Monday, December 04, 2006



Chavez wins in Venezuela

Venezuelans went to the polls yesterday, and with 80% of the vote counted, it looks as if incumbent Hugo Chavez has an unassailable lead. It will be interesting to see how the opposition take this - whether they will accept the results of democracy (assuming the international observers judge the elections to be "free and fair" - and so far they have reported no major problems), or whether they will once again attempt to overthrow the elected government by extra-constitutional means and restore the oligarchy.

I don't like Chavez, but he is at least elected by an overwhelming majority, and that should be respected. You don't encourage democracy by supporting coups - but then, I suspect that "encouraging democracy" is the furtherest thing from many of his opponent's minds.

This brings Latin America's year of elections to a close. As for the result, South America has turned a gratifying shade of red:

(Map stolen from BBC)

The left won in seven of the twelve countries holding elections, including every country south of Colombia. The right won in four, entirely in Central America (I'm not sure which category to count Haiti in). The next latin American elections will be late next year, in Argentina in October, and Guatemala in November. Hopefully they'll be as successful as this round.

13 comments:

Ah, that would be the same 'left-wing' Nicaragua that has just
*banned abortion*, would it, I/S?

Craig Y.

Posted by Anonymous : 12/04/2006 08:49:00 PM

Craig: Yeah, sadly. I blame the Catholics...

Posted by Idiot/Savant : 12/04/2006 09:58:00 PM

The patently unworkable 'ban' was a desperate nyah-boo-sucks gesture by thedoomed outgoing regime, just prior to the election.

Posted by Anonymous : 12/04/2006 10:00:00 PM

This would of course be the same Hugo Chavez who tried to seize power through a botched coup in 1992, who describes Fidel Castro as a 'saint', who praised and embraced Robert Mugabe, describing him as a 'brave warrior against colonialism', and of course who went to Minsk to befriend the revolting Alexander Lukashenko - whose country Belorussia is also a 'gratifying shade of red'. Human Rights Watch has chronicled the decline of Venezuela's human rights situation, noting especially the decreasing independence of the judiciary. If these are the causes for celebration on the left, then we're really getting desperate...

Posted by Anonymous : 12/05/2006 03:51:00 AM

Despite the many faults of centre-left governments in Latin America, recent election results demonstrate an increasing appetite for alternatives to Anglo-American neo-liberalism.

That is something which the Left can capitalise upon, even in countries such as the UK where neoliberalism is widely, if wrongly believed to be 'the only game in town'.

http://social-democratic-voice.blogspot.com/

Posted by James P : 12/05/2006 05:33:00 AM

I'd hope for a more intelligent post than some old tribal "left good, right baaahd" nonsense. Chavez is seriously authoritarian, he is turning the screws on his opponents and is a bully - he buys the elections with enormous amounts of oil money.

Lula of Brazil, however, is far more sensible. He has established a not too ridiculous welfare/ education system for the poor, without engaging in confiscation of private property or cuddling up to dictators. Yes he is corrupt (hell they all are), but he will at least preserve democracy. It is hard to imagine Chavez maintaining free speech and free elections when he thinks he will lose.

After all, Castro never held an election and is far from kind to anyone questioning his regime.

Posted by Libertyscott : 12/05/2006 12:45:00 PM

What's the go with Paraguay, Surinam, British Guyana etc.? What political ideology is represented by beige? Any suggestions?

Posted by Anonymous : 12/05/2006 12:58:00 PM

Monkfish: I had thought it meant they were not having elections this year - but Guyana did (and the left won - not difficult as it was a competititon between two left-wing parties). And of course Argentina and Uruguay are coloured, but did not have elections this year either.

Ask the BBC, I guess.

Posted by Idiot/Savant : 12/05/2006 01:11:00 PM

Good show that Chavez won. But I see some of the comments mirror US propaganda about Chavez being authoritarian. As though that ever mattered with Pinochet, Somoza etc. Disgusting hypocrits! Chavez is actually a moderate you fools. He is riding the tiger of popular revolt, not leading it.

Posted by Larry Gambone : 12/05/2006 03:42:00 PM

"riding the tiger of popular revolt"...

Yes - that explains why he organised a military coup, why he supports Castro's Junta, which condemns revolters to psychiatric wards or prison cells when it's not executing or tortuing them, and why he respects and praises that bastion of popular revolt and people power, Belarus. The 'tiger of popular revolt' here seems uncannily similar to the tiger of authoritarian repression and brutality - but we can't make socialist omelets without breaking dissidents now can we...

Posted by Anonymous : 12/05/2006 05:14:00 PM

"As though that ever mattered with Pinochet, Somoza etc. Disgusting hypocrits"

Yet to utter a word defending any of their records on freedom, except the exact same hypocrisy of those on the left who damned those men correctly, but were so blind to Castro's indiscretions.

Conservatives are vile hypocrites for backing authoritarians who are not on the left, just as socialists are for backing authoritarians on the left.

Unfortunately neither are prepared to say a "curse on both their houses" and ask for the one thing Latin America needs more than anything - government that respects rule of law, with sufficient separation of powers that the judiciary can hold government to account for breaking a constitution that at least guarantees freedom of speech, assembly and individual rights.

Sadly, the Spanish/Portuguese colonial legacy left them with nothing of the sort.

Posted by Libertyscott : 12/05/2006 10:44:00 PM

"
Unfortunately neither are prepared to say a "curse on both their houses" and ask for the one thing Latin America needs more than anything - government that respects rule of law, with sufficient separation of powers that the judiciary can hold government to account for breaking a constitution that at least guarantees freedom of speech, assembly and individual rights."

My, what a pretty image.. if it wasn't for nasty strongmen like Hugo, the beautiful flower of democracy would sweep over Venezuela like it has the other oil-rich states of the world like Saudi and Nigeria and Iran and the 'stans..
bollox.
Yes, wouldn't that be nice, but back on earth, where the same old major powers can't resist destabilising and corrupting for their own agendas, there is no doubt Hugo has the democratic choice of his people, despite being almost killed in the last US-sponsored coup and despite the millions of US dollars that have illegally gone into supporting his opponents.
And he keeps doing those revolting things like trading thousands of Cuban doctors for much-needed oil and funds in Cuba, raising the living standards of the poor in both countries. Bastard.

Posted by Anonymous : 12/06/2006 07:01:00 AM

Beige. Ah, so that's where John Major ended up...

Craig Y.

Posted by Anonymous : 12/06/2006 09:44:00 AM