[Marxism] NYT: ChÃvez Takes âCrazy Battalionâ of Supporters on the Road

[Walter Lippmann <walterlx@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

THE NEW YORK TIMES
August 4, 2007
ChÃvez Takes âCrazy Battalionâ of Supporters on the Road
By SIMON ROMERO

LA FRIA, Venezuela, Aug. 3 â âSurely they will take photos of us by 
satellite,â said President Hugo ChÃvez, referring to intelligence agencies 
from the United States, as his Airbus touched down Friday in this Andean city 
with the actor Sean Penn, a clutch of cabinet ministers and visiting 
dignitaries from half a dozen countries in tow.

âTheyâll say, âThere goes ChÃvez with a crazy battalion containing 
Africans, Canadians, Cubans,â â the president continued as he broke into a 
meandering riff on political relations between the United States and Venezuela. 
âEven gringos!â

Mr. Pennâs visit to write about Mr. ChÃvez follows others by Hollywood 
luminaries like Danny Glover, public intellectuals like Tariq Ali and film 
directors like Argentinaâs Fernando Solanas, all of whom have recently 
traveled to this country to take in the transformation of Venezuelan society 
that Mr. ChÃvez calls a âBolivarian revolution.â

But rarely has the reception of foreign actors and writers been as warm as it 
was this week for Mr. Penn, whom Mr. ChÃvez, perhaps smarting from 
international condemnation over his governmentâs treatment of critics in the 
local news media, hailed as âvaliantâ for his outspoken opposition to the 
war in Iraq and other policies of the Bush administration.

After sending Mr. Penn on guided tours of Villa del Cine, the state movie 
studio near Caracas created to weaken Hollywoodâs grip on the film industry, 
and the Afro-Venezuelan city of Barlovento, the president dined privately with 
the actor on Thursday before whisking him away Friday for a jaunt into western 
Venezuela.

What followed, for a handful of journalists given the rare opportunity of 
accompanying Mr. ChÃvez on such a trip, was a glimpse into his governmentâs 
use of imagery and pomp to court public opinion both at home and abroad.

During the flight, Mr. ChÃvez regaled Mr. Penn with lectures on Venezuelan 
history and tales of his own past as a soldier, between talking politics with 
other travelers on the spacious Airbus with leather seats.

The border region in TÃchira State where the plane landed, Mr. ChÃvez warned, 
âwas very close to where the C.I.A. is,â a not-so-subtle dig at the close 
political relationship between Colombiaâs government and the Bush 
administration.

As for the United States, Mr. ChÃvez predicted that widening budget and trade 
deficits portend a financial crisis that could cause it to âexplode from 
within.â

âThere could be a revolution in the United States,â Mr. ChÃvez said. 
âWeâll help them.â

Mr. Penn took in most of Mr. ChÃvezâs comments with a warm smile, some nods 
and few intelligible utterances. âHeâs a quiet man,â Mr. ChÃvez 
reassured other passengers, gesturing to Mr. Penn. âBut he has fire within 
him.â

Mr. ChÃvez, it can be guaranteed, likes to be in the driverâs seat in such 
forays â literally. On the tarmac of the airport in La Fria, he climbed 
behind the wheel of a Tiuna, a Humvee-esque military vehicle assembled in 
Venezuela, put Mr. Penn in the back seat and proceeded to drive through 
picturesque Andean villages.

A trip that normally takes 90 minutes to Pueblo Encima, a small farming 
community where Mr. ChÃvez was scheduled to celebrate the opening of a 
fertilizer facility and the arrival of dairy cows from Argentina and Uruguay, 
took more than four hours as the president stopped the Tiuna dozens of times to 
greet supporters on the side of the road.

A truck carrying journalists traveled in front, lurching ahead as desperate 
news cameramen and photographers yelled at the driver to start or stop. At 
times they cheered, as when they got shots of Mr. Penn urinating on the side of 
the road.

Chaperoned by AndrÃs Izarra, the president of Telesur, the regional news 
network backed by Venezuelaâs government, Mr. Penn looked somewhat pained 
when asked about his impressions of the country.

In a brief interview at one of the motorcadeâs many stops, Mr. Penn declined 
to discuss any similarities that might exist between the president in the 
driverâs seat of the Tiuna and the Southern populist, loosely based on 
Louisiana governor Huey Long, that Mr. Penn played in the recent film 
adaptation of Robert Penn Warrenâs âAll the Kingâs Men.â

Instead, Mr. Penn produced a business card from the Institute for War and Peace 
Reporting, which he said he was representing during his Venezuela trip.

âIâm going to write about this experience, so Iâm a little hesitant to 
talk about it,â Mr. Penn said, dressed in a T-shirt and wearing dark aviator 
sunglasses. (Mr. Penn has written similar dispatches following trips to 
countries like Iran and Iraq.) âItâs been extraordinary so far.â

Then, with the same quiet intensity Mr. ChÃvez had referred to earlier, the 
actor proceeded to try to find someone with a match for a Marlboro Light.

Undaunted by criticism from some Venezuelan actors and directors who deride the 
warm ties between some of their foreign counterparts and Mr. ChÃvez, the 
president hailed Mr. Pennâs presence at each stop of the trip.

At a speech in Pueblo Encima, before hundreds of followers clad, like Mr. 
ChÃvez and much of his entourage, in the red of his political party, a cold 
mountain rain caused the entourage from tropical Caracas to shiver as Mr. 
ChÃvez broke into song in praise of dairy cows.

He celebrated Venezuelaâs alliance with Cuba in the presence of Ricardo 
AlarcÃn, the president of Cubaâs National Assembly. He welcomed dignitaries 
from Burkina Faso, Canada and Belgium who spoke in favor of his policies.

And with the acumen of a politician who knows how to celebrate friends where he 
can find them, Mr. ChÃvez switched into English with a few words for Mr. Penn: 
âThank you, thank you, thank you.â


================================
WALTER LIPPMANN
Editor-in-Chief, CubaNews
writer - photographer - activist
http://www.walterlippmann.com
================================

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