Chavez, we hardly knew ye

Bush Administration Pushes “Regime Change” in Venezuela on Counterpunch chronicles the continuing sage of US involvement in South America. Chavez is the legally elected president of Venezuela. He was elected with far more of a mandate than George Bush. Despite this, “A recent op-ed in the Washington Post referred to the Chavez government as a ‘dictatorship’” to let the American public know how they should feel about him.

There was already a coup attempt on April 11, and Bush and Co. “ at first welcomed the coup, retreating the next day after it became clear that other countries in the Americas were not going to recognize the illegal government.” Since then, they’ve denied any involvement, but “[t]here were numerous meetings between Bush administration officials and coup leaders in the months preceding the coup.” The opposition backed by the US (and at least partially funded by the US) is demanding new elections. This is not consitutional and is not a demand that any country would accede to, “[b]ut the US press — together with the Bush administration — pretends that this is a perfectly reasonable demand.”

U.S. Calls for Vote in Venezuela in the New York Newsday covers the same issue. For those that have forgotten, this is the democratically elected government of Venezuela. Chavez was elected in both 1998 and 2000 already. Should the Venezuelan government really have to hold an election whenever the U.S. wants? Just because big Venezuelan business doesn’t like Chavez? Note that the agitators mentioned in the article are not the majority, or even close to a majority, of Venezuela’s people. They are specific large businesses and some unions.

Venezuela’s government is at least as legitimate as the US government, probably more so. At least Chavez was elected. Yet you don’t hear Germany calling for a new election in the US, do you? But then we hear the crux of the matter, the unrest caused by the agitators has resulted in a “general strike that has closed the country’s economically vital oil industry.”

Oh no. Now, I’m flattened and stunned to discover that the US is stepping in. They already tried to overthrow the government once down there. For all the people that can overlook all of the US misdeeds of the past as “water under the bridge”, here is a real, live coup being planned and orchestrated by the US, and it’s reported in the US papers as if the Venezuelan government has done something horribly wrong. They haven’t. Many people are benefitting from the new policies. However, it comes at a cost to the existing ruling corporate elite of Venezuela, many of whom are probably fronting for corporations from the US.

The US position is, of course, at best contradictory, and probably hypocritical as a call was made for “all sides to reject violence and seek a “peaceful, democratic, constitutional” solution to the growing political crisis”. The only violence so far is from the agitators as the Venezuelan government has done nothing violent. The virulent newspapers aren’t touched. The judges that found the 4 coup-conspirators not guilty earlier this year are also unharmed. The violence is quite one-sided. However, to ask for a constitutional solution and, in the same breath, call for a new election, is disengenuous, since “[t]he Venezuelan constitution provides for a binding referendum on Chavez’s tenure in August, midway through his term, but not a new presidential election”. As for the US allies, the opposition? They “welcomed the White House statement but reiterated they want the vote within 90 days and Chavez’s immediate resignation”. But, what if, as is incredibly likely, he is re-elected?

In Chavez Fights for His Political Life, the New York Newsday notes that Chavez has had a “constellation of forces aligned” against him in his efforts to lift the majority of Venezuela out of poverty. Those problems “…include his combative style and inability to transform himself from a leftist revolutionary to a consensus-builder in a country where an elite minority is used to having its way.”

This is the problem. This is the reason he must go. He’s the President of the 5th largest oil producer in the world. There has been a general strike preventing oil from leaving the country. He’s a leftist. See you later, Chavez…here come the Marines. Look, Chavez has problems, “Chávez [does]n’t have the skills” to enact his grandiose plans. But, at the very least, he seems to have the interests of the people in mind. If the US is so happily backing this coup attempt disguised as a call for an election, then have no confidence that the new administration will care at all about the poor of Venezuela, which is a vast majority. However, in the end, it’s really for Venezuela to solve, not the US.