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While many in Argentina would, nevertheless, not hesitate to call the Venezuelan president a clown or a madman, it’s worth keeping in mind that a very heady dose of megalomania is a prerequisite for even dreaming of confronting a rival as overwhelmingly powerful as the United States — which is also led by a president viewed, in many quarters, as a clown and a madman.
-- Luisa Valenzuela, "What We See in Hugo Chavez" in The New York Times
Ms. Valenzuela writes of how Mr. Chavez fans the old dreams of an integrated Latin America that can stand against the hegemony of the United States:
It would be better to focus on working on the cooperation needed for a pan-Latin America framework, rather than enjoying the cheap thrill of blaming America for their woes. As the Islamists need to understand, scapegoating an enemy (even a very powerful one) is not the answer to development and empowerment; you have to be constructive and creative in your own right.
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While many in Argentina would, nevertheless, not hesitate to call the Venezuelan president a clown or a madman, it’s worth keeping in mind that a very heady dose of megalomania is a prerequisite for even dreaming of confronting a rival as overwhelmingly powerful as the United States — which is also led by a president viewed, in many quarters, as a clown and a madman.
-- Luisa Valenzuela, "What We See in Hugo Chavez" in The New York Times
Ms. Valenzuela writes of how Mr. Chavez fans the old dreams of an integrated Latin America that can stand against the hegemony of the United States:
Two major Argentine characteristics are in play here: intrinsic distrust and the need for immediate gratification. Mr. Chávez awakens both of these inclinations, and it’s interesting to see them balance each other out. The dream of a single-currency Latin American Union, modeled on the European Union, to create, insofar as possible, a buffer against the hegemony of the United States no longer seems so impossible.Such grand dreams, though, have to be built on wealth if they are to be more than dreams, and Chavez-style 'socialism' is not likely to produce that kind of economic foundation.
I’m no political analyst; I have delved into politics only as a fiction writer. But I’m an optimist by nature, and the feeling of empowerment that President Chávez instills, and that various South American governments are endorsing, strikes me as a good engine for further progress — a means of upgrading ourselves from the status of someone’s backyard into that of a truly autonomous region, beyond Mr. Chávez, Mr. Bush and every other form of demagoguery.
It would be better to focus on working on the cooperation needed for a pan-Latin America framework, rather than enjoying the cheap thrill of blaming America for their woes. As the Islamists need to understand, scapegoating an enemy (even a very powerful one) is not the answer to development and empowerment; you have to be constructive and creative in your own right.
