October 3, 2007 [LINK / comment]

Hollywood swoons over Hugo

Few things make Hollywood liberal hearts flutter like a foreign leader who bashes Uncle Sam, so it is no surprise that Hugo Chavez has friends in Tinsel Town. Among the top stars who have become close aquaintances with the despot from Caracas are Danny Glover, who thanked Venezuela for an $17.8 million contribution for a movie he made about Toussaint L'Ouverture, leader of the the Haitian revolution. Other admirers who have visited Chavez recently include Sean Penn, who tried to stop the U.S. liberation of Iraq, and Kevin Spacey, who said every country should have a government-funded film program like Venezuela. Or the Soviet Union. See the Washington Post.

President-for-Life Chavez declined to grace the Global Community with his presence at the opening of the annual session of the United Nations General Assembly this year. Last year, you may recall, he created quite a commotion by referring to President Bush as "The Devil." At the session last week, Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad played the role of anti-imperialistic buffoon, after which he traveled to Venezuela to discuss matters with his ally. Chavez praised Ahmadinejad as "one of the greatest fighters for true peace." See BBC. As opposed to false peace, I guess.


Hugo sings!

UPDATE: I learned from Dave Letterman this evening that El Presidente has released his own musical CD: Canciones para Siempre (Songs for Always). See Yahoo News. This reminds of the similarly wacky former president of Ecuador, Abdala Bucaram, who fancied himself a salsa singer.