Is
Chavez in America's crosshairs?
LINDA
MCQUAIG
The
president of Venezuela was addressing an International Women's Day gathering in
Caracas last week, when he broke into song. The overflow crowd, familiar with
their exuberant president's penchant for singing popular songs when the spirit
moves him, went wild, chanting for more. He obliged.
Sitting in the audience, I was struck by the emotional connection between the
crowd and Hugo Chavez democratically elected president, revolutionary style
leader, champion of Venezuela's poor, scourge of Venezuela's rich, and, some
say, next on Washington's hit list.
Last month, Haiti's democratically elected government was overthrown in a
coup orchestrated by Haiti's wealthy elite, with apparent support from
Washington. That has fueled speculation Washington will encourage a similar coup
in Venezuela, where the well-to-do are itching for an opportunity to overthrow
Chavez.
In fact, they've already overthrown him once. In April, 2002, an armed faction
led by the head of the local chamber of commerce stormed the presidential palace
and took Chavez prisoner.
"Washington applauded," Chavez recalled during an interview at the
presidential palace last week. "The American ambassador came here and
supported the coup."
But Chavez regained power in 48 hours, after hundreds of thousands of
Venezuelans took to the streets demanding his return.
This country of 23 million remains fiercely divided, mostly along class lines.
The opposition, led by the wealthy elite, has 3.4 million signatures on a
petition to recall Chavez, but a court-appointed commission has questioned 1.5
million of those signatures. The matter is under review, with the support of
international agencies.
It's not surprising the well-to-do hate Chavez who, in the past five years, has
made an aggressive assault against their long-entrenched privileges. For
decades, they effectively ruled Venezuela, maintaining close ties with U.S.
corporate interests and siphoning off billions of dollars in revenues from the
state-owned oil company to support their lavish lifestyles.
In an upscale pastry shop, a fashionably dressed young man, seeing that I'm a
foreigner, volunteers how Chavez has destroyed Venezuela. Meanwhile, a bellhop
at the hotel beams when the president's name is mentioned: "Ese es el
hombre!" (He's the man!)
Chavez, who comes from humble roots as the child of black and Indian parents,
has made himself wildly popular among the poor more than 60 per cent of the
population by redirecting the country's oil revenues to public health care
and education.
A huge building that served as headquarters for corrupt oil officials has been
turned into a free university for the poor, with students brought in by bus from
their barrios.
The elite owns all the private TV stations, which seem to run nothing but
reports on Hollywood celebrities and the tyranny of Chavez. CNN picks up its
Venezuelan footage from these stations, which explains why almost everything
North Americans learn about Venezuela is negative. (A recent Globe and Mail
editorial, titled "The obstinate Chavez," suggested he should learn a
lesson from the coup in Haiti, and posed the question: "Doesn't Hugo Chavez
watch CNN?" presumably the Globe's main information source.)
There's no question that what's going on in Venezuela is a radical experiment in
popular democracy.
After his election in 1998, Chavez won overwhelming support in a referendum on
his proposal to write a new constitution.
An assembly was elected to draft the new constitution, which includes strong
protections for women's rights and a ban on privatizing the nation's oil. Copies
of the easy-to-read constitution are sold on street corners.
But the ban on oil privatization has infuriated Washington as has Chavez's
strong critique of America's trade and development policies.
Chavez has been a leading force among a growing group of developing countries
that rejects the "Washington consensus" for concentrating too much
power in corporations and eroding the sovereignty of nations.
"We are creating an alternative model to globalization," he says,
noting that the developing world's struggle began with revolutionary leaders
particularly his hero, Simon Bolivar 200 years ago.
Chavez knows Washington is hostile, but is hoping for Canadian support:
"Canada can play a very important role in Latin America."
He had a good rapport with former prime minister Jean Chrιtien, with whom he
recalls throwing snowballs.
He crossed paths but no more with Paul Martin in January at the summit
in Monterrey, Mexico.
Venezuela could well become another litmus test for Martin: Will he stand up for
democratically elected governments, even ones in Washington's bad books?
In the case of Haiti, Martin went along with Washington, accepting the line that
Haiti's democracy was a failed regime not worth defending.
Venezuela will be a tougher test, with much higher stakes. It's a vibrant
democracy but it's sitting on a tonne of oil.
How can we manifest peace on
earth if we do not include everyone (all races, all nations, all religions, both
sexes) in our vision of Peace?
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