Reply #78: They get that term from the right-wing radio talk shows. I have to correct our [View All]

[SharonAnn]

contractor when he refers to them (esp. Chavez) as dictators. I explain to him that they were democratically elected by their citizens and that the U.S. foreign policy just doesn't like their stand on various things which affect the business interests of U.S. companies.

I explain to him that the Chavez brouhaha really started when he insisted on the U.S. oil companies paying their royalties on the oil they extracted from Venezuela. They had previously gotten huge "discounts" by bribing the previous Venezuelan oligarchy. And the Honduras issue really started because the president pushed through a minimum wage law which meant the U.S. companies had to pay their workers more. And we know that U.S. companies don't like to pay for labor or materials if they can find a way around it.