democracy, it's their country and they can run it however they damn well please.

But one wonders if the CIA is already looking for a Venezuelan Pinochet.