Minsk, Belarus
Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez traveled to Belarus this week to cement an anti-American alliance with President Alyaksandr Lukashenka. “Our countries must keep their hands ready on the sword,” Chavez said. “When the Soviet Union collapsed, and U.S. imperialism attempted to raise the banner of supremacy, the terrible jaws of imperialism and capitalism tried to devour Belarus and Latin America.” Chavez praised Belarus, a Stalinist-style dictatorship with no political or press freedom, as “a model social state” that he would like to emulate. Lukashenka rigged his latest re-election, in March, and cracked down brutally on protestors.
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