Socialism according to Hugo

But also according to Guardian, it appears. I must confess that I started to look at the Guardian only a few years ago. It begun with my sensitive self being irked, angry and sometimes vivid. Now I got used to it, and it is most of the time just a quiet amazement. Were I able to distill it into nirvana, I would have already been the happiest (and, probably, the richest) of all mortals. Anyway, today Guardianistas have done it again:
OK, you would say, so what - the usual on-line editor blooper. Could be, but let's try the article.

Hugo Chavez, Venezuela's president, has promoted loyalists to key positions and said he will shut down a pro-opposition television station on the eve of his third term in office.

Mr Chavez has signalled more radical policies by tightening his grip in the run-up to his inauguration on Wednesday, the start of what he said would be a new phase in his "socialist revolution".

This is just for starters - now try to savor this morsel:

Venezuela's foreign ministry rejected the criticism and said shutting RCTV would guarantee freedom of expression.

If you are able to translate it into plain English, please feel free to do so in the comments area.

Last week he fired the vice president, José Vicente Rangel, a powerful and totemic political veteran. Jorge Rodríguez, a former chief of Venezuela's electoral council, was appointed vice-president and the president's brother, Adan Chavez, was named education minister.

Mr Chavez also announced a plan to merge his movement's amorphous grouping of more than 20 political parties into a single body, the United Socialist Party of Venezuela.

And if, after reading the above, you have some miracle potion to dispel my foreboding that Venezuela is up the excrement creek with no paddles, please feel free to do so too.

And my last question: how exactly does the author of the article, one Rory Carroll, imagine socialism?

Cross-posted on Yourish.com

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