By Emmanuel Yawe
royawe@yahoo.com | 08024565402
Early in 1958, Richard Nixon, then the Vice president of the USA embarked on a whirlwind tour of Latin America.
He started from Argentina, flew to Paraguay, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, and Columbia. As the Vice President and his entourage winged on to Caracas, the last city of the tour, he was informed of plots to assassinate him there. The courageous man that he was until Watergate scandal castrated him, he went on with the tour regardless.
As Richard and Pat Nixon stood at attention for the playing of the Venezuelan national anthem, during the arrival ceremonies, a mob on the observation desk unleashed a rain of spittle down on their heads.
The dignitaries took to their heels, hastened to their limousines and locked their doors. The motorcades raced to safety.
But not so fast! They were followed by cars that roared by their limousines, harassing the motorcade. As the harassed procession reached the city gates, a frenzied mob descended on them, hurling stones at the windows, shouting obscenities and spitting on the vehicles. There were also a chain of illegal road blocks, erected by the demonstrators that made movement impossible. Screaming rioters began kicking in the sides of the limousines, smashing at the windows with steel pipes and finally began to rock the cars back and forth.
They were yelling ‘Muera Nixon’ – death to Nixon.
There was danger in the air for the Vice President. Miraculously, the driver of the Press truck managed to open a wedge through the mob.
Nixon’s chauffeur gunned his limousine through the opening and veered his car to the wrong side of the road and raced to the safety of the United States Embassy.
Why did the second most powerful man on earth get so close to death in the hands of street mobs? The man himself observed in his memoirs that his life was at risk because his country the USA did not pay the right attention to its neighbours in the south.
Amazingly, more than sixty years after that dangerous incidence, the attitude of the United States to its southern neighbours, the Latinos has not changed.
Unfortunately, the policy of the United States to Latin America is not based on facts but fantasies. The fact is that Latin America is a land of stark contrasts, with roots that nurture revolution. The very name is controversial, reflecting as it does only the Spanish, Portuguese and French Conquerors from the Old World. It ignores the ancient civilisations of the Mayans of Yucatan or the Incans of the Andes, whose blood came to be mixed the white man’s to create millions of so called mestizos. The USA has always felt it has the God given rights to intimidate these people.
Social and economic injustice have long been part of Latin American scene. But no leader ever emerged there around whom the people of the region could look up to for the dissent leadership from the status quo which the region needed to tackle. On January 1 1959, this paternalistic notion faced a serious challenge. Fidel Castro led a caravan across the Cuban island to Havana. He received one of the most tumultuous reception ever recorded a hero in history. Castro overthrew the old wicked dictator, General Batista who fled to his sponsors in the USA.
The Castro revolution was fundamentally anti American and it occurred at a time of growing anti Americanism throughout Latin America. He expropriated American property and his American denunciations became more frequent and vigorous. What caught the attention of Latin America and frightened the USA was Castro’s ability to defy the USA and get away with it.
This background explains the hostility of the US to Castro, the uncountable attempts to assassinate him, crush his revolution and all those who go into alliance with him like Hugo Chavez of Venezuela.
Here is the story of a former army paratrooper who first came to prominence as a leader of a failed coup in 1992. He was caught and slammed into jail. Six years later, he caused a seismic shift in Venezuelan politics, riding a wave of popular outrage at the traditional political elite to win the presidency.
But his victory in 1998 was shortlived. On April 11 2002, an American inspired coup ousted him from power and installed Pedro Carmona for 47 hours. He regained control in the wake of massive demonstrations of popular support that rendered the coup plotters impotent.
Chavez has remained one of the most popular, visible, vocal, informed even if flamboyant leaders in Latin America. He never missed an opportunity to address the nation on the fundamental issues affecting his people. He once described oil executives as living in “luxury chalets where they perform orgies, drinking whisky”.
He did not even spare the clergy and frequently clashed with church leaders, whom he accused of neglecting the poor, siding with the opposition, and defending the rich.
He emerged from the 2002 coup attempt and became more strengthened two years later in a referendum which gave a pass mark to his leadership.
He then went on to victory in the 2006 presidential election.
Apart from his popular appeal, Mr Chavez’s government tackled substantial problems of his country by implementing a number of “missions” or social programmes, including housing, education and health services for all. But poverty and unemployment are still widespread, despite the country’s oil wealth.
His socialist anti neoliberal stand since he came to power in 1999 adversely affected relations between the United States and Venezuela.
Tensions between the countries increased after Venezuela accused the administration of George Bush of supporting the failed coup attempt in 2002 against Chavez. Venezuela broke off diplomatic relations with the U.S. in September 2008 in solidarity with Bolivia after a U.S. ambassador was accused of cooperating with violent anti-government groups in that country. They have been reestablished in June 2009.
On the other hand, relations between Cuba and Venezuela have significantly improved under Chavez who formed a major alliance with Cuban president, Fidel Castro and established significant trade relationship with Cuba since his election in 1999. Venezuela under Chavez has become a strong ally of Cuba. Hugo Chávez has described Castro as his mentor and often called Cuba “a revolutionary democracy”.
The bilateral relation includes development aid, joint business ventures, large financial transactions, exchange of energy resources and information technology, and cooperation in the fields of intelligence service and military.
After decades of American domination in the Caribbean, several governments in the region have started to reject United States’ path of capitalism.
The recent riots in Caracas must be seen in this light. With the death of Hugo Chavez, the USA wants to kill his revolution also.
Unfortunately, who knows, the riots they started this year may end up like the type Richard Nixon faced in 1958 – against the USA.
