Michael Rowan
Special for El Universal
Stories play an integral role in the development of national
identity. Venezuela's story, which it has been telling itself
for a long time, is straightforward: "My country is rich and
I'm poor; therefore, my fair share of national wealth has
been stolen from me." Chavez pledged to end this story in
1998 and in eight elections since then, insists he has done
so. The past has been obliterated. The poor, the many, the
black and the good have triumphed over the rich, the few,
the white and the evil. But has the story changed?
On TV, the answer is yes. Chavez is a supreme televangelist
for his revolution, constantly hectoring, preaching, lecturing,
supplicating, amusing, and spinning his web. But on the street,
the answer is no. Poverty has increased by one-third in his
tenure. Corruption is epidemic. The social fabric is rent
asunder. Crime is omnipresent. Chavez blames these failures
on conspiratorial propaganda by the US, just as Castro blames
his domestic failures on the US embargo of Cuba. Excuses for
malfeasance are part of Venezuela's long story, as anyone
alive for the last few decades knows.
Chavez uses TV as a weapon of mass distraction to confuse
the poor that he is on their side -- but totally in control
-- while life's miseries worsen to plague them. He is asking
the poor to believe his version of reality and not their experience.
A presidential competitor who linked Chavez to the old story
could defeat him soundly in the barrios in 2006. To do so,
he must show that the state has taken the place of the rich
and powerful few against whom Chavez fulminates daily. If
the competitor's government program transferred power and
wealth from the state directly to the nation's families, a
real revolution to end poverty would begin, which the barrios
could vote for with confidence.
But traditional politicians are hamstrung to make this case
to the barrios. They do not want to acknowledge that the governments
of the last 30 years were malfeasant or duplicitous about
poverty and corruption. Such an apology would reveal their
responsibility for Chavez winning in 1998 and thereafter.
Today, many of them would rather stick with poverty, and Chavez,
than tell the truth about Venezuela's sad story of failure.
mrowan@cantv.net
Michael Rowan's column is published every Tuesday
