Bravo Noam!
What the (hideously overrated) Guardian doesn't mention is that Chavez called Cedeno a "bandit" (which he probably is, he is a banker after all) and denied him the protections of Venezuelan law. When the head of state can break the law and put anybody they please in prison, then that state is not a free one. Chavez added to his crimes by imprisoning the judge who followed the law and released Cedeno.
It is time the left wakes up and recognizes Chavez for what he is. He has been in charge in Venezuela for over ten years and it is still owned by international capital. Venezuela may be a Bolivarian state, but it is obscene to call it a socialist one. And please don't give me all the BS about his welfare programs, socialism means popular, democratic ownership of public institutions, not hand-outs from benevolent oligarchs.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jul/03/noam-chomsky-hugo-chavez-democracy
