The man who would free us all
After a decade, Chávez is anything but a liberator
Published December 9, Buenos Aires Herald.
Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez would like us to think that over the past decade he has been playing a pivotal role in uniting Latin America. Who knows, perhaps late at night, as he watches reruns of his speeches on any of a range of state-run TV-channels, Chávez may well be wondering if he isn't already a latter day Simón Bolívar, liberating his fellow Latin Americans from the yoke of Yankee Imperialism.
Although the former coup plotter can certainly be credited with putting the plight of the poor firmly on the political agenda, that hardly makes him a symbol for regional harmony. In fact, a number of experts in the region, consulted for this column agreed that since first winning elections on December 8 1998, Chávez has done more to foment discord and division among states in the region than he ever did to unite those freed by Bolívar´s sword.
Over the years, the Bolivarian Revolution has become a byword for confrontation. We've grown used to the way Chávez blasts his enemies with fiery rhetoric, while supplying allies with suitcases full of oil dollars. The toxic combination more often than not results in diplomatic conflicts and frayed relations between Venezuela and her neighbours.
"I´m very critical of the Chavez legacy so far," says Carlos Malamud, leading Latin America investigator for the Elcano Institute in Madrid. He believes that Chávez has done more to divide than to unite people in Latin America and cites as an example conflicts between Venezuela and Chile.
Chávez once called the Chilean senate "fascist" and this year insults were hurled at Chilean ministers while Venezuela expelled the Chilean director of Human Rights Watch.
Peru and Mexico can vouch for Chavez' meddling. In both countries Venezuela's head of state actively supported a presidential candidate during elections. Unfortunately for the candidates Chavez' blessing became a kiss of death, as both Ollanta Humala in Peru and Andrés Manuel López Obrador in México dived in the polls following the Bolivarian endorsement.
The Venezuelan Moises Naím agrees. "Chávez is responsible fragmenting the continent and creating two blocks of nations," says the former minister for Trade and Industry and now editor of Foreign Policy magazine.
On the one hand he sees a group of countries led by Venezuela and including Bolivia, Nicaragua and Cuba and, to a lesser extent, Ecuador, Paraguay, Argentina and several Caribbean states. On the other hand a block consisting of and Chile and Peru and Colombia who want nothing to do with Chávez and Mexico and Brazil who dispute Venezuela´s regional leadership.
In pushing his brand of socialism in other countries Chávez has also done much to undermine the working of democracy, claims Naím. "Chávez method of undermining democracy has been copied by other governments," the former minister explains. "He wins elections with the purpose of undermining the checks and balances of the system, essentially using democracy to subvert democracy. That strategy has been copied almost to the letter by Bolivia and Ecuador."
To aid his allies in power or to help groups that Chávez feels should be in control he has spent billions of Venezuela's oil money. Just how much is still unclear because of the many different forms the financing takes - how many Antonini Wilsons are there that we don't know about? - but estimates range upwards of 10 billion dollars.
To be fair, that massive spending has had some positive results. "In using his largesse to spread regional influence, Chávez has ended up helping some cash-strapped governments and has contributed to the overall drop in poverty levels," Michael Shifter of the Inter American Dialogue, wrote me in an email.
But those generous gifts may also have made poorer nations dependant on Venezuela. According to Carlos Malamud, Chávez has created a clientist system in the region. "Especially Bolivia and Nicaragua have put all their eggs in one basket as far as Chavez is concerned," Malamud says.
Others, such as Cuba, are quickly starting to diversify as they initiate dealings with for instance Russia and China. The aid has done little to adress long term tasks of fundamental reform, according to Michael Shifter
Aside from the opaque motifs for such generosity, there is serious concern the abrupt fall in oil prices – now at less than 40 dollars - will at some point force a severe cut in Venezuela's aid spending, causing a deepening of the economic crisis already being felt in many of the receiving nations.
Such a cut would also reveal the true acceptance of Bolivarian socialism, Naím thinks. "The test for Chavez will be if he can maintain his alliance while the price of oil is so low. We should see whether the popularity his ideas receive abroad depends on the fact that they are accompanied with large subsidies. Will they still remain popular without the oil sponsored subsidy?"
It's too early to tell now, but after ten years of Hugo Chávez the divisive and harmful nature of chavismo has become clear enough. The results of November's regional elections in Venezuela suggest that even at home, many are becoming weary of the former colonel at the helm.
Chávez himself though shows no sign of tiring from his own rule and has announced his plans to rule until 2021. The constitutional rewrite to make that possible will be submitted to referendum in February.
To many across the region that may sound like a recipe for dictatorship, but Chavez too, has his supporters. Many of them, such as Evel Petrini of the Argentine rights group Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, will be rooting for the man they consider a modern Liberator. "Chávez has shown us that a revolution without weapons is possible," says Petrini. "He´s a beacon of light that proves that a government for the people can exist."
