Sean Penn Visits Hugo Chavez - Again

CARACAS, Venezuela — U.S. actor Sean Penn is visiting Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez _ again.

Venezuela's state-run news agency reports that Penn accompanied Chavez during the inspection of a natural gas pipeline on Sunday.

Chavez has praised Penn for his criticism of the U.S. war in Iraq, but he did not mention Penn's visit during a televised address. Nor did state media broadcast images of the Oscar-winning actor.

It was Penn's second meeting with Chavez. The actor also visited in August 2007, when he went as a freelance journalist.

Chavez has hosted visits by several Hollywood stars including actors Danny Glover and Kevin Spacey. British supermodel Naomi Campbell visited last year, expressing support for Chavez's efforts to help the poor.

Comments

[jast]

for more info look up Mark Weisbrot, he is a contributer also cepr on on youtube.

cnn and msnbc are no better than fox news, and sad to say but the beeb seems to be going down the tubes (although their "impartiality" on certain issues were always in question).

[jast]

You people are some of the most uninformed commentators in a while.When they spill lies about Obama you're the first to rush to his defense but when they drag Chavez's name through the mud-dictator, tyrant,human rights violator -you take the disinformation at face value and swallow it whole.
Chavez is not a dictator, he was democratically elected by the people of venezuela; they even risked their own lives to get him back into office when the US and the Venezuelan elites decided it was time for a very undemocratic coup (" The revolution will not be televised').

And yes Human Rights watch is part of the right wing . They are basically the extension of US interests in Venezuela. You know the country I live in has more corruption and HR violations than one can imagine yet it is not on the agenda of the MSM, but as soon as a left leaning candidate comes into office to advocate the redistribution of wealth (or whatever left leaning policy) , HR becomes the top issue (whether real or not) and it is used to reduce the legitimacy of the Govt in the eyes of the world. Is it any wonder why the human rights of Mexico and Colombia are not pasted on the front of every website and newspaper and used to drag the legitimacy of the Govt through the mud. do you ever wonder why their aren't vigorous and sustained attacks against their leaders in the major world media?

[PhantomAviator]

..

Get bent. Chavez is a DICTATOR as sure as I'm a Socialist.

.

[Britta100]

Visit whomever you like.But I also think it's important to speak up against the injustices in some of these countries, like jailing journalist who speak up against the government etc(Michelle Backman would like this ). I did see the the Penn piece on Iran and thought he did a good job of reporting on the good and bad. I don't pay much attention to celebrities or their politics whether conservative or liberal but don't like the idea of trying to punish celebrities by boycotting them for exercising their right to free speech regardless of which side of the fence their on.

[delmy]

What nobody seems to understand is that Chavez is not Anti-american he is ANTI-BUSH he doesnt like Bush. WHO DOES?

[pjcpa]

He is also anti-human rights. His own country has protests against his policies and people at higher levels must be on alert, otherwise thay get arrested for no good reason. Please people, even Obama is not going to call this guy a friend of America and he also is not one he will be visiting to heal any hurt feelings between the two countries. Chavez is a dictator and I am sure we will not support his actions under any administration.

[AgathaX]

The grass is always greener. Even those of us who who don't immediately start crying "terrorist lover" at the mention of Chavez's name can recognize a dictator. Penn's expression in greeting Chavez is a trifle too fauning for good taste.

Big ick factor. Penn should be . . . ignored.

[muypolitico]

Chávez is, thanks to Venezuela's petrodollars, perhaps the only Latin American politician who can voice many of the things other (even much more moderate) leaders in the region think.

The problem is that the legitimate concerns/complaints Latin America may have get lost in all the nonsense Chávez engages in almost on a daily basis and because he is not a figure you want to embrace... Unless you are a member of the brotherhood of faux leftist clowns who love to criticize the the right-wing clown of the North.

[GayTalkExpress]

"If you go carrying pictures of Chairman Mao, you ain't gonna make it with anyone anyhow" - J. Lennon

I'm just sayin' if it quacks like a duck . . .

http://www.hrw.org/english/docs/2008/09/18/venezu19844.htm

Unless Human Rights Watch is now in some vast right wing conspiracy.

[Hellboy973]

For all of Chavez' altruistic ideas, he is, finally, a dictator. There is no room in Venezuala for the opposition. Chavez' social ideals are sound, and speak to my own. But to Chavez, his ideals are not to be questioned. When he sought to impose his agenda on private schools, he said: "The government as well as parents and society can't accept that the private sector does whatever it feels like doing," In other words, they have some nerve, thinking that they can espouse ideas that don't fall in line with the states'. Sounds like Sarah Palin and President Chavez have more in common then one might think.
Bernard-Henri Lévy, the devout leftist thinker said, when asked about how the left had stumbled: "You had a racist, neo-Fascist dictator (in Yugoslavia), Miloševi. You had a civil population guilty of nothing, which was displaced, raped, killed and so on. And you had some people who, because America was against Miloševi, decided to be in favor of Miloševi and against the American intervention to stop the thing, and so on and so on. This is the false left."
I am voting for Obama, and I reject the accusation that he is a 'socialist' because I know the difference between a Democraticc capitalist and a socialist. Mr. Penn may not.
Hugo Chavez is no friend to freedom. His policies may be admirable, but his methods border on fascist. Sean Penn does himself a dissevice by attempting to legitimize this man.

