Aug 30, 2005

La Nueva Revolución

It's Sunday in Venezuela, which means it's time for President Hugo Chávez to go on radio and television to "dialogue" with his people. Dialogue is actually not the right word; except for this week's special guests (Cuban dictator Fidel Castro by telephone from Havana, and later, Cuba's health minister), Chávez does all the talking — endlessly, tediously, often jumping from topic to topic in no apparent order. This time it's a full eight hours. The subjects include the evils of capitalism and "neo-liberalism," the unspecified contribution Cuba can make to solving Venezuela's energy problems, the nefarious George W. Bush, the dangers of a free-trade agreement with the United States ("a grinding stone to crush peoples"), the vast wave of support that Venezuela and its president now supposedly enjoy throughout the hemisphere and even the world . . .

Welcome to South America's newest revolution, if that indeed is what is going on here.

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