In Defense of Appeasement-Obama was right to shake hands with Venezuela’s anti-American dictator

President Obama’s recent handshake with U.S.-bashing despot Hugo Chavez has occasioned much controversy about the proper focus of American policy toward Venezuela. Today, FrontPage Magazine considers two perspectives on that subject. In our lead feature today, Ryan Mauro warns against appeasement and sheds light on the dangerous anti-American block Venezuala is forming in Latin America. In our second featured story below, Alek Boyd, a Venezuelan opposition activist, argues that Obama was right to offer an olive branch to Chavez, because doing so will rob Chavez of the weaponry he needs to sustain his rule. – The Editors

There was much ado in the world's media about the recent handshake between President Obama and Hugo Chavez at the Summit of the Americas conference in Trinidad, a photo-op that some critics saw as playing into the hands of the Venezuelan dictator. But as a Venezuelan opposition activist, I look at it differently. However objectionable it may seem, there is a case to be made for Obama’s olive branch to Chavez.

Obama is currently riding wave of popularity unprecedented for an American president. In his whirlwind recent tour of Europe, he was given the royal treatment everywhere he went, not only by fellow leaders and monarchs, but also by the European media – a media that, it must be stressed, has been incredibly hostile towards America and whose knee-jerk reaction to the previous U.S. president left a lot to be desired. This reception was itself a response to a man who spurns confrontation, and whose global charm offensive has included a conciliatory message to the Iranian people, a controversial bow to the King of Saudi Arabia, an overture to the Cuban dictators, and now the amiability he displayed in the presence of Chavez.

It was only natural to see that Chavez too was smitten by Obama. For all his anti-American agitation, the Venezuelan caudillo suffers from chronic attention-seeking disorder. For years he has tried desperately to get some sort of recognition from George W. Bush. Following his photo-op with the world's most popular, and powerful, political figure, Chavez finally has achieved his dream of being noticed. Yet, the consequences of that are not as dire as many seem to believe.

While some say that Obama's homey handshake was a sign of weakness, it needs to be put into context. On the one hand, we have a president who, as elite wisdom has it, can't do wrong. On the other, we have a pariah who can't do right. So, does the powerful figure truly demonstrate weakness by giving a handshake and a few smiles to an inconsequential banana-republic dictator?

Consider another possibility. By charming Chavez, Obama effectively has taken away the equivalent of the Cuban embargo, leaving Chavez without the favorite canard in his rhetorical arsenal: anti-Americanism. It is a near-certainty that in a few days time, in one of his notorious talk-a-tons, Chavez will start railing against Obama. As appeasement and conciliation is to Obama, so is confrontation to the failed putschist Chavez. But after Obama so prominently extended a hand of friendship, Chavez’s railing will ring hollow. He will struggle to stir up the populist furies on which he depends to keep him in power. And if Chavez is weakened, his country benefits.

Venezuela under Chavez has become a source of regional instability. The peoples’ monies have been misused to fund all manner of anti-democratic drives, when not for outright terrorism. Political persecution is rife. Last time I visited the country, I spent an afternoon with General Raul Baduel, the man who, literally, saved Chavez in 2002. Baduel's relationship with Chavez goes back a very long way: for years they conspired, planned, organized and attempted a coup in 1992. They have fought and (mis)governed together. And yet none of it counted. Today, Baduel sits in jail, an enemy of the regime, and Chavez's kangaroo courts will make sure that his stay is long, difficult and painful. But if this is happening to Chavez's very own compadres, what for the opposition?

I happen to have worked with opposition leader Manuel Rosales during 2006's presidential race. At the time, he was governor of Zulia, Venezuela’s oil-rich state. Last November, he was elected mayor of Maracaibo, the capital of Zulia and Venezuela’s second-largest city. As a result of his political rise, charges of corruption have been presented against him and, owing to the lack of guarantees for a fair trial and due process in Venezuela, he's had to go into hiding. These are only two cases. There are many more.

Venezuela has become Chavez's personal fiefdom in the same way Cuba has been for the Castros for the last 50 years. Corruption charges abound against opposition politicians, or perceived enemies within, but scandals implicating Chavez – for instance, the so-called “Maletagate,” which centered on a suitcase with $800,000 in cash destined to fund Argentina President Cristina Kirchner's campaign and involved Chavez's closest collaborators – are never investigated.

