Posted on 04/18/2002 8:48:31 AM PDT by RedWhiteBlue
Blink and you might have missed last week's coup in Venezuela, which briefly deposed Hugo Chavez from power. On Thursday a violent street protest led the military to demand the president's resignation. By Sunday, however, protests in his favour and an outcry from neighboring nations gave the generals cold feet, and he was reinstated. Mr. Chavez was democratically elected and does have a legitimate claim to power. But his commitment to democracy is flimsy and he befriends some of the world's cruellest despots. Venezuela can do better.
Mr. Chavez's odyssey has global ramifications because Venezuela is the world's fourth largest oil exporter. The President has been a strict supporter of quotas within the OPEC oil cartel, and news of his ouster caused the price of crude to fall more than 6% on the expectation that his successor would open the taps. Mr. Chavez sends 50,000 barrels of oil a day to his good friend Fidel Castro, thereby aiding Cuba's communist dictatorship. He made courtesy calls to Libya and Iran last year, and Iraq in 2000. His sympathies for Colombian guerrillas are well known. Recently he expressed support for Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, the terrorist known as Carlos the Jackal. While Mr. Chavez mouthed the appropriate anti-terrorist sentiments following Sept. 11, he later criticized U.S. actions in Afghanistan. Mr. Chavez clearly regards himself as a revolutionary in the tradition of Simon Bolivar, and is willing to support any tinpot dictator who opposes the world order.
Domestically, Mr. Chavez has been just as destabilizing. His major accomplishments consist of rewriting the constitution to his own advantage, pulling the military into the political sphere and stacking courts with his friends. Business associations, exasperated by his economic blundering, seek his ouster. He has the right to rule by decree and he wields it with abandon: In November, he passed 49 bills without approval from Parliament.
His attempts to politicize the state oil-firm, which is responsible for 80% of the country's exports, sparked last week's confrontations. Unwilling to be co-opted into Mr. Chavez's populist/socialist "revolution," company executives organized a series of work stoppages and rallies that culminated in the mass protest at which more than a dozen middle-class anti-Chavez protesters were killed. Unfortunately, the first acts of Mr. Chavez's successor -- dissolving the National Assembly and dismissing the Supreme Court -- were even more undemocratic than many perpetrated by the man he replaced.
After his 48-hour exile, Mr. Chavez tried to adopt a conciliatory tone. He withdrew his appointments to the state oil company and promised no retaliation against his foes. But Mr. Chavez has always been a bully and he will likely revert to form. Certainly, there is no evidence that he will be trading up to a better class of friends -- Iran, Iraq and Cuba are all vocal in welcoming him back to power. In the interests of democracy, Mr. Chavez should call new elections and let the people decide if this would-be Bolivar is the man they want running their country.
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