A Benign Revolution

In Defense of Hugo Chávez

Bernardo Alvarez Herrera

In her recently released book, Friendly fire: Losing Friends and Making Enemies in the Anti-American Century, Latin America scholar Julia Sweig writes, "When U.S. elites -- in government, media, and the private sector -- get their information mainly from their counterparts in other societies, the United States becomes disconnected from the conditions, feelings, preferences, and experiences of those living on the margins of what Americans have incorrectly assumed to be a universal phenomenon of political, social, and economic progress promised by democracy and globalization."

As Venezuela's ambassador to the United States, I have spent a large part of my tenure attempting to encourage Washington's policy and government establishments to look beyond the information they receive about Venezuela from Venezuelan elites. Given the generally hostile attitudes toward Venezuela and its president, Hugo Chávez, in Washington today, it seems that there is much work left to be done.

In recent months, there has been a lot of discussion of Venezuela in the pages of Foreign Affairs. Peter Hakim ("Is Washington Losing Latin America?" January/February 2006) sharply criticized President Chávez in an article on U.S. relations with Latin America; former Mexican Foreign Minister Jorge Castañeda attacked his "populism" ("Latin America's Left Turn," May/June 2006); and Michael Shifter negatively assessed his domestic and foreign policies ("In Search of Hugo Chávez," May/June 2006). Unfortunately, their analyses misunderstand the dramatic processes of change that are occurring in Venezuela. If anything, their opinions reflect a rightward shift in Washington's perspective on Latin America, a region that is slowly escaping the binds of an economic and social model imposed on it by the United States and international financial institutions in the 1980s and 1990s. People across the region are electing leaders who promise to lead their countries down an independent path, one that expands the means for democratic participation while narrowing the large gap between the wealthiest and the poorest in the region. This trend is not a threat to the United States, nor should it be perceived as such.

President Chávez is often accused of many things: undermining democracy, mishandling the country's economy, and promoting regional instability are but a few of the claims I have heard recently, many times from officials in the Bush administration. Others repeat those charges. Hakim calls him a "vexing and potentially dangerous adversary," and Castañeda claims, in reference to President Chávez and heads of state like him, "For all of these leaders, economic performance, democratic values, programmatic achievements, and good relations with the United States are not imperatives but bothersome constraints." Similarly, Shifter refers to President Chávez's regime as "illiberal" and his policy ideas as "mostly dubious." These opinions do not reflect an understanding of what is an inevitable process of change in Venezuela -- one that seeks to correct long-standing social ills and allow Venezuelans to direct the future of their country.

A recent survey on democracy in Latin America sheds some light on contemporary Venezuela. Conducted by Latinobarómetro, a well-respected independent Chilean polling firm, the survey found that of the populations of the 18 Latin American countries studied, Venezuelans were the most likely to describe their government as "totally democratic." Similarly, Venezuela came in second in terms of citizens' satisfaction with their system of democracy, ranking behind only Uruguay. In fact, satisfaction with the government in Venezuela has been higher during President Chávez's tenure than ever before, and it remained so even during 2003, when an opposition-led oil sabotage heightened a sense of political crisis. None of this should be surprising: the 1999 constitution broadened the definition of rights and responsibilities, expanded political participation, and encouraged Venezuelans to become more active stakeholders in the country's political, economic, and social development. Venezuelans have participated in numerous elections since President Chávez took office, including one specifically designed to allow citizens to cut short the tenure of an elected official -- in this case, the president himself.