[Nooneyouknow]

Chavez was democratically elected. That's more than we can say for the U.S.'s two most recent elections.
The U.S. has already tried one coup against Chavez and has planned others. Chavez's domestic opposition are the oligarchy, the Venezuelan Rethugs who have happily sold out Venezuela and its people to get rich from the country's oil wealth. If I were Chavez, I'd keep the opposition under a close eye too.
Meanwhile, Chavez is using the country's oil wealth to build new clinics, schools and other benefits and opportunities for the huge numbers of poor and working class who were only exploited by Venezuela's previous rulers. This is why he terrifies the U.S.'s leaders and its elites: Chavez is ruling for the people on the bottom. Here in the U.S., the leadership is trying to expand and further exploit the lower classes by bankrupting the middle and working classes. The same people who want to overthrow Chavez are the same people who want to turn the U.S. into a third-world country.
Chavez is by no means ideal, but he's a damn sight better than the death squads and murderous dictators the U.S. has installed and promoted in this hemisphere for more than a hundred years.
If you think you're getting the truth about Chavez from the MSM, you're wrong.

[PhantomAviator]

..

Chavez is a DICTATOR as sure as I'm a Socialist.

.

[jimmyjones22]

you know the difference between a dubya speech and a chavez speech?

Switch out all the instances of "uh" for "the revolution"

[Bitsko]

You gotta love actors. The most needy people in the world.

[protagonia]

Penn helps others in need.

[DoctorDonut]

Hugo could sell Obama to Palin, let me tell you:

http://www.theweeklydonut.com/index.php/2006/09/26/hugo-the-hawker/

[caldog]

I'll try this again - maybe I'm not allowed to cuss here. I wish people would read Juan Gonzalez's "Harvest of Empire" to gain understanding about the history of US intervention in Latin America. Another suggestion is Eduardo Galeano's "Open Veins of Latin America". Then watch "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised" - Chavez' anti-American stance is not simply because he is a dictator - neither is this the case for Fidel Castro. Both men are (and were) responding to American exploitation of national resources. And American exploitation is at the heart of any discussion that involves either leader.
Another thing to research is what a socialist is in modern society - look to Canada for this. Also, I would say that Chavez, whether you like his methods or not, was popularly elected. If you are going to make veiled allusions to human rights abuses, please include your source.
Sean Penn, whether you like him or not, is an American with a conscience. The difference between Penn and many Americans is he uses his privilege to act on his conscience. He, like many artists, is well educated about the world, both the modern age and the influence of history.
There is a distinct trend toward anti-intellectualism that is evident when folks post their opinions without first researching a wide variety of sources for information.

[stonesoup]

Watch the documentary; "War on Democracy". You can google it and find it for free. It is some of the history of the US actions in Venizulia and other South and Central American Countries.
There is also a really good book called "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man" that blows the lid off of US behavior in 3rd World Countries.
Why can't the MSM tell the truth about these issues? Why do we always have to go around the world causing death and destruction in the name of democracy, when we don't even have one here? One more good book to read is "The Family" Jeff Sharlet The history of the fundamentalists movement. "Shocking"

[camia3]

You know-I don't care that he go down there. What bothers me is that he doesn't ask questions or even acknowledge the truth about Chaves's Venezuela. People have done the same with Fidel Castro for years-until they got tired of him.

In all the chicness of visiting the 'enemy', real people are trying to survive miserable existences. I'm a poltically progressive Cuban American, and the myopicness and happy ignorance of the American left in the face of these 'pop' dictators never ceases to amaze me.

If and when this country has ever tried to promote the same infringements on civil liberties and human rights that dictators like Fidel and Chavez impose in a direct and oppressive way as policy on their own people--these same celebs take to the streets denouncing our government.

So I ask them, what makes an American citizen's rights so much more precious than that of the people living under these vicious dictatorships?

[Bitsko]

Excellent comment.

[Nooneyouknow]

You must be joking. Chavez has already survived one coup attempt led by the U.S. (with the NY Times out in front, of course). He has to keep a hand on his domestic opposition because they're Venezuelan Repugs who'd overthrow him and return the country to an oil-producing fiefdom of the U.S. in a second.
Chavez is using Venezuela's natural resources to fund a renaissance of the lower classes, with doctors, clinics, new schools, and new opportunities for Venezuela's poor and discarded. Exactly the people Venezuela's rightwing rulers have ignored in the past.
As for infringements on human rights, The U.S. would have U.S.-trained and -led death squads operating in Venezuela in a moment, as it's had in Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala, Colombia, Chile, Argentina, and others.
It seems there's a lot about Venezuela current (democratically elected) leader that some "progressives" would rather not acknowledge.

[GQTaste]

As long as he keeps his mouth shut until after the election thats fine.

[Bystander]

Perhaps Hugo will share his coca stash with Sean.