A marriage
made in heaven?: Qaddafi lands in Venezuela,
Sept. 2009.
El Mundo, El
Salvador
Venezuela's Chávez 'Near the Breaking Point' Over Libya
The most
nervous of the left-wing Latin American leaders since the North African
uprisings began is, without a doubt, Hugo Chávez, who sees his end on the
horizon and has begun to launch wild accusations about how the United States
aims to steal Libyan and Venezuelan oil.
Of
all the news of the year, such as the visit to El Salvador by U.S. President
Barack Hussein Obama, the events in North Africa along with the earthquake in
Japan are the stories most capturing the attention of the public. The aftermath
of the Japanese earthquake, tsunami, and the danger presented by its damaged nuclear
reactors have given humanity a new perspective on its technological development.
For some, this is a time to reflect on religious values, prophesies, divination
and the occult sciences. Not wanting to belittle those who put complete faith in
the omens and warnings about these catastrophes, let us instead assess the
political aspects reflected by events in Libya.
As we noted in past articles, there is an idiosyncrasy for the
peoples of Arab origin, who are given to retaining hereditary rulers. Such has
been the prevalence of monarchies in that area of the world that they continued
to exist right up to the 20th century. Since then, for various reasons, many
were toppled by military coups, which often ended in the deaths of ruling
monarchies and the establishment of despotic, usually military regimes, which perpetuated
themselves in power for decades.
Such
was the case in Egypt, where the overthrow of King Farouk, which was
followed by the presidency of Gamal Abdel Nasser
until he died of a heart attack. Anwar El Sadat succeeded
Nasser, ruling for a short time before being assassinated during a parade,
which led to the rise of his vice president, Hosni Mubarak, who ruled the
country for 30 years until his recent ouster and was preparing for his offspring
to take power when the time was right. In Syria, the ruling monarchy has been
toppled for decades. An authoritarian regime led by a president - Hafez al-Assad - was
installed, who, after his death, left his son to inherit rule. He [Bashar Al-Assad] is governing
the country today.
In
Libya, Muammar al-Qaddafi, an army colonel, seized power violently and imposed
a dictatorship that has lasted 40 years. Save for his children, this character
considers himself irreplaceable, and now confronts a revolution that seeks to
drown him in blood. The civilized world has been forced to intervene to stop
the regime's indiscriminate attacks on civilians before. In this scenario, dictators
across the Americas have opted to support the Libyan government for fear that their
own populations will react in a similar fashion. They propose a dialogue, which
would allow recent dissent against these tyrannical governments to settle down,
wanting to ensure that Libya's situation doesn't become an example to other countries.
Chávez, Correa [Ecuador],
Morales [Bolivia], and Ortega [Nicaragua] have
all scrambled to defend "their leader" Qaddafi, making sure to have
his support should they face a similar situation in their respective countries.
(The pinnacle of cynicism is Ortega, who took up arms against Somoza for
insisting on remaining in power, but now plans to do the same, despite a
constitutional provision forbidding it).
Posted by WORLDMEETS.US
But
the most nervous about the events in North Africa is undoubtedly Chávez, who
sees his end on the horizon and has begun to rant against the United States,
accusing it of wanting to steal oil from Libya and Venezuela. But his hackneyed
argument hasn't had the desired effect, because the entire world knows that the
huge nation to the north doesn't need to steal anything; because it buys oil
with U.S. dollars nations across the world gladly accept. Chávez' panic is bringing
him to the breaking point, since he knows full well that Libya is a thousand
times better armed than Venezuela, and that this hasn't proven an obstacle to
proceeding with military action - action taken not only by his "sworn
enemy" the "empire," but by the entire community of nations,
especially those in Europe.
And
while it's true that not all countries [on the U.N. Security Council] agreed on
the decision to intervene militarily in Libya, it is equally true that no
country opposed the decision, choosing instead to go down the path of
abstention, which in diplomatic and international circles speaks for itself.
Chávez,
beset by his own voters who on several occasions now have demonstrated their
repudiation of him, has had to resort to legal recourse (legalese) to remain in
power. His boasting has only had an impact on a minority of Venezuelans, but within
the international community, he is the subject of laughter and derision. The
image of political figures like Venezuela dictator Pérez
Jiménez, Nicaragua dictator Anastasio Somoza,
Peru's Santiago
Fujimori, Daniel Noriega, Argentine dictator Jorge Videla, Benito Mussolini, Dominican
Republic dictator Rafeal
Trujillo and others blind to history, is reflected in the eyes of Chávez;
such is the future that awaits him.
