Chavismo in Action: Venezuela More Deadly Than Iraq
I try not to go out of my way to pick on the New York Times. I enjoy scanning it daily, I love the stable of reviewers (of cars and movies especially, if not always books), and I know and respect good, sharp people at that paper. But obviously none of them were on hand for this unintentionally absurdist story on the epic failure of Hugo Chavez to secure a good life for the people of Venezuela. In fact, he is doing his level best to ruin it. But the Times wants a mystery to ponder, not a judgment to pass, and so we get this:
A court ordered the paper to stop publishing images of violence, as if that would quiet growing questions about why the government — despite proclaiming a revolution that heralds socialist values — has been unable to close the dangerous gap between rich and poor and make the country’s streets safer.
If only a greater proportion of rich people were murdered. This is all about the structural inequalities of class, right?
scholars here describe the climb in homicides in the past decade as unprecedented in Venezuelan history; the number of homicides last year was more than three times higher than when Mr. Chávez was elected in 1998.
Oh. You mean...Mr. Chavez might be a contributing cause of his country's problems? Yikes!
Reasons for the surge are complex and varied, experts say.
Phew -- for a minute there, I was worried.
While many Latin American economies are growing fast, Venezuela’s has continued to shrink. The gap between rich and poor remains wide, despite spending on anti-poverty programs, fueling resentment. Adding to that, the nation is awash in millions of illegal firearms.
Police salaries remain low, sapping motivation. And in a country with the highest inflation rate in the hemisphere, more than 30 percent a year, some officers have turned to supplementing their incomes with crimes like kidnappings.
Such grim data points. What does it all mean? With the experts hamstrung, perhaps the eccentrics must be consulted:
But some crime specialists say another factor has to be considered: Mr. Chávez’s government itself. The judicial system has grown increasingly politicized, losing independent judges and aligning itself more closely with Mr. Chávez’s political movement. Many experienced state employees have had to leave public service, or even the country.
Mr. Chavez's government itself? Meaning...Mr. Chavez himself? Inconceivable! Quick, intrepid reporter, dance away from this dreadfully final conclusion. Dance as you've never danced before!
But the government says it is trying to address the problem. It recently created a security force, the Bolivarian National Police, and a new Experimental Security University where police recruits get training from advisers from Cuba and Nicaragua, two allies that have historically maintained murder rates among Latin America’s lowest.
Ah. That's it. Feel your breathing return to normal. Wipe away that cold sweat. Mr. Chavez is making the best of a bad hand. A brand-new state-controlled police force is coming, trained by none less an expert than Castro. What a fresh, bold experiment in national security! I always knew Mr. Chavez was a pragmatist, deep down. A pragmatist with ideals:
The national police’s overriding priority, said Víctor Díaz, a senior official on the force and an administrator at the new university, is “unrestricted respect for human rights.”
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May '10
Re: Chavismo in Action: Venezuela More Deadly Than Iraq
This is brilliant James and between this post and Peter's post from yesterday I think a new Ricochet feature has been born. You guys can divide the responsibility among Contributors but I would be a huge proponent of a daily graph-by-graph dissection of the most awfully biased piece in the Times. You could even brand it and for the day that Ricochet unveils itself to the world in earnest, I think it could be a quite PR-worthy feature -- after all, snark sells. Thanks again and again wishing for the ROTFL button.
Re: Chavismo in Action: Venezuela More Deadly Than Iraq
I'm with Trace. Brilliantly done. How could the editors approve such a ponderous, un-critical, forest-for-the-trees piece about Chavez? Silly question, never mind. A good journalist might want to file a story about man who inherited a well-functioning democracy with lots of oil (during a great commodities boom) and managed to turn it into an impoverished dictatorship. But who would want to read that?
Re: Chavismo in Action: Venezuela More Deadly Than Iraq
I agree. This made my day. I agree with every word, except for the nonsense about the NYTimes having good movie reviews.
But the Chavez piece is revealing, because it's another instance of the NYTimes refusing to see what's right before their faces. Whenever you see the word "despite" or "mystery," you instantly know that whatever they think is happening "despite" something else, it's happening because of that thing. And whatever mystifies them is easily explainable by boilerplate free-market, conservative economics.
Jun '10
Re: Chavismo in Action: Venezuela More Deadly Than Iraq
I agree so much with Trace that I think we need to name the new feature. I'll throw out "The Daily Counter-Times" as a possibility.
By the way, as I recall from my reading, Stalin was also unreservedly in favor of “unrestricted respect for human rights.” That too worked out well with the help of Walter Duranty of (you guessed it) the NY Times, the great Stalin apologist, and Pulitzer Prize winner.
Edited on Aug 26, 2010 at 10:54amMay '10
Re: Chavismo in Action: Venezuela More Deadly Than Iraq
You have to admit, that is a most frightening name for an institution, the "Experimental Security University". I'm sure we'll soon hear dark reports of their "experiments". I'm equally sure that the "human" who's rights they unrestrictedly respect is named Hugo Chavez.
May '10
Re: Chavismo in Action: Venezuela More Deadly Than Iraq
I also agree with Trace on the regular feature. Good job.
I sometimes compare Obama to Chavez. Obama is by no means as powerful or as politically savvy as Chavez, but I believe they share the same basic vision of government. Obama, though, is perhaps more interested in dictatorship by committee (communism) than in ruling alone.
May '10
Re: Chavismo in Action: Venezuela More Deadly Than Iraq
If it was not so serious with a country tearing itself apart, it would be hilariously similar to Woody Allen's Bananas. Love this pic of Hugo with the parrot, (Or is it the other way around) Thanks to uncoverage.net
http://www.uncoverage.net/2010/06/hugo-chavezs-war-against-the-jews/
Edited on Aug 27, 2010 at 7:25amMay '10
Re: Chavismo in Action: Venezuela More Deadly Than Iraq