"The President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela communicated by telephone with his brother, the President of the Syrian Arab Republic"

According to "Monthly Review: An Independent Socialist Magazine," or more properly, its e-zine, this is a communiqué from the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry. Heartwarming:

The President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela communicated by telephone with his brother, the President of the Syrian Arab Republic, Bashar al-Assad, in order to convey to him a personal greeting full of affection and hope at a moment when the imperialist forces are unleashing violence against the Syrian people.

President Hugo Chávez received from President Bashar al-Assad a complete picture of the real situation in this brother Arab nation, where a fascist conspiracy is seeking to sow chaos and disorder, with the goal of subjecting the nation to the dictates of the Western powers. President Bashar explained to his Venezuelan counterpart that these outbreaks of minoritarian violence had been repudiated by the vast majority of Syrians and that the situation had begun to get back to normal thanks to the action of the institutions and government of Syria.

President Hugo Chávez was able to hear firsthand the important process of reforms that President Bashar has pushed forward for the purposes of responding to the legitimate needs and demands of those who have exercised their right to demonstrate peacefully and who have nothing to do with the extremist groups armed and financed from abroad. Especially, the Syrian president highlighted the new social policies implemented by his government to support the poorest strata of the population.

President Hugo Chávez passed on to his Syrian counterpart the expressions of solidarity from numerous Latin American and Caribbean leaders and took this occasion to express his most firm political and personal support, conveying his absolute conviction that the dignity of the Syrian people and government will make peace prevail, defeating the imperial aggressions.

In the meantime, of course, Chavez's "brother" has been outdoing himself. And I'd just like to welcome Monthly Review to the Judeopundit family of content-providers. (h/t: Harry's Place)