Hugo’s Next Move: Kill the Media
“Ganamos!!!”
That was the message that went out Sunday night to all members of the Anti-Chavez group on Facebook. As if it needs any translation: “We win.”
Sunday’s victory for the myriad opponents of Hugo Chavez’s totalitarian grab in Venezuela is undoubtedly sweet, but the win for freedom and liberty at the ballot box will likely be short-lived – as the blow is felt hardest by a megalomaniac who’s not used to defeat.
Chavez’s way of dealing with disappointment is unbalanced at best and psychotic at worst. One short rebuke from King Juan Carlos, and Chavez nearly declares war on Spain. Three weeks after the king barked the now-legendary “Por que no te callas?” at a blabbering Chavez, the Venezuelan leader was vowing to seize Spanish financial institutions at a Friday rally in Caracas. After all, his socialist vision is that much better if he can settle the score in personal vendettas along the way.
Even though wire reports state that Chavistas were driving through streets with bullhorns trying to round up voters like sheep and were trying to scare opposition poll watchers away from voting stations, Chavez will claim that the 56 percent voter turnout is the reason he lost. He’ll claim that those other 44 percent of Venezuelans, if indeed that number is correct, were really on his side yet were intimidated by opposition forces such as Roman Catholic clergy.
At that Friday rally, Chavez even set up the conspiracy theory behind the defeat he likely feared: It’s all the fault of the U.S. No need to give any details; just that “the empire” had written plans to destabilize the Chavez machine before and after the referendum. But if Chavez plays up those conspiracy theories to the hilt, he could begin the week as he promised he would – by halting oil shipments – if it was perceived in his increasingly paranoid mind that the U.S. meddled in the referendum.
Chavez is a man more hell-bent on trying to toy with the U.S. – be it through his alliance with Iran or throwing a hissy fit at American ally Colombia – than bringing any true benefit to the Venezuelan people. “I swear to God and to my mother that if I have to take up an assault rifle to defend my country, I will again,” Chavez told the rally crowd. “Our victory this Sunday is a defeat to our enemy, the North American empire.”
After he spends time pondering his referendum defeat – and, of course, all of the conspiracies that led to it, considering he’s more obsessed with “the empire” than a “Star Wars” groupie – Chavez will slowly, surely, take what he originally wanted by force. He will justify this by calling his 2006 re-election a mandate for his “Bolivarian revolution,” referendum or no referendum.
“We should be alert to the possibility that these changes will be imposed through a different route than the constitution,” former Chavez ally and ex-Defense Minister Raul Isaias Baduel said on Globovision after the results were announced.
Who will be the first victim of Chavez’s tighter, crushing grip on the nation? The entity that, in his mind, orchestrated Sunday’s defeat: the independent media.
In an ominous sign of things to come, Chavez swore Friday that he would shut down Globovision – the last independent TV station in Venezuela since Chavez shuttered Radio Caracas TV earlier this year, and the station that has been in his crosshairs ever since – and kick foreign journalists out of the country if they “break rules” in covering the referendum. This is Hugo-speak for any coverage that may not have presented Chavez’s slate of 69 “reforms” in anything less than a rosy red, socialism-loving light.
“If any international channel comes here to take part in an operation from the imperialist against Venezuela, your reporters will be thrown out of the country, they will not be able to work here,” Chavez said Friday. “People at CNN, listen carefully: This is just a warning.”
Since the beginning of the year, according to Reporters Without Borders, Chavez has funded or promoted the launch of approximately 60 community newspapers. He’d be more than happy to let these propaganda rags and mouthpieces such as Tves, which he put on the air to replace RCTV, be the source of Bolivarian-sanitized information for Venezuelans.
Ganamos, for today. But tomorrow, those who cherish democracy, freedom and human rights have to be ready for the next fight. And hopefully, this victory will galvanize the opposition to be even stronger the next time around.
“I ask all of you to go home, know how to handle your victory,” Chavez said Sunday night. “You won it. I wouldn’t have wanted that Pyrrhic victory.”
The Hugo-speak translation? You may have won, but you’d better watch out.
Bridget Johnson is a columnist at the Los Angeles Daily News.
I dnt understand how anything Chavez does comes as a “surprise” or is news to anyone. Venezuela is the Cuba of the 21st century. You dont need to speculate on anything, all you need to do is study Cuba’s revolutionary history and there youll find Venezuela’s future.
