Venezuela: The People have Spoken

Hugo Chavez recevied some very unwelcome news today. The Venezuelan people have rejected his bid to amend the Venezuelan constitution so as to grant to himself extraordinary presidential powers. What were these powers he sought? Well, had his constitutional changes been approved, Chavez, as president of Venezuela, would have been able to run for president for an unlimited number of terms in office. Also, the length of a term in office for president would have been increased from 6 years to 7; he would have been able to declare, unilaterally,a state of emergency and end it when he deemed appropriate; allow the president to select local leaders; etc. The changes would have also created a social security type system for laborers and would have also reduced the length of the work day from 8 hours to 6.


Chavez has stated that the election results were close, and has now conceded defeat. Fortunately, no tyrannical acts on the part of the Venezuelan government, such as declaring the election void, etc., have been reported in the wake of Chavez's electorial defeat. Chavez, for his part, was very conciliatory and stated his willingness to respect the results of the election, saying that his acceptance of defeat stand as proof of his commitment to democratic ideals. He was quoted as saying: "There is no dictatorship here."


Chavez, of whom it is said claims both Afro-Latino and Indigenous descent, was elected as President of Venezuela due to overwhelming support among the poor, among whom large numbers of Afro-Venezuelans are included. Chavez had been a member of the military before he emerged as a political leader, following a coup that dislodged the former regime. Election promises offered by Chavez during his two presidential bids included a commitment to improve the quality of life for the poor of Venezuela through the redistribution of oil revenues to the people.


Though the poor, the Brown and the Black swept Chavez into office, it appears that many of them could not bring themselves to support his initiatives this time around. Chavez is reported to have acknowledged that his supporters did not turn out in the numbers he needed to win today's election. Why did the Afro-descendentes of Venezuela, and other Chavez supporters, sit out this election and leave Chavez high and dry?


Depending upon your political perspective, you probably either believe that Chavez fully intends to follow through on his election promises, albiet slowly, or, you likely believe that he is a total fraud. What is clear is that its hard to find anyone who has a neutral opinion of Hugo Chavez. For me, the jury is still out. I can totally support a politician who has risen from humble origins, promises to use his power to combat corruption, discrimination and poverty, and who is embraced by the people as one of their own. I also totally support the efforts of Afro-descendentes to serve as leaders in their countries. I don't understand, however, how the President of Venezuela can justify spending so much time traveling around the world picking fights with other world leaders, when he seemingly spends so little time doing the work that his people elected him to do such as cleaning up the crime in Venezuela.


Unfortunetly, this is a pattern that is often repeated when Black/Afro-descendentes are elected to high office, this seems to be especially true when they emerge from military backgrounds. They seem to be blinded by the glare of the spotlight of celebrity and the attention that goes along with the power they've attained. As their notoriety grows, the plight of their people often gets shunted to the back burner. They devote fewer and fewer hours to the work that has to be done to solve their domestic problems. The work they promised to do when they were campaigning for office.


There are so few Black and Afro-descendente heads of state that I hate to be critical. There is unquestionable value to having leaders who can use their positions to speak out on important issues and enhance Afro-latino visibility.. Having said that, however, the hard work that needs to be done to advance the cause can't be done in front of the tv cameras. Life is not a perpertual party nor is it a continual photo op, not if Chavez is really committed to building a better society for the disadvantaged of Venezuela. Hugo, sometimes you have to leave the party behind, go home, clean your room, eat your spinach and deal with the serious issues of life. It appears that President Chavez hasn't yet learned this lesson. hopefully the spanking that he received in today's election will be the wake-up call he needs.


While planning my trip to South America earlier this year, I had intended to include a brief stop in Caracas because I wanted to see the city with my son since we have family who emigrated from there to the US. I had to cancel my plans to visit Caracas, however, due to reports, from a variety of credible sources, of the extremely high crime rates and danger to tourists. Although I would be willing to risk the chance of going there if I were going alone, I could not justify endangering my son in that way. It is absolute insanity that in Chavez hasn't found a workable solution to this problem yet. There is no reason that people should be hijacked traveling from the airport into Caracas as apparently happens every day. What's the use of having power if the power is not going to be used to serve the people? I am very well aware that Hugo Chavez can't solve all of Venezuela's problems alone, but he's had power for nearly a decade now. If not now, WHEN can the Venezuelan people expect to see some real and practical results from president Chavez?


Well, some say Chavez has secured the interests of the disadvantaged in Venezuela by embracing socialism. I honestly can't name one socialist country where Blacks and Afro-descendentes are thriving. While things aren't perfect for Blacks in the US, we at least have political power. For this reason, I don't think that socialism is a wise choice for Afro-descendentes, irrespective upon which continent we find ourselves. Life has shown me that any political structure that consolidates power in the hands of a few elites who are given power to act in the "best interests of all" will eventually become corrupt and that such systems invariably keep Blacks at the bottom of the society.


Even Cuba, the socialist's model country, is pervasively racist. While it may be true that Black Cubans have more rights today than they had under the Batista regime (an Afro-descendente, by the way), they don't have a visible presence, other than in sports, and are relatively poweress in Cuba... 50 years after the revolution.


During my recent trip to Salvador, Bahia, Brasil this summer for a conference, I met Carlos Moore, an Afro-Cuban of Jamaican origin, who relayed to me a harrowing tale of his life as a Black man in Cuba who sought to claim his rights he was told the revolution secured for himself and other Afro-Cubans. As I recall the conversation, Carlos asserted that he and several other Blacks requested a meeting with Castro to discuss the plight of Blacks in their neighborhood. They believed that they were entitled to a better quality of life and more of a say in how they were governed. According to Carlos, the Cuban authorities were very offended that Black people dared to question the failure of the "revolution" to live up to its promises of equality. He says that he faced much persecution. He says that he had to flee the country in secrecy, and spent numerous years living in limbo in France. All the while, Moore claims that the Cuban government continued its efforts to silence him through the revocation of his passport, the imposition of diplomatic pressure on France to deport him, plots to kidnap him, assassination attempts and the like.


While I fully support the right of the Cuban people to select any form of government they choose, I've always found it interesting that in Castro's Cuba, the public face of the government is nearly always a White one. Black Cubans are reportedly not permitted to work at tourist hotels because the European tourists don't want to have to deal with them. I was shocked to learn recently that Cuba had a level of Jim Crow like racial segregation inits history that rivaled our own.


So, should Afro-Venezuelans support Chavez's movement toward Socialism? Only they can decide. Somehow I think, however, that by today's vote, the people have spoken loudly and clearly.

To Read More about the Venezuelan Elections visit USA Today
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2007-12-02-venezuela-consitution_N.htm