So I heard his Hugo-sidad on the radio last Wednesday.  He was opening a new housing complex where small, concrete block, Stalin-era apartments had been erected to house people previously living in shanties (albeit shanties with satellite TV dishes).  His remarks at the opening were broadcast on numerous radio stations during the afternoon drive time.  Among a series of really outrageous lies, he said:

1.  US sub-prime ARM's had been at 1% interest rates for many years prior to the recent housing slowdown

2.  Mechanics of ARM's were not disclosed to buyers at closing

3.  The recent rash of foreclosures has put thousands of families "in the streets" (as opposed to back to renting)

4.  The US stock market has crashed as a result (while there was slippage, it has largely already recovered)

Hugo's solution?  Stop Capitalism.  That's right, he said that Capitalism is to blame and that his version of Socialism would eliminate such problems.  Then he went on to explain that he meant to eliminate all real estate speculation in Venezuela.  He proposed passage of a law that would limit price increases on private property.  He further suggested that people receiving the said housing upgrades should be barred from selling their properties at anything above a government mandated profit margin. 

Of course, he hadn't even begun to address how this would change the business dynamics for all private construction firms in the country or what it might do to actually hurt the availability of housing.  No, he wants his government to control all aspects of the business.

Venezuelans are officially not free.  It's increasingly clear to me that they do now live in a dictatorship, made all the more tragic by the fact that they elected themselves into it.  I'll maintain that the ignorant Latin American left is even more dangerous to our world (and the world) than is the American religious right.  And that's really saying something.