Caracas Macaca
Mannes, Aaron
The Caracas Macaca Hugo's messianic leftism wins another round. by Aaron Mannes Having won an overwhelming reelection victory, Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez—who famously called President Bush...
...In the meantime, it is essential the international community keep the spotlight on Venezuela's democracy to ensure that democratic processes remain viable...
...Using public funds, Chavez out-spent the opposition twelve to one...
...Unless we reengage with Latin America, we may find ourselves in a region full of Hugos...
...In retrospect, Chavez's victory should not have come as a surprise...
...To see his project through, Chavez is planning to campaign to change the constitution so that he can be reelected for several more terms and remain in office until 2021...
...On the world stage, Chavez has forged an alliance with Iran and Syria...
...More ominously, he is purchasing military hardware, including Russian fighters and helicopters...
...Even Brazil and Argentina, which are governed by Chavez allies, have had trouble with him...
...The efficacy of these programs at reducing poverty is an open question...
...Aaron Mannes, author of the TerrorBlog, www.profilesinterror.com, researches terrorism and international affairs at the University of Maryland's Information and Network Dynamics Laboratory...
...Campaign materials were posted at public facilities and on public vehicles, and public employees were pressured to support the president...
...His victory also presents the United States with an important opportunity to reengage with Latin America...
...There are persistent reports that the narcoterrorist guerilla group FARC is granted safe haven in western Venezuela...
...Unfortunately, American criticism only plays into Chavez's hands, and many in Latin America bristle at U.S...
...The United States can encourage this by reengaging with Latin America, which it has long relegated to the foreign policy back burner...
...Nobody will take me out of the path to socialism," he promises, "and particularly not now, when I won over seven million votes...
...Association with Chavez contributed to the defeat of candidates in Peru and Mexico...
...For the United States, this is a wake-up call...
...A major oil producer, Venezuela has a booming economy...
...by Aaron Mannes Having won an overwhelming reelection victory, Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez—who famously called President Bush the devil in an address to the United Nations—now has a free hand to pursue his revolutionary ambitions...
...But the middle classes are prospering, and Chavez has avoided overly antagonizing the wealthy...
...To this end, Chavez is funding ideological allies in Latin America and has founded Telesur, a Spanish language satellite channel modeled on A1 Jazeera that has been broadcasting since July 2005...
...His most recent vision is to do away with money and establish the barter system...
...The opposition actually thought they might win this election—but that if they did the Chavistas would resort to electoral fraud...
...Crime has skyrocketed under Chavez (Venezuela has one of the world's highest homicide rates), state institutions have been politicized, and government has increasingly encroached on freedom of the press and judicial independence...
...Chavez has had high-profile spats with the governments of Mexico, Colombia, and Peru...
...His ambitions extend beyond Venezuela...
...The United States should press forward on free trade and expand development aid, military cooperation, and exchange programs with the region...
...Currently USAID programs to Latin America total less than $1 billion annually, while the National Endowment for Democracy funds democracy-promotion efforts there to the tune of less than $15 million annually...
...Chavez's rhetoric is messianic: He frequently claims his revolution is building the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth...
...But he has done little to develop alternative industries, so when prices fall Chavez's revolution will be unsustainable...
...Meanwhile Cuban doctors, funded by Chavez, are dispensing free medical treatment in the slums of Caracas and throughout the Andes...
...The opposition candidate, Manuel Rosales, conceded on Election Night, having received about 38 percent of the vote...
...If the United States builds relationships in Latin America, it may find some surprising allies against Chavez...
...Chavez interprets his victory as a mandate to enact his grand design...
...Latin America must begin to monitor itself...
...The European Union's Electoral Observation Mission noted that Chavez had mobilized state institutions for his reelection campaign...
...The 2006 U.N...
...Development Program report shows that poverty reduction in Venezuela has been modest, and Chavez's government has constructed fewer units of public housing than the previous administration, which governed during a prolonged recession...
...While Chavez-type candidates won recent elections in Nicaragua, Ecuador, and Bolivia, his radicalism frightens many in the region...
...involvement in their nations' internal affairs...
...However, if the United States does not build bridges to the region, Chavez's rhetoric and petrodollars will fill the vacuum...
...Opinions expressed here are his own...
...Although there were irregularities on Election Day, international monitors certified the election as conducted lawfully...
...In August he told A1 Jazeera that the way to the Kingdom of Heaven is via a multipolar world...
...Chavez is a charismatic figure who has engaged Venezuela's poor and developed high-profile aid programs...
...As long as oil prices are high, Chavez is free to pursue his ambitions (in OPEC he leads the call for production cuts...
...Flush with oil money and a strong electoral victory, Chavez is riding high, his influence rising...
...Bolivia, with Chavez's support, is raising natural gas prices—causing headaches in Argentina and Brazil...
Vol. 12 • December 2006 • No. 14
