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Hugo Chávez veers into anti-Semitism while explaining how to create a workers' paradise
by Aaron Mannes, The Weekly Standard EFLON CHRISTMAS EVE, Venezuela's President Hugo Chávez's Christian-socialist cant drifted into anti-Semitism. "The world is for all of us," he said, "then, but it so happens that a minority, the descendents of the same ones that crucified Christ, the descendents of the same ones that kicked Bolivar out of here and also crucified him in their own way over there in Santa Marta, in Colombia. A minority has taken possession all of the wealth of the world . . . " ¡Una persona, una nación, un lÃder! ¡Victoria del granizo! These sentiments were not new and Chávez, for his part, has long associated with anti-Semitic figures. . . . most seriously, Chávez has established an alliance with the Islamic Republic of Iran, which has long been the leading state sponsor of terrorism internationally and against Israel. When then Iranian President Mohammed Khatami visited Caracas in March 2005, Chávez voiced his support for Iran's nuclear program and awarded Khatami Venezuela's highest honor, the Order of the Liberator. (There is a Simon Bolivar Street in Tehran.) During this visit the two countries signed 20 agreements to cooperate on economic development projects. These warm relations have continued under the new Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has explicitly called for Israel's destruction. No wonder Jimmy Carter likes him so much. Chávez's anti-Semitism is not restricted to rhetorical support for others, though. In late 2004, after a state prosecutor (and Chávez ally), was assassinated in a car bombing, the state-run television darkly referred to Mossad links to the killing. Venezuelan security forces raided a Jewish private school in Caracas as the school day was beginning. . . . "I know, el Jefe! We'll call it 'The Chávez also expanded on these broader ambitions in his Christmas Eve address. According to Chávez, Jesus was "the first socialist of our era . . . and for that they crucified him." He exhorted Venezuelans to be ready "to sacrifice ourselves for others, for the country, for the collective . . . that is how we will save our country and we will help save the world from here." Megalomaniac dictator promises to build a workers' paradise, blames the Jews for everything, expects his subjects to be fanatical followers who will willingly sacrifice their lives for him. Ever seen that one before? Most tellingly, he called for the building of a utopian paradise on earth: To leave the room of poverty is to arrive at a life of dignity, where there is no misery, nor poverty is the Kingdom of God that Christ came to tell us, the Kingdom of Equality, of love, of justice. We have to build that kingdom here, because it is totally false that this Kingdom is in the clouds and that one goes there when one dies. Lie! . . . No, heaven and hell are here among us. ". . . and I've hot the 'hell' part nailed down." THE LANGUAGE AND SENTIMENTS are distressingly familiar. Understatement of the week. But Chávez appears determined to initiate his Utopian revolution and buoyed by record oil prices, he has the resources to pursue this vision in Venezuela and to export his revolution throughout the region. . . . Posted by: Mike 2006-01-12 |
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