The opposition to Chavez: Is the cure worse than the ailment?

An intense debate surrounds the issue of Hugo Chavez and the nature of his 'Bolivarian Revolution'. Is he building a better life for the majority of his people or is he a demagogue gradually dismantling the democratic system in favour of a dictatorship? One thing is certain- Chavez's domestic opposition cannot be counted on to be genuine defenders of democracy.

On the opposition station Globovision the editor of El Nuevo Pais, Rafael Poleo, the leading opposition figures, threatened the president with being assassinated stating, "Be careful Hugo, you may end up like your counterpart Benito Mussolini, hung upside down." And despite Chavez's reputation of closing all oppositional media, Poleo received no official censure for his words, something he wouldn‘t have gotten away with in, for example, Colombia.

This opposition (I will only refer to the significant figures in this opposition, rather than any old man on the street) also complained about the “innocents being killed” in the “Apartheid State.” Yet despite repeated requests form international journalists, no evidence has been put forward by these people to prove such killings of Chavez opponents. In fact even mainstream journalists pay no heed to such declarations of Chavez’s “disappeared.”

El Nacional carried out a racist attack on Chavez's minister of Justice and the Interior Tarek El Aissami, who is of Lebanese descent. Only three weeks ago the lead editorial was entitled Creole Terrorists, A Foreigner's Shame. This was in response to El Aissami criticisms of certain statements made by a Venezuelan Cardinal. The newspaper explained how this criticism "lacks amplitude of criteria because in Venezuela we don't use kamikazes to eliminate our compatriots who think differently, like they do in the land of his family members." The editorial also accuses El Aissami of acting like a "fundamentalist Arab toward the Jewish community." The editorial adds that, "Unlike the majority of Venezuelans, El Aissami is not even a fervent Catholic...but rather a descendant who believes that terrorism is the only way to spread values and religious beliefs." There was nothing in this ministers actions or beliefs that would indicate any anti-Semitism or pro-terrorist opinions of course but it‘s an way to defeat someone who is of middle eastern descent!

In other words, the opposition to Chavez isn’t a respectable collection of democrats with a sensible alternative plan for the country. There is little ideology behind them except a dislike for the social programmes benefiting the majority and the poor, and the nationalising of some private industries. And it’s inevitable that these forces will fabricate some extremely negative slurs against the Chavez government. People should remember Otto Reich and his Office for Public Diplomacy which aimed to blacken the name of the Sandinistas, the democratically elected government of Nicaragua using ‘white propaganda‘.

This view of the opposition to Chavez does not seem to reach us in Europe or America. Instead we have websites like Vcrisis and its 'owner' the mouthpiece Aleksander Boyd.

In 2005 an editor’s note on this website actually explained how violence was the only tool left for those wishing to end Chavez's time in power! As Stephen Lendman explains in 'Capital of the World (the USA) Exports Its Poison to Venezuela':

"And then there's Aleksander Boyd who's built a career out of spewing hate and lies and never found an indisputable fact about the Chavez government and Bolivarianism he didn't denounce and try to discredit."

In my opinion Chavez's presidency is based on popular support and that pro-Chavez forces have won nine national elections in the last six years including the referendum on whether or not to recall Chavez from the presidency. When the media complained about Chavez becoming president for life as a result of the removal of term limits, it failed to mention that most Western democracies have no term limits on their leaders, including Britain and Ireland! But saying this, there are significant issues to be addressed and there needs to be an opposition in Venezuela to keep him in check. But the ones ranting right now about Chavez generally deserve little attention.