generalspeaking

The Pathology of Delusion

Former Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez was always on display. He is destined, beloved of at least 52% of Venezuelans, to be permanently on display. Or at the very least until such time as the country manages at some time in the future to shake itself of its delusionary love affair with a man whose vision of himself as the reincarnation of a true visionary managed to take his country deeply into debt despite its vast treasury of natural resources.

The Venezuelan military elites have been enabled to enrich themselves enormously. As has been done in Russia, in Iran and in North Korea, all of which states Hugo Chavez was most sympathetic toward. To maintain their Bolivarian state which Hugo Chavez elevated to the status of divine destiny, they are prepared to obstruct the ambitions of the Venezuelan opposition, despite the constitution expressly forbidding such action.

The indigent poor of Venezuela have seen the vastness and depth of their suffering relieved. Their illiteracy stemmed. Their health problems seen to by the country's new medical clinics. The dreadful childbirth death statistics showing vast improvement. Unemployment stemmed. Bringing Venezuela up toward the levels enjoyed by other Latin American countries which have seen improvements in these important human indices, without the vast oil wealth that Venezuela enjoys.

The embalmed body of Hugo Chavez will be displayed in a glass casket so that his faithful people will be enabled to view his beloved remains in perpetuity at the Museum of the Revolution. It has been stated that two million Venezuelans have already paid their personal respects to his body, lying in state. World leaders from a variety of (mostly left-wing) countries attended the solemnly joyful occasion.

Canada was singled out to receive a sharp rebuke from the vice-minister for North America, Claudia Salerno, Caracas protesting "in a blunt and categorical way, the statements issued the 5 of March 2013 by the prime minister of Canada, Stephen Harper, as they constitute insensitive and impertinent sentiments at a time when the Venezuelan people are grieving and crying over the irreparable physical loss of the Commander President Hugo Chavez Frias."

The "card of protest" earned through the statement which the Canadian prime minister forwarded  offering "condolences to the people of Venezuela...  At this key juncture, I hope the people of Venezuela can now build for themselves a better, brighter future based on the principles of freedom, democracy, the rule of law and respect for human rights", representing part of the sentiment of Prime Minister Harper's declaration.

Perhaps he was thinking of the hardships placed upon Venezuelans having to listen, a la former Cuban President Fidel Castro's penchant for endless public speeches, when Hugo Chavez emulated him by monopolizing the air waves for hours on end, spouting his revolutionary zeal. He did, after all, stifle the country's media, making those that were left his own personal, private venting state tool. The judiciary suffered a like fate.

The proud, courageous and dying Hugo Chavez, insisting on running for re-election even while reality informed that he would never live out a new mandate, had his hopes dashed in his belief that Cuban medicine would cure him. He traded poorly; oil assets for medical assurances, and the Grim Reaper cheated him.

"He couldn't speak but he said it with his lips... 'I don't want to die. Please don't let me die', because he loved his country, he sacrificed himself for his country", according to General Jose Ornella, head of Mr. Chavez's presidential guard. He pleaded, not in a state of craven fear and panic, but because he knew his country needed him to continue his plundering of its resources and its future.

Even knowing he could be assured that his chosen successor, Nicolas Maduro had pledged to continue his legacy of borrowing billions from China against future oil prices, enabling him to continue his missions of poverty relief. And the enrichment of the Russian military industry through purchases of their latest costly military technologies.


Interim President Maduro and National Assembly President Diosdado Cabella have pledged themselves loyally to Chavez's agenda. "I swear by the most absolute loyalty to comrade Hugo Chavez that we will fulfill and see that it's fulfilled by the constitution ... with the iron fist of a people ready to be free", Maduro stated. While accusing he United States of causing Chavez's cancer.

Assuring the grieving public that this would not be the end of the matter, to "this illness very strange for the speed of its growth and for other scientific reasons that will be known in their moment." But this moment was devoted to government business, to ensuring that the tradition introduced by Hugo Chavez has forward momentum. In which interests, Maduro named Science and Technology minister Jorge Arreaza, Chavez's son-in-law, his vice-president.
The ceremony took place, not where it traditionally would, at the National Assembly, but rather at the Military Academy in Caracas where Hugh Chavez was lying in state. Where the venerated leader was mourned, his legacy celebrated, and his political supporters took advantage of the opportunity to leverage themselves into temporary government with the intention of making it permanent in 30 days.

Labels: Controversy, Corruption, Human Relations, In Memoriam, Natural Resources, Venezuela

posted by Pieface @ Sunday, March 10, 2013