Monday, October 23, 2006

Venezuela: saving face

When you're losing politically, sometimes the best strategy is to declare victory and move on. Hugo Chávez is showing some signs of this, by asserting that the UN vote really showed the United States a thing or two.

"We have taught the empire a lesson," Chavez told thousands of supporters in Valencia, an industrial city about 65 miles west of Caracas. Even if "Venezuela isn't able to enter the Security Council, we've done damage to the empire. That was our objective."

To my knowledge, this is the first time he's discussed possibly losing. Voting is scheduled to resume on Wed., so it is entirely possible we'll have a new candidate by then. Chávez stands to lose more than Guatemala if the voting goes on and on.

4 comments:

Anonymous,  3:03 PM  

you may find this interesting

http://www.eluniversal.com/2006/10/24/pol_ava_24A794913.shtml

Anonymous,  3:09 PM  

sorry the link didn't post:

El ministro de Relaciones Exteriores de Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, dejó hoy la puerta abierta a una retirada de la candidatura del país a un puesto no permanente del Consejo de Seguridad de la ONU, pero dijo que deben darse tres condiciones, precisó Efe.

"Sólo podríamos considerar esa opción si Guatemala renuncia, si EEUU cesa en su grosero chantaje a otros gobiernos del mundo y si se abre un proceso transparente de conversaciones", declaró Maduro a Venezolana de Televisión.

"Siempre estamos dispuestos a conversar, pero si no se dan esas condiciones mantendremos nuestra candidatura", agregó.

Greg Weeks 3:21 PM  

Interesting.

"si se abre un proceso transparente de conversaciones."

Conversaciones con quién? Y sobre qué?

The conditions sound vague, but that probably also means they can more easily be fulfilled.

Anonymous,  5:01 PM  

Everything about the revolution is vague "21st century socialism" after 7 years we are still wating on what that means.

To me it seems that Venezuela "Chavez" knows he is pinned between rock and a hard place, so it appears he is trying to lose while saving face. Again all is to give the appearence of Venezuela forced the US to negotiate (plays well in an election). I think he has realized it is consuming to much of his time and money when he needs to concentrate on his election campaign.

BTW, here is what Arias Cardenas said about Chavez in 2002 after the events on April 11th. Rumor has it that it has found its way among the delegates in the UN.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEFulNcR-7w&mode=related&search=

in case the link doesn't post search for "arias cardenas" in www.youtube.com

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