So long after Che Guevara and Sandino, does charismatic Hugo Chávez Frias steal the Latin-American radical scene.
Big news. 46-year enduring Cuban dictator Fidel Castro might as well escape the 'special period' following the collapse of former Soviet Union. Both socialists, broadcasting long speeches through national networks and keen on publicly insulting the US president, making allies with governments with a questionable reputation and boycotting prized international meetings, Cuba and Venezuela now form an 'axis of solidarity (or an 'axis of subversion', depending on the version) in the Western hemisphere.
Chávez's hatred for what he perceives as US 'neoliberalism, imperalism and hegemony' led him to diversify the economic links and to seek to create a stronger and more integrated trade zone in South America, through a series of commercial ties constituting his Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas to counter the FTAA, which is currently rendered less probable mainly due to a disagreement between US Secretary of State Condelezza Rice and Brazilian president Lula de Silva. This new agreement now includes Venezuela and Cuba, and implies a transfer of some 80,000 highly-subsidized oil barrels and consumer commodities from the former to the latter in exchange for doctors, teachers and other professionals, and technology.
But a significant difference between Castro and Chávez is that the latter, at least for the moment, has formal democratic backing from his people. Starting a career in the military and revolted at the sight of the dire effects of the World Bank's Structural Adjustment Programs during the late 1980s, Colonel Chávez attempted a coup against President Pérez, broadly recognized as leading a very corrupt and bloated administration. After spending two years in penitentiary, he campaigned as the civilian leader of a new party in favor of serious amendments to the republic's constitution, and won as head of state in 1998 with nearly 60% of the vote.
Since the charismatic leader started running Venezuela, observers noticed an alarming concentration of power in his own hands; he appointed loyal allies to top position of the National Electoral Council, as he gradually restricted freedom of press, hired a consultant to elaborate a black list of dissident citizens, and as he diverted public funds from the Central Bank to less accountable coffers whose transactions remain at his own discretion. The law passed in the year 2000 allowing him to rule by decree for a limited period of time, and enhanced the tensions among some groups that feared dictatorship. This stimulated the eruption in 2001 of a huge strike involving business and petroleum lobbies.
Time were not getting calmer in Venezuela as the US staged a coup to replace Chávez, but a following contested recall referendum that was nevertheless approved by the Organization of American States (OAS) put him back in power in less than 48 hours, probably because of the previous measures directed at making politics more participatory by issuing crucial ID cards for the poor and by bringing the pools to their neighborhoods.
In his life-long dedication to his country's poorest, two literacy-enhancement schemes based on Paulo Freire's teachings, Mission Robinson and Mission Sucre, have been put forward for allowing all Venezuelans to be capable to read their country's constitution and to understand their rights as citizens. The government is also involved in a land reform policy known as Plan Zamora, whose objective is to boost standards of living for small peasants and farm collectives and to slow down urbanization rates through a set of land rights.
At the moment, Venezuela is unfortunately spending money that it does not have; it has remained as the almost only Latin American country with double-digit inflation (25% plus) and extremely high unemployment (17% and higher), and Chávez has doubled the national debt during the length of his seven-year rule. Until 1980, Venezuela was the world's fastest growing economy in the 20th century. Today, its income per capita in real terms is at the same level it was in 1962, as the president is undertaking a sort of New Deal to face increasing levels of crime and unrest.
Will a war be the real solution for Chávez as it was for Roosevelt back in the 1930s?
A war with the country's number one trading partner is currently certainly in place, but citizens around the world are left with the question as to the eventual outcomes of upsetting the 'superman in Washington.' Besides threatening the leader's physical integrity, such a combat will force its government to find new inventive ways to target poverty elimination, ideas which however do not seem to be missing, and who, coupled with patience, constancy and a lot of work and conscience which are necessary for the revolution, might free Latin America from the intrusion of the United States, just like Bolívar freed it from Spain almost 175 years ago.
SOURCES
“Why Hugo Chávez is an Illegitimate President.” Gustavo Coronel, in www.vcrisis.com
“Opposition to U.S. Makes Chavez a Hero to Many.” Juan Forero, New York Times. Late Edition (East Coast)). New York, N.Y.: Jun 1, 2005. pg.A.4
“Leaders: Venezuela's oil-rich troublemaker; Latin America and the United States.” The Economist, London: May 14, 2005. Vol.375, Iss.8426; pg.10
Hugo Chávez's speech at the Porto Alegre World Social Forum, 30/01/05.
Castro, Chavez Relish 'Axis of Subversion' Label, Anthony Boadle, Havana, on http://canf.org
“Cuba, Venezuela moving forward on strengthening bilateral ties.” Mar Marin, EFE, on www.latinpetroleum.com
“Que piensa Chavez.” Néstor Francia, Ediciones del Autor, 2003, 118 p.
“Alerta que Camina : Los Bolivarianos hoy en Nuestra America.” Fernando Ramon Bossi, Ediciones Emancipacion, 2003, 155 pages.
“VENEZUELA: Collaboration deepens with Cuba.” Marce Cameron, 08/06/05 on http://www.greenleft.org.au
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