Monday, July 31, 2006
By Carlos Sabino
With surprising frankness, Venezuela's
deputy minister of foreign affairs, Mari Pili Hernández, recently set out the guidelines for her government's views on the
subject of human rights. Appearing before the new Council on Human Rights at the United Nations, Hernandez, who is directly
connected with President Hugo Chávez himself, stated, "All rights are important, but it is a lot more important to feed oneself
than to be part of a political party, to have an honorable job than to live in a democratic system, to know how to read and
write than to have freedom of expression."
As if any doubt remained about the
meaning of her words, the Venezuelan representative added that the "economic and social" rights should play a "predominant
role" over the "civilian and political" rights during the Council's debates.
The ideas of the deputy minister,
who represents the official position of the Venezuelan government, reflect the same views of totalitarian states that
have darkened most of the 20th Century. Imagine a country where the people can read and write, eat every day and hold
"honorable" jobs, but where they cannot form political parties, have no freedom of expression, and where there is no democracy.
A situation where "economic" rights have priority over "political" rights, that is, where people are guaranteed some goods
and services, such as education, health care or housing, but where no one can hold political meetings, no one can send news
abroad, and it's forbidden to access the Internet or criticize the government.
Would you like to live in such a
place?
Well, if you answered yes you can
do so without much difficulty. All you need to do is ask for the proper visa and travel to Fidel Castro's Cuba. There, in
exchange for an obsolete, primitive and very unequal system, as well as an education that is mostly government political propaganda,
the citizens have no right to decide what their jobs will be, cannot engage in commerce or industry, cannot travel abroad
or emigrate, and are obliged to show up at all the public demonstrations organized by the regime. This is also a country where
people who commandeer a boat to escape from tyranny are sentenced to death, or are sentenced to 25 years in a grim prison
for the "crime" of sending news reports abroad.
That is exactly the model that Chávez
and his most intimate followers have in mind when they outline the goals of the "Bolivarian revolution" that – with
fierce determination and with the large sums of money they derive from crude oil – they are now trying to impose throughout
America. Although they have not yet reached their objective in Venezuela, they're just a few short steps from it.
Freedom of the press does exist,
but it is very restricted by a law that a docile Congress (which is now totally made up of supporters of the president) passed
more than a year ago. With that gag law, and by constantly threatening to not renew the licenses of radio and TV broadcasters,
Chávez has managed to silence much of the opposition, which still dares to criticize the government but takes great care not
to overstep its limits.
Elections do exist, no question about
that, but they are manipulated. The opposition withdrew from the election last December because of the total lack of guarantees
for a clean and fair election. Inflated voter registration rolls that listed thousands of fictitious citizens with names like
"Superman" or "XXXXX," along with nearly 30,000 people older than 100 years, and a totally manipulated electronic balloting
system, made it impossible to have anything close to a clean election.
Private property still exists in
Venezuela, true, but the government expropriates farms and businesses at will, controls the foreign-currency exchange, and
completely dominates the judiciary, which selectively hounds any oppositionist who might ever become a remote threat to the
government.
In addition, this false democracy
rests on two pillars: a huge army that is rearming at top speed and that (for the time being) is totally faithful to the president,
and a series of social programs designed to insure public support of the government.
With an opposition that's divided
and in good measure paralyzed, Chávez is trying to export his model of revolution, as all other totalitarian states have done.
He has managed to obtain an ally in Bolivia, although he failed in Peru and is now arousing the suspicions of many in the
continent. But Chávez will go on unperturbed, trying to export his peculiar vision of human rights until, at some future moment,
people will understand the menace he represents to peace and take action to stop him.
