Guest Opinion: Regarding the Death of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez

By Paul Kokoski
3/7/2013
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)

Throughout his reign of terror, Chavez sought to suppress religious freedom by destroying the influence of his main opponent the Catholic Church

Not surprisingly, Hugo Chavez departed this vale of tears on the 60th anniversary of the death of Joe Stalin. He will not be missed.

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HAMILTON, ONTARIO, CANADA (Catholic Online) - Venezuela President Hugo Chavez was a communist dictator whose heroes were Fidel Castro, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Robert Mugabe, and Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.

One of his major goals was to integrate Cuba, Venezuela, Honduras, Nicaragua, Bolivia, and Ecuador under one Marxist-socialist government umbrella.

During his tyrannical tenure violent crime was rampant in Venezuela, with extrajudicial killings by security agents a recurring problem. The minister of the interior and justice estimated that police committed one in every five crimes.

Throughout his reign of terror, Chavez sought to suppress religious freedom by destroying the influence of his main opponent the Catholic Church. He did this by designing a law that ended traditional government subsidies to Catholic schools and ended the right of children to receive religious education in government-run schools.

The Inter-American Human Rights Commission also accused Chavez of massive violations of human rights, the destruction of democratic principles such as the separation of powers, judicial review of acts of state, and the rule of law over the will of the president.

In addition to harassing political opponents, President Hugo Ch�vez's government systematically undermined journalistic freedom of expression, workers' freedom of association, and the ability of human rights groups to promote human rights.

Not surprisingly, Hugo Chavez departed this vale of tears on the 60th anniversary of the death of Joe Stalin. He will not be missed.

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Mr. Paul Kokoski is a freelance writer who holds a BA in philosophy from McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. His articles have been published in several journals including, Homiletic and Pastoral Review, New Oxford Review and Catholic Insight.

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Pope Benedict XVI's Prayer Intentions for January 2013
General Intention: The Faith of Christians. That in this Year of Faith Christians may deepen their knowledge of the mystery of Christ and witness joyfully to the gift of faith in him.
Missionary Intention: Middle Eastern Christians. That the Christian communities of the Middle East, often discriminated against, may receive from the Holy Spirit the strength of fidelity and perseverance.

Keywords: Hugo Chavez, Stalin, dictator, Venezuela, Fidel Castro, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Robert Mugabe, Hassan Nasrallah, Paul Kokoski

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1 - 8 of 8 Comments

robert matzinger
3 months ago
Venezuela is passing from one dictator to another. Those that know the truth of what Chavez did to the church and what he was planning to do to the church and Venezuela are remaining silent as another dictator takes over, lest they find themsleves in prisons along with the other Chavez dissadents.
Bob
3 months ago
@Steven: If you think for one minute the news media's portrayal of what is going on in Venezuela is accurate (i.e., outpouring of grief from the Venezuelan people), you are very naive. The news media in this country wants a Hugo Chavez-type communist dictator in the White House. I am afraid they got their wish with the last two presidential elections.
Veronica
3 months ago
Andrew - I 100% agree. Already said a prayer for him and Venezuela
paul burgess
3 months ago
This article is so silly and illogical. We don't provide allow prayer in our public schools either... amongst the many other things that mirrors our own policy.
Andrew
3 months ago
...and it is exactly for these reasons that we should pray for the repose of Hugo Chavez's soul. That we pray that Jesus welcome him into heaven with infinite love and mercy. That the Lord blesses those that were hurt by this man's misguided rule and that the Catholic Church re-establish hope and more importantly love in the country he left behind.

Them the beans when your Catholic and believe in Christ's request to "pray for our enemies."
Moses
3 months ago
I prefer chavez to bush(senior and juinor).the catholic church should be careful bcos sometimes our actions may generate such reactions,but benedict's visit had a very positive effect on cuba's religious freedom,pontiff visiting venezwela is not out of place.i think obama is a greater enemy to the catholic church than chavez ever was.journalists have become tools of international propaganda which contradicts national patrotism,thats why he treated it asuch.i respect chavez bcos he was not corrupt,or has not been accused of corruption,all democratically elected leaders are thieves.there is no gain saying that america would love to steal some oil from venezwela.lets not forget that a lot of people are suffering,Chavez is one of the very few who gave the poor a chance
Linda
3 months ago
AMEN to that! He will not be missed!
stephen
3 months ago
Agreed, but I find myself disturbed on the news as I watch the ridiculous outpouring of grief from the Venezuelan people. They should be dancing in the streets with joy at being freed from the prison this man created for the people in Venezuela, and they act as if Simon Bolivar had just died. An entire nation of foolish brainwashed people. One wonders if there are any Venezuelans who know the truth of what this monster did to that country.

His death on the anniversary of the death of the greatest mass murderer in human history, Stalin, seems appropriate given the similar reaction of grief by the Russian people even now, 60 yrs after the merciful event occurred. Examples of this sort of human behavior cannot give a person much hope for the future progession of civilization and human development.

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