Venezuela, Chavez: Gangster Turf Wars Among Chavistas

diles que no se metan en el caserio
diles que no vacilen con los mios
diles que soy loco con el desafio
Wisin y Yandel

Ain't Nuthin But A G Thang
Chavez Bolivarian regime is really going gangsta. Certainly livin' large : got the Versace, private planes, loads of bling, Hummers & Benzes, cool cribs in South Beach.
Now the Chavistas are are getting the rest of the Gangster lifestyle down too, The Miami Herald reports they are fighting each other in poorer neighborhoods, and rubbing out opponents. It Corleone-Tartaglia, East-West Coast, Crips-Bloods, Boliviarian Socialist style.

Cracks are becoming fissures in Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez's self-declared revolution, as armed groups of leftist supporters clashed in recent weeks in a rough and poor barrio in skirmishes that left at least four dead.
The gunfights are the first between Chávez supporters in public and seem to illustrate the rough scramble over the benefits from Chávez's oil-fueled government as well as bitter jealousies among leaders of Chavista groups.

Well, surprise, surprise, Chavez armed these clowns to begin with. Good thinking there Colonel, didn't Fidel tell you, you first form the block committees, then you arm them.

The fighting has put the government in a quandary because it has been arming civilian militias and other groups as part of its plan to defend itself against what it says is a possible U.S. invasion -- something that Washington has repeatedly denied. Now Chávez has to decide how to deal with rogue groups that support him but may be getting out of hand.

Tupac N' Tupamaro's..Its All About The Benjamins
So we basically have some hard-left types who ended up living in Venezuelan barrios. Some of them started vigilante groups, others straight out thugs hooked up with the local criminals.

The neighborhood also has long been a crime-ridden and volatile place. It was where remnants of Uruguay's Tupamaro guerrillas, crushed by a military dictatorship, took refuge in the 1970s and began sowing the seeds of vigilante groups that use the same name. Some of those groups drove out delinquents, while others slid into crime themselves.
Today, there are at least four groups using the Tupamaro title, and dozens more that sprung from the early groups. All support Chávez, but they also follow leaders who control city blocks and individual buildings in the barrio's 1950s public housing complex. The neighborhood was named after the date in 1958 when dictator Gen. Marcos Pérez Jiménez was toppled.

Someone has to Run The Bolivarian Social Services
Big Chavez supporters, some of them now are running Chavez programs, with the payout that involves. Currently active gangsters running local social programs, on the government payroll, funneling petro-dollars to people, and armed by the government. Are these the vaunted social programs that the Chavistas boast about??? The ones supposedly reducing poverty??? Makes you wonder about all those claims.

Some Tupamaros maintain their vigilante role and run government literacy and after-school programs, while others engage in criminal activities. But all are armed and seem to have benefited financially and socially from Chávez's rise to power. Some have government jobs, while others are living off the leftovers from the government's increased social spending.

There Goes The Neighborhood.
Looks like its no end in sight for this kind of turf war, and one wonders if this kind of lawlessness is another symptom - or cause - of the enormous crime rate that has skyrocketed under Chavez. According to the Washington Post, U.N. figures put the, "rates of gun-related violence....higher...than anywhere else on earth", the country has averaged 10,000 murders a year under Chavez. The opinion of many Venezuelans is that the government can not control its streets, and police officials have been accused of involvement in some serious crimes. At the every least, the government arming and funding street gangs, is hardly leads to more security.

This is not the first outbreak violence among Chavistas. Lina Ron, a prominent Chávez supporter with her own armed group, complained recently that Carias was threatening to kill her. She did not say why.
However, threats of renewed fighting loom daily, and leaders of some of the factions say they are scuttling from safe house to safe house.
''They've created monsters,'' said Lisandro Pérez, a leader of the Tupamaro Popular Resistance Front, referring to the myriad pro-Chávez vigilante groups. ``And now these monsters are eating them.''

Does anyone still believe in this crappy government?? For all the promises, the oil money, deluded supporters outside.