Hugo Chávez

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Hugo Chávez and George W. Bush compare their favourite books

Hugo Chávez (1954–2013) was the socialist/populist president of Venezuela. Although he was democratically elected and didn't make any openly autocratic moves, he engaged in a lot of demagoguery and was seen by opponents as progressively creeping toward dictator status. However, the three elections won by Chavez were (officially) deemed free and fair by the international community.[1]

Chavez developed a cult of personality and diminished many of the democratic institutions within Venezuela. He typified majoritarianism, the idea that democracy is about elections only and that the opposition - those who didn't vote for him - could go fuck themselves. The economy under Chavez more or less collapsed and became inordinately dominated by the oil industry (even oil production decreased under his tenure, due to systematic mismanagement of the state oil company), inflation was consistently high, and Venezuela has one of the highest crime rates in the world. In many ways, Chavez and the Venezuelan state were one and the same. Arguably the only positive thing going for him were his policies on poverty reduction.[2]

He had a bit of a messiah complex, being assured that God was prepared to remove all obstacles to his goals for Venezuela. For some reason many Americans on the far-left still loved him, much like conservatives' recent Putin fanboyism.

Contents

[edit] Political positions

He was a fierce opponent of neoliberalism and imperialism, and as a result very critical of the policies of the United States, particularly those of George W. Bush. According to the US government and media he was becoming increasingly autocratic. Other Americans felt very supportive of him. Neither side really knows unless they go to Venezuela and experience the consequences of his "rule." Chávez was very fond of saying that everyone wants to overthrow him and taking actions against them; examples include failure to renew the license of a private television station that he alleged was calling for his violent overthrow. He also tried to eliminate term limits - this was done through a popular referendum that eventually failed. In account of this first failure and his obvious dissatisfaction, he called the people of his country to yet another election, and after an aggressive campaign, he won with 6 million votes in favor versus 5 million against. He also nationalized the profits of the state oil company PDVSA, raised the literacy level of Venezuela, and enjoys using profane language on national television for 8 hours straight every Sunday. So, at the very best, mixed.

[edit] Personal views

Chávez claimed to be a devout Christian,[3] called Jesus the world's first socialist, and was a huge fan of Noam Chomsky.

[edit] Good things Chavez did

After taking power in 1998, he used Venezuelan oil revenues to try to raise the standard of living of poor Venezuelans. He formed programs attempting to improve universal health care, education, and affordable housing. Venezuelans have actually managed to have more civil liberties than before the Chavez era; he accused many Venezuelan media outlets of sedition,[4] but took comparatively few steps to censor them.

He instituted a constitutional referendum and allowed the Venezuelan people to vote on a new constitution, and called many more referenda on significant questions.

[edit] Cheap oil for the poor

Chávez executed a humanitarian propaganda coup in the winter of 2006-2007 by performing an end-run around the State Department, negotiating an arrangement for low-cost heating oil (through the national oil company's subsidiary Citgo) to be delivered to needy households in Massachusetts and other states directly with a former Massachusetts Congresscritter and former teen heartthrob.[5]

He ended this program shortly before Barack Obama's inauguration, but quickly bowed to public pressure and restored it again for the winters of 2008 to 2012.[6]

[edit] Worrisome observations

[edit] Dictatorial status

Despite his Chomsky fanboyism and the fact that he still remained subject to the popular vote, he also pushed through the legislature the ability to make laws on his own,[7] which is kind of the essence of being a dictator.[8] The legislature did have to ratify any changes he made, although at the time the entire government structure was staffed by Chávez supporters.

Chávez also attempted to remove term limits and sought the ability to override democratically elected provincial governors, but when the referendum failed, he graciously accepted it as the will of the people — for all of two years, until he held another referendum on his term limits, which passed.[9]

Meanwhile, with inflation at over 20%[10] and food shortages growing,[11] his popularity may have been past its peak when he fell ill.

[edit] Labor issues

Despite Chávez's leftist image, his relations with organized labor were spotty at best. PDVSA, its employees and management, as well as the main labor federation, CTV, were primary sources of opposition to Chavez. Following a December 2002 general strike (that effectively put the country in a standstill), called by CTV and supported by PDVSA workers, Chavez purged 19,000 employees from the company's rolls and stacked the management with Chavez loyalists.[citation needed] In 2003 a rival pro-Chavez labor federation, the UNT was formed in an attempt to lessen the anti-Chavez influence of CTV. As a result, during the 2006 elections, the head of PDVSA (as well as Venezuela's energy minister) told workers to either support Chavez or lose their jobs.

