Venezuela: Chronicle of a wreck foretold
OUR OPINION: CHAVEZ ON THE ROAD TO DEMOCRATICALLY ELECTED DICTATOR
Seeing Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez's recent moves to amass absolute
power is like watching a train heading toward a mountainside. We know it
is going to crash, and people will be hurt. But the wreck seems
unstoppable, as long as Venezuelan oil revenues sustain him.
Cuba the model
Mr. Chávez already controlled the National Assembly and virtually every
other institution in the nation when he was reelected in December with
61 percent of the vote. Now he is moving to consolidate power and
silence all opposition. His stated goal is to create ''21st century
socialism'' modeled after Fidel Castro's Cuba. If Mr. Chávez is
successful, Venezuelans will live in a society as destitute, corrupt and
repressive as Cuba is today.
Last week the assembly granted Mr. Chávez sweeping powers to legislate
by decree for the next 18 months. Thus, he can enact laws without debate
or oversight in 11 areas, from the budget to the critical energy
section. Also in the works are constitutional reforms to allow Mr.
Chávez's indefinite reelection and to affirm Venezuela as a socialist state.
Since the election, Mr. Chávez has canceled the broadcast license of a
television station that was one of his fiercest critics. He is moving to
nationalize telecommunications and electric industries and to gain
majority control over joint ventures with multinational oil companies,
among them U.S.-based ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips. Such moves are
scaring off foreign investors, even as Venezuelan money flows into South
Florida and other safe havens abroad.
Ironically, Mr. Chávez democratically swept into office in 1998.
Venezuela's voters were tired of widespread corruption and poverty. Yet
these ills persist. Corruption appears to have worsened, given that
there are few checks on Chávez-government abuse. Understandably, poor
people are grateful to get subsidies, soup kitchens and Cuban doctors in
their neighborhoods. Yet education, private-property rights and an
economy that provides decent-paying jobs would yield more-meaningful
improvement. Instead, Mr. Chávez, extends his largess abroad, where he
seeks to export Castro-style socialism to the Caribbean, Bolivia,
Ecuador, Nicaragua and other countries.
Quest for absolute power
Mr. Chávez depends on oil revenues to grow in power and influence. Any
combination of lower global oil prices, capital flight or decreased
productivity by the questionably managed state oil company could
threaten his quest for absolute power. Otherwise he is on the road to
becoming the region's first democratically elected dictator -- and a
symbol of the failure of the Organization of American States' Democracy
Charter.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/opinion/16639094.htm
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