Typical authoritarian consolidation of power through fear and a need to obey at the local level. Ya know, I can't believe we're sitting back and letting Cuba 2.0 develop (new and improved, with more money and resources). We are seriously going to regret this in the years to come.

Then again, if you're a student of the local politics down there, when they had a thriving democracy and middle class they squandered the opportunity to divert some of the growing tax base into supporting the desperately poor.

I'm no bleeding heart, but the poor had nothing and live in hovels in the hills surrounding Caracas with no infrastructure. A self-proclaimed populist like Chavez had a built-in power base.

Corruption and ineptitude breeds creeps like Chavez. History continues to repeat itself in LatAm.

>http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gZFnvarkllnTSXx_21_FR2mY04tgD90VD5CG0
>http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/06/03/america/03venez.php
>
>I can certainly see his need for spy agencies, after all every country has them. This is disturbing though:
>
>President Hugo Chávez has used his decree powers to carry out a major overhaul of this country's intelligence agencies, provoking a fierce backlash here from human rights groups and legal scholars who say the measures will force citizens to inform on one another to avoid prison terms.
>
>The new law requires people in the country to comply with requests to assist the agencies, secret police or community activist groups loyal to Chávez. Refusal can result in prison terms of two to four years for most people and four to six years for government employees...