“Yesterday, the devil came here. Yesterday the devil was here, in this very same place. This table where it has been my turn to speak still smells like sulphur.”
These were the words of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez at the 61st General Assembly of the United Nations, in September 2006. The “devil” he referred to was U.S. President George W. Bush. While Mr. Bush has not been the best of presidents, he can hardly be called the devil.
A few days ago, the Colombian military launched an attack on a Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) encampment in Ecuador, a couple of kilometres from the Ecuador-Colombia border. Chavez was quick to condemn the act, calling Colombia “a terrorist state.” He then proceeded to move troops to his country’s border with Colombia, and promised that if Colombia violated the border, Venezuela would respond with military force. How could a Colombian entry into Ecuador to fight the FARC, a group listed as a terrorist organization at the Center for Defense Investigation (CDI), affect Venezuela? It doesn’t.
Venezuela does not have a vested interest, except when establishing itself as a regional power. Then again, it appears that the Venezuelan government has recently given $300 million to FARC. Proof of the donation was discovered on a confiscated laptop owned by Raul Reyes, a member of the FARC leadership council, killed in the recent violence.
Hugo Chavez gained power in 1998. He was the leader of a coup against the previous government in 1992, which failed and ended in a two-year incarceration. Upon his pardon, Chavez turned to politics and was eventually elected to the presidency. In December 2007, he was voted down in a national referendum that attempted to approve a series of constitutional changes, such as abolishing presidential term limits and ending the autonomy of the Central Bank. If passed, the changes would have effectively put the country’s economy under government control, making it a command economy, and Hugo Chavez would be in power indefinitely. Chavez’ persistence in instituting these changes points towards his ultimate goal—a democratically-elected dictatorship.
Chavez joined the accusations of the previous government of being elitist, controlling, corrupt, and squandering the country’s oil wealth. However, despite his claim of making revolutionary changes, in the ten years of his presidency, Venezuela still has a high unemployment rate; the number fluctuates rapidly, getting better and then worse every few months. Chavez may have criticized his predecessors, but they didn’t try to change the constitution so they could remain in power indefinitely.
Chavez wants to be the leader of Latin America, and this is why he has interjected on the Colombia- Ecuador situation. While he has always held anti-American inclinations, and since Colombia is a U.S. ally, Chavez may threaten Colombia to assert his defiance of the U.S. and his dominance over Latin America. Yet his aggressive, seemingly opportunist stance is uncalled for. Before Chavez points out other countries’ misbehaviour, he might want to confront his own hypocrisy: a $300 million paper trail and Venezuela’s major trade with the U.S. According to the U.S. Department of State, in 2006 Venezuela exported $36 billion in goods to the U.S., and imported $416 million worth of agricultural products. Between Bush and Chavez, who’s the real devil?
