Ken Berwitz
What do you say about fabulously rich people who rail about fabulously rich people? That they\’re hypocrites, of course.
But what do you say about fabulously wealthy heads of state who rail against personal wealth while accumulating tons of it on the backs of their people?
We have known for years about yasir arafat, the terrorist murderer who headed the Palestine Liberation Organization and who managed to siphon off hundreds of millions of dollars – maybe billions; who knows? – from the aid money which poured into the so-called “Palestinian Territories”, while his own people, starved for quality of life, were fed little other than hatred of Israel and Jews in general. (CBS News estimated it was at least $ 1 billion dollars, and possibly as high as $3 billion).
We have known for years about fidel castro, staunch defender of communism – the communism that turned Cuba into a third world rat hole – who, according to reports, has managed to amass a similar amount of personal wealth (Forbes magazine estimated it at $900 million dollars in 2006; God alone knows how much it is now).
And now, via the following excerpts from Pete D\’Amato\’s article in London\’s Daily Mail, we find out the same apparently was true of hugo chavez, the now-dead (and good riddance) leader of Venezuela, who continually ranted about how terrible wealthy people are:
The daughter of Hugo Chavez, the former president who once declared \’being rich is bad,\’ may be the wealthiest woman in Venezuela, according to evidence reportedly in the hands of Venezuelan media outlets.
Maria Gabriela Chavez, 35, the late president\’s second-oldest daughter, holds assets in American and Andorran banks totaling almost $4.2billion, Diario las Americas reports.
The figure would make Gabriela Chavez wealthier than media mogul Gustavo Cisneros, whom Forbes named the wealthiest Venezuelan earlier this year with $3.6 billion in assets
Now where do you suppose Ms. Chavez got this money? Do you think she hit it big at the track? Or is this what was left to her after daddy hugo went to that great commune in the sky?
What does this tell you? It tells you that the “do as I say, not as I do” truism is alive, well, and very much in operation when it comes to phony-baloney heads of state in countries where the people suffer while they rake untold amounts of $$$ for themselves.
That is something to remember – especially when you hear Castro claim the USA is the reason Cuba is in its current state, or Venezuela\’s current President, chavez protege maduro, claim Venezuela\’s ills are somehow our fault and not his own country\’s.
