http://www.opendemocracy.net/article/globalisation/juan_caros_vs_president_hugo
<http://www.opendemocracy.net/article/globalisation/juan_caros_vs_president_hugo>
Published on openDemocracy ()
King Juan Carlos vs President Hugo
By Justin Vogler
Created 2007-11-13 17:39
"Why don't you shut up?" shot King Juan Carlos, voice trembling and hand
raised threateningly towards the Venezuelan president who had just
labelled
former Spanish prime minister, José María Aznar, a "fascist" and a
"racist".
Chávez didn't shut up and nor did his Bolivian counterpart, Evo Morales,
who
charged the "Europeans" with not accepting their historic debt with Latin
America's indigenous population. The Cuban vice-president, Carlos Lage,
threw in his two cents against Aznar and then Daniel Ortega [10] let rip
against the Spanish energy giant Unión Fenosa, accusing them of massive
fraud in their dealings with Nicaragua. It was all too much for poor Juan
Carlos and the enraged monarch stood up and stormed out of the closing
ceremony of the seventeenth Ibero-American summit in Santiago on 10
November
2007.
Despite the compulsory brave face, the Chilean organisers must have
concluded that the event [11] was a disaster. Far from confirming Michelle
Bachelet's [12] international standing the world saw a weak hostess unable
to keep order. She spectacularly failed to silence Hugo Chávez and had to
plead with King Juan Carlos for him to return for the final photos.
Chávez,
who initially went out of his way to woo Bachelet, now appears to have
concluded that there is nothing to be gained from her, or the Chilean
government's favour. He came to Santiago on a wrecking mission.
The Spanish papers had no doubt who won the spat. El Pais lauded "Don Juan
Carlos" who "fulfilled his role given that the Venezuelan president's
insults crossed the line of what is tolerable in relations between
sovereign
countries". For El Mundo's editorial "it was the King of Spain who stopped
the Venezuelan caudillo in his tracks in front of all the Ibero-American
leaders, telling him what someone should have told him a long time ago".
Despite the media praise, the Spanish may be well advised to rethink their
approach towards the new world. No matter how popular Juan Carlos [13] is
at
home, fielding a Spanish monarch in a summit packed with Latin American
nationalist leaders who define themselves in opposition to imperialism is
like throwing a red rag to a herd of bulls.
Chávez has always worked under the assumption that any press is good
press.
He came to Santiago looking to steal limelight and push himself onto the
world's front pages at a time when Venezuelans are preparing to vote on
his
controversial new constitution. In this respect, Juan Carlos's outburst
played [14] into his hands. But for a man who models himself on
independence
leader Simon Bolivar, and aspires to lead the south in conflict with the
north, being told to shut up by a Spanish monarch was humiliating. It is
telling that the pro-Chávez Venezuelan daily Diario Vea appears to have
ignored the incident.
The incoherence of cohesion
The Venezuelan president's first move after his arrival in Santiago on 9
November, Friday was to rubbish Bachelet's chosen summit theme [15]:
"social
cohesion". With typical bluntness he declared that "you can have cohesion
in
hell". But, this time at least, there was an astute underlying message.
Social cohesion is, Chávez told us, "conservative", "static" and
meaningless
if it isn't built on "social justice" and "social transformation".
This cuts neatly to the core of Latin America's democratic predicament.
Yes,
stable democracy requires social cohesion. However social cohesion
requires
a moderately fair distribution [29] of power and wealth. This doesn't
exist
anywhere in Latin America, least of all in Chile. Chávez had actually said
something profound and, in so doing, revealed the summit for what it was:
an
expensive and ill-conceived marketing operation with no real content.
Then there was the interchange with the Spaniards. This again can be
subjected to different readings. Chávez's ire was provoked by Spanish
prime
minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero's [30] recent insistence that
development is impossible if countries insist on blaming external factors
for their economic and political woes. This is standard neo-liberal
criticism of Latin American dependency theory and is a comfortable
position
for any leader of a former colonial power to take.
For his part, Chávez observed that José María Aznar's [31] documented
support [32] for the attempted coup in Venezuela in 2002 represented an
external factor that did threaten Venezuela's political and economic
stability. He went on to recount a telephone conversation he had had
previously with Aznar during which the Spanish prime minister encouraged
him
to cut his ties with Cuba and join "our club: the first world". When
Chávez
raised the fate of poor states like Haiti, Aznar reportedly replied:
"Chávez, these have already screwed themselves".
