Sean Penn appeared on "The Late Show with David Letterman" Monday night to promote "Into the Wild," which he directed and opens Friday. He also talked about his recent visit with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. He had good things to say about the controversial leader, adding "He's done incredible things for the 80% of the people who are very poor there." See the full clip below.
From CBS, 10/1
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In 1998 I was in Venezuela and although I had been away from Venezuelan poilitics for many years, I heard his rhetoric and agreed almost 100% with him; I guess if I had been a Venezuelan I would have voted for him. He does have great ideas but his implementation and his pseudo commnist ideas do not work; he is also surrounded by the wrong people, many of whom are just taking revenge from being put down by the previous corrupt administrations, To claim that he has done a lot of good for 80% of the population is a big stretch. Poverty is at its highest, he wants to claim every child the property of the Government (sound like Castro?), he wants to dispose people of their land and properties, and why?
No, unfortunately, good ideas must be in sinc with good actions and his ideas are just rhetoric, same as we live here.
And, if you want to go the extra yard, compare Chavez actions with our chimp-in-chief and you will be surprised at how close they are.
"he wants to dispose people of their land and properties, and why?"
Because a small percentage of the population in Venezuela own most of the land. It's called land reform.
Chavez provides low cost fuel to underprivileged families in the northeast. What has Bush done?
Both Bush and Chavez are oil men.
Bush's companies have all failed, he is now alienating everyone around the word. Bush was a failure as a businessman.
Chavez is making money for his country, making friends and expanding his influence around the world. Chavez is a successful businessman.
I watch Chavez with suspicion. The enemy of my enemy is not always my friend.
And I watch heavily-edited videos such as this with the same suspicion. If I have time, I'll watch the whole video, and hear the comments in context, thank you very much. Now I have to go find the complete vid on YouTube. I remember thinking that Bush said Mandela was dead, thanks to a truncated video on The Daily Show. I'm not in that much of a hurry.
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"PhidippidesI watch Chavez with suspicion. The enemy of my enemy is not always my friend....
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The ONLY person I watch with suspicion is Bush!
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Wow. That must make life simple. When you get time, you might want to watch Cheney, Pelosi, Reid, Feinstein, Lieberman, Ahmadinejad, Putin, Clinton (both of 'em), Bush (all of 'em), Giuliani, theists (selectively), O'Reilly, Hannity, Murdoch, Coulter (wear a welder's mask), the Supreme Court, Toby Keith, and if you're driving, look out for Britney. But don't get overwhelmed, 'kay?
As somebody grew up under Commies I second this. Chavez may sounds great first and perhaps his intentions are still honest, his totalitarian moves are clearly tell another story.
I admire Sean Penn, but there's a fine line between being a socially-conscious person and being a useful idiot for dictators. Chavez probably isn't as bad as right-wingers have set him up to be. After all, we know how good they are at scapegoating people. And, if the international money-interests are attacking Chavez, Penn is probably right about the government being tilted more in favor of the have-nots. But, liberals should be guided by history and not end up looking like dupes in the end. Instead, seek a more balanced (and accurate) view of what Chavez has and has not done right.
This guy is the real deal! One often sees the likes of Affleck and Damon strut around pretending to be "involved". But Penn was in New Orleans, Iraq and Clooney did an eye opener in Darfur
Hats off to these celebrities for they can just enjoy the luxury that they have earned and worked hard for!
Brad Pitt's recent pronouncements on a "green New Orleans" are also extremely laudable. He is actually putting money where his mouth is!!!
Chavez gets a raw deal from the RW. He's immensely popular in Venezuela. He scares the hell out of the military/industrial complex because he's nationalizing the largest proven oil reserves in the western hemisphere. He's paved the way for other leftest governments like Bolivia, Ecuador, Nicaragua, and Brazil. The Bush adminstration tried to instigate a coup to have him removed, and it failed. Why wouldn't Chavez be anti-American?
This is all true, nice and dandy, I agree with these things but then again, why Chavez would ban a station critical of him? Freedom of press is a VERY-VERY IMPORTANT issue...
Penn's right when he says that Chavez has done some good things for his people. But also, how many other celebs do you know who actually go to places and see for themselves what the problem/solution is? So what if he's famous and filthy rich? At least he's not like most of the apathetic public who blindly accept what they're told.
Sean Penn seems more politically-aware than George Clooney. Great answers to dumb questions.
I consider myself pretty liberal but Sean Penn makes me want to upcheck most of the time. I can't beleive he is defending Chavez. I am sure he is not really a dictator but he does try to limit free speech and opposition in his country and put out his own propaganda and Sean Penn is a part of it.... shameless. I wouldn't support Bush propaganda so why would I support Chavez? Sean Penn is very wealthy but he apprently wants us all to be socialist.
My younger brother is married to a Venezuelan whose daughter used to work for the previous leadership in Venezuela. She said that there is a marked improvement in the status of middle class and poorer Venezuelan since Mr. Chavez was elected. He is a socialist. I expect a socialists to act and think like a sociaslist. That having been said, we will have to wait and see if things are truly improved over the long haul. It is her opinion that they have and that it is so, especially with the poorer people of Venezuela. I know that folks who believe in the free market system are very nervous about anything that moves wealth down to the lower classes, but my sister-in-law, although middle class, feels he has been very good for the country, He is the first Venezuela leader that has risen from tribal Indian background to become the leader of his country, If in fact, he levels the playing field enough that the poorest have a chance, AND if that approach can be sustained so that Venezuela continues to prosper, I say, "GOOD FOR HIM".
