2006-09-29

Hugo Chavez: Democrat or Dictator?

I'm trying to get to sort out the conflicting claims about Hugo Chavez. My conclusion is that he was democratically elected as president in all three of Venezuela's most recent elections, and had his new constitution democratically endorsed by Venezuela's voters. However, he has imposed some anti-democratic laws, though it appears not so much as to eliminate the possibility of anti-Chavez voters having a fair shot at unseating him and reforming their nation back to a more democratic bearing. This article claims that a goodly fraction of Venezuelans oppose him, including a lots of poor people. I believe that many of Chavez's measures will harm that country, and thus I hope that the voters there replace him with somebody who favors individual liberties, including free markets. If voters want socialism, they will get what they deserve!

=============
I find no basis for US involvement in unsuccessful anti-Chavez coup, except as a helpful claim for Chavez to assist in rallying voters to him despite the problems caused by his poor/leftist economic choices. Castro has used this ploy for a few decades, though at least in Castro's case the claims began as truth (and Castro needs to impress no voters!). But neither do I find a basis for democrats to have supported this recent coup. It appears that Venezuala's anti-Chavez critics have reliable democratic mechanisms with which to address their displeasure for Chavez's choices, including his anti-democratic measures on the nation's private news media.

http://www.economist.com/research/backgrounders/displaystory.cfm?story_id=1090110
=============

Chavez admires Simon Bolivar... a rich honkey Spaniard who merely won independance for South America from Spain, but not liberty for the people there. We can think of Bolivar as a mixture of George Washington (battlefield commander of war for independance from European colonial power) and Thomas Jefferson (archetect of post-revolution nation), except here Bolivar designed an independant nation under a dictatorship, his own own dictatorship. The nation he founded broke apart into today's South American nations, all as dictatorships. Why would anybody admire Bolivar?

http://www.answers.com/topic/sim-n-bol-var
==============

Here's a bio of Chavez. I didn't realize that he's a career military officer who led his own failed coup. That got him two years in prison (just two years?).

http://www.answers.com/topic/hugo-ch-vez

6 comments:

Paul Hue said...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugo_Ch%C3%A1vez

More bio info, and description of social and political issues, including his new constitution. It seems to me that the people in Venezuela have the tools to assert their will, though I believe they are making a mistake in supporting this guy's socialist policies. If democracy remains in tact, I assume that the majority of voters will eventually learn that socialism is a dream of perfection that always delivers less than the reality of capitalism.

Nadir said...

It's strange that Paul and other so-called Americans are more wary of Hugo Chavez than they are about George Bush who has just been granted the right to indefinitely detain anyone he declares an enemy combatant and is now immune from prosecution. Chavez certainly doesn't hold this power in Venezuela.

Do you people even understand the term "democracy"?

Paul Hue said...

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=2515529

Here's Hugo claliming that Bush is trying to kill him. He's deluded and apparantly pandering for votes. If Venezuelans vote for him, they get what they deserve.

Nadir said...

"If Venezuelans vote for him, they get what they deserve."

Thank you! That's all they want!

Will you say the same thing for the Palestinians who voted for Hamas or the Bolivians who voted for Morales or the stupid Americans who voted for Bush?

Paul Hue said...

I do accept the results of free elections, and object to any efforts to overturn them. However, this no more compels me to support the elected person than does the election of Bush compel France to support Bush's war in Iraq. The Palistinians elected a party devoted to eradicating Isreal; I no more expect the US govt to support such a government than I would expect it to support a government devoted to the enslavement of black people.

So yes, if Palistinians vote for Hamas, then they get what they desearve, which includes no support from the US.

Paul Hue said...

I do accept the results of free elections, and object to any efforts to overturn them. However, this no more compels me to support the elected person than does the election of Bush compel France to support Bush's war in Iraq. The Palistinians elected a party devoted to eradicating Isreal; I no more expect the US govt to support such a government than I would expect it to support a government devoted to the enslavement of black people.

So yes, if Palistinians vote for Hamas, then they get what they desearve, which includes no support from the US.