On Sunday night, shortly after he handily won reelection, Hugo Chavez, Venezuela's controversial President-cum-dictator surprised the world in a speech to his constituents by announcing, "The Kingdom of Christ is the kingdom of love, of peace; the kingdom of justice, of solidarity, brotherhood, the kingdom of socialism. This is the kingdom of the future of Venezuela." Not exactly the words one expects to hear from the mouth of a socialist.
Born into a Catholic family, Chávez has never displayed much religious fervor until recently. Indeed, he has criticized the Venezuelan Catholic heirarchy in the past for its support of what he calls the "traditional oligarchy," and he is known to have once said he is "neither Christian nor Catholic." But Venezuela is a majority Catholic country, as are most Latin American nations, and Catholic traditions are deeply rooted throughout the region, which could explain Chávez' bizarre conflation of Christ with a political philosophy which, in most of the rest of the world, is atheistic, or at least, agnostic.
In keeping with his newfound religious fervor, Chávez continues to refer to President Bush as "the Devil," and recently told a US diplomat, "I'm ready to talk, but if you're going to talk to the devil, you have to have strong morals, because the devil has many ways to tempt you." Such pronouncements lend Chávez a clownish air, but it would be a grave mistake for the US to dismiss him as such.
Chávez has repeatedly stated his intention to spread his socialist "Bolivarian Revolution" to the rest of the hemisphere, and he is backing his words up with petrodollars; subsidizing Cuba with more than $2 billion a year, and forging strong ties with the newly elected leftist presidents of Ecuador and Nicaragua. His mentoring of Evo Morales, leftist president of Bolivia is ongoing. He is also seeking to broaden his relationship with Brazil and Argentina, saying they, along with Venezuela, should become the "axis of a new economic, political and military bloc."
With almost eight years in power under his belt, Chávez has already drastically changed the political and sociological landscape of Venezuela. Using the vast amount of oil revenue at his disposal since his nationalization of Venezuela's oil industry, he has created a welfare state unparalleled in the region. Consolidating his hold on education (and the minds of the people), Chávez has announced the establishment of a new national education curriculum which includes educating students away from "individualism" and toward "collectivism."
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - moonraven
The most obvious folly to be watched out for here is the mushroom-like proliferation of blogs by folks without journalistic credentials and ethics and absolutely zero knowledge of or information about what is really happening in Latin America who are continuing to beat their chests about what the US can do to "maintain" its influence in the region by trying to smear the most democratic AND influential leader in the hemisphere, Hugo Chavez.
Sadly, this is one of those blogs.
2 - Franco
Clavos,
BRAVO! Well Said.
I see that your first guest walks in the path of Martha Wolfe Raymonds foot steps. I do not think though they are in her class, but sould be interesting none the less.
Looking forward to this.
Franco
3 - Dave Nalle
Moonraven, nice to see you come in and make an absolute fool of yourself by describing Clavos as having "zero knowledge of or information about what is really happening in Latin America." But I doubt that the fact that he's intimately familiar with the region would actually make any difference to you. You'd find some other way to denigrate him solely because he hasn't been fooled by Chavez the way that you have chosen to be.
BTW, good piece, Clavos. I was going to write something on the election in Venezuela - I found some fantastic quotes from zombielike government stooges praising Chavez - but you did so well the topic is pretty much put to rest.
Dave
4 - troll
well presented but I do wish the author had spent some effort creating links to sources as por ejemplo:
*More ominously, he has proposed to eliminate term limits, setting himself up for a Haitian style "president for life" regime*
make it easy for us slobs
I fear that with Chavez we will get to watch the saying - 'the road to hell is paved with good intentions' proven true once again
5 - Clavos
moonraven,
I have spent most of my life growing up in, living in, and working in Latin America. I'm all too painfully aware of the widespread poverty in the region, and also of the great disparity between the tiny ruling classes in each country and the poor. It is for that reason, I advocate that the US help LatAm countries in their development, rather than simply send aid, as we have in the past.
