THE EDITOR, Sir:

Venezuelan President, Hugo Chavez with his personal magnetism, love for the poor and commitment to socialism, reminds us of our late Michael Manley when he was leader of the People?s National Party and when socialism dominated the minds and actions of many and Jamaica became a battlefield for socialists and capitalists.

Manley's last speech

As we may recall, one of Manley?s last speeches amounted to a confession that socialism was not the way and so he would use the capitalist way for upward mobility of the poor and disadvantaged. About the same time, socialism, which had almost covered the earth, shrank like a deflated balloon as the experiment with socialism was found to be fundamentally flawed for many reasons, including its refusal to recognise that profit was not a bad word but a vital engine of growth.

President Ch?vez should remember that it?s only one time David killed Goliath and the most intelligent way of fighting is to fight a weaker man and not everything is good to talk. He should tone down his rhetoric about President Bush and stop kicking against a brick wall.

I am sure Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller and the People?s National Party as well as the Jamaica Labour Party see my drift particularly to maintain the best relationship with the United States and to keep Jamaica from reverting to a poli- tical battlefield of socialists and capitalists. We are also reminded of Grecian gifts.