Meet Quentin’s next movie star: Hugo Chavez

By | March 2, 2006

In your thickest Central American accent, say the following line:

“I sting those who rattle me.  Don’t mess with me, Condoleezza.”

If you said those words with that accent, you would sound a lot like Hugo Chavez when he lashed out at US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice after she stated that his country had become a “challenge to democracy”.

Who is Hugo Chavez?  He is the current Presidente of Venezuela.  And quite a character to boot.  His open disdain of the U.S. and U.S. foreign policy is quite remarkable and in the forefront of his world persona.  He has been labelled somewhat of an ‘anti-Bush’ in the media as he has made it clear that he does not approve of the U.S. influence over the world.  He is certainly raising a stink and attracting cagey allies to become more than just some squeaky President of a small scene country.  His criticisms up until now have lacked the bite for the U.S. to take action.  But with his recent retort over the U.S. call to prohibit nuclear development in Iran, the U.S. is now starting to growl.  

Now, I can understand Chavez is a little upset with the U.S. because of their major influence in Central America via the U.S. mega-corps that take up shop there, but it appears that Chavez mentally may not be ‘all there’.  He may have become a little too obsessed with harrassing the U.S.  Via the Washington Post article:

Gerver Torres, a former Venezuelan government minister who now runs a private development agency, said such statements illustrate one of Chavez’s key goals. “His main motivation now is to do everything he possibly can to negatively affect the United States, Bush in particular,” Torres said. “He is trying to bring together all the enemies of the United States. He believes the United States is the devil.”

Chavez is the type of person that could go a bit too far in his USA bashing.  He hasn’t stopped the flow of oil to the US yet, but if he gets enough support from potential bed-partners Iran and North Korea, he could be brash enough to do so.   And, if he can disassociate his economy on the dependance of the US $, there’s no knowing what tactics he could employ to further his obsession.

On his home front, Chavez is working some interesting plays.  He is implementing tactics to stay in power that is akin to the strategy used by the Emperor in Star Wars.  For a democracy, his tactics are a little startling.  So now we have a popular, charismatic person who is alluding to re-writing parts of the constitution so that he can extend his presidency.  Ouch!  There is a certainly a little dictator in him.

If you go to websites like this one, you can see how Chavez is galvanizing his people and more so, Latin America as a whole, into becoming US bashers.  He uses words like Imperialist and Empire to describe the US.  The site does seem a little propagandist, painting a picture that Venezuela is being wronged and oppressed by the US but I’m sure there are pearls of truth in there.  

How does this impact my life?   Well, Venezuela is the 5th largest exporter of oil to the US.  Therefore,  the US has a great interest in how that country is run.  When the US takes an “interest” in how a country is being run, and they start to use terms like “challenge to democracy” and “allusions to Hitler” (courtesy of Donald Rumsfeld)  it’s time to stand up and take notice.  Especially when a key resource is being threatened.  So, it’s important to keep an eye on what happens here.  Venezuela is geographically closer to North America than the other extremist countries that the U.S. is having problems with. Close enough to be a physical threat to U.S. soil.  A place in fact where it is possible to travel to the US completely by land and cross a very large and difficult to monitor border (yes Minutemen, you are fallible) via Mexico.  I’m not saying words like ‘invasion’ or ‘armed confrontation’, but Chavez is certainly at least throwing a bluff out there:

Still, Chavez’s comments and actions, including the purchase of a substantial amount of foreign arms, have drawn sharp criticism from U.S. officials. In her Senate confirmation hearings in January, Rice called Chavez a “negative force in the region.”

Chavez’s arms purchases from Russia, including 100,000 Kalashnikov rifles, have also drawn protests from the State Department. He has bought military aircraft from Brazil and announced plans to buy radar equipment from China.

In a recent televised speech, Chavez described the arms purchases and a plan to increase army reserve troops as “an honorable answer to President Bush’s intention of being the master of the world.”  

Also take into consideration the nations that Chavez is courting these days:  Iran and N.Korea.  Could it be possible for terrorists and extremists to fly to Venezuela and travel up through Mexico?  Well, let’s not get too carried away just yet. 

In reality, assuming this is a sane man, Chavez could be seen as simply trying to stand up to the bully so that he can run his country the way he wants without meddling.  In a different light, he could be seen as a valuable leader to Latin America where there really hasn’t been a strong voice to speak of the problems and issues in the region.  It could certainly be of value to all those countries to have a spokesman that can stand up to The Man.  And he does hold an ace over the US.  The U.S. has a lot of investment in Latin America in the way of big corporation factories and facilities.   It’s not a wonder that they are concerned about Chavez influence and are labelling him as a source of Latin American instability.

There is a plus side to this.  I see the potential staunch of Venezuelan oil (although remotely likely at this point) as a boon for Canada’s oil relationship with the U.S.  You may not be aware of this but Canada is the #1 exporter of oil to the U.S.  This could mean an even higher dependance on the Great White North to sate the U.S. gluttony for oil.  For better or for worse, as usual, we are bound by U.S. foreign policy.

At any rate – kudos to Chavez for biting out at Condi.  Just be sure to watch your back little man.

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