The truth is that we, in America, don't really know a thing about Venuzuela. Our press keeps us very insular. We see the Chavez the Bush Administration, State Department, and Corporate Media wants us to see. That doesn't mean that is has anything to do with reality.
However, I do think that Sean Penn or anyone should be very cautious to impute too much good into a particular politician. Better that he just point out that Venuzuelans are presently better off under the Chavez regime than they were under the former regime. Things could change as the meglomania power disease takes hold. The 'President for Life' is an ominous sign and shouldn't be dismissed easily when assessing Chavez.
I don't think Chavez is the angel some liberals think him to be nor the threat the right wingers think him to be.
Obviously, our media and power elite are going to be against him because he wants wealth more evenly distribute
That said, he probably has some dictatorial qualities. I frankly don't think you could hold power in Central or South American without some of that.
And that said--he's not SLAUGHTERING and raping the population like the regimes the USA supported in El Salvador and Honduras and Guatamala--regimes that were very friendly to business interests.
However, to get a Cuban author's view of Fidel Castro read Before Night Falls by Reinaldo Arenas. He describes an environment of persecution of homosexuals and a stifling of all creativity that isn't clearly pro Castro.
Castro at least isn't killing the population like a right wing dictator and he's providing healthcare, but he's no friend of free expression--at least according to Arenas who was born in the 1940s in Cuba and finally left with the boat exodus in 1982.
If you are interested in the truth about Venezuela, do not miss the documentary at the link below documenting the 2002 CIA-sponsored coup against Hugo Chavez:
http://vid
(The Revolution Will Not Be Televised, 1 hr 15 min)
If you have already viewed The Revolution Will Not Be Televised, another must-see can be accessed at this link:
http://vid
(Venezuela Bolivariana: People and the struggle of the 4th world war, 1 hr 16 min)
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My respect for Sean Penn has grown immensely. The people running down Chavez don't even have a clue what's happening in thier own country.[t
willo--That's the stuff. Let the fascists get out.
Yeah...Cha
Your willingness to trade Bush, an extremely unpopular president, who has an approval rating in the 20+% range with Hugo Chavez who has an approval rating in the 80+% range really throws any trace of your credibility out the window. And here we are only speaking of domestic popular opinion.
Do you actually think he has an 80% approval rating?
is that anything like YOU now knowing what is really going on in Venezuela ?
Now we that we know what is going on in Venezuela we all can relax. Chavez is doing a brilliant job
while the USAers watch their country go down the toilet. Sigh.
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"willo
My respect for Sean Penn has grown immensely. The people running down Chavez don't even have a clue what's happening in thier own country.[t
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Wonderful post.
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If Sean thinks he's so wonderful then he should move there...:)
Warmglobe-
I am no liberal. But I can tell you why I think Chavez is none of our business, HE ACTUALLY TAKES CARE OF THE MIDDLE CLASS AND THE POOR! How wonderful it would be if our own leader would have any sort of commitment to do the same.
Hugo Chavez is completely right in shutting down openly fascists (US based) corporations and propoganda machines.
And the people have never been happier.
Personally if you shut down the TV's in America for like 1 week no one would buy Bush's Bullshit without the overwhelming propoganda shoved down your throats.
Right. What's the poverty rate down there?
Fuji--If you want to discuss poverty in third world countries, you'll end up talking about global imperialism. Are you sure you want to go there?
I don't believe you give a shit.
What's the difference and what's your point?
You can tell who bought into the smear campaign against Chavez. I don't recall Chavez trying to overthrow Bush.
I want to make up my own mind about Chavez.
I like what I see so far. No one is perfect.
But I agree with him on many things. I am impressed about his bringing the lower class up
in standards and he is sharing his riches with
the poor. Sure, the rich are against his style
and they will bash him. Same with Castro. I guess those kind of people would love to see
Batista back in office so they can exploit the
poor and middle class. I have to see something negative first before I believe Chavez is a bad guy.
Ugh! What an idiot. Doesn't understand the difference between Chavez shutting a tv station and the U.S. allowing a biased station to remain on the air. An ideal candidate for citizenship in a fascist country.
Would everybody as dumb as Sean Penn please get the hell out of our once-great Democratic Party immediately?
Or at least shut up until election day?
I believe what Mr. Penn was saying was that Fox News broadcasts daily in Venezuela.
Flashlight says:
"Ugh! What an idiot. Doesn't understand the difference between Chavez shutting a tv station and the U.S. allowing a biased station to remain on the air... Would everybody as dumb as Sean Penn please get the hell out of our once-great Democratic Party immediately? Or at least shut up until election day?"
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See, this is what we get when schools let junior-high kids use the internet during study hall.
1) Penn was saying that Fox is broadcast in Venezuela. So the basis of your rant is erroneous.
2) If a TV station in the US advocated the assassination of a sitting US president, the US government would not only shut them down, they'd probably torture and execute the executives.
And you seem to think that you represent the intelligentsia of the Democratic party. Well, if that's true, the party is in far more trouble than we think.
What a damning observation!
I don't believe you have any idea what you are talking about.
Thank you, Sean. And here's a documentary on what's been going in Latin America and how the U.S. has waged an effective war on democracy (by John Pilger):
http://vid
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First Posted: 10- 2-07 11:23 AM | Updated: 03-28-08 02:45 AM