Hugo Chavez Joins Twitter: See His First Tweet (PHOTO)

UPDATE: 4.28.10 -- It's official: Chavez has sent out his first tweet. The tweet, which went out just after midnight, said, according to the AP, which translated it from Spanish: "Hey how's it going? I appeared like I said I would: at midnight. I'm off to Brazil. And very happy to work for Venezuela. We will be victorious!!"

The Venezuelan leader is already proving quite popular; as of this morning he had nearly 37,000 followers.

Wondering what's with the name of his account, chavezcandanga? As the AP explains, the name "includes a word that is used in various Latin American countries to refer to the devil. In Venezuela, it denotes punishment as severe as that suffered by sinners sent before the devil."

4.27.10

In what could perhaps be described as a slight u-turn, Hugo Chavez, Venezuelan President and fierce critic of Twitter, has announced he intends to begin using the service.

"Comandante Chavez is going to open his Twitter account soon to wage the battle online," said Diosdado Cabello, head of the country's telecommunications regulator, according to Bloomberg.

"I'm sure he'll break records for numbers of followers," Cabello added.

The decision marks a change for Chavez, who in January of this year denounced the social networking platform as "terrorism".

Exactly what caused him to change his mind is unclear, though it is possible he may have seen HuffPost's photo slideshow of other world leaders who tweet.

Chavez may be disappointed, however, when he discovers his user name is already taken.

Comments

[deepintheheartoftejas]

11:08 PM on 04/29/2010

100,000 fans. Not bad. He just has 1.4 million to go before he's as popular as Sockington, the twittering cat.

[USABrazil]

02:21 PM on 04/29/2010

Still better for his people than Bush was for America...Don't care for Chavez...But...

"Caracas, October 12th 2009 (Venezuelanalysis.com) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez enjoys an approval rating of 62.4% according to the results of the latest survey carried out by the Venezuelan Institute of Data Analysis (IVAD)".

Sure all the numbers can be manipulated... Who knows...

[Wisdo]

06:35 AM on 04/29/2010

Politicans: Act cool by doing a "rap" or starting a twitter feed.

Also: try wearing a baseball cap sideways. People will admire your "street cred"

[cincinnati]

04:10 AM on 04/29/2010

Occasionally someone on my side, the left, is just as nuts as the many power-mad zealots on the right. And this guy has gone too far. There's a lot of good people in his country and I hope they find a way to get rid of him. It does not have to be legally done, as he has distorted the rules so much that laws don't mean much anyway.

[whoa20]

03:20 AM on 04/29/2010

wow, I could give a tweet less about his tweeting.

[ElCojonuAgain]

07:43 PM on 04/28/2010

Huguito is a jodedor who is being schooled in the fine art of ' la jodedera ' by that old master Fidel.
He's having fun busting cojones and laughing all the way to the Bank.
He loves to see how some take him so seriously.
Busting CJ's is an aphrodisiac and he's having his fill.

[lonewolfgoingaooo]

05:08 PM on 04/28/2010

Sean Penn's BFF.

[hibeam]

05:00 PM on 04/28/2010

Hugo is my favorite clown. Krusty was my favorite for a while but Hugo is a lot more fun to watch. Hugo and Obama have the same economics mind set and both countries are sinking fast.

[realitycitizen]

05:02 PM on 04/28/2010

Hugo Chavez is a socialist with communist tendencies.

Barack Obama is a right wing corporatist shill.

Dont insult Chavez like that.

[Wisdo]

06:30 AM on 04/29/2010

Fanned for a healthy dose of reality.

[realitycitizen]

04:49 PM on 04/28/2010

Ive come to understand why liberals hate Hugo Chavez so much.

After watching Obama fail over and over again to score even the most minuscule of victories, it just burns your ass that Hugo Chavez and his allies in the Congress go big and win time and time again.

Liberals are useless. Socialism is the only answer to thwart red fascism.

[SDog]

06:04 PM on 04/28/2010

Just say no, because obviously you are on some strong Mexican Shiiiit!

[realitycitizen]

07:34 PM on 04/28/2010

Pathetic ad hominem attack.

[cincinnati]

04:12 AM on 04/29/2010

I'm left but Chavez is power mad, he has no respect at all for opponents. In that regard he has gone around the circle of politics and come out on the side of fascism himself.

[JerryLevy]

04:39 PM on 04/28/2010

So the HP reports that Hugo Chavez has joined twitter. Please keep us advised when Kim Jong Il and Amadenijadd joins too HP. There are a lot of people on this blog who probably will want to join it.

[siamao]

06:49 AM on 04/29/2010

When Bibi joins, that's when we're all in trouble.

[Louis Leo IV]

03:48 PM on 04/28/2010

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psdgRH_p3XI&feature=player_embedded#!

[Bushdepression]

03:31 PM on 04/28/2010

Pero Coño, no me hinche las pelota'....

[PWM]

03:27 PM on 04/28/2010

This is going to sound really bad but I cannot help it.

In that picture he looks like he fell off the short bus and got back up on his feet.

[spcrt]

03:21 PM on 04/28/2010

Actually, the word "candanga" is not used currently in Venezuela to depict anything about the devil or hell punishment. It is used to describe an agitated situation, like a very heated arguement, a public riot, etc.

[siamao]

06:51 AM on 04/29/2010

Could it be loosely translated as a "Chavez Rant?"

[Gasparilla]

02:52 PM on 04/28/2010

One man's tweet denunciation is the same man's tweet approval? Tweeting may be boring, but "terrorism"? Time to switch to decaf.

[zeppelingirl89]

03:59 PM on 04/28/2010

Lol agreed