Then we have cases of illegally banning opposition politicians from running for public office. In the odd chance that opposition representatives do win elections, as Caracas Mayor Antonio Ledezma did, Chavez orders his goons to raid mayoral offices; suspends funding; appoints authorities that effectively take away all powers; prepares the ground for lawsuits; and turns them into sitting ducks. That's Chavez brand of democracy: everything is fine so long as his lottery-machines cum e-voting Smartmatics keep giving him electoral victories. When, for whatever reason, the machines fail to interpret adequately the caudillo's whims, he puts things right in the dictatorial manner.

This brings us back to President Obama. I don't believe it is for Obama to be solving our problems. Neither do I expect State Department officials to brief him properly about the many problems affecting our nation. We Venezuelans got into this mess and we must get out of it. The fact that Venezuelan democratic forces should have made their critical voices heard in Trinidad, and didn't, shows how ill-equipped they are to participate as a serious challengers in the international arena. By playing ball with Chavez, Obama at least threw him off balance.

It seems unreasonable to expect that, contrary to his nature, Obama should have dictated policy. His political demeanor is that of the new kid on the block that wants to be friends with everybody. By refusing to antagonize Chavez, Obama avoided contributing to the anti-American fever that's infected most of the region's ruling despots, all of whom rely on public confrontation and microphone diplomacy to inflate their stature. Difficult though it is to accept, appeasing the Chavez and the Castros is the right thing to do. Absent the rug that sustains their repressive regimes – anti-Americanism –dictators south of the border will be hard pressed to create new excuses to explain their utter failures.

The way to confront the Chavezes of this world is not in the public domain, where they shout the loudest to a media eager to reprint their nonsense. Obama should revise the role, and many funds, that America sends to useless multilateral organizations, which are always prepared to bite the hand that feeds them. Instead, Obama should employ all of his considerable charm, and power, to recoup America's lost leverage at the UN and the Organization of American States. That’s where the game should be played and it is from there that the condemnations against Latin American dictatorships ought to be issued. If President Obama can seize on this initiative, his now-notorious handshake make yet mark the beginning of the end for the Venezuela’s dictator.

Alek Boyd created Vcrisis.com and started blogging about Venezuela in Oct. 2002. Since, he has worked as an independent researcher, reporter, lobbyist, civil and political rights activist, and has experience in strategic and political consulting throughout Latin America. In 2006, Alek became the first blogger ever to shadow a presidential candidate in Venezuela.

While I don't agree with the authors viewpoint, he's credible and deserves to be heard. I'm glad to see he doesn't expect the US to solve the problem, freedom loving people under the heel of a tyrant shouldn't look to the US for support. Anymore.

I don't believe it is for Obama to be solving our problems. Neither do I expect State Department officials to brief him properly about the many problems affecting our nation. We Venezuelans got into this mess and we must get out of it. The fact that Venezuelan democratic forces should have made their critical voices heard in Trinidad, and didn't, shows how ill-equipped they are to participate as a serious challengers in the international arena. By playing ball with Chavez, Obama at least threw him off balance.

Who cares about the handshake?

It is what I expect the President to do when greeting foreign leaders, regardless to the reason for the meeting.

I am more concerned about any ‘plans’ they may have made.

But it wasn't a normal handshake, as from one head of state to another.

It was the whole elaborate 'brother handshake', with the bump and the grip and the hand on the shoulder.

No. 1, it's tacky for a head of state to do such a thing unless he's also close friends with the guy or at least has met him many times before.

No. 2, it implies a level of intimacy and friendship far beyond that signified by a formal handshake. And while I'm not surprised that the Zero sees himself as a good friend of the Communist head of a banana republic, I'm pained.

But it wasn't a normal handshake, as from one head of state to another.

That is an important point. Even the Venezuelan TV station reporter was surprised by the fact that it was not just a formal handshake, but that Obama then went over and talked with Hugo privately (through an interpreter), touching him a couple of times and saying "Bye-bye, my friend" (in English) at the end of the chat.

I have no problem with talking softly and carrying a big stick. I am sure Obama aware about the big stick. I am also sure that his idea of using it is quite different from mine. So... Cajoling or tricking Chavez into behaving would’ve been nice. But I don’t think it was not on Obama’s mind.

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