As for my knowledge of what is going on in the region: I have friends in almost every country with whom I correspond on a regular basis; I speak Spanish (it's actually my first language), and I regularly read the major LatAm newspapers.
Please tell me where I "smeared" Chávez in this article. Virtually everything in quotes is something he said, either in his speech Sunday night, or recently.
And finally, I'm also interested in knowing how you can justify judging my ethics based on what you read in this this article?
6 - Clavos
¡Gracias, Dave! Much appreciated, coming from you.
troll, gracias as well, and point taken; I should have provided some links. Yours, BTW, is an excellent one, thanks.
Y Franco: Muy agradecido. ¿Sigues en Chile?
7 - Franco
#1 " moonraven
moonraven sez…
The most obvious folly to be watched out for here is the mushroom-like proliferation of blogs by folks without journalistic credentials
This assertion is faults. Since when did having journalistic credentials over a blogger, or even the man in the street, make one an intelligent seer and speaker of truth?
moonraven sez…
absolutely zero knowledge of or information about what is really happening in Latin America.
This assertion is faults. Not only dose the publisher of this article, Clavos, happen to know more about Latin American and more what he is talking about then you do, he has spend half of his live living in Latin America. Then there is me. I know Latin America, I live in Chile and we are watching Hugo with both eyes wide open my friend.
moonraven sez…
what the US can do to "maintain" its influence in the region by trying to smear the most democratic AND influential leader in the hemisphere, Hugo Chavez.
This assertion is faults. The US does not smear Hugo in efforts to maintain its influences in Latin America. It is in fact exactly the other way around. Hugo needs to try and smear the US in his attempt to influence Latin America away from the US. His means will be to buy his way into attempts at more influence. Sounds a little capitalist to me. But hell, what do I know, I don’t have journalistic credentials
8 - Franco
#4 " troll
as por ejemplo
I didn’t know you spoke español. Bravo!
9 - troll
(Franco - living in the US southwest I can smell the cafe and despite a proven crappy language learning ability I'm working on it...again)
10 - Franco
moonraven,
Jumping into a pool of blogcritics with teeth from first hand knowledge and experience on this topic and having your ass ripped apart, is I’m sure, not a pleasant experience.
I believe everyone has something important to say and contribute to any discussion/debate. Therefor I would encourage you to rejoin this blog and voice your views and opinions, but obviously doing so from a more sound and logical stand point in presenting them. Just a thought.
11 - Jerry
Franco,
I think Moonraven may have graduated from the Jimmy Carter school of politics.
12 - Franco
#11 " Jerry
Hi Jerry,
It’s probably worse then that, but until he offers up something other then block paragraph spam , we’ll never know.
But now that you mention Jimmy Carter, I wonder what “two cents” has he been offering up on this lately.
13 - troll
let's see....
Clavos says - *Venezuela is a majority Catholic country, as are most Latin American nations, and Catholic traditions are deeply rooted throughout the region, which could explain Chávez' bizarre conflation of Christ with a political philosophy which, in most of the rest of the world, is atheistic, or at least, agnostic.*
there is nothing new about the 'Marxist' Chavez's appeal to religion - in fact 'leftist' movements throughout South America have been based on a coalition of atheists and Christian humanists...there were many observant Catholics in the Sandinista movement
for more on this google up 'liberation theology'
14 - Georgio
I liked your article Clavos because I have been watching Hugo with interest because I enjoy watching the way he tells Bush off...I have zero knowledge of Latin America but have always why we can't have better relations with our neighbors..how the hell do we expect to influence the Islam region when we can't even have good relations with our neighbors..I don't know if Socialism works or not for Venezuela but the extreme difference between rich and poor isn't right either..Not talking to Castro or Hugo is in my opinion just as stupid as not talking to Iran or NK..
15 - Franco
Clavos,
Latin America for the most part is a poor region, and as such is fertile ground for the siren song of the socialist "Bolivarian Revolution." If we want to maintain our influence in the region, we need to help the Latin American countries to develop their potential in a meaningful way.
