| HUGO CHAVEZ: A LOVE-HATE RELATIONSHIP |
| Written by Maria Elena Salinas |
| Monday, January 06 2003 |
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| Jose Luis Casaprima still remembers why he supported Hugo Chavez when he ran for president of Venezuela in 1998. After 45 years of voting for the same two parties, with no improvement in sight, Chavez seemed a refreshing change. Casaprima was one of millions of Venezuelans who believed in Chavez then and who now would like to see him out of the presidential palace of Miraflores.
Hugo Chavez presented himself as the savior of the oppressed: The outsider who would put an end to decades of corruption and nepotism. The two traditional parties, known as AD and COPEI, had alternated power and were widely accused of squandering the vast oil wealth of the country, the fifth-largest oil exporter in the world.
That is probably why the Venezuelan people believed that a lieutenant-colonel-turned-politician would be the answer to their problems. That is probably why they gave a former coup leader, who attempted to overthrow the government in 1992, a landslide victory and why, a year later, they approved a new constitution that gave him new powers and control of all branches of the government. As if that were not enough, they re-elected him again under that constitution in the year 2000. Chavez had a clear mandate to govern as he saw fit. And that is precisely what he has done.
Mr. Casaprima asks himself this question every day: Why did we believe in him? "Instead of ending corruption, he has tripled it; instead of helping the poor, he has increased their numbers." It has been reported that several government officials have transferred millions of dollars to foreign bank accounts.
That is why for weeks we saw images on television of hundreds of thousands of people marching in the streets of Caracas and other cities in Venezuela. That is why many of those who gave him a vote of confidence in 1998 are now demanding his resignation.
Hugo Chavez has become the best example of a democratically elected leader who has become a threat to democracy itself.
One of my colleagues cries with frustration when she talks about all of the reasons why she hates Hugo Chavez and wants him out of her country. It's his confrontational rhetoric, his leftist policies, his lack of sensitivity to the deaths of dozens of people during the protests. It's the impunity with which he has allowed those deaths to go unsolved.
The list goes on. Hugo Chavez's economic policies have alienated potential investors. Unemployment has risen. He verbally attacks any person or institution that dares to criticize him, including the Catholic Church. He has declared war against media outlets, threatening freedom of expression. He is a friend of Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, and he recently visited Saddam Hussein in Iraq.
But probably the most powerful reasons that Venezuelans give for hating Hugo Chavez is his hateful, divisive rhetoric, which has managed to polarize the country and pit its people against one another. They accuse him of turning the military against its own people and ordering the repression of otherwise peaceful protests, and of completely ignoring the pleas to resign or hold early elections.
But it's also fair to say that Chavez still enjoys the support of millions who are unconditionally behind him. Many belong to the so-called Bolivarian Circles he created to defend his revolution. Many still think he is the savior of the dispossessed.
The national strike that began in early December -- the fourth in eight months -- crippled the economy of the country, virtually paralyzed the oil industry and led to violent confrontations in the streets. It's a price so many were willing to pay to get rid of the man they themselves put into power. |
