El Castrocito. (Other Countries).(Brief Article)

El Castrocito Mark Falcoff, "Viva Chavez!" in The International Economy (May/June 2001), 1133 Connecticut Avenue N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036

In the 1990s, democracy seemed to be thriving in Latin America. But now the pendulum is shifting back toward rule by strongmen. American Enterprise Institute scholar Falcoff looks at recent developments in oil-rich Venezuela.

Venezuela's president, Hugo Chavez, a one-time lieutenant colonel who tried overthrowing the government in 1992. After that coup failed, Chavez was elected president in 1998 under a "Revolutionary Movement" banner. He then held five elections in two years, in which Venezuelans approved abolishing the existing national assembly, replacing it with a legislative body largely composed of Chavez's cronies, holding new elections for mayors, governors, and the presidency, and abolishing labor unions. In the process, a new constitution was implemented which allows the Venezuelan president to serve two six-year terms instead of one five-year term.

Chavez is an admirer of Cuban dictator Fidel Castro; he has brought in hundreds of Cuban doctors and teachers, and has adopted Castro's technique of routinely giving multi-hour bloodthirsty speeches. When the unions were abolished, Chavez said that protesting labor leaders were "like ...