On Hugo Chavez's UN Security Council bid
By Aleksander Boyd
Caracas 24.09.06 | The recent performance of Hugo Chavez at the United Nations has done more for the cause of Venezuela than any of the actions that politicos, civil society groups, media, bloggers, etc. could have dreamed of achieving. We have been denouncing patient and consistently his abuses, his debasement, his utter disrespect for dissenting opinions only to be scorned by the international community that, up until this point, has thought of the opposition to Chavez as a bunch of exaggerated cranks, having no other mission than to discredit -for no good reason- the second coming of Che Guevara. For the most part my fellow countrymen feel insulted by Chavez's tirade, but to tell the truth I couldn't be happier, simply because our case has been made by none other than the object of our criticism. We have commented ad nauseam about his abusive dominical charades and cadenas; we have provided every imaginable example of his disgusting and unbecoming behaviour; we have alerted that his disdain towards Venezuelans is not rare but a common trait; but none of that mattered until a few days ago, when from one of the world's most powerful tribunes he showed his true colours.
But the show must go on and Chavez moved, together with his trademark hate-filled spiel, to some church in NY where he repeated all over again his devilish claims. Just now I am hearing American 'international strategist' Eva Golinger -I thought she was just a mediocre immigration lawyer- stating in Venezuela's official TV channel VTV that this sort of thing had never taken place in her country (note the posessive pronoun used) yet at the same time she dares to criticise the media reaction to Chavez's verbal diarrhea. Golinger is so helplessly thick that she went further stating "even our allies Bill Delahunt and Charles Rangel are criticising President Chavez for it" mind you these lot are just beyond the pale, which, again, is good for us.
In his fall 06' world tour Chavez repeated that it was not his intention to lobby other countries to get support for his bid, however his desire to get on the UN stand and be able to berate the world -as he has been doing for nearly 8 years in Venezuela- is so transparent that every official he visited milked him to high heaven in exchange for support. Make no mistake of his chances of getting it though; remember that Cuba managed to get the necessary votes to get a seat in the UN's Human Rights Council.
It would be devastating for us Venezuelans to see Hugo unable to achieve his latest dream. We want to see him performing in front of the community of nations on a regular basis for only then the world will understand once and for all what sort of people-loving, democrat he is. In his absence erstwhile bus driver Nicolas Maduro or fellow coupster Francisco Arias Cardenas can take his place, but in any case chavismo, as a voice of the 'world's disenfranchised,' needs no less a platform upon which to explain its mission. Down here we'll call it mision Naciones Unidas, which will surely be as successful as the others.
send this article to a friend >>