The Washington Post says that there's a growing and effective backlash against Hugo Chavez among his neighbors.

That's what happens when you have "Carlos the Jackal" and Castro as friends, Che' on your shirt and Chairma Mao in your back pocket. Not to mention, that it tends to be a little off putting, to the neighbors, when you are in favor of murder, mayhem, anarchy and totalitalitarianism. What rock did this guy crawl out from under?

If Chavez doesn't wind up dead from a well placed snipers bullet it will be very surprising to me.

My concern is that he will be tempted to distract his constituents from local economic collapse by starting a war with his neighbors. I imagine quiet US diplomacy at this point involves reassuring those neighbors that we'll support them if they're subject to aggression.