Since the stacking of PDVSA management with Chavez' friends, oil production in Venezuela is down 50%; Venezuela is (or was) the 5th largest oil supplier in the world.

[edit] Support for terrorism

Chávez had some other troubling associates, specifically a man named Raúl Reyes, who was the leader of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). When Colombia launched a raid against FARC which crossed Ecuador's border, Chávez threatened to attack Colombia if they pursued FARC terrorists into his country. Since that time, there have been many disclosures of financial support for FARC.[12][13] There is also proof of (at least) partial support of the Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA) terrorist group: indeed, one former member of ETA, Arturo Cabillas, has formed part of the Chávez government.

[edit] Conspiracy theories

Chávez also consistently claimed that the US was about to invade Venezuela, ostensibly to remove him and subjugate the Venezuelan people under its ironbooted Yankee imperialism (although, to be fair, the US has in fact tried and tried and occasionally succeeded at that sort of thing in other countries). His "evidence" was a few military personnel in Colombia and the fact that American servicepeople have been on some nearby Dutch islands for years. Chavez accused the United States of using a weather-based weapon system to cause the 2010 Haitian earthquake, which he believes shall ultimately be used against Iran.[14] In 2011 Chávez claimed that the United States could be using a secret weapon to inflict cancer upon Latin American leftist leaders.[15] Chávez later denied that he was making rash accusations, more just thinking aloud. If you want to know, those affected by cancer include:

  • Hugo Chávez – incumbent President of Venezuela, confirmed in 2011 that he had undergone treatment for cancer (and died from it in 2013)
  • Dilma Rousseff – current President of Brazil, announced in 2009 that she was undergoing treatment for lymphoma
  • Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva – President of Brazil from 2003 to 2010. Lula, a smoker for 40 years, was diagnosed with throat cancer
  • Fernando Lugo – incumbent President of Paraguay, was diagnosed in 2010 with non-Hodgkin lymphoma

It must be true!

[edit] Civil rights

Later in his presidency Chavez grew increasingly intolerant towards his opposition. In 2007, he failed to renew the broadcast license of Radio Caracas Television (RCTV), an opposition television station that participated in the 2002 coup against him.[16] RCTV continued as a cable network, but early in 2010, it was removed from the networks along with several other cable channels for, e.g., refusing to broadcast Chavez's speeches and not showing enough soap operas in the afternoon.

[edit] Religious fanaticism

Chavez took to saying that God would fix all of Venezuela's current problems, because God was a socialist like him. In particular, despite forecasts from climate scientists that a drought that seriously affected hydroelectric power generation on the country's main dam during early 2010 would continue for quite some time, Chavez was convinced that God and nature would do so much sooner, overruling El Niño in favor of the Bolivarian revolution.[17]

[edit] Support for acknowledged dictators

To go along with Chavez's own dictatorial flirtations, he is on record as supporting leaders who are acknowledged on most hands to be dictators. He palled about considerably with Fidel Castro of Cuba, whom he befriended when touring Latin America in search of support for his Bolivarian revolution. He later joined Castro in supporting the Libyan dictator Muammar al-Gaddafi against the growing insurgency in that country, stating that people opposing Gaddafi are involved in a big U.S.-led conspiracy to colonize the place.[18]

[edit] Politicization of education

Chavez froze the budgets for the traditional public universities, where a number of his political opponents are stationed,[19] and established a new system of schools under the name of "Bolivarian University." These institutions, whose criteria for admission consist largely of being able to show up to class, have a primarily political purpose: they are aimed at quickly training a large body of Qualified Professionals to, say, staff public health care centers (thus allowing Chavez to make good on his campaign promises) and engage "radical journalism" that will counter the influence of the country's Biased Neoliberal Media.[20] The curriculum there has been criticized as "thinly veiled propaganda," and concerns have been raised about how all the new college graduates (the university had 180,000 students before it graduated any) will be able to be employed in a manner fully utilizing their skills.

In an interview, the rector of the Bolivarian University confirmed that there is a direct political goal to the university's programs, as the university expects its graduates to learn commitment to the "transformation of society." The rector also responded to the concerns about the potential underemployment of the university's graduates by evading them, first by claiming that when they speak of "work" for the graduates they do not mean jobs, and secondly with a lot of the usual slop about how "our job isn't to create professionals, but to empower people."

