Hugo Chavez: "Bush Should Get The Gold Medal
For Hypocrisy"
By Mike Whitney
03/12/07 "ICH" -- -- Bush’s trip to Latin America has turned
into another public relations disaster. Every time Airforce 1
touches down in a southern capital, the streets turn into
battlegrounds between incensed protestors and fully-armored,
truncheon-wielding Robo-cops. At the same time, Bush has to be
whisked away in an armored-plated limousine to an undisclosed
spider-hole in the Andean outback.
Is this any way to promote “free trade”?
How is Bush expected to change hearts and minds when he can’t
even stick his nose beyond the small army of mercenaries which
surrounds him 24-7?
Bush now faces stiff headwinds wherever he goes. He is the most
unpopular president in modern times and no one is hoodwinked by
his silly promises to help the poor and needy. It’s just a
shabby excuse to mollify the public.
“We care about our neighborhood a lot," Bush purred in Brazil.
Nonsense.
Latin America has withstood 2 decades of neoliberal policies and
they’ve had enough. The continents are drifting further and
further apart and it’ll take more than Bush’s bland assurances
to bring them back together.
"I would call our diplomacy quiet and effective diplomacy,” Bush
opined. “Diplomacy aimed at helping people, aimed at elevating
the human condition, aimed at expressing the great compassion of
the American people."
Blah, blah, blah.
Does Bush think these people are complete fools? They’ve lived
under America’s boot-heel and they know exactly what to
expect--death squads, coup d’etats, fixed elections, and corrupt
government officials-- all made in Washington. They also know
that Bush’s promises are just more hot air. After all, they’ve
seen the footage of the poor, black people being shunted off to
the Superdome without food or water following Hurricane Katrina.
Bush’s “Goodwill Tour” is a total fraud. It’s just a smokescreen
for more coercion, meddling and gross exploitation. That’s why
tens of thousands of protestors have poured out onto the streets
burning American flags, waving posters of a Hitler-mustachioed
Bush, and chanting “Gringo go home”.
Bush’s trip has been such a catastrophe that the
politically-sensitive Google News has removed it as a headline
story. The media would like to see the whole thing just
disappear. Still, Bush’s handlers have decided to continue the
fiasco; running from foxhole to foxhole behind a phalanx of
flack-jacketed paramilitaries and low-flying Apache helicopters.
Whew……That was close.
Even worse, arch rival, Hugo Chavez has been shadowing Bush with
his improvised “Anti-Empire” tour. The charismatic Chavez has
put tens of thousands of cheering supporters on the streets
while he throttles Uncle Sam with his fiery oratory.
“Those who want to go directly to hell can follow capitalism,”
Chavez boomed to a standing-only crowd in Argentina’s soccer
stadium. “And those of us who want to build heave here on earth
will follow socialism.”
The contrast between Bush and Chavez couldn’t be greater. Chavez
hale’s from a one-room mud-floor hut which he shared with his
parents and 3 siblings. His hardscrabble upbringing and his
years in the elite Paratrooper Unit of the Venezuelan Military
prepared him for the political struggle he would face when he
seized power and subdued Venezuela’s powerful oligarchy. On the
other hand, Bush has been buoyed along by his family’s wealth
and position which provided entree to the best Ivy League
schools and baled him out of countless legal jams.
(insider-trading at Harken, A.W.O.L. with the Texas National
Guard) He spent his adult life bouncing from one failed business
venture to the next until he washed up the front lawn of 1600
Pennsylvania Ave courtesy of 5 venal jurists on the high court.
The rest is history.
The two men are polar opposites. While the Bush persona depends
on a talented public relations team which casts him a one-part
Bible-beating preacher and one-part plain-talking cowpoke;
Chavez is unaffected and straightforward. His warm and
gregarious manner has earned him friends around the world and
strengthened support for his redistributive programs.
No wonder the corporate media hates him so much.
Chavez has taken on the most powerful institutions in Venezuela
including the oil giants, the telecommunications industry, and
the deeply-entrenched oligarchy. He’s set up free health care
clinics and subsidized food programs for the poor, and created
greater opportunities for education and upward mobility. More
importantly, he’s reasserted the state control over vital
national assets, particularly oil.
The people love him. Chavez won the last election with over 60%
of the votes.
