Opinion
- Editorial- Commentary
Ronald Sanders :
Chavez
No example for the Caribbean
Hugo
Chavez, the Venezuelan president, is a recent
friend of Caribbean countries and a number of Latin
American nations. He has urged them to join his
government in “a sea of resistance” against
the United States and its President George W Bush
whom he calls “the devil.”
So far, he has not succeeded in persuading Caribbean
countries to join him in this campaign.
These countries recognise that for years their
bread has been buttered by the US and, while they
may feel that the butter was not enough and they
may vehemently disagree with US policies on Iraq
and the Middle East, many of them see no reason
to side with Chavez against Bush.
The carrot that Chavez has used to try to lure
Caribbean countries into his sphere of influence
is a deferred payment scheme for some of the oil
which Venezuelan state-owned oil company, Pdvsa
supplies to them under an agreement called PetroCaribe.
Not every Caribbean country signed up to Petrocaribe;
some rejected it on the basis that not only would
the arrangement increase their national debt, it
would also give Chavez undue influence over their
policies.
Chavez
has also actively tried to induce them to join
his “Bolivarian Alternative for the
Americas” as a substitute to the US-proposed
Free Trade Area of the Americas. Some joined, the
majority didn’t.
Underpinning
all of Chavez’s policies is
what he calls his “Bolivarian Socialist Revolution”—a
concept that is difficult to define, but which
seems to be a mixture of increasing state ownership,
seizing private property, reducing foreign investment,
curbing press freedom, restricting dissent and
forcibly redistributing wealth.
The Venezuelan president can pursue these policies
because, for the time being, his country has great
oil wealth and he has accumulated to himself the
power to decide how that wealth should be used.
In
the case of the name calling in which he has
indulged—particularly of President Bush whom
he has also called a donkey—he has gotten
away with it only because the US needs Venezuelan
oil at the present time and the US government has
been preoccupied over the last five years with
the quagmire of Iraq.
The power of money has also allowed Chavez to
show off himself by calling many other people by
uncharitable names. For instance, he used a colourful
Spanish word in referring to the Secretary-General
of the Organisation of American States Jose Miguel
Insulza.
Insulza’s sin was to be critical of Chavez’s
closure of a privately owned television station
that opposed his policies.
Chavez’s
policies have never been an example for Caribbean
countries to follow. His most recent
acts give greater strength to that statement if
such strength were needed.
He
is forcing the rewriting of the country’s
constitution to suit himself.
Under
the 69 changes to the constitution passed
in the legislature on November 2 by Chavez’s
supporters, term limits on his presidency will
disappear and he can continue to offer himself
for election as long as he lives. The proposals
would also give Chavez full authority over Venezuela’s
central bank robbing it of any semblance of independence;
privately-owned property can be expropriated without
court approval; and the authorities would be given
sweeping powers if a national emergency is declared,
including detention without charges and controls
on the news media.
These are proposals to which every Caribbean country
should look askance, and which they should condemn.
They are the thin edge of the wedge, and they lay
the way open not only to authoritarian rule in
Venezuela but also to eventual instability of the
region.
Without doubt, authoritarianism in Venezuela will
eventually face resistance. And, if that resistance
is met with oppression, calamity will be the consequence.
Already, a grim story is unfolding.
Chavez’s constitutional changes have to
be approved by voters in a December 2 referendum.
And, some of these voters have already shown their
disagreement. The changes have been condemned by
Venezuela’s opposition parties, human rights
groups and the Roman Catholic Church.
Large numbers of students also marched throughout
the country protesting the violation of civil liberties
which the constitutional changes portend.
Chavez’s answer to the demonstrations was
to call the students “clowns” and more
sinisterly to deploy soldiers using tear gas, plastic
bullets and water cannon to disperse them.
This showed beyond any doubt that while Chavez
is willing to use any forum that affords him free
speech to denigrate anyone with whom he disagrees,
he is equally ready to crush all within his own
country who disagree with him.
“Traitor” is
the word Chavez used to describe his former defence
minister and one-time
ally, Raul Isaias Baduel, who denounced the plan
to rewrite the constitution.
The measure of the importance of this denunciation
by Baduel is that he is the man who led the force
that returned Chavez to power in 2002 following
a short-lived coup which, it was widely believed,
the US government supported.
In response to the students march, Chavez himself
led a counter demonstration of thousands of his
supporters. This demonstration encountered no resistance
from soldiers or any law enforcement agency. And,
as reports indicate, it is difficult to measure
the extent of his support when some public employees
say they feel they have to attend rallies or risk
losing their jobs.
Informed
reports from Venezuela suggest that “only
a fraction of Venezuelan voters understand the
changes to the constitution.” Chavez has
presented it as a means of deepening his socialist
revolution and helping the poor. Included in the
changes is an initiative to reduce the working
day to only six hours.
It may very well be that come December 2 it is
the six-hour work day for which most voters will
cast their ballot and the constitutional amendments
will be adopted. In that case, Venezuela will have
dropped still further down the slippery slope to
an erosion of democracy, human rights and civil
liberties.
Whether
these developments will be contained within Venezuela
or help to encourage the spread of Chavez’s
ambitions in the hemisphere is left to be seen.
In any event, they run counter to the democratic
traditions and values of the Caribbean, and Caribbean
countries would be right to show their displeasure.
Sir
Ronald Sanders is a business executive and former
Caribbean
diplomat who publishes widely on Small States in
the global community. (ronaldsanders29@hotmail.com)
Petroleumworld not necessarily share these views.
Editor's
Note: This article was first publish in The
Trinidad Guardian, November 15th 2007.
Petroleumworld reprint
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11/ 18/07
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