Powell has made very pointed remarks about Chavez and his understanding of democracy. The Bush adm. has expressed concern about Chavez's supporters, his communist ties and anti-American comments. Christopher Dodd fought to keep Bush's nominee, Otto Juan Reich, from getting a hearing on his nomination as Sec. for Western Hemisphere Affairs. Over Christmas break, Bush finally gave him a recess appointment. Reich has been extremely outspoken about Castro and communism. He knows the people, the politics and the threat in this area very well.
The U.S. warned Americans about traveling to the Colombia-Venezuela border because of FARC activities. Powell had said Reich, a former ambassador to Venezuela, was the most important among the State Department's unconfirmed nominees. The Bush adm has made it clear they want to make inroads in this hemisphere. Bush has outlined an initiative to help poor nations that respect human rights, root out corruption, open their markets, and have education and health care systems. Chavez has made it quite plain he wants Venezuela to be the anti-American center and base of operations in this hemisphere.
Chavez is actively working to rally other countries to join him to counter Bush's initiative and strengthen his Bolivarian Revolution. Venezuela's oil is important to the world and the U.S. imports a lot of oil. I'm surprised Daschle, Gephardt and others on Capital Hill aren't swinging by to pat him on the back. Those congresscritters who are going to Cuba to be wined and dined by Castro ought to consider swinging by Venezuela on their communist pilgrimage to cheer Hugo on.
(April 13, 2002)The Washington Post - Washington Post Chavez's Gloomy Legacy for The Left Now Colombia's government-sanctioned guerrilla haven is gone. So is Chavez after three tumultuous years of leftist agitating, class warfare and a spasm of violence on the streets of this capital, suggesting that leftist revolutions waged even by elected leaders are not the choice of a region still highly susceptible to populist appeals. Or at least not the way Chavez carries out revolutions.
"The lesson here is that charismatic demagogues can still win elections in poor countries," said Anibal Romero, a political science professor at Simon Bolivar University here. "The economic and social instability is still with us. The field is still open for the successful appearance of these figures that, by distorting reality and securing the hearts and minds of the uneducated,win elections."
…………..Part of the problem is the way people such as Chavez, who had been on the outside of a corrupt two-party lock on power for years, play the game once they take office. After his failed 1992 coup, Chavez served a two-year prison sentence and then began a journey of discovery on horseback across Venezuela's countryside. He was accompanied by an Argentine neo-fascist, Norberto Ceresole, who believed that a leader should rule with the army at his side.
After his election, Chavez set out to weaken Venezuela's institutions, first by engineering a new constitution that bolstered his power and then by appointing loyal military officers to run its independent agencies. Chavez set out to run a country with a sophisticated economy, based primarily on its vast oil reserves, as a one-man show. He employed the military to carry out social projects, and passed by fiat such important legislation as a land reform measure that would confiscate private property. [End Excerpt]
I am not pro-Chavez. I am anti-US government meddling designed to usher in more IMF "reforms" and enrich the insiders in the oil industry at the expense of the "peasants."
Reich failed-again.