Venezuela

I've already defined Hugo Chavez as a loon and I'm sticking to it. However in regards to what I was saying the other day about Latin American countries not working to fix themselves, it looks like he's kind of got a plan:

Venezuela has been making tons of money that Chavez is investing/spending on long range projects like pipelines to neighboring countries and refineries nearer to him than the US so that he no longer will need to depend on our waning good will. Good Plan Hugo. He's also squandering it on helping the poor in the US while making trades with Cuba to import doctors for health care in shanty towns.

Local media say Cuba receives around 100,000 barrels of cheap Venezuelan oil a day and in return is loaning some 20,000 Cuban medics who provide free health care to Venezuela's shanty towns.

Other handouts from Venezuela's oil riches include a brand new hospital in Uruguay and the country made offers of millions of dollars of aid for the victims of Hurricane Katrina in the US, as well as cheap heating oil for poor families in Boston and New York.

I suspect to make our government look bad...(?) Who knows. Maybe he could take some of that money and send a few shanty town kids to schools so that they could become doctors.
Like I said, he's a loon, but at least he's halfway thinking long range.

(filed under credit where credit is due)