Opinion
- Editorial- Commentary
The
Trinidad Express:
Chavez can come better than
that
Editorial
VENEZUELAN President Hugo Chavez, the charismatic
but combative leader bent on remodelling development
in his country and indeed in much of Latin America
in the image of his hero the late revolutionary
leader Simon Bolivar, continues to pick fights
with the United States.
In his bid to alter the structure of Venezuelan
society and to bring the forces of production in
that country more effectively under his orbit,
President Chavez has given a number of the major
foreign oil companies ultimatums concerning their
share-holding. Some have complied, others have
not.
And
as part of his continuing attempts to whip up
support for his controversial proposals on changing
the balance of power in the Latin American sub-region,
President Chavez makes constant references to what
he sees as the evil of capitalism. He locates the
US at the centre of this "evil" and seeks
to maintain hysteria about the supposed intentions
of the US against his country, as part of the rhetoric
behind his call for mobilisation around his ideas.
By
stifling debate, however, and closing off channels
of dissent from his views with the pulling of the
licence from a television station opposed to his
views, Señor Chavez is committing
grievous self-inflicted wounds on the body of his
own messages.
This is a leader who is extremely resourceful,
who has demonstrated the skills required to win
a battle for the hearts and minds of his people.
He has managed to turn an ill-fated attempted military
coup while a soldier in the Venezuelan armed forces
into a winning formula for gaining power at the
ballot box. He triumphed over an equally ill-fated
extra-parliamentary assault on his own presidency.
Possessing persuasive oratorical skills he has
been able to present a somewhat arguable case
for an alternative economic model to millions
of Venezuelans. He has generated legions of admirers
in this region and in other parts of the world.
With
that kind of stock in trade Señor
Chavez will do well to back away from his constant
US baiting and engage the authorities in Washington,
as well as its substantial interests in Venezuela,
on a proper form of discourse.
As a founding member of the Organisation of Petroleum
Exporting Countries, Venezuela remains a significant
player in this group of nations which are the energy
suppliers to the world. For the most part it has
been a stabilising presence in that league.
Too
much is at stake for the rest of the world, for
international economic stability and ultimately
for world peace and stability, for Señor
Chavez not to be cognisant of the error in his
way of getting attention from Washington.
Enough idle talk has gone on about who is the
devil and about which leader is deserving of his
people's mandate. State craft of this order belongs
to a discredited, bygone era not to be wished back
upon today's humanity, struggling as it is with
today's fresh set of challenging realities.
The Trinidad Express is one of the most important
newspapers in Trinidad.. Petroleumworld
not necessarily share these views.
Editor's
Note: This article was first publish in Trinidad
Express, Tuesday, July 3rd 2007. Petroleumworld
reprint this article in the interest of our readers.
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07/08/07
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