FROM UNCLE SAM TO UNCLE TOM – December 13, 2008

Hugo Chavez, the head of the Venezuelan petro-regime, used to be brave enough

and publicly insulted many foreign leaders, when the prices of oil escalated around $140 a barrel. Back then, only a handful of international leaders were spared his offensive rhetoric. Vincente Fox was labeled by Chavez – a “puppy of the empire," Condoleezza Rice was named “illiterate,” Alvaro Uribe – a “mafioso and coward," Germany’s Angela Merkel – a “hitlerite," Alan Garcia a “corrupt," Jose Maria

Aznar was called a “criminal," George W. Bush the “devil himself," while Jose

Miguel Insulza was simply a “jerk”.

However, the fall of the oil prices has forced Chavez to become moderate and drop some of his rhetoric. For example, he called President-Elect Barack Obama merely “a black man”, and started mentioning the necessity to normalize relations with the leaders, whom he has previously publicly insulted.   

But what does it mean for Hugo Chavez to normalize relations with the Presidents of Colombia or the United States?

For Hugo Chavez’s, it means that the members of the Organization of American States could continue their violations of the Inter-American Democratic Charter. While for President Uribe it means something different. While Uribe does not wish to jeopardize bilateral trade relations with Venezuela, he has gathered evidence of Chavez’s collaboration with narco-terrorist groups, e.g. FARC, and threatened to bring a case to the International Criminal Court, should Chavez fail to call off military forces stationed and mobilized at the Venezuelan border with Columbia.

For Barack Obama, the normalization of relations with Venezuela would require America’s acceptance of Chavez’s militarized one person regime, which so far has been able to cover its anti-Americanism by utilizing President George Bush’s lack of popularity and using this lack of popularity to support Chavez’s rhetoric.

The normalization of relations with Chavez, would implicate United States’ acceptance of his regime’s anti-democratic persecutions. It would implicate acceptance of Chavez’s subversive policy in the region and would result in Venezuela becoming a permanent sanctuary for terrorists groups.

It is clear why Barack Obama was elected the new President. Nonetheless, the voters did not elect Obama to have him abandon principles of democracy by joining questionable schemes, like those by Hugo Chavez, which could constitute a real threat to the U.S. national interests.  

For Chavez, a precondition for normalization of the bilateral relations is that Obama makes a federal lawsuit against Chavez that is pending in Miami to be set aside and dismissed. That lawsuit is uncovering pertinent information about how corrupt the Chavez’s regime truly is.

However, Obama’s advisers are not from those, who could be easily deceived. They understand that Chavez’s regime has made the antagonism against America its top priority. They understand that Chavez is an active enemy and opponent of all democratic movements in Venezuela and that the existence of his regime contradicts democratic traditions and values of the region.

The truth is that the only obstacle in normalization of bilateral relations between Venezuela and the United States is Hugo Chavez himself. To preserve his power, Chavez necessarily needs to have some external enemy to fight against. He arbitrarily chose the United States to become his imaginary enemy. Without the United States he would be boxing his own shadow.

The reality is that despite $850 billion in revenues, the Chavez’s regime has brought Venezuela at the edge of economic collapse. It has spread omnipotent corruption and incompetence.   

There is no doubt that at the first meeting with Barack Obama or his Administration, Hugo Chavez will once again turn to personal insults and call Obama “uncle Tom” – referring to the novel by Harriet Breecher Stowe and using a term which in the United States is considered disrespectful as it relates to enslavement of black people by white citizens.  

Diego Arria

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Diego Arria is a distinguished diplomat, who served as Venezuela’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations in the 90’s, and as the President of the Security Council (1992-1993). Prior to that, he served as the Governor of Caracas and the Minister of Information and Tourism. Mr. Arria is currently involved in supporting and organizing opposition movements challenging the regime of Hugo Chavez.  

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