It was in this context that Chávez called [33] Aznar a fascist and a
worldview that divides states between "the first world" and the "screwed"
certainly smacks of something not far from fascism. It is true that Chávez
was almost definitely playing to the home audience. Even so, calling
fascism
by its name is commendable and an international summit is a good place to
do
it. It certainly makes more sense than mouthing vacuous sound-bites about
"social cohesion".
But to go from this to saying that "a snake is more human than a fascist
or
a racist" is childish and makes nonsense of what could have been a thought
provoking intervention. Maybe it all fitted with the objective of grabbing
headlines. From outside at least, it looked like Chávez had once again
gone
too far and spoilt the whole effect.
The contra summit
From the conference centre, Chávez and his cohorts were rushed to
Santiago's
infamous national stadium for the close of the "people's" "summit of
friendship and integration". These gathering are always depressing affairs
in Chile. Civil society is weak and the Chilean Communist Party continues
to
play its historic role of co-opting and controlling social movements. Only
about 3,000 people showed up to sweat it out on Saturday 10 November and
instead of the colour and diversity that usually mark social forums the
eye
was met by a sea of red flags emblazoned with the hammer and sickle.
In place of lively debate about globalisation and global warming the air
hung with nostalgia and the spectre of bygone heroes reduced by worship to
monochrome: Salvador Allende [34], Victor Jara [35], Gladys Marín [36],
Che
Guevara [37]. It didn't help that Daniel Ortega was among the first to
speak. His slow rambling discourse was full of capitalism's perverse
contradictions, the evil of imperialism and reminiscences of the 1978
guerrilla struggle. There was nothing that belonged to the new century and
no indication that the Sandinista leader [38] has a coherent plan for
Nicaragua's [39] socio-economic development.
The Cuban vice-president, Carlos Lage [40], was better. He did the
obligatory roars of "socialismo o muerte!" and "Viva Fidel!" and touched
the
usual ports: the Cubans imprisoned in the United States for spying, the
blockade and the immortality of the revolution. But he did give a concise,
articulate and in many ways inspiring speech, and was alone in remembering
to talk about poverty, education and health.
Ecuador's president, Rafael Correa [41], didn't make the venue, fuelling
speculation that he may be rethinking his links [42] with the region's
radical left. Evo Morales [43] did come but was late and inevitably it was
Chavez who dominated the proceedings.
I have sat out a number of Chávez's diatribes and every time agonised to
decipher the political message behind the bombastic tomfoolery and
nationalist rhetoric. It's usually tough going, Saturday was no exception.
True, the speeches are not meant for me, they are meant for Venezuela's
poor
who live in a different socio-economic and cultural reality. I accept,
maybe
too charitably, that the endless babble about Simon Bolívar [44],
Francisco
de Miranda [45] and Antonio José de Sucre [46] are part of a concerted
effort to reconstruct Latin American history on leftist terms. And I
understand that all politicians, especially those who court the "great
unwashed", need the common touch.
Even so, there are times when none of this is sufficient and one is forced
to conclude that Chávez's verbosity is a self-indulgence that serves only
to
inflate his own ego. There is, I believe, good being done in Venezuela and
more than anything the world needs international voices with the courage
and
integrity to speak truth to power and call fascism by its name.
The tragedy of Hugo Chávez is that by talking too much, he becomes too
easy
to ignore or, as appears to have been the case on 10 November, he lays
himself open to derision. Whatever the rights and wrongs of an unelected
monarch berating an elected president, King Juan Carlos got one thing
right
on Saturday: Chávez could certainly do with shutting up a bit.
