Chávez and the people

By Abner D. Barrera

For several weeks now, one hears everywhere in Venezuela the Bolivarian leader’s campaign song, “Chávez, Heart of the People,” written by Venezuelan singer-composer Hany Kauam.

While the big crowds mobilize toward victory on Sunday (Oct. 7), singing with enthusiasm and hope the lyrics of that hymn, the followers of the right-wing candidate watch them from a distance with envy and hatred, hoping for an electoral miracle that will prevent another six years of Hugo Chávez’s popular revolutionary government. Even the functionaries at the United States Embassy in Caracas have stated that only an extraordinary event could change the course of the election.

It is a historical fact in Latin America that the Empire hides behind every destabilization attempt against the leftist, progressive, alternative, popular or revolutionary governments in our region. Venezuela is not and will not be an exception. What hasn’t the Venezuelan oligarchy propped up by Washington done against the Bolivarian government in all these years?

We have seen slander of every kind, sabotage, strikes, coups d’état, threats against the Bolivarian leaders, the infiltration of paramilitaries, instigation to violence by the White House’s chosen lap dog, the “peace-loving” Álvaro Uribe, among others. All that these people have done has been to bring the Chávez government closer to the people and strengthen it.

In an interview Chávez gave in February 2004 to Aleida Guevara, daughter of the Heroic Guerrilla, the Bolivarian leader said that “Fidel’s theory – and he advises me a lot in that sense – is that the only thing left to these people is to kill me. That is why he always counsels me to take care of myself.” The man giving that advice is the dean of all revolutionaries, against whom the CIA and the Miami mafia have tried every method of assassination (more than 600) but have been unable to kill.

In the recent past, Chávez has denounced some attempts against his life, but his security services have foiled those plans. Yet, the right-wing fanatics have the cynicism (judging from the editorials in any newspaper owned by the Venezuelan oligarchy) to accuse Hugo Chávez of being surrounded by security teams sent by Comandante Fidel Castro. In other words, they tear their garments, choke in hatred and vengeance, and have the gall to say that he is well protected thanks to Castro – and that’s why they cannot kill him.

In February 2003, when the young crowd gathered at the Caracas Polyhedron chanted “Oooh, Aaah, Chávez won’t leave!” the Bolivarian leader said: “What I represent – and I’m just a tiny straw in the wind – what I represent is simply the voice and heart of millions. And those millions, who are us, and this dream, which is us, and this road that we are opening came to Venezuela to stay and dig its roots forever.”

None of the attempts of the Venezuelan oligarchy (coached by Washington to finish off Chávez) have been sufficient. The opposition is incapable of understanding – and that’s one of its major political mistakes – that it’s not wrestling against an individual Chávez. It doesn’t understand that its adversary is not a person named Chávez. The Venezuelan right is facing a political movement led by Hugo Chávez Frías. Chávez would not be Chávez without the people who stand by him.

The oligarchy in our countries has been accustomed to having leaders whose nature is individual bossiness, leaders whose job is to manage good businesses for the rich, who “legally” plunder the country’s wealth and are “entitled” to personal gain. These leaders are divorced from the people; moreover, they govern against the people, so they have no popular social base whatsoever.

In today’s Venezuela, it’s a different story. We’re seeing a movement with social and popular roots that has a horizon, a dream. It is people who have taken up the fight for their total independence. As Che said at the United Nations General Assembly in December 1964, “for this great humanity has said ‘enough!’ and has begun to march. And their march, of giants, will not be halted until they conquer true independence, for which they have died more than once, for naught.”

In his speech to youths, nine years ago, we find Chávez’s own reflection, wherein he shows how aware he is of the movement he leads: “So who sustains Chávez there? Why is he there? … A coup d’état, economic sabotage, petroleum sabotage, the communications media, the economic power, and yet there Chávez remains. Well, it’s not a question of Chávez; it is a question of a people, and some still don’t understand. These people are not toppled by anybody; these people are not stopped by anybody, and the more that others try to do that, the faster will the giant people of Bolivar awaken.”

Journalist Abner D. Barrera is a professor at the Institute of Latin American Studies of the Costa Rican National University. A Peruvian citizen, he lives in CostaRica.