Indian Country had champion in Chavez

Mike Rounds sure as hell never showed up.

Tim Giago at HuffPost:

Native American journalist Jodi Lee Rave of Lee Enterprise Newspapers was recently lambasted in a letter to the editor to our local daily for having the temerity to laud the donation of funds for heating fuel for the very poor Indian nations of the Northern Plains. 

The criticism was initiated by the fact that the donor was the Citgo Petroleum Corporation based in Houston, Texas and headed by the President of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, the man reviled by many Americans for referring to President George W. Bush on the floor of the United Nations as the "Devil."

There is a lot of respect for President Chavez among the Indian nations of this country. He didn't make promises that he couldn't or wouldn't keep, but instead put his money where his mouth is. American Indians appreciate that form of directness.

Update, 6 March, 08:44 MST: a caller into Diane Rehm's discussion stated with some authority that Hugo Chavez practiced Liberation Theology, hated the the Holy Roman Kiddie Diddlers, but aligned with Cardinal Romeo.

David Sirota has a piece on Chavez posted at Salon.