Source URL:
http://www.opendemocracy.net/article/globalisation/juan_caros_vs_president_hugo
Links:
[1] http://www.tcgnews.com/santiagotimes/
[2] http://www.opendemocracy.net/node/3183
[3] http://latin%20america:20/
[4] http://www.opendemocracy.net/democracy-protest/mapuche_3661.jsp
[5]
http://www.opendemocracy.net/democracy-protest/union_disintegration_3756.jsp
[6] http://www.opendemocracy.net/democracy-protest/pinochet_4170.jsp
[7]
http://www.opendemocracy.net/democracy-protest/bienvenido_bush_4418.jsp
[8]
http://www.opendemocracy.net/conflict-falklands_malvinas/lessons_vogler_4495.jsp
[9]
http://www.opendemocracy.net/article/globalisation/institutions_government/pinochet_bachelet
[10] http://www.opendemocracy.net/democracy-protest/ortega_4070.jsp
[11]
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/global/main.jhtml;jsessionid=3OEYGIHGEBD1XQFIQMFSFFWAVCBQ0IV0?xml=/global/2007/11/11/noindex/wchavez111.xml
[12]
http://www.chileangovernment.gov.cl/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=701&Itemid=5
[13] http://www.harpercollins.co.uk/books/default.aspx?id=6482
[14]
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/11/13/wchavez113.xml
[15]
http://www.terra.net.lb/wp/Articles/DesktopArticle.aspx?ArticleID=369585&ChannelId=4
[16] http://www.opendemocracy.net/node/2059
[17] http://www.opendemocracy.net/node/2319
[18] http://www.opendemocracy.net/democracy-protest/venezuala_2730.jsp
[19] http://www.opendemocracy.net/democracy-protest/venezuela_3255.jsp
[20]
http://www.opendemocracy.net/globalization-china/china_venezuela_3319.jsp
[21] http://www.opendemocracy.net/democracy-protest/venezuela_oil_3580.jsp
[22] http://www.opendemocracy.net/democracy-protest/bolivarian_4146.jsp
[23]
http://www.opendemocracy.net/democracy-protest/tokatlian_longview_4429.jsp
[24] http://www.opendemocracy.net/democracy-protest/oil_philip_4478.jsp
[25]
http://www.opendemocracy.net/democracy-protest/chavez_supremo_4523.jsp
[26]
http://www.opendemocracy.net/democracy-protest/deepening_revolution_4592.jsp
[27]
http://www.opendemocracy.net/article/democracy_power/politics_protest/chavez_control
[28]
http://www.opendemocracy.net/article/democracy_power/politics_protest/elected_dictatorship
[29] http://bt.yahoo.com/
[30] http://www.la-moncloa.es/Presidente/Biografia/default.htm
[31] http://www.washingtonspeakers.com/speakers/Speaker.cfm?SpeakerID=4755
[32] http://www.wsws.org/articles/2004/dec2004/vene-d10.shtml
[33] http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/11/11/america/spain.php
[34] http://www.salvador-allende.cl/
[35] http://www.mundoandino.com/Chile/Victor-Jara
[36] http://news.independent.co.uk/people/obituaries/article5183.ece
[37] http://www.marxists.org/archive/guevara/index.htm
[38]
http://www.opendemocracy.net/democracy-protest/nicaragua_ortega_4057.jsp
[39]
http://www.opendemocracy.net/democracy_power/politics_protest/nicaragua_ortega
[40]
http://havanajournal.com/politics/entry/carlos-lage-and-the-future-of-cuba/
[41] http://www.presidencia.gov.ec/
[42]
http://www.opendemocracy.net/democracy-protest/correa_ecuador_4134.jsp
[43]
http://www.opendemocracy.net/democracy-protest/evo_unauthorised_4250.jsp
[44]
http://www.yalebooks.co.uk/yale/display.asp?K=9780300110623&sf1=author&st1=John%2520Lynch&m=2&dc=2
[45] http://www.brookings.edu/press/Books/2006/franciscodemiranda.aspx
[46] http://www.mundoandino.com/Peru/Antonio-Jose-de-Sucre
Justin Vogler works as a freelance journalist based in Chile, teaches
political science in the socio-economics department of Valparaiso
University
and is studying for a PhD at the department of peace studies at Bradford
University, England. He has spent twelve years travelling and working on
development projects in southeast Asia and Latin America and is a regular
contributor to the English-language daily, the Santiago Times
This article is published by Justin Vogler , and openDemocracy.net under a
Creative Commons licence. You may republish it free of charge with
attribution for non-commercial purposes following these guidelines. If you
teach at a university we ask that your department make a donation.
Commercial media must contact us for permission and fees. Some articles on
this site are published under different terms.
Avis de confidentialité
L'information contenue dans cette communication est strictement réservée à
l'usage de l'individu auquel elle est destinée et peut contenir des
informations confidentielles. L'usage de cette information par tout
individu autre que la personne désignée, y compris sa distribution, sa
reproduction ou sa divulgation est strictement interdit. Si vous avez
reçu
cette communication par erreur, veuillez en informer immédiatement
l'expéditeur de ce message par retour de courrier électronique, et
veuillez
supprimer le présent message et détruire immédiatement toutes les copies
de
ce document.
--
No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG Free Edition.
Version: 7.5.503 / Virus Database: 269.16.2/1142 - Release Date:
20-11-2007 17:44