That is the heart of it all right there in those two sentences.
As I, a gringo born and rased on S. California, sit her living and working in Chile writing this, I am racking my brain for meaningful ideas for helping Latin America develop their potential, I am ashamed to say that they do not come easily. The world over all is complex and growing smaller everyday, which also forces more complexity into it.
Clavos, can you help me rack my brain.
Franco
16 - Clavos
Franco,
You present a real challenge with that question.
I don't have any specifics in mind; if I did, I would be trying to run for President, or at the very least trying to aim for Dr. Rice's job.
What I as a US citizen would like to see is the government structuring our aid to the region along the lines of the old cliche that says, "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach him to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime," rather than continue with the same old methods of giving money and foodstuffs, which only "feed for a day" if they even actually get to the people they're intended to help.
We've certainly been very good, with the Army's School Of The Americas, at teaching them how to make war on each other; why can't we set up similar programs to teach them to how stabilize and grow their economies, improve their agriculture and infrastructure, etc?
Mexico, for example has made much progress with its economy in recent years; not because of direct assistance from the US, but because they have had a number of US trained economists in key government positions (including the presidency) for a number of years. Those economists have gradually moved Mexico away from its traditional protectionist mode into a more open ambience which encourages foreign investment.
As a result, their economy is today one of the stronger ones in Latin America (though it certainly has a long way to go; but the point is, they're making progress).
This is the kind of direction our regional assistance programs should be taking, IMO.
17 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
Clavos,
Nice job with the article. I might have written it from a slightly different slant, but you know the region far better than I could ever pretend to.
From what little I can see, the guy may have wobbled on the side of populism for a while, but it appears that he is a totalitarian Jew-hating bastard who worships a Jew - always an interesting combination.
18 - Franco
#17 " Clavos
You brought some very good points up.
If we want to maintain our influence in the region.........maybe we have to learn the art of romance and dancing again.
You know the scenario in a dating relationship of two people when one becomes a bit too possessive of the other, caused by either their own insecurities, or their impatience, or to the cleaver political aloofness of the other in this game of love. The latter is the point I want to carry forward.
What would happen if the US foreign policy was to shift away from appearing to try to police and or dominate states and adapted the opposite approach of the skillful, yet real romantic art, of political aloofness with states we want to influence most. Let those states watch us dancing with our other friends and see how beneficial and rewarding those relationships are. Some of those states outside the party will want to get in, some sooner then others, but the powerful attraction that emanates from a women playing it a bit aloof has been the downfall of a many a good men. Why wouldn’t this work for states as well.
Nobody is holding sanctions over someone’s head, if there not dancing with us were not trading with them anyway. If some of our other dance partners trade with them that is their business. Nobody is using military force. If their not dancing with us we won't protect them, they are some other state dance partners responsibly. They don’t have to come to our dance and if they don’t want to. That is the way it should be.
If we really have the greatest dance hall going, which I still believe we do, as do so many all over the world even if it is unpopular to admit it, inside they know our dance hall offers the greatest freedoms and opportunities the world has ever known.
Getting our attractiveness back again is not impossible. Getting states re-attracted to us isn’t either. When they want into the dance they know they have to dress for it. Then when we were dancing again we could help develop their potential in a meaningful way. Meaningful is ways you already have racked your brain to come up with and they are good ones.
Don’t ya think we could use a couple of cool black cats in the Whitehorse. Clavos for President!
19 - moonraven
1. My ass is perfectly intact--not any of you wannabe bloggers has presented a single fact in regard to Venezuela. Not one. Nor any links to support your OPINIONS. Regarding asses, you might consider practicing the art of finding one's own.
2. The US has no right whatsoever to influence the politics of Latin America. The Monroe Doctrine was just another gringo bully-on-the-corner jingoist assertion--directed specifically at Great Britain. Latin America is not the US's back patio, and the image itself is highly offensive to those of us who live there.
