The press has been reporting on Hugo Chavez's backing away from his prior hope that relations with the US could improve under an Obama presidency – McCain and Obama are no different because they both represent “the empire.” A typical Chavez anti-American diatribe, right? The Christian Science Monitor suggests that Chavez actually prefers a McCain presidency because it would be more beneficial for him to have a war-mongering old coot in office when he rails against the US. But what did Chavez actually say, and why did he change his mind about the chosen one?
Obama, who has never been to Latin America despite McCain’s urgings, recently gave an interview to Spain’s EFE about his envisioned Latin American/Venezuelan policies. He used a lot of aggressive rhetoric, but you have to go to the Spanish language press to find out that:
- Obama will use “carrot and stick” diplomacy to strengthen US interests throughout the Western Hemisphere – Change we can believe in. Or wait, isn’t that what we’ve been doing since forever?
- He called for dialogue with Venezuela and Cuba, but proceeded to call them "enemies" of the US.
- Obama called Chavez a "destructive force in the region."
- Obama said that Chavez emailed "inappropriate" pictures of himself to his wife, Michelle.
OK, maybe not the last one, but you get the picture. So what Chavez has actually done, is not attack Obama on a whim, but simply respond to the calculated messages coming from Obama's camp as he veers to the right.
And the latest comments come after Obama suggested imposing sanctions on Venezuela last month in another Spanish-language interview. Once again, this was not widely reported on by the mainstream press, and the only English translation of that interview can be found on this blog.
Jorge Ramos: And Hugo Chávez? Is he a threat to the national security of the United States and the rest of the continent, I asked?Obama: “Yes, I believe he’s a threat, but a manageable one,” he answered. “We know for example, that he may have been involved in supporting the FARC, harming a neighbor. This is not the kind of neighbor we want. I believe that it’s important, through the Organization of American States (OAS) or the United Nations, to initiate sanctions that say that this behavior is unacceptable. What I’ve said is that we should have direct diplomacy with Venezuela and all the countries in the world."
Notice how Obama calls Chavez a threat, an enemy, then says there is still a need for "direct diplomacy" with Cuba and Venezuela to avoid the charges of flip-flopping from his statement regarding meeting with Chavez and other leaders at last year's youtube debate. And that is exactly what Chavez was talking about. His position is that such rhetoric will prevent the "direct diplomacy" from ever actually occurring. That it will "dynamite" the possibilities of any talks.
Directly addressing Obama's charge that he is a "destructive force", Chavez then states, "Destructor is the empire, which he also represents."
And the charges of empire only refer to the plainly imperial and old school "carrot and stick" approach that Obama says he intends to employ. Most readers will quickly realize that this is a a signal of the continuation of not only Bush's Latin American policies, but those of almost every other US president since Monroe.
If he does finally visit Latin America, I hope that unlike McCain, he visits other countries besides Colombia and Mexico, the latter of which is not in South America as the Reuters article mistakingly implies. After all, they are the right-wing anomalies in a continent that is leftish overall and otherwise asserting its independence. You cannot understand a region if you only talk to people like Uribe.