Published December 9, Buenos Aires Herald.
Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez would like us to think that over the past decade he has been playing a pivotal role in uniting Latin America. Who knows, perhaps late at night, as he watches reruns of his speeches on any of a range of state-run TV-channels, Chávez may well be wondering if he isn't already a latter day Simón Bolívar, liberating his fellow Latin Americans from the yoke of Yankee Imperialism.
Although the former coup plotter can certainly be credited with putting the plight of the poor firmly on the political agenda, that hardly makes him a symbol for regional harmony. In fact, a number of experts in the region, consulted for this column agreed that since first winning elections on December 8 1998, Chávez has done more to foment discord and division among states in the region than he ever did to unite those freed by Bolívar´s sword.
Over the years, the Bolivarian Revolution has become a byword for confrontation. We've grown used to the way Chávez blasts his enemies with fiery rhetoric, while supplying allies with suitcases full of oil dollars. The toxic combination more often than not results in diplomatic conflicts and frayed relations between Venezuela and her neighbours.
"I´m very critical of the Chavez legacy so far," says Carlos Malamud, leading Latin America investigator for the Elcano Institute in Madrid. He believes that Chávez has done more to divide than to unite people in Latin America and cites as an example conflicts between Venezuela and Chile.
Chávez once called the Chilean senate "fascist" and this year insults were hurled at Chilean ministers while Venezuela expelled the Chilean director of Human Rights Watch.
Peru and Mexico can vouch for Chavez' meddling. In both countries Venezuela's head of state actively supported a presidential candidate during elections. Unfortunately for the candidates Chavez' blessing became a kiss of death, as both Ollanta Humala in Peru and Andrés Manuel López Obrador in México dived in the polls following the Bolivarian endorsement.
The Venezuelan Moises Naím agrees. "Chávez is responsible fragmenting the continent and creating two blocks of nations," says the former minister for Trade and Industry and now editor of Foreign Policy magazine.
On the one hand he sees a group of countries led by Venezuela and including Bolivia, Nicaragua and Cuba and, to a lesser extent, Ecuador, Paraguay, Argentina and several Caribbean states. On the other hand a block consisting of and Chile and Peru and Colombia who want nothing to do with Chávez and Mexico and Brazil who dispute Venezuela´s regional leadership.
In pushing his brand of socialism in other countries Chávez has also done much to undermine the working of democracy, claims Naím. "Chávez method of undermining democracy has been copied by other governments," the former minister explains. "He wins elections with the purpose of undermining the checks and balances of the system, essentially using democracy to subvert democracy. That strategy has been copied almost to the letter by Bolivia and Ecuador."
To aid his allies in power or to help groups that Chávez feels should be in control he has spent billions of Venezuela's oil money. Just how much is still unclear because of the many different forms the financing takes - how many Antonini Wilsons are there that we don't know about? - but estimates range upwards of 10 billion dollars.
To be fair, that massive spending has had some positive results. "In using his largesse to spread regional influence, Chávez has ended up helping some cash-strapped governments and has contributed to the overall drop in poverty levels," Michael Shifter of the Inter American Dialogue, wrote me in an email.
But those generous gifts may also have made poorer nations dependant on Venezuela. According to Carlos Malamud, Chávez has created a clientist system in the region. "Especially Bolivia and Nicaragua have put all their eggs in one basket as far as Chavez is concerned," Malamud says.
Others, such as Cuba, are quickly starting to diversify as they initiate dealings with for instance Russia and China. The aid has done little to adress long term tasks of fundamental reform, according to Michael Shifter
Aside from the opaque motifs for such generosity, there is serious concern the abrupt fall in oil prices – now at less than 40 dollars - will at some point force a severe cut in Venezuela's aid spending, causing a deepening of the economic crisis already being felt in many of the receiving nations.
Such a cut would also reveal the true acceptance of Bolivarian socialism, Naím thinks. "The test for Chavez will be if he can maintain his alliance while the price of oil is so low. We should see whether the popularity his ideas receive abroad depends on the fact that they are accompanied with large subsidies. Will they still remain popular without the oil sponsored subsidy?"
It's too early to tell now, but after ten years of Hugo Chávez the divisive and harmful nature of chavismo has become clear enough. The results of November's regional elections in Venezuela suggest that even at home, many are becoming weary of the former colonel at the helm.
Chávez himself though shows no sign of tiring from his own rule and has announced his plans to rule until 2021. The constitutional rewrite to make that possible will be submitted to referendum in February.
To many across the region that may sound like a recipe for dictatorship, but Chavez too, has his supporters. Many of them, such as Evel Petrini of the Argentine rights group Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, will be rooting for the man they consider a modern Liberator. "Chávez has shown us that a revolution without weapons is possible," says Petrini. "He´s a beacon of light that proves that a government for the people can exist."
posted by PIT @ 10:08 AM
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