Like a little yappy dog that just won’t go away, Hugo Chavez is barking at George Bush and the United States and it’s no doubt a real annoyance for the US Administration.
Chavez has already become a thorn in Bushs’ side with his outspoken friendship of Fidel Castro, and his oil deals with China, but now Chavez is going a step further and trumpeting a new relationship with Iran to build Nuclear reactors. He said that Venezuela and Brazil were looking to partner as well in the effort, this was quickly denied by Brazil.
It’s probably nothing more than grandstanding by Chavez to make himself look more important in the Hemisphere. He knows that if the US supported opposition in his country attempted a coup, there would be a backlash against America from the rest of Latin America. And being one of the 5 largest sources of oil for the US means that he can say pretty much whatever he wants and America simply can’t throw up much of a protest.
Chavez is also threatening to refuse entry of US Officials into Venezuela if the US continues to ban entry of Venezuelas’ top Supreme Court Judge into the United States.
And finally, Iran annouced today that they have tested a solid-fuel missile that matches their current 2000km Shahab-3. Solid fuel technology is a key stepping stone towards producing multi-stage rockets and missiles that can then of course reach even farther. How long before Hugo declares his intention to buy one?
It’s like kids in a playground isn’t it?
Chavez is indeed a botheration on the spirit for Bush and for all the neo-conservative and neo-colonial folks all around the world because he represents what they most fear, the power of the a mobilized citizenry. A little broader reading (I suggest ZNet as a starter) shows us that Chavez has taken his country’s wealth and directed it out of corporate pockets and into programs like health, education, clean water and building community. This is not idle bluster and ideology, even through Chavez is not above that. Think of the million-odd Venezuelans who poured into the streets and stormed the Miraflores palace to reverse the American-engineered coup in April of 2002. Even though numbers of the poor don’t necessarily like Chavez, they generally agree that he’s headed in the right direction. Before we dismiss Chavez as a tin-pot blow hard, we need to look at what he’s doing for his country. The fact that Bolivia, Uruguay and Brazil are leaning more in this direction lends credence to the notion that people are willing to be a little more involved in decision making and that the traditional relationship between the US and Latin America is undergoing some pretty fundamental change (or will if it isn’t violently suppressed or subverted as has happened so frequently in the past). OK, I’ll shut up now.