Chavez Severely Restricts U.S. Flights

(Caracas, Venezuela) The government of Hugo Chavez announced that it will bar Continental Airlines and Delta Air Lines from flying to Venezuela and severely restrict flights by American Airlines until Venezuelan air carriers are allowed to expand routes to the U.S.

Venezuelan registered planes have been denied access to the U.S. due to safety violations by the country's aviation authority.

From Miami.com:

The new limits will affect thousands of travelers to and from the United States and Venezuela but will have relatively little effect on South Florida passengers -- American will continue its thrice-daily Miami-Caracas flights, and foreign airlines such as Lan Chile and Aeropostal fly there as well.

[ ... ]

Venezuela said it will restrict 70 percent of American's flights to the country, but those limits will be felt elsewhere.

American will not be able to run its five weekly flights to Caracas from Dallas-Fort Worth, two weekly from New York's JFK or its daily flight from San Juan, Puerto Rico, she [American Airlines spokeswoman Martha Pantin] said.

Delta currently services a daily route from Venezuela to Atlanta, and Continental has daily flights to Houston and weekly flights to New York.

Package delivery companies like DHL, UPS and FedEx are in the lurch. The future of their substantial business between Venezuela and the U.S. is uncertain.

In response, the State Department indicated that "Washington will consider retaliating."

It's quite understandable that President Hugo Chavez has taken this action regarding the airlines. It's a required step in his march toward oppressive police-state communism and isolation from the capitalist world. Next, tight border and port controls must be established. And then, he'll have to implement measures to keep his citizens from fleeing the country.

The template for communist dictatorships is fairly standardized. After nationalizing the country's business and industry, the intelligencia must be eliminated. As people start to disappear, others flee. Barriers must be constructed to prevent the country of being depleted of all scientists, engineers, teachers, technicians and skilled workers.

Look at North Korea, Cuba and the former Soviet Union. Each time communism has been tried, it has failed. But not this time. Venezuela will see a different outcome. Ask Hugo Chavez.

I believe there is a word for doing something over and over and expecting a different outcome from what has been empirically proven to always occur.