He called President Bush 'the devil' and has openly balked at U.S. policies at every chance. But one Central Florida man says Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez isn't that bad of a guy. "If the U.S. can do business with China, I mean please."
John Samara lives in Orlando but grew up in Venezuela. He says life has never been better for citizens of that country.
"People instead of looking into it, educating themselves about it, they just follow the line. I really expected more from this country than just having the United States government dictating to its own people who they should see as our enemy and who they should see as our friend."
WDBO's Frank Samandari met with Samara following an e-mail he sent, concerned with WDBO's new billboards. They feature Chavez, along with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmaninejad and Osama bin Laden. Samara says we've got it all wrong.
"I don't understand how this can happen so easily in this country: the U.S. can say this person is our enemy now, and no question is asked about it."
Samara says people just need to relax.
"Chavez is in good company. He knows what he's doing, and there's nothing to worry about. I wish people would just relax a little bit about this issue and not take it so seriously."
During the interview, Samara repeatedly slammed the government's foreign policy with Venezuela, even how reporters do their jobs.
"I'm a bit dismayed how easy it is for the American government to choose an enemy and then have the entire media in the country go along with it without asking questions."
The bottom line, says Samara, is people need to get over it.
"You shouldn't try to avoid Citgo or try to boycott Venezuelan products. There's no reason for that. To disagree with this and then take the disagreement to such an extreme as to try to boycott Venezuelan products is irrational. It just doesn't make sense."
Marketplace
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