[edit] Convoluted violence

In 2007 anti-Chávez students were fired upon by masked gunmen. Many suggested that Chávez was trying to suppress those who would vote against referenda to give him more power; on the other hand, the referenda were expected to pass easily.[21] The gunmen were identified by university officials as members of a paramilitary group loyal to Chávez.[22]

[edit] Conservatives and Chávez

Chávez became something of a liberal bogeyman to many conservatives. This ignores the fact that, other than oil, Chávez had no weapons to wield against the United States. His military was a joke and other states were starting to turn against him. However, wingnuts still treated him as an imminent danger to the United States[23] and he probably has Weapons of Mass Destruction.[24]

This fact may be why the Bush Administration did not clamor for war against Venezuela, unlike say, Iran or Syria. (Clamoring for war does not necessarily mean actually going to war.) Also, the reasons for war in Iraq simply don't exist in Venezuela.[25]

[edit] Fox News

The morons at Fox News seem to have great difficulty in understanding that there is a difference between Hugo Chávez and César Chávez.[26] Well, who can blame Fox, they are just two of that kind of people.

"I am the spirit of César Chávez."
"
Why do you look like Cesar Romero?"
"
Because you don't know what César Chávez looks like."
—The spirit of César Chávez and Homer Simpson.

[edit] TV ventures

Chávez had a television show in Venezuela, titled Aló Presidente. It essentially consists of him talking into a camera for several hours (with occasional singing and dancing), sort of like the The O'Reilly Factor, except the Factor makes a tacit acknowledgment that other views exist. And doesn't have singing and dancing. In May of 2009, Chávez broadcast his program for four days straight (with breaks).[27]

[edit] ¿Por qué no te callas?

At the 2007 Ibero-American Summit in Santiago, Chile, Chávez continuously interrupted Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's speech by denouncing José María Aznar (Zapatero's predecessor as Spanish PM) as a fascist and as someone "less human than snakes." Zapatero (widely known to be very much opposed to Aznar's policies) defended Aznar by pointing out that he had been chosen by the Spanish people as their legitimate representative. Although the organization switched off Chávez's microphone to stop him, he continued to interrupt Zapatero's speech. And then, in a glorious moment, King Juan Carlos I leaned forward, turned towards Chávez and told him "¿Por qué no te callas?" ("Why don't you [just] shut up?"). The king used familiar rather than formal Spanish, which is highly disrespectful when used outside of close personal or family relationships. Hence he spoke to him like an adult might speak towards an insolent child. This phrase soon became a meme, with T-shirts, mugs and assorted memorabilia being produced and sold everywhere in the Spanish-speaking world.

Unfortunately, Chávez never took up on the request, and it took cancer to silence him.

[edit] See also

[edit] Footnotes

  1. U.S. Relations With Venezuela, U.S. Department of State.
  2. Two sides of Chavez, one difficult legacy, The Globe and Mail
  3. Chavez demands Pope apologize for Indian comments, Reuters
  4. Venezuela's war of the airwaves, BBC
  5. Venezuela's Oil Giveaway, Time
  6. Chávez restores free home heating oil program to US poor, Christian Science Monitor
  7. New Venezuela hands Chavez wide powers, The Guardian
  8. For example, one of the powers given to the original dictators, in the Roman Republic, was the power to rule by decree.
  9. Hugo Chávez wins referendum allowing indefinite re-election, The Guardian
  10. Venezuela Raises Lending Rates in Bid to Cut Prices, Bloomberg
  11. Venezuela scrambles for food despite oil boom, The Guardian
  12. Laptop emails link Venezuela to Colombian guerrillas, The Guardian
  13. Colombia Is Flashpoint in Chávez’s Feud With U.S., The New York Times
  14. Hugo Chavez: A U.S. Weapons Test Caused The Haitian Earthquake, Business Insider
  15. US rejects Hugo Chavez remarks on Latin America cancer, BBC
  16. Chavez to shut down opposition TV, BBC
  17. Chavez trusts God and nature in power crisis, Reuters
  18. In Venezuela, Chavez tries to boost Gaddafi, Washington Post
  19. Violence and Discrimination Rise in Opposition-Controlled Venezuelan Universities
  20. Chavez Educates Masses at a University in His Image, Washington Post
  21. Lawmakers in Venezuela Approve Expanded Power for Chávez, The New York Times
  22. Mr. Chavez's Coup, Washington Post
  23. For example, Pat Robertson called for his execution.
  24. See Iraq War
  25. This raises the question, if Venezuela is antagonistic, has a weak military, but has oil, was the War in Iraq entirely about oil? Reasonable minds can differ on this question.
  26. Google Honors Cesar Chavez, Right Wing Goes Into Massive Freakout Mode
  27. 'Aló Presidente,' Are You Still Talking?, Washington Post
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