“A new life for Venezuela” or “A Declaration of War to Hugo Chavez?”
By Aleksander Boyd
London 28 May 2004 – Today is the first day of a new chapter in Venezuelan history. And it has started with the declarations of Vice President Rangel demanding the OAS to withdraw its observers. Former Infrastructure Minister and candidate to Miranda state governorship Diosdado Cabello went further stating that whatever reports produced by the OAS will not be accepted by the government of Hugo Chavez. As the sheer fear of a massive attendance to the repair process sinks deeper into the chavista psyche we will witness an avalanche of statements from top officials who will disqualify any observations unsympathetic to the try-and-tested mantra, i.e. “it is all a cosmic confabulation against the saviour of the dispossessed.”
Jimmy Carter’s outfit is next in the list of destabilizing Imperialist agents. Probably Jennifer McCoy or the former US President himself will order Corn Flakes for breakfast whilst in Caracas and that act will be viewed, by the Venezuelan ‘Mossad’, as an affront to Venezuela and an attempt to tempt room service attendants to become covert US operatives. Take a look at Fidel Castro’s antics when any government criticises his tragic violations to human rights. The first thing he does is cry out foul as a gay would do when confronted with a homophobic remark, then passing on to disqualify the observation. He never gives a straight answer to constructive criticism but rather points out the many flaws of his critic. Hugo Chavez has been practising hypnopaedia for a number of years now; the subject of his learning is of course Castro’s methods and speeches. As such he repeats, just like a parrot, exactly the same lines; moreover the inflection of his voice is Castroesque already.
The OAS on the other hand, returned the ball to Vice President Rangel. Secretary Gaviria said they would continue with the observation process until the results of the repair process are known. In an exquisitely written communiqué he mentioned the agreement 833 reached by government and opposition, with the good auspice of Vice President Rangel, touching also upon article 72 of Venezuela’s constitution and article 24 of OAS’ Democratic Chart that grants autonomy and independence to its missions. Venezuelan Ambassador to the OAS Jorge Valero, on another front, raised the issue of Roger Noriega’s recent remarks, and rightly so, at the Permanent Council’s meeting accusing him of disrespecting an independent Venezuelan entity (National Electoral Council). Instead of profiting from a golden opportunity to show extraordinary diplomatic finesse, Ambassador Valero blew his chances of being taken seriously by hemispheric peers adorning his speech with unfounded accusations about international conspiracies and paramilitaries that to this date remain to be proven by himself or his boss.
Secretary Gaviria will step down shortly and gossip has it that before his departure he will inform the international community in sufficiently clear terms on democracy a la Chavez. That moment is dreaded by the chavista camp for they presume that it will destroy without remedy the carefully prepared democratic image. Once the report is produced, with the concourse of the Group of Friends of Secretary Gaviria, there will not be PR firm –based on Capitol Hill or otherwise- able enough to prop up again Chavez’ democratic persona. He will become the second Castro of Latin America. Putting myself in his shoes he must be rather excited about that prospect and in light of his lifelong admiration for the Cuban assassin I reckon that is precisely what he is desperately trying to achieve. Imagine, in a few years time there will be another resident in the house of the universal anti establishment heroes and T-shirts with Chavez’ face will become the fetishes of the adolescence worldwide. Not too bad from a half illiterate peasant from Sabaneta de Barinas. As his Cuban idol, he does not give a flying toss about the downtrodden or the welfare of his nation. What is primordial for Chavez is to follow the footsteps of Castro and destabilise the whole region with his megalomanic pseudo liberator fantasy.
Thus expect the unexpected in this new chapter. In my humble opinion American officials should show, at this critical stage, some restrain in opining about Venezuela for their contributions only fuel the flame of chavista rhetoric and the latter are so desperate to pick up a fight that some lamentable incidents could ensue. The attendance to the repair will be massive and once the CNE declares again that there are insufficient signatures to trigger the recall then and only then can the people of Venezuela declare itself in permanent civil disobedience as provided for in article 350 of our constitution that establishes "The people of Venezuela, true to their republican tradition and their struggle for independence, peace and freedom, shall disown any regime, legislation or authority that violates democratic values, principles and guarantees or encroaches upon human rights."
This new chapter of our contemporary history is rather brief, it will last at the most 2 weeks. The next one will be titled, depending on the ‘independence’ of the CNE, “A new life for Venezuela” or “A Declaration of War to Hugo Chavez.”
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