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 Editorials | Opinions | August 2005 
Charismatic As Can Be, Chavez No Castro Clone
 John Otis
Caracas, Venezuela - In Hugo Chavez's Venezuela, revolution is in the air.
It's also at the supermarket.
At state-run grocery stores, bags of sugar, pasta and dried beans carry slogans lauding the programs of President Chavez's leftist government, which has proclaimed a revolution on behalf of the poor.
"Now, public money is invested in the people," a label on a 2-pound sack of flour declares.
In some ways, the Venezuela of today feels like Havana in the 1960s or Nicaragua under the Sandinistas.
Cuban physicians staff free health clinics. Anti-American graffiti adorns walls in Caracas, the capital. Radicals from North Korea to Western Sahara flock to the South American nation to bear witness to the transformation, which Chavez calls "21st Century Socialism."
Last week, conservative televangelist Pat Robertson called on U.S. agents to assassinate the Venezuelan leader. Robertson later apologized.
Though Venezuela has embraced the catch phrases, the rebel mystique and the health and education programs of former Soviet-bloc nations, analysts say that the Chavez government has, so far, avoided most of their excesses.
The Venezuelan press remains free, though there are some restrictions on broadcast violence and stiff new penalties for insulting government figures.
The economy is open. The U.S. State Department says there are no political prisoners.
The changes under Chavez "raise the question: What is this all leading to?" said Joanne Mariner, deputy director of the Americas division at Human Rights Watch.
"But to a large extent," she said, "there's been a lot of rhetoric without the kinds of repressive laws that you see in places like Cuba."
Indeed, when it comes to preaching, Chavez could give Robertson a run for his money.
In Caracas this month, Chavez took part in a mock trial of the United States during the International Festival of Youth and Students, an event that used to be held behind the Iron Curtain to showcase communism. As the star witness, Chavez accused Washington of imperialism, warmongering and virtually every other evil afflicting humanity.
"There was so much excitement in the room," said Marcus Pabian, an Australian wearing a Vladimir Lenin pin who attended the trial. "It brought tears to my eyes."
Unmoved, some critics called the event a pointless nostalgia trip that cost the Venezuelan government $10 million.
Inspiring model for left
In an editorial, the Caracas newspaper Tal Cual likened the festival to Goodbye Lenin, a film in which a son turns the family home into a museum for socialism to prevent his sick mother from finding out that her beloved East Germany no longer exists.
For many people around the world, however, the Chavez experiment represents an inspiring model for the left — a mix of capitalism, nationalism and sweeping anti-poverty programs. The San Francisco group Global Exchange, which organizes educational "reality tours" to 27 countries, says Venezuela is its hottest destination.
Unlike Cuba and Nicaragua, where international work brigades once showed up to cut sugarcane and pick coffee, Venezuela is rich in oil profits.
But few political tourists know how to pump petroleum. Instead, they spend their days visiting literacy classes in Caracas shantytowns, meeting with government officials and quizzing opposition politicians.
But similar to those earlier solidarity groups, this new generation of activists complains about negative coverage of Venezuela in the mainstream media. Many plan to return home, give slide presentations and speeches about their experiences and push for changes in Washington, where the Bush administration views Chavez as a menace.
Dozen books on president
"We have to act like ambassadors," said John Zachmann, a retired chemical technician from Pennsylvania, as he sat on a Global Exchange bus in downtown Caracas.
As Chavez reconfigures Venezuela, the one constant is the president himself.
Every revolution seems to require a maximum leader, and some critics warn that a cult of personality is forming around Chavez.
The former army paratrooper stares down from dreamscape murals on Caracas walls. Topped with a red beret, his mug can be found on T-shirts, baseball caps, pins and coffee mugs. He is the subject of a dozen books. Every Sunday, Chavez holds forth for hours on his TV program, Hello Mr. President.
First voted into office in 1998, the 51-year-old president was re-elected two years later and is running for another term next year. Perhaps envious of his good friend Fidel Castro, who has ruled Cuba for 46 years, Chavez recently acknowledged that he would like to govern until 2030.
Mayerli Varela, a Chavez supporter who works in a government-run shoe factory, says that would suit her just fine. "Chavez has good ideas," she said. "He must stay in power for a long time to carry out the revolution."
johnotis2002@yahoo.com |
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