The United States may very well have to liberate the people of Venezuela. And yes, it will almost certainly require military force. We live in a very dangerous era. Soft power negotiating tactics are of limited value. It is very doubtful that Hugo Chavez will listen to reason. Only a gun pointed at his head is likely to get his attention.
The United States may very well have to liberate the people of Venezuela. And yes, it will almost certainly require military force. We live in a very dangerous era. Soft power negotiating tactics are of limited value. It is very doubtful that Hugo Chavez will listen to reason. Only a gun pointed at his head is likely to get his attention.
I hope that he follows through with his threat to cut off oil supplies. Since we buy 60% of thier oil thier economy should hit rock bottom rather fast. When these idiots can’t even put milk and bread on the shelves what makes them think they can beat us?
Chavez will learn really, really fast that he is only popular when the money is flowing.
David, I couldn’t agree with you more. Chavez has tried to do everything, and will do everything to create an enemy fascist state like Cuba. I applaud the defeat of his referendum, but let’s be honest, it was really we, the American people (those of us who fight to promote democracy at least) who won it. No need to brag, but we should quietly congratulate ourselves on a job well done. But the battle is only beginning, and in the end, thugs like Chavez will require a shift from soft to hard power in order to defeat his fascism and re-instill democracy. I look forward to reading more of your comments. Josh Fogel, by the way.
Castro is not popular and yet he’s still in power.
senor prieto,
when i see hugo i see the similarity to fidel. but really he seems more like a robert mugabe with money. it fidel, robert and hugo have all received support from the american left. we should hold them responsible for their insane support of dictators. it should be remembered, zimbabwe, cuba and venezuela are just a chile without a general pinochet. god rest his soul.
Here’s the conspiracy floated before the election:
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=7475
http://www.counterpunch.org/petras11272007.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/stan-goff/the-cia-plan-to-destabili_b_74557.html
This is one of the reasons why I think the Venezuelan people should act NOW that they have some momentum in their favor. They better not wait until after Christmas; once mid-January comes, he might have done some of his evil deeds.
Chavez has possibly learned from the success of Putin. Silencing the free press in Russia was the first stage in establishing total control by small degrees under the facade of democracy.
Yes, one senses that the “ganamos” crowd should not rest on its laurels.
For even a day.
Personally, I think Chavez will end up self destructing with little help from the country he & his ilk call “The Great Satan.”
It may take time, it will surely cost freedom loving Venezuelans blood or more blood, but his downfall is predictable.
I do NOT want to see American military intervention. Yes, we can resolve this quickly & we can restore an actual constitutional republic there.
But, the leftists of the world will also label such actions as the exercise of imperialistic ambitions by the vast right wing conspiracy neo-cons. We need no more of that here as it has allowed the media & other leftist elitists to profusely vilify this nation, at will, for much too long.
Time is our ally in this dog fight. Let Hugo wilt on his own vine & offer to help only when the people of that nation openly & loudly ask for our assistance to recover from Hugo’s insanity. Otherwise the leftist machine, pathetic Hollywood apologists, condescending academic indoctrinators, & media lapdogs, will just rant & rave until some in America & around the world actually buy into their meme that we want to rule the world.
Here’s a great piece from Hoover about this week’s Hugo Ch√°vez referendum defeat:
http://www.hoover.org/research/focusonissues/focus/12132331.html
The article discusses the influences that made Chavez the way he is, what the vote may mean for the country, and how Ch√°vez has been busy antagonizing not only the U.S. but Spain and Colombia as well.
We need to continue our efforts to raise the Venezuelans’ political consciences. They’re getting there, but we need to double our efforts. It would be wrong to terminate Chavez’s command through hard power means while half the people still hold onto his lies. But I would say once 55-60 percent oppose him, then it’s time to take Chavez out, because that’s the only way he’ll go. The Venezuelan people are crying out for our help. And this will send a message to Putin as well, and other despots who dare to fight the historical tide of freedom.
It’s kind of tasty that the independent media are keeping up the pressure on Hugo. They have a lot to lose in Venezuela, but they still seem to have the courage to challenge the government that wants them dead.
Even tastier are the Venezuelan college students who are challenging Hugo.
Think back to our 1960s, when it was OUR college students who protested the Vietnam War and were given precious news media attention in the golden age of advocacy journalism. Priceless !