Hugo Chavez is certainly a colorful politician. We who have grown up in a successful country with unmatched personal and economic freedom tend to dismiss Chavez as just another banana republic clown with too many AK47s in his closet. But before we develop our annoyance filter for Chavez to the point where we don’t even hear him or sense his existence, we really need to rethink his apparent non-importance in today’s world.
Of course, the heaviest insulation we can erect will still let through an awareness of viper-like danger. Even a child (or an idiot, or a certified lunatic) with a Kalishnikov is dangerous, more so if he or she has the money and power to unleash hordes of thugs with weapons. This is Chavez’s obvious bona fide threat, and one we can’t ignore. But his greater danger is one that is not so apparent.
If we can believe what has been written about him, it appears that he came from that narrow economic band that passes for middle class in Venezuela. He had, by his country’s standards, a good education, culminating in graduation from a military college / academy. The small amount of available information that might not be propaganda indicates that he is bright, ambitious and ruthless. We know that his notorious attempted presidential coup failed and that he served two years in prison. We don’t know, however, how he managed to escape the usual fate of coup leaders in Central and South America.
Within just a few years of his release from prison he was elected, by a huge majority, to the office of Presidente de Venezuela. Clearly his oratory must be moving and effective, convincing a large electorate that Hugo Chavez’s brand of Marxism / Socialism / Communism will work. Chavez’s Step One was impressively successful.
But the Chavez Step Two ran into a temporary roadblock: his referendum to ensure he would be Presidente for life was narrowly defeated. The reason was, of course, that the enemies of Venezuela (including the “satanic state” of Estados Unidos de America) conspired to rob Venezuela’s poor of his assured continuing benevolences. But don’t worry, Hugo will try again, and he will have assured that the conditions are better for passage next time.
We have just seen the opening salvo of the Chavez Step Three. Under the latest law, any citizen who refuses to spy on fellow citizens for the Chavez regime may be imprisoned. As the other components come into view, we will recognize that the end point of Step Three is absolute dictatorial control. When Steps One through Three are complete, Hugo Chavez will be as secure in his despotism as Joseph Stalin was for many years.
But Hugo Chavez’s absolute Communist Dictatorship in Venezuela is still not the greatest danger. The most fearful thing is his position as a role model for ambitious, ruthless would-be dictators the world over, each savoring a position from which to obtain vengeance for all of life’s little affronts.
Just imagine Chavez’s powerful influence on those who have been raised on a diet of tribal Islam spiced with passionate Marxism. Undoubtedly, those whose diets also included heaping desserts of black liberation theology will especially revere Hugo. His imitators will surely work very hard to apply his proven methodology to stamp out those ever-dangerous personal and economic freedoms, wherever they still exist today.
Tags: AK47, black liberation theology, Communism, Despotism, Kalishnikov, Marxism, Socialism
