A Venezuelan two-fer

Now that frontman Chavez is rotting away and not able to put a fun spin on things, things in Venezuela are starting to fall apart. It will be bad and I feel sorry for the citizens because they were kept totally in the dark. At least, here in the US, shining some light onto Obama's history and ethics does not guarantee time in jail. First up -- from Walter Russell Mead's Blog Via Meadia:

Venezuela Takes Desperate Measures to Put Off Day of Reckoning
The Venezuelan government is making a frenzied effort to combat shortages of food and medicine. The FT reports that on Monday the country will begin auctioning off dollars to certain business in hopes of spurring them to import the basic goods it desperately needs. But critics claim that the new system won�t really do much to solve the problem:

�The total supply of foreign exchange to the economy via Cadivi [old system for getting foreign currency] and Sicad [the new system] is still likely to undershoot the overall demand in the economy for dollars,� [Goldman Sacs economist Alberto] Ramos said. He said to control the black market Caracas must fix underlying problems including high inflation, an unfriendly business climate, a misaligned currency, and exacerbated political and economic risk.

Venezuela�s economic woes are telling. Apologists for Chavez mentor Fidel Castro blame Cuba�s sixty years of economic problems on the US embargo. If it weren�t for Uncle Sam, they say, Castro would have built a socialist paradise by now.

Venezuela is the test for this talking point. Not only is there no US embargo in Venezuela, but the country also has huge oil reserves. And what does it have? Food and medicine and foreign currency shortages. A socialist paradise, indeed.

Second up -- Chavez was in bed with some nasty people. From the Washington D.C. Free Beacon:

The Iran, Hezbollah, Venezuela Axis
Iran has illegally laundered billions of dollars through the Venezuelan financial sector and is currently stashing �hundreds of millions� of dollars in �virtually every Venezuelan bank today,� according to a former senior State Department official.

�It�s a huge blind spot in those trying to implement sanctions� on Iran, Roger Noriega, a former United States ambassador and assistant secretary of state for western hemisphere affairs, told the Washington Free Beacon.

Venezuela served as Iran�s closest Western ally under the late President Hugo Chavez, who allowed the rogue regime to establish a military and financial presence at the highest levels of the Venezuelan government.

Iran�s foothold in the country is expected to grow exponentially under the rule of Chavez�s likely successor, Vice President Nicolas Maduro.

Some more:

Hezbollah has not only infiltrated Venezuela�s governmental bodies. The organization has also established terrorist training facilities on the country�s Margarita Island, according to Noriega.

Hezbollah has been able to form from this Caribbean haven �a marriage of convenience� with various narcotics traffickers and drug gangs that bring the terrorist �threat to our doorstep,� Noriega told lawmakers Wednesday.

The Mexican drug lord Joaquin Guzman, ringleader of the deadly Sinaloa Cartel, is known to have spent time on Margarita Island where he likely established ties with Hezbollah, according to Noriega.

Wonderful -- nuclear armed Islamofascists/drug lords at our southern border...