Watch out Oprah! It looks like the twitterverse has a new member who want to “enlighten” the masses with his political gospel.
Hugo Chavez, the current President of Venezuela (or dictator, depending on who you talk to) has decided to join the netizens on Twitter, which would make him the second dictator to due so (as his mentor Fidel Castro has already established an account).
Hugo has not announced what his new account will be, but unfortunately for him it looks like the screen names @hugo, @chavez and @hugochavez are all being used (although he might be able to receive the last one if he applies “enough pressure” unfortunately).
Other heads of state on Twitter include President Barack Obama, the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (@netanyahu) and Chilean President Sebastian Pinera (@sebastianpinera), although ironically Twitter makes the extra effort to verify the accounts of western leaders (a service that isn’t available to dictators).
While Chavez will probably just use the account as another way to promote his proproganda, it will be interesting to see if his entrance will inspire more Venezuelans to join the micro blogging site.
Image Credit: Agencia Brasil
Author: Darnell Clayton
Darnell Clayton is a geek who discovered blogging long before he heard of the word “blog” (he called them “web journals” then).
When he is not tweeting, friendfeeding, or blogging about space, he enjoys running, reading and describing himself in third person.
Please spare readers your opinions on Chavez, president of Venezuela, his diplomatic relations with Cuba, etc. You write about iPhone apps and Twitter… no one cares if you think Chavez is a dictator or your view on how unfortunate it would be if he gets the twitter nick someone’s squatting. Thankfully the story of a president using Twitter is interesting, because the simplistic political analysis is not just distracting, but laughable.
And didn’t “another day” get used in another headline this past week by the same writer? More time on headlines, less time on political editorializing, please.
The poster above complaining about the way the article speaks of Chavez appears to link to a communist front website which promotes hate against white people and promotes hate against the enforcement of US immigration laws. It’s time to make these people suffer for what they did to America.
Please spare readers your opinions on Chavez, president of Venezuela, his diplomatic relations with Cuba, etc. You write about iPhone apps and Twitter…
Marco: Whether my link was to Dora the Explorer’s website or to Pol Pot’s doesn’t mean anyone cares to read Darnell Clayton’s dopey political rants masked as tech news. My link isn’t what people come to this website for. Thank you for the free plug though!
Chavez is a twice democratically elected left-wing populist. Calling him a dictator demonstrates only your intellectual dishonesty and affinity for the hard right.
Using your article on Twitter and iPhone apps to promote your political views is both ignorant and dishonest.
Ignorant because this site is supposedly about Twitter & iPhone apps, not your political views…
and dishonest because as the previous reply points out, Chavez is a democratically elected leader. The only dictatorial elements in Venezualan politics are the hard-right oligrachs and media barons who attempted to remove him in an illegal and unpopular coup, and their shady US based sponsors.
Kindly in future stick to Twitter and iPhone apps on this blog. If you wish to present political opinions write another blog.