[Marxism] Washington Post implicitly urges more intervention in Venezuela

["Eli Stephens" <elishastephens@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Editorial:
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A8088-2005Jan13?language=printer>

[Note among other things the quotes around "Revolution" and the use of the
word "disciple"]

Venezuela's 'Revolution'

Friday, January 14, 2005; Page A18

LAST SUNDAY hundreds of heavily armed Venezuelan troops invaded one of the
country's largest and most productive cattle ranches, launching what
President Hugo Chavez describes as his "war against the estates." The next
day Mr. Chavez signed a decree under which authorities are expected to seize
scores of other farms in the coming weeks. This assault on private property
is merely the latest step in what has been a rapidly escalating "revolution"
by Venezuela's president that is undermining the foundations of democracy
and free enterprise in that oil-producing country. The response of
Venezuela's democratic neighbors, and the United States, ranges from
passivity to tacit encouragement.

In the past four months Mr. Chavez has pushed through a new law that allows
the government to fine or shut down private media for vaguely defined
offenses against "public order." His supporters have enacted a new legal
code that criminalizes anti-government demonstrations; people who bang empty
pots and pans in protest, as Venezuelans have been doing for several years,
can be sentenced to jail. Last month Mr. Chavez stacked the Supreme Court
with 17 new appointees, including one who has suggested a constitutional
amendment that would allow the self-styled "Bolivarian" leader to become
president for life. Former leaders of leftist militant organizations,
including one who served a prison sentence for abducting a U.S. business
executive, are pouring Venezuela's surging oil revenue into state-planned
socialist cooperatives.

Mr. Chavez, a disciple of Cuban President Fidel Castro, has also accelerated
his attempt to reorient Venezuelan foreign policy away from the United
States and other democracies. In recent weeks he has visited Iran, Russia,
Libya and China, in addition to Cuba. In Moscow, he said that Venezuela
would make a major purchase of Russian weapons, including 40 helicopters and
100,000 rifles. According to reports in the Russian press, Mr. Chavez may
spend $5 billion on arms, including advanced MiG-29 fighter jets. That
prospect has alarmed neighboring Colombia, which recently arrested a senior
leader of the FARC movement -- designated a terrorist organization by the
United States -- who had been given sanctuary in Venezuela.

A generation ago, such developments in an important Latin American country
might have inspired heavy-handed and counterproductive U.S. intervention. A
decade ago, other Latin governments might have rallied to rescue Venezuelan
democracy. In this post-Sept. 11 world there has been virtually no reaction.
His neighbors, who could threaten sanctions under the democracy charter of
the Organization of American States, are silent. The Bush administration,
which issues occasional statements deploring Mr. Chavez's policies, has been
quietly prodding Latin leaders to take a stand, but without results.

Officials say a more active approach is under consideration, but a
confrontation with Mr. Chavez is not likely to be popular in Latin capitals
or even in Washington. The same day Mr. Chavez signed the decree, three U.S.
senators -- two Democrats and Republican Lincoln D. Chafee (R.I.) -- said
that they favored improving relations with his government. "Every indication
is there will be better times ahead," said Sen. Bill  Nelson (D-Fla.).  Sen.
Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.) dismissed the land confiscations as an
internal matter. It is "critically important," he said, "to have that
continuing flow of oil." Venezuelan democracy, it seems, is not so critical.

Eli Stephens
 Left I on the News
 http://lefti.blogspot.com



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