Praise for Hugo Chavez
The recent uproar over the comments made by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez before the General Assembly of the United Nations was noteworthy, but not for the reasons most American politicians or media pundits presumed. Far from being the outrage that spineless puppets of the American corporatocracy like Charlie Rangel and Nancy Pelosi claimed, Chavez' denunciation of President Bush as "the devil," and his passionate attack on America's criminal foreign policy was a heroic and courageous act, a pronouncement of rebellion against a mercilessly deceitful, exploitative, and murderous man whose regime (driven by a powerful neoconservative engine) has begun to systematically deconstruct our constitutional democracy at home while continuing to tighten its' far-reaching imperialistic Darth Vader death grip on nations who strategically and/or economically serve the purposes of its insidious figureheads.
Hugo Chavez was merely speaking the truth; a truth not often broadcast on the airwaves or printed on the pages of the increasingly consolidated mainstream media. Chavez hit the nail on the head with his assessment that Bush's speeches and policies are designed "to preserve the current pagaent of domination," and he was right on in referring to Bush's "democracy" as "the false democracy of elites." Chavez spoke the truth to the General Assembly and to the world -- and he spoke it with passion, sincerity and even a little humor.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/09/20/world/main2025874.shtml
In the hours after his speech Chavez was lambasted by a man who is usually one of Bush's biggest critics, Rep. Charles Rangel of New York. One of the proclamations that Rangel made was this: "If there's any criticism of President Bush it should be restricted to Americans (.)"
Oh really?
Does that mean that President Bush can't refer to President Ahmadinejad of Iran as "evil" or label his country as part of the "Axis of Evil?" If we are going to be even handed Mr. Rankel, then our leaders should not do what you are attacking Hugo Chavez for doing. This would seem to be only fair.
Further, in the statement from his official website Rangel stated that: "Any demeaning public attack against him is viewed by Republicans and Democrats, and all Americans, as an attack on all of us." What I would say to Rep. Rangel is : "Speak for yourself." To view an attack on Bush as an attack on myself I would first of all have to consider Bush as representing me and my interests, which he obviously does not. Further, if we as Americans were to view an attack on Bush as an attack on ourselves as Americans it would have to follow by logic that Bush represents all of us as Americans, which he clearly does not. As Chavez said, Bush's "democracy" is not real democracy, but "the false democracy of elites." Thus, Rep. Rangel's statement actually reveals his hypocrisy. It betrays the fact that his true allegiance is to the power brokers of our country; not to the "American people" he pretends to speak for.
Unlike Bush, Chavez was legitimately elected to his office and actually represents the interests of the majority of the population of his nation. Chavez won 56% of the vote in the 1998 multi-party election and then won a new six year mandate in 2000 with 59% of the vote. Chavez has kept the voters' loyalty since he was first elected and has begun to reverse years of corruption and exploitation of the Venenzuelan masses by previous ostensibly democratic governments who funnelled the country's oil wealth into the pockets of a small group of elites, and in the process kept well over half of Venezuela's 25 million people in poverty.
http://www.newstatesman.com/200510100012
Chavez has nationalized the oil industry in Venezuela and has used the money to finance many social projects which are aimed at empowering the country's poor and providing desperately needed services such as electricity, water and medical care. Through his Misions Chavez hopes to rebuild Venezuela in the image of a "participatory democracy". For example, Mision Barrio Adentro is designed to deliver medical assistance to slum-dwellers and has mobilised 20,000 Cuban doctors, dentists and their assitants. This program is being paid for through cut-price oil sales to Cuba.
Another similar program is Operation Miracle which is providing free eye care, such as cataracts surgeries, to not only Venezuelans but thousands of needy individuals throughout the Western Hemisphere. Mision Ribas provides secondary-school dropouts with a second chance through a two-year course and a small bursary, while Mision Mercal gives twelve million poorer Venezuelans access to cheap or free food.
Chavez also looks to empower his people by putting them in charge of their own programs. Talking about the important Urban Land Committees ( C.T.U.'s in Spanish) Chavez stated back in 2005 while being interviewed on the show Democracy Now! that :
"....... These committees of Urban Land are all over the country. They are in each neighborhood, poor neighborhood. You have a committee. The members of this committee should watch the whole neighborhood. And then they draft the map of the neighborhood. They go house by house and, family by family and they assess all the problems. If they lack running water or if some of the houses are unstable and they could fall down. How many children they have. The schools. the health care system in the neighborhood and so on. So these are the urban land communities." (Democracy Now!, 9/19/05)
As for his open attacks on Bush and the neocons it is essential to keep in mind that Chavez has a history with the U.S. leadership and has experienced the wrath of BushCo firsthand. It was a U.S. backed coup that attempted to remove him from office in April of 2002. For almost 48 hrs Washington was aglow with apparent victory, having ushered aspiring dictator Pedro Carmona Estanga into office after unceremoniously closing the Venezuelan Congress, dissolving the Supreme Court, and booting out the elected provincial governors and mayors. Naturally, this occured with the full support and propaganda streams provided by most of the local newspapers and television networks.
Fortunately, the majority of Venezuelans didn't take it lying down. They fought back. There were protests all over Caracas and a mass of angry citizens stormed the government palace to demand that their President, their leader be restored to his rightful position. With the help of the military guard (who were decidecly pro-Chavez), Carmona and his allies were thrown out and order was restored. This background is significant since it helps us to understand the personal connection Chavez has to the Bush regime. The 2005 statement by televangelist and Bush supporter Pat Robertson that the U.S. should assasinate Chavez obviously raised the stakes and revealed the true hatred that the Right had (and still has) for him. He is after all a man who is undoubtedly the most influential leader in Latin America today, as well as one of the world's most popular and democratic politicians.
Clearly the U.S. continues to see Chavez as a threat to their global hegemony. Perhaps this more than anything else is why politicians such as Rangel and Pelosi were so quick to jump to Bush's defense and in the process attack Chavez. Despite their rhetoric they are obviously still beholden to big business interests and lack the freedom of thought and integrity of action that a man such as Chavez has displayed. The greater fear among many Washington insiders is surely that Chavez' Bolivarian revolution will inspire other Latin American countries to enact similar reforms and thus threaten U.S. dominance in the western hemisphere. This was a fear that was present in regimes going back to Eisenhower, Kennedy and all the Cold War presidents. It is the "viral theory"; the premise that bred U.S. backed coups in Guatemala and Chile. This time however, Chavez has the leverage of oil. Venezuela has the largest proven oil reserves outside the Middle East, and he has used his petrodollars to help other likeminded politicians win elective office. Diplomatically speaking, he has formed an alliance with Iran, while both Spain and Russia are selling Chavez guns and ships. He is working hard to build relationships around the globe, and for the most part has succeeded. When staring down the schoolyard bully it is good to have alot of friends, which Chavez seems to have.
In the past fews days Condeleeza Rice has reportedly dedicated herself to keeping Venezuela off the Security Council. She has made this her mission. Unlike Chavez' mission, which is born of hope, this U.S. mission is born of fear. Fear is a word that Chavez doesn't respond to -- it is simply not in his vocabulary. But this is something that petty, cowardly people like Nancy Pelosi and Charles Rangel will never understand.
