Steve Fritsch Cincinnatus Standard Publisher stevefritsch@thecincinnatusstandard.com............Archive / Bio

January 21, 2008

Hugo Chavez and His Useful Idiots

I must first admit: this column on Hugo Chavez is extremely biased. There are very few individuals living in the world right now for whom I carry more contempt for (Osama bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri) and only a few who share equal billing with Chavez (Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Robert Mugabe, Fidel Castro and Vladimir Putin). In fact, I find Chavez so repugnant that when I check the news each day and night I hope to hear of his death--it is probably the only realistic way Chavez will be removed from power.

However, what strikes me as such a clear-cut, black-and-white issue regarding the evil and repulsive nature of the man is the fact that there are many Americans who view Chavez in almost the complete opposite fashion. Whether it is actors Sean Penn and Danny Glover or former Congressman Joe Kennedy, Chavez has a long list of famous admirers, and he is also popular with radical liberals and socialists. I recently discovered this firsthand in a political science class in which I debated with a young twenty-something male who not only enjoyed supporting and defending Chavez's actions and policies, but also believed in just about every other anti-American cause one could think of. (Furthermore, a while back I wrote this column in which I questioned if local liberal activist and Cincinnati Beacon contributor Justin Jeffre supported Chavez as well. I have strong suspicion from his past comments that he does.)

For Chavez, these useful idiots only help further his cause and spread the false assumption that he is a "man of the people" who strives to spread socialism to relieve the suffering of the world's poor. Yet besides supporting an economic and social system that has proven to be a failure time and time again no matter where it is tried, Chavez's behavior and the company he seeks to attract should in itself disgust all sane and patriotic Americans. Chavez has sought out alliances with Iran and Syria (state-sponsors of terrorism), has befriended that enemy of liberty Fidel Castro, and called the President of the United States "the devil" while in New York City.

But even more disturbing, and certainly less superficial, is that Chavez continues to give aid and support to terrorists while using his state-run media to advocate that he is a man who is working for peace and providing justice for the downtrodden. Even worse from an American point of view, our mainstream media is more intrigued by his explosive rhetoric than worried about his attempt for absolute power (after all, Barbara Walters named him one of her ten most "fascinating" people of 2007. How fashionable!)

Chavez's active support for FARC, a Marxist Colombian paramilitary group that sits on the State Department's list of international terrorist organizations, has proven that Chavez is committed to destabilizing Colombia's democracy while at the same time trying to destroy Venezuela's. And while he suffered a political setback when his proposal to eliminate presidential term-limits was defeated in a nationwide election, he is not giving up his quest for absolute, and lifetime, power.

All of this should genuinely worry Americans and alert all lawmakers to understand that Chavez is not merely some insignificant, big-mouthed Latin head of state.  Chavez poses a serious security risk in the Western Hemisphere and must be viewed as an enemy that must be contained and, if possible, defeated. According to Robert D. Kaplan in his book, Imperial Grunts, there are credible reports that Hamas and Hezbollah have established safe havens on the Venezuelan island of Margarita (in which Venezuelan authorities have been providing thousands of local identity cards to Syrians, Egyptians, and Pakastanis) and that FARC and other narco-terrorist groups in the region receiving support from Chavez have established strategic links with radical Islamists.

However, to develop a consistent and meaningful policy aimed at discrediting Chavez's international and domestic appeal while at the same time helping the people of Venezuela maintain and uphold their democratic rights (in addition to their economic and human rights), both Republicans and Democrats need to unite in solidarity on this issue. But the only way to do this effectively is for key Democratic politicians and leaders to make a tough public stand on Chavez and shame those citizens on the left who have embraced a man who is anything but a "democrat."

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Will Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton or John Edwards make such a stand? I think those of us who are paying attention already know the answer.