Currently, Chavez is demanding that foreign oil giants concede a
controlling share of their business to the state. It’s a bold
move that’ll put more power in the hands of elected officials
rather than profit-driven CEOs and dodgy robber barons. One can
only hope that the US Congress will eventually take similar
action to “nationalize” the oil industry so there can be greater
public control of the resources upon which all of our lives
depend.
Chavez is actualizing a vision of a just and sustainable society
where civil liberties are guaranteed for all and where people
have the right to expect a minimal standard of living. His
Bolivarian Revolution has spread across national borders and is
unifying Latin America under various trade agreements. His plan
for a cross-continent pipeline to the Pacific, so he can sell
oil directly to China, has Washington politicos worried about
meeting America’s future energy needs. His dream of a Latin
American OPEC (which may include Russia and Iran) is also a
matter of growing concern.
Chavez success depends to large extent on his approach to
socialism. He is not rigid and ideological, but pragmatic and
flexible. He applies socialism as a general principle which can
be adjusted to the particular exigencies of Venezuelan society.
So far, it seems to be working.
He also takes great pride in tweaking the nose of his Texas
nemesis, George Bush—Mr. Danger.
The Chavez-Bush rivalry has been a positive development for
anti-imperialists. It pits a compassionate social-revolutionary
against a marble-hearted warmonger. It highlights the difference
between an engaged and forward-thinking populist and a fatuous
demagogue. Bush has not fared well by comparison.
Chavez was the first to respond to Katrina; offering to send
doctors, medical supplies and fuel to compensate for downed oil
rigs. Bush stubbornly refused Chavez’s help. Instead, he
declared martial law and deployed mercenaries so he could treat
traumatized hurricane victims like enemy combatants. His actions
only added to the peoples’ suffering. Unsurprisingly, his public
approval ratings sunk like a stone.
For the last few days, Chavez has been following Bush around the
continent blasting him as a “political cadaver with a 600 word
vocabulary” and lambasting him as a “drunken war criminal”. His
relentless barrage has made Bush look timid and weak. “The
Deciders” fragile ego has been badly battered and the overall
goals of the mission have suffered. According to Bush, the trip
was intended to “underscore the commitment of the United States
to the Western Hemisphere and… highlight our common agenda to
advance freedom, prosperity, and social justice and deliver the
benefits of democracy in the areas of health, education and
economic prosperity.”
More mumbo jumbo. Like Russian President Vladimir Putin said,
“No one wants Bush’s Iraqi-type democracy”.
The real reason for the trip was announced in “Foreign Affairs”
the quarterly policy-magazine of the Council on Foreign
Relations. The article presented a “divide and conquer” strategy
for isolating Chavez and the far-left Latin American governments
while trying to strengthen ties with the center-left
governments. It is essentially a battle plan that is strikingly
similar to Bush’s Iraq strategy. (Sunnis vs. Shiites)
That’s why Bush will be handing out billions in foreign aid to
America’s friends, while trying to chip away at alliances with
Washington’s adversaries. Most of the money is expected to go to
security forces, covert operations and democracy-corrupting
NGOs.
Sound familiar?
Bush’s rhetoric may have changed, but US goals are forever the
same. The administration is preparing for another century of
intervention, exploitation and violence. If the sulfurous Mr.
Bush had the manpower he wouldn’t hesitate to send his
camouflage-garbed legions southward to recapture the entire
continent. In fact, Caracas would probably resemble downtown
Baghdad right now. Perhaps, that’s why his comments were
received with such skepticism when he addressed an audience of
Brazilian business leaders saying:
"I don't think America gets enough credit for trying to help
improve people's lives. My trip is to explain as clearly as I
can that our nation is generous and compassionate."
Bush is wrong. No one has contributed more to the endless cycle
of grinding poverty in Latin America than the United States.
That’s why Chavez quickly responded saying, “Bush should be
awarded a gold medal for hypocrisy…He’s just now discovered that
poverty exists in the region."
Bush should take a minute and push his way passed the chain-link
fences and armored vehicles and listen to what the people on the
street are saying. It’s a different era now. Latin America has
slipped out of the US orbit and it won’t be returning anytime
soon. It’s not our “backyard” anymore.
It’s time to pack it up, Gringo, and go home.
Viva Chavez.Click here
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