Chavez and his religious followers

14. 8. 2009 / Fabiano Golgo

Karel Dolejší basically asks me to ignore Chavez words and read through them. He writes that with my education I should know better. Well, I was not educated in reading people's minds, even if, as a journalist, I can try some predictions. Nevertheless, that does not mean I do have to take Chavez own threats in the same context as Karel did. Being a logical person, he calculated that Venezuela would not have a chance against Colombia, which should then mean that Chavez is just screaming for internal political reasons. I could agree if I did not know the typical macho latino. I myself became known among my employees and employers for not measuring my power before attacking a stronger one. Our culture prizes courage, so most of us, Latin men, look for situations where we can show that, against all odds or logics, we heroically face them, if it is the right thing to do.

While Czechs were intelligent enough to calculate that there was no chance to fight Hitler's forces, the Polish did not. They lost about 3 million people who threw their lives against the Germans, but still failed and the war ended not because of their effort and sacrifice. Czechs waited until it would go away (and started shooting when it became clear they were about to leave...) So, Chavez does not necessarily think using the same "selský rozum" that Karel is fortunate to have.

I truly believe that Chavez will start some conflict in South America before his term ends. Among other reasons, also for his presidency not to end. In the middle of a war, he can stay in power. I also truly believe he needs to divert the attention of the population away from their economic problems.

What will happen to Chavez is what happens to all big leaders coming with big promises of revolutionary changes. Even Barack Obama has lost his huge popularity, because it is easy to fall in love with promises, with hope, but when reality sinks in... Chavez has been boasting for over a decade about his Bolivarian revolution, but the poor just got an increase in free health services and education (the same formula as in Cuba), but not enough to come out of poverty. To give a fish solves very little, while to learn how to fish is the real solution. But the kind of basic education that Chavez offers does not open a place in the labour market for those people, who are still cleaning and building the houses of the rich, when they are lucky to have a job.

Chavez does not only want, but needs a war. Were he using Karel's logics, he would not bully America as well, for he has no chance against their forces. So, is Chavez just playing? If so, then this is one more reason to criticize him, because a president should be doing other things than to irresponsibly show off to the international arena or for internal political objectives. Chavez is just loud and dogmatic like Lech Kaczyński.

In the past few weeks we saw a very close ally of Chavez, a fundamentalist communist lady called Lina Ron, with another 30 armed pro-government militants riding motorcycles, stormed the Globovisión offices, setting off tear gas and injuring a Caracas police agent and two Globovisión employees. The assailants were sporting red berets and waving UPV banners. Lina Ron was sitting at Chavez table 8 days before she invade the main TV channel throwing bombs! Why? Because they criticize the president.

Chavez later condemned the attacks, but how to take him seriously when a few days earlier he closed 34 radio stations using bureaucratic excuses related to documentation and deadlines? The fact that all those stations were not aligned with his ideology is a mere coincidence, his supporters want us to believe. He already closed the second most important commercial TV channel last year, in a clear demonstration of his dictator ways.

To say that Chavez does everything under the Law is a joke, because they are created by the one-chamber Parliament, which has only 4 deputies opposing him. The difference between his regime and the one that made Czechoslovakia poor and isolated for 41 years is just in the nuances. Chavez has been stealing the freedoms of the Venezuelan people in drops, little by little, in a farce of democracy, like in Belarus. Without a free media, there can be no decent democracy. Chavez, like all people with dictator minds, wants to shut up all dissent. His puppet-Parliament gives him an aura of democracy that would fail a closer look.

Josef Mikovec reacted to my article saying that Brazil is also considering a Law to allow a third term for president - just that this is not correct. The fact that one member of Parliament came up with a proposal for such law means nothing, especially because the issue was promptly emptied by president Lula, who adamantly declared many times since then that he does not agree with it. He says that succession is elementary for a democracy to work. The project of Law was rejected and poked fun at.

And when Mikovec says that Chavez is actually intelligent, defending his speeches, all I can say is that perhaps he needs a few more Spanish lessons. For those who do not understand Spanish, but understand English, here are some links to samples of how Chavez speaks. If you notice similarities with Miroslav Štěpán's line of argumentation, it is not a mere coincidence... Personally, I think "Milouš" Jakeš was more logical. Check for yourselves.

In this first video, among other pearls, Chavez says that coca (leaf) is not cocaine. As if the coca leaves from Bolivia and Colombia were used for tea only... It is as if the Afghani president tried to convince us that poppy seeds cultivated in his country are for makový koláč... Also, Chavez insists that the FARC is not a terrorist organization:

Here, a sample of his weekly one-man-show Alo, Presidente, a sort of Volejte řediteli, where he gives his opinion on everything, from whether he considers golf a right sport for Venezuela up to how much salt should be added to bread:

Here, Chavez screams in public square against the Colombian ambassador, calling him a Yankee full of shit:

If this is the kind of leader that leftists and anti-Americans want, there is little I can do, other than try to show him from up closer, so that his flaws become more evident for those who do not follow his performances, but builds an opinion based on the drops of news that reach the European media.

And, for Karel Dolejší, who says that Obama and the "putschists" from Honduras are in tune with each other, here is a video showing the "new" (illegitimate) Honduran Secretary of State calling the American president a "nigger":

The kind of socialism that Chavez wants has not worked anywhere and more than enough gave proof that it only represses freedom and creativity. Economically is not realistic and administrativelly it only creates fiefdoms of new rich people, who became the elite by ideology, not competence nor talent. Why would Venezuela be the exception?

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