Hugo Chavez: Malicious Narcissist

Conservative Trailhead ^ | 01/09/2005 | Henry Ortuno

[Read2Know]

Blogger Francisco writing in the Caracas Chronicles puts forth the theory that Hugo Chavez is a malicious narcissist:

If you're looking for insight into Venezuela's seemingly never ending political crisis, section 301.81 of the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual would be an excellent place to start. The entry reads eerily like a brief character sketch of Venezuela's embattled president, Hugo Chavez: "Has a grandiose sense of self-importance; is preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance; requires excessive admiration; has unreasonable expectations of automatic compliance with his expectations; shows arrogant behaviors or attitudes, etc." Actually, it's the DSM-IV's diagnostic criteria for Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD.)

This long-distance diagnosis by blogger Francisco is very thought provoking. It seems all tyrants show behavior that is symptomatic of the narcissism disorder. Judging by Chavez's boyfriend, Fidel Castro, you may say personalities that are alike love to be together.

Chavez's behaviors are clearly not of the rational sort. Francisco notes:

Dr. Alvaro Requena, a respected Venezuelan psychiatrist, says Chavez "meets all nine of the diagnostic criteria." Dr. Arturo Rodriguez Milliet, a colleague, finds "a striking consensus on that diagnosis" among Caracas psychiatrists. Not that it really takes an expert: you only need to watch Chavez's constant cadena broadcasts, where the president blusters, badgers, sings, reports, lectures, recalls and issues orders live on every TV channel and every radio station in the country, carrying presidential speeches that can last anywhere from 5 minutes to 4 hours – one never knows ahead of time.

In any case, whether Chavez is a narcissist or not, the citizens of Venezuela should have the right to free and honest elections. Only in that manner can the people remove any leader that starts having delusions of grandeur or other disagreeable tendencies that always seem to lead to tyranny.

[Read2Know]

Here is a link to Caracas Chronicles blog: http://caracaschronicles.blogspot.com/archives/2003_11_30_caracaschronicles_archive.html#107047717184750466

[livius]

This is true. Chavez is a particularly dangerous dictator because he's a particularly delusional one, sort of on the Korean model. He has been having his official paintings carefully touched up to make him look more reminiscent of Simón Bolívar, for example; and then there's his bizarre habit of referring to himself in the third person. Not a good sign, and I think he's going to be a serious problem for the US and the world in the future.

Most LatAm dictators don't have the ability to become a threat outside of their country. He does. He has been forming alliances with everybody from the North Koreans to the pre-war Saddamite Iraqis (many of whom are holed up in his country) to AQ.

[skullocrushah]

I agree with this analysis. What i find astonishing is the lefties ("the cuba solidarity movement") here in the UK who support Chavez. The Venezuelans I have met studying here really dislike him.

[livius]

Ping to CW and Marron. I wonder if they've analyzed his parrot, too?

Actually, I haven't seen the parrot lately. Maybe the parrot didn't meet the new standards for not dissing Chavez, and had to be turned into a tasty parrot stew.