Ed. note: This is the second of two parts, with part one appearing in yesterday’s BeyondChron.
Clearly there are plenty of reasons to sing for Hugo Chávez. But life in Venezuela is not a song for everybody; if Chávez is indeed playing a game, then somebody must surely be losing, and if anything he has shown it is certainly never going to be him.
Everything he has done since he has been in office has been to his sole political benefit, increasing the number of justices in the Supreme Court from twenty to thirty-two so he could stack the court, changing the constitution to increase the presidential term from five to six years, and increasing executive control over the nationalized petroleum company, PDVSA by gutting the leadership after more than half the workers went on strike in late 2002.
And while he was democratically elected twice, even enjoying his largest number of votes to date in a ‘recall’ style election organized by the opposition, it seems that if his job was ever in threat he has the means at his hands to be able to assure that he would remain in power.
For one, he clearly has the power of intimidation. The Venezuelan Penal Code has always contained a rarely-used provision that prohibits “offending” and “disrespecting” the President or nearly any governmental figure, carrying maximum of 30 months in jail, or longer if the insult is made publicly , yet the laws were amended in 2002 to increase the penalty for “instigating disobedience” from the previous maximum of six months to the current of five years.
Recently two journalists, Ibéyise Pacheco and Guzman Azócar Alcalá, were released from custody for crimes stemming from these laws. Both currently await trial. Such ambiguity surrounding freedom of speech can be frightening, and I have heard professors express their feelings of intimidation caused by such a clause.
Yet it remains to be seen why a President who faces a government that supports him almost unanimously across its branches, who represents a majority civilian base that is inclined to back him almost religiously in percentages as high as 80%, and who scarcely faces a threat to his endlessly burgeoning authority, would resort to such morally unsound and seemingly defensive tactics, which seem to detract from his support from abroad and give more credibility to those who oppose him.
What could possibly drive him to do this? Paranoia and madness? An unquenchable thirst for power? Revenge for decades of neglect by the country’s elite?
If only there was a correct answer. For one, it’s clear that these laws are to be enforced selectively, used exclusively to intimidate. Others have been quick to conclude that these laws are just another attempt, albeit a successful one, of Chávez’s to further augment his control over the country. And many simply deny that there’s anything wrong with these laws at all, as many Chávez supporters do.
This ambiguity of freedom of speech in Venezuela has been noted by international organizations such as Human Rights Watch, Reporters without Borders, and the Organization of American States Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. The Venezuelan government has been quick to condemn the statements made by organizations such as these as American propaganda, but these are international organizations, and while, some like Reporters without Borders and the OAS, receive a small percentage of their budget in some form from the Washington, neither have been hesitant to criticize the United States either.
Reporters without Borders documented the cases of 62 journalists who were attacked in 2004, and numerous others threatened or harassed often by government supporters or police. Many have noted the selective use of tax-collection and allegations of evasion by the SENIAT, the tax collecting body in Venezuela, to pressure and in some cases shut down media outlets.
With even less credibility, and met with an even stronger response from the Venezuelan government, was the US State Department’s 2005 Human Rights report on Venezuela, slamming the country for what it deemed numerous abuses, ranging from corruption in the judicial system, to torture and abuse of detainees. Yet the obvious difficulty remains taking such a report seriously from a country that itself has sanctioned torture, disregarded the opinion and precedence of nearly every international governing body and legislation on human rights, and as recently as four years ago, encouraged and funded opposition groups that organized a coup against a democratically elected leader in this very country.
Recently Chávez has been actively involved in purchasing a large amount of weapons from Russia and aircraft from Brazil, all while training and recruiting a “million-man” civilian army, prepared to defend Venezuela in what he deems a “hundred years war” in the event that United States ever decided to invade Venezuela. While this is nothing more than a ludicrous claim at the moment, it becomes slightly less so with the knowledge that Venezuela has been surging to the top of all government watch lists for the past couple of years.
The CIA classified Venezuela has the “top potentially unstable” country last year, and sound bites from the ranks of government officials all the way up to Condoleezza Rica have been increasingly hostile with regards to Venezuela and Chávez. In February, Condoleezza Rice urged the international community to form a “united front” against Venezuela, which she claimed represented a “challenge to democracy” and a “danger” to the region due to Chávez’s close relationship with Fidel Castro.
Yet overall, one of the most difficult things about analyzing the situation here is the large discrepancy in truth that exists about a reality that everyone seems to have their own version of. Someone will tell you Venezuela has vastly improved and poverty has drastically declined under Chávez just as quickly as another will tell you the exact opposite, each with separate studies and statistics to justify their respective argument.
In a country completely polarized and divided, there seems to be little room between loving or hating Chávez, and it is such an emotional issue that it becomes difficult for many to analyze academically. Numbers pertaining to poverty, the economy, or exactly how and where government money has gone are seemingly in perpetual dispute.
Depending on who you ask, there seem to be two realities here: the Venezuela that is progressing like it never has been before or the Venezuela that has become a complete nightmare, so much so that thousands of Venezuelans have fled the country primarily for Miami, making them the second-most populous immigrant group there behind Cubans. Under Chávez it has become near impossible for Venezuelans to get visas to even travel to the United States, something many people attribute to the fact that the United States government increasingly fears that Venezuelans travel there to seek permanent asylum.
But above all it seems inevitable that the show will go on; Chávez is all but guaranteed the Presidency of Venezuela until 2012, if not longer. While it is clear that Chávez has inspired an immense sector of his country to support him, it remains to be seen if he can turn the claims and ideals into undeniable progress. And whether you adore it or despise it, the program is his and he will continue, talking, singing, even reading poetry, while many hope that the reality that he promises will become more than just a television show.
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