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good intentions--his putting his own feelings aside, and thinking of the good of the people of Venezuela and the region, and the overall, long term success of the Bolivarian Revolution.
Some of Brazil's legislators had insulted him, and sought to interfere in Venezuela on the non-renewal of RCTV's broadcast license. RCTV is a foaming-at-the mouth far rightwing corporation that actively participated in the violent military coup attempt against Venezuela's democratically elected government in 2002. The attempt to paint Chavez as a "dictator" for de-licensing this clearly treasonous broadcasting corporation was a Bush/State Dept. DISINFORMATION campaign, echoed round the world by the usual suspects (AP, and the other war profiteering corporate news monopolies). The Bushites have obviously got some bought and paid for operatives in Brazil's congress. Chavez reacted--he called them dirtbags, or something (can't recall the exact wording of the hot exchanges). Male testosterone, on both sides. Giggles in the White House basement ("mission accomplished"). Lula da Silva (president of Brazil, friend of Chavez) intervened, it appears. Things are calming down. Good move by Chavez to reach out--travel, speak, lobby--to get past this dust-up.
It's also a sign that Lula da Silva is STILL a friend of Chavez (and probably always will be). Lulu got himself in a bit a vise, over a deal with Bush on biofuels (--bad, bad environmental policy; short term--jobs; corporate biofuel production opposed by the Bolivarians--Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, Nicaragua, and probably Uruguay). Either Mercosur has a policy against any of its members making deals with the Bush Junta, OR Venezuela advocates such a policy. I can't recall which. In any case, it's a sore point. Brazil went round all their backs, and tried to cut a deal with Bush. Don't know the status of that deal--but it's very frowned upon by environmental/human rights groups, small peasant farmers and the indigenous, and most of the Left. And--VERY LIKELY--some of these Brazilian legislators were in on the deal with Bush. Thus, the U.S State Dept.-designed spat, between Chavez and the Brazilian legislators, about RCTV (no business of Brazil's congress members--a perfectly legal and constitutional de-licensing, with much cause, in Venezuela).
What Chavez's tour will show, I think, is--once again--his huge popularity throughout South America, and also, hopefully, his diplomatic skills. I strongly suspect that the biofuels deal is what's behind all this, so Chavez has to argue successfully that there is a better way. They don't have to make deals with Bushite and global corporate predators to be prosperous.
Chavez is a "shoot from the hip" kind of speaker. That is refreshing, most of the time. He says what he thinks. There is no hidden agenda (that I've ever been able to discern). But there is also a need, from time to time, to be wily and circumspect. He is also (from all evidence) a very smart guy, and a very shrewd politician. And he wins way more often than he loses. For instance, he and his government won a seat on the OAS human rights commission, just after the Bush-RCTV disinformation campaign. Everybody in Latin America knows that it is absolutely ridiculous to claim that Chavez suppresses free speech. But there was nevertheless great pressure from Bush/U.S. to deny this recognition to Venezuela. Bush/U.S. succeeded in keeping Venezuela out of its rightful turn on the UN Security Council, by twisting Chile's arm, hard. But they failed in this more recent effort, and have failed in every other effort to make inroads against Chavez's popularity and that of the Bolivarian Revolution, which advocates, and implements, Latin American self-determination and social justice. MOST South Americans are not stupid. They long ago assessed Chavez as sincere and his (and other Bolivarians') ideas as beneficial.
What Chavez has to do now is get around this rightwing/corporate faction in the Brazilian legislature. That will take diplomacy. I think he will succeed. (He's VERY popular, and has done much good in South America.)
As for Paraguay, I'm not too up on its internal politics. The current government is not only a member of Mercosur, it also recently joined the Bank of the South (a project that Chavez got going, with Venezuelan loans to Argentina--the goal is to replace World Bank/IMF loan sharks, with local lending that promotes social justice). The current government of Paraguay has been described as "centrist" and weak. And there is a huge leftist (majorityist) movement in Paraguay--led by the "bishop of the poor," Fernando Lugo (who just announced his candidacy for president, and will likely win it)--which hopes to achieve, in Paraguay, what has been achieved in Venezuela, Bolivia and Ecuador: serious, top to bottom, leftist (majorityist) reform.
The point here is that there is no reform YET, in Paraguay--thus it still has a powerful faction in the legislature that is doing Bushite/Corporate Ruler bidding. (Neither has Brazil had serious leftist reform, but the popularity of Brazil's president, and Chavez's popularity, keeps Brazil and Venezuela more or less aligned.) The Bushites (and their Democratic Party colluders) are going all out to "divide and conquer" Mercosur. The two projects--Mercosur and the Bank of the South--are clearly pointing to a South American "Common Market" and common currency. Total self-determination for South America. A block of countries--rich in resources and in democratic ideals--ENDING U.S. domination of their countries!
This is REAL revolution, in the modern context--the kind that lasts--peacefully and democratically achieved. Will Paraguay join the revolution? Yes, I think it is inevitable. But they will have to go through a serious reform period--something that Venezuela has already done, and that Bolivia and Ecuador are still struggling to achieve. Rafael Correa in Ecuador--only recently elected (with 60% of the vote)--just won 80% (!) of the vote in a popular referendum to re-write the Constitution (break up the very corrupt, entrenched, rightwing/corporate grip on power, in the legislature and the bureaucracy). Morales is in a similar struggle in Bolivia (with the rich rightwing landowners trying to split the resource-rich rural provinces off from the central government). All the while, the Bushites, and allied corporate predators and rightwing paramilitaries, are sniping at these reforms, and plotting against democracy.
In the current situation, I don't know how Paraguay will go (re: Venezuela's membership in Mercosur), but its joining the Bank of the South is interesting. The government is obviously feeling the heat from the Left (the majority).
And wouldn't you know, the Vatican has entered the fray, and is trying to prevent Bishop Lugo--who has resigned his office of bishop--from running for president. The most recent Vatican laugh-line is their contention that an appointment of bishop is "for life." Lugo is forbidden to resign it! Forbidden by THEM. They, on the other hand, are part of this Bush Junta propaganda campaign that Chavez is a "dictator" and wants to become "president for life." (Truth: He wants to run for, and get ELECTED BY THE PEOPLE TO, a third term--much like our own FDR, who was elected to FOUR terms as president of the U.S. FDR died during his fourth term, so he was "president for life.") According to the Vatican, it's okay to be a "bishop for life," but not to be "president for life." Is this where the Bush Junta has gotten its upside down, backwards, Wonderlandish logic from? The Vatican?*
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*(Not a joke. That's where AP got its line from, that Chavez is "increasingly authoritarian"--with the attribution "according to his critics." I tracked it to Venezuelan Cardinal Castillo Lara, who spent his career in the Vatican finance office in Rome, and was thickly involved in the fascist banking scandals of the 1980s. "His critics.")
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