[Marxism] Washington Post calls for an "end to passivity" with respect to Venezuela

["Eli Stephens" <elishastephens@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

URL: <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A64043-2004Nov19.html>

Watch Venezuela

Saturday, November 20, 2004; Page A18

THIS WEEKEND President Bush visits Chile and Colombia, two nations that he
will rightly celebrate for their capable democratic governments. But it is
foolish to pretend, as does some of the administration's rhetoric, that
democracy is thriving across Latin America. In fact, while the Bush
administration has been ignoring the region over the past four years,
political conditions have seriously deteriorated in several key countries --
and the prospect is of still worse developments, especially if U.S. neglect
continues.

The likely focal point of trouble is Venezuela, a country of 25 million that
supplies the United States with 13 percent of its oil. In August, after
months of heavy-handed governmental actions to influence the outcome,
President Hugo Chavez survived a recall referendum; since then his
supporters have gained control of 21 of 23 states, as well as the capital,
in local elections. Those triumphs have prompted the erratic former military
rebel to accelerate what he calls his "Bolivarian revolution" -- a push
toward authoritarian rule at home and a deepening alliance abroad with Cuban
leader Fidel Castro and other antidemocratic movements.

In the past Mr. Chavez has been assailed by independent media who sympathize
with his opposition; he has responded with a new media law that will allow
his government to suspend the licenses of radio and television stations for
content deemed "contrary to the security of the nation." A new penal code
will outlaw most forms of public protest and designate some as terrorism. An
expansion of the Supreme Court will allow the president to stack the only
judicial body that has retained some independence. A campaign has been
launched against civil society groups, beginning with the election
monitoring group Sumate, whose organizers are threatened with charges of
treason. Mr. Chavez is using Venezuela's oil revenue to fund antidemocratic
or populist movements in nations such as Bolivia and to subsidize Mr.
Castro's bankrupt regime.

Late Thursday, state prosecutor Danilo Anderson was killed, apparently with
a car bomb. He had been preparing to bring charges against some 400 people
who signed a statement of support for an interim president after Mr. Chavez
was briefly ousted in a 2002 coup. The apparent assassination was a shocking
and despicable act, from which the opposition -- made up largely of
mainstream politicians, and business and church leaders -- should quickly
disassociate itself. But it should not provide a pretext for Mr. Chavez to
continue seeking the imprisonment of nonviolent political opponents.

It is difficult for the United States to respond to Mr. Chavez, in part
because he has adopted Mr. Castro's practice of portraying the United States
as an enemy bent on imperial intervention in Venezuela. Mr. Bush's choice
for secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, was quoted recently as describing
Mr. Chavez as "a real problem" and saying that "the key there is to mobilize
the region to both watch him and be vigilant about him and to pressure him
when he makes moves in one direction or another. We can't do it alone." That
sounds like a wise policy; once she takes office, Ms. Rice should end the
administration's passivity toward this important region and pursue it.



_______________________________________________
Marxism mailing list
Marxism@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism