* “It had been days since she had given me any attention. How are you, Condoleezza?” asked Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez (image) before launching into a verbal tirade on TV against U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. “'Condoleezza turned again to disparaging me and said that I am destroying the country's economy - this shows that there is now an economic plan against * Not all assessments of Chavez are doom and gloom, however. Take this article from Reuters that examines how he is carefully plotting his plans for nationalization in spite of his fiery rhetoric. As the article mentions:
"Despite molding himself on Latin American icons such as Che Guevara, since taking office in 1999, Chavez has avoided the pitfalls of others revolutionaries by keeping relative peace with international markets while pushing his leftist agenda…Without the distractions of such head-on fights, Chavez has armed himself with the ability to legislate by decree and can focus on consolidating power by clipping central bank autonomy and use redistricting to shape Venezuela's electoral map”.
Indeed, Chavez’ policies have been seen favorably by investors since the government has negotiated with several private firms before purchasing them.
* On the other hand, doling out threats isn’t exactly the most diplomatic way to run a revolution. In the same televised speech he responded to Condi Rice, Chavez threatend to nationalize private supermarkets if they try to hoard food or break price controls on basic goods.* “The Venezuelan state's intelligence apparatus is ready to launch any investigation in order to guarantee the operation of our strategic resources” mentioned the country’s Interior Minister in reaction to threats by Al-Qaeda to attack suppliers of oil to the
* Apparently you can’t joke around in
Links- Canada.com, Monsters & Critics, The Latin Americanist, Reuters, BusinessWeek, International Herald Tribune, Sydney Morning Herald, Guardian
Image- China Daily
I value the Latin Americanist as a place to keep up with differing views on all things in Latin America, but particularly controversial issues such as the Chavez agenda in Venezuela. I think he is undertaking a grand experiment in whether nationalization policies in a globally integrated economy can protect a country's industry or completely destroy its economy. It's unfortunate, of course, that the people of any country have to be the real life guinea pigs for an experiment with such potentially debilitating effects.
ReplyDeleteAs for my take, I had been cutting Chavez some slack in earlier posts on my blog such as Venezuela,Hotbed of Democracy AND Capitalism, but in a post today, I fear for what I think could be devastating results as his policies increase in scope and impact in Then Again, Maybe the Government Can Screw up the Economy.
Craig Maginness
Going Global
Chavez' experiment with nationalism wll either be the best thing to happen to Venezuela in decades or an unmitigated disaster. In my opinion there is no middle ground.
ReplyDeleteInasmuch as I do not like/agree with all of Chavez' policies I hope nationalization does work in order to avoid a deep hemispheric shakeup. Leaders on both the left and right have had success in latin america over the past few years and it wouldbe disastrous if that were erased by a Venezuelan upheaval.
Kudos on your blog posts Craig!