3. If Clavos had journalist credentials and ethics, he would know that just making something up is not journalism. Admittedly, operations such as Fox News have so debased the concept of journalism that now everyone in the street thinks he/she should be editing the New York Times. That is a symptom of the abrupt plummeting of reportage standards and the substition of propaganda for information. We have a saying in Spanish: "Zapatero, a sus zapatos". In this context it would mean "Boat salesman, sell boats."
4. Chavez has made it perfectly clear that he couldn't care less about whether the US wants to engage him in dialog or not. He has other fish to fry: the realization of Bolivar's dream of integration of South America.
As I type, if it were a clear day instead of an overcast one, I would be able to see Iran on the other side of the gulf. There's a US navy base on this little island I am visiting. If the US government persists in its refusal to engage the up-and-coming countries in a dialog, and bombs Tehran, the navy base here will be the number one short-range target.
Guess I had better start packing my bags....
20 - moonraven
I don't know whose pipedream this quote came from:
"Mexico, for example has made much progress with its economy in recent years; not because of direct assistance from the US, but because they have had a number of US trained economists in key government positions (including the presidency) for a number of years. Those economists have gradually moved Mexico away from its traditional protectionist mode into a more open ambience which encourages foreign investment."
Mexico is on the brink of another civil war--in large part due to the complete indifference of the PAN government during the past 6 years to promote the economy for anyone except their relatives and cronies.
Poverty statistics are always highly suspect in Mexico--and the Fox government sat on last year's figures until after the controversial July election--the most optimistic of the government groups places poverty at 47% in 2005--a full 10 points above that of Venezuela.
Yes, neo-liberalism has devastated the economy of Mexico--which is why 500,000 folks are forced to leave their country every year to cross the border to the US and work for jobs that--according to ex-president Fox "even blacks won't do".
Foreign investment in Mexico means sweatshops where folks work 12 hours a day for less than 5 dollars (a day--not an hour) and the goods and PROFITS are exported to the country of origin of the company. It also means a banking industry with all but one bank (Banorte) being owned by foreign capital and usuury rates upwards of 50% for credit card holders.
In 1810 Mexico revolted against the Spanish and the War of Independence began.
In 1910 Mexico revolted against Porfirio Diaz after 30 plus years of dictatorship and the Mexico Revolution began.
We are very close to 2010. Given the polarization created by the PAN government, maybe it will come early.
Zapata vive, la lucha sigue.
21 - Clavos
Welcome back, Martita.
You didn't add anything new or substantive to your previous unfounded fulminations, so I'll not waste time responding to this new set (which is actually not new at all; simply a rehash of your crap from a couple of months ago), except to point out that, neither in the article nor in my comments have I advocated "engaging Chavez in dialogue"; my focus was and is on the nations which are recoiling from Chávez' brand of neo-communism.
Anyway, I see you finally made it over to the Middle East, did you remember to take your burkha?
22 - troll
moonraver - does it not concern you that Chavez talks like he intends to push for alterations in the V constitution to avoid having to step down - ?
good people throughout history have been overcome by hubris and seduced by power...it looks to me like Chavez is going down this path
23 - troll
btw - you seem to miss the point of blogging which in large part is to enable 'shoe salesmen' to express their views
24 - Franco
#19 " moonraven
moonraven sez…
The US has no right whatsoever to influence the politics of Latin America.
Moonraven did not finish this sentence which says, “But Chavez has every right to influence the politics of other Latin American states.
Here is another classic and embarrassingly obvious “New Left” concept blatantly being asserted more and more.
Now for anyone thinking I am putting words in moonravens mouth, bullshit, just ask moony if he/she agrees.
25 - Clavos
Franco,
Moonraving is our old friend Marthe. See the passage in her #20 about being in the Middle East.
Plus, the whole style (?) of the writing is the same as it was a couple of months ago, and she's rehashing the same tired old points we already refuted back then.
La vieja ha vuelto.