I've never been a big Castro fan. Yes, it's true that his regime's achievements in the fields of health, education and sport have been exemplary. Certainly, the US government's policy towards Cuba over the past few decades has vacilated between the criminal and the petty. But still, I can't get too inspired about the Cuban leader.
Whatever he's achieved and whatever he's endured, Fidel Castro does not derive his legitimacy from the ballot box, a point on which I'm a bit of a stickler. While there are laudable aspects to his rule, it is also true that he imprisons politicl opponents, stifles protest and muzzles the press. When it comes to the term "left-wing dictatorship", I find the noun more important than the adjective.
Elsewhere in Latin America though, there is a leader who is trying to implement a fairer society without recourse to the gulag. I suppose this is why I admire Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez so much - he's a Castro your conscience can live with. Unlike Fidel, Hugo's right to rule comes from the ballot box, as was demonstrated recently when he defeated a recall attempt by 58% to 42%.
One has to admire Chavez for being the first Venezualean president in history to come up with the idea that people who live in one of the world's great oil exporting countries, should live in houses made of bricks and mortar. This doesn't sound too revolutionary to me, but if you listen to conservatives in Caracas and Washington, you'd think that Karl Marx himself was ruling Venezuela.
Hence, the US backed coup in 2002, the oil strike in 2003, and the aforementioned recall effort last month. One has to ask the question, why? Why, such a sustained attack on a democratically elected leader? Why have the CIA committed so much time and money to his overthrow?
Why? Is Chavez trying to undermine other states in the region? Not at all. Why? Is he funding anti-American terrorists? Of course not. Why? Is he refusing to sell oil to the US? Not in the slightest.
His only "crime", as far as I can see, has been to redistribute some of the country's oil wealth to provide for the housing, health and education needs of the desperately poor Venezuelan masses. This would be a threat to US national security how, exactly? I'll freely admit that I'm no expert on Venezuela, so if someone wants to let me in on the big secret about how Chavez is such a demon, I'm all ears.
But I don't think there's some hidden sinister side to the Venezuelan president of which I'm unaware. The answer is probably more straight-forward. The threat he poses to the US is not so much economic as it is political. It's my belief that the US is scared of the demonstration effect of one government in Latin America telling the IMF/World Bank where they can stick their "free" market. It's the domino effect all over again.
So, maybe the CIA wants to show other governments in the region that it doesn't do to get uppity with Uncle Sam. But each time they try to topple Chavez, they only make his appeal greater. Each victory for him adds to his status on the global left, where he is now an icon. In this post-heroic age, Chavez is the closest we have to a hero. He's not a perfect man by any means, but he is a man who's trying to make the world better for the poor and the desperate, and suffering a vicious conservative backlash for his troubles.
I'm not an overly demonstrative man, but when I heard the first news report of Chavez's victory in last month's recall, I yelled "go on, ye boy ye" in delight. For those of you who don't speak Ulster, this translates roughly as "jolly well done, old chap".
And I'm sure that many millions of people around the world shared my sentiment.