War all the time: the differences between the internal and external aggressor in Venezuela

Chávez the militarist
Of course, in a wartime scenario, it won't be him carrying the gun

As President Hugo Chávez beats the war drum with Colombia over the presence of US military bases near the Venezuelan border, violent crime and scarcity in the República Bolivariana continue to soar to almost bewildering levels.

Submitted by Caiman del Barrio on November 12, 2009

”Therefore, señores and señoras, my military comrades, let’s not waste one day in the completion of our primary mission: preparing ourselves for war.
Hugo Chávez, ”İAló, Presidente!”, 09/11/2009

”PREPARE OURSELVES?
So you’re saying that….as well preparing myself for the water and power going, as well as preparing myself in case I get attacked by some gangsters round here, as well as preparing myself psychologically to suffer general inefficiency and to be mistreated, humiliated and sent on wild goose chases every time I deal with officialdom and any governmental institution, or alternatively private companies like, I don’t know…the damn bank! As well as preparing myself physically and emotionally in order to confront the traffic and chaos of Caracas, the over-crowded and over-heated Metro or chasing a bus in order to ride hanging out of the doorway, as well as preparing myself for long queues everywhere…as well as preparing myself to not have a heart attack every time I have to pay for anything or go in the supermarket…

Now…I also have to prepare myself for war?

Don’t fucking kid me!”
Cheryl Coello, Caracas-based writer and poet.

The narrative is all a little bit familiar. High inflation, rising unemployment, near universal despair over insecurity – especially in Caracas – and a week after the water rationing programme came into effect, leaving caraqueños (officially!) without running water 2 days a week (although in my flat it’s more like 4 days a week, more if you don’t count the trickle that occasionally arrives at the antisocial hours of 1-5am). And that’s not forgetting the electricity rationing programme, which has yet to be properly announced. Add on the choking, unremitting, paralysing traffic of the capital city, and you find a country that is bordering on the edge of dysfunction.

So, if you were a self-serving ruling class, what would you do if confronted with so many problems? Why, identify an external enemy and initiate a series of war games of course! The many references that Chávez et al make to Latin American history are clearly based in an accurate understanding of the survival techniques of his precursors, since this is classic caudillismo: leaning on that tired, creaking pillar of national unity in order to gloss over the ever-increasing burdens and indignities that the average Venezuelan has to suffer on a daily basis. General Galtieri would be proud.

A surprising statistic came out in the national newspapers this weekend. The 2010 state budget features real terms slashes to all those staple chavista programmes on which he has constructed almost 12 years of leadership; most notably in the areas of education (by 22.5%), social housing (19.5) and health (19%). The budget for internal security has also been cut (by a massive 63.7%) - which is possibly less of a concern, bearing in mind the unscrupulous, corrupt and coercive nature of the police and military at all levels. Fair enough, you might say, after all, we’re in the midst of a continuing economic crisis. However, the one sector which has escaped almost untarnished in the 2010 budget is – you guessed it – defence, hovering around the 6.5 million BsF mark.

These figures serve to demonstrate the priorities of chavismo for the next 12 months. While Venezuelans generally are at the end of their tether over the lack of safety (with many families instituting policies of not leaving the house past 6pm – 6pm!), the cut to the security budget must be interpreted as a public admission by Chávez that his regime is incapable of confronting the crime issue. Many police departments use their access to a pool of information on the nation’s citizens as a means of identifying subjects for that Latin American tradition of the secuestro expres (“express kidnap”, in which the most vulnerable member of a family considered to be more affluent than their neighbours is abducted by local cops and taken on a tour of cash machines, or worse, forced to make a call to his/her family with a ransom figure), while 'straight' cops are themselves at risk from the malandros (gangsters). Another shocking statistic is that Caracas has the dubious distinction of the highest homicide index in the world: around 1.5% of the capital’s residents will be murdered, often over a mobile phone, a watch, or even a drunken row over a girl. With around 70 homicides in the city every weekend, many caraqueños responded to Chávez’ war talk with the declaration that the nation was already in a state of civil war.

With the Venezuelan state effectively washing its hands of any pretence of attempting to protect its citizens, one website - set up by a bunch of students and based on precursors in Argentina, Brazil and other South American cities - represents a new, independent attempt to come to terms with national insecurity. Users can pinpoint the exact location of robberies, carjacking, homicides and – crucially – police corruption (amongst other assaults) on a Google Map of Venezuela. While the project risks being converted into propaganda for the even more repugnant rightwing oposición, its potential as a means of helping ordinary Venezuelan citizens in classifying and recording the true extent of the nation’s victim-based delinquency is unquestionable. Moreover, the geography-based nature of the website could be of assistance in identifying the physical boundaries between the nation’s organised crime enterprises and thusly undermine their hegemony.

Of course, such initiatives are no substitute for confronting the social causes of violent crime: wealth inequality, low expectations, the enormous gap between media and governmental representations of daily existence and the actual lifestyles of most Venezuelans (and I’m sure a sociologist/criminologist could list a million more, while we are all acutely aware of capitalism as its root cause). At the same time though, it represents a step forward from the fear-mongering and political manipulations of the gory, macabre tabloid newspapers (in which most headlines start with the words “mataron…” – “they killed…”, and a blood-soaked picture if you’re lucky) and the aloof, delusional pronouncements of the Bolivarian regime.

However, back to the phony war with Colombia for a moment. After watching Chávez’ grandstanding on Monday, I asked my flatmate whether Venezuela really had the stomach for a war. Despite the consolidation of the volunteer milicias bolivarianas (egged on by the rather unpleasant leftists at venezuelanalysis), we determined that surely not. A state of war would be one insult too many to the bending backbone of the hitherto largely stoical working class. Moreover, in the highly improbable event of Chávez’ wild prediction of an invasion of Venezuela coming true, what odds would one put on a victory for the drug-addled, inexperienced Venezuelan army against the Colombian forces (fresh from a series of victories against the FARC and supported financially and physically by the US army) on the battlefield? And what does history show us about the fate of Latin American caudillos following military defeat?

Far more likely is that Chávez is – once again - playing a dangerous game of political brinkmanship, fully aware that groups like the Organisation of American States will act first to ‘force’ a diplomatic resolution to the air force bases question. Lula – President of Brazil - has already volunteered himself as the mediator in talks between Chávez and Alvaro Uribe, the Colombian President. Any concessions Lula – an ally of bolivarianismo by all accounts – can gain for Venezuela will be trumpeted as a great victory for chavismo, cementing Hugo’s popularity once more before next year’s parliamentary elections. In the meantime, it serves as an opportune distraction from the decaying quality of life within the country itself.

Comments

gypsy

14 years 4 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by gypsy on November 13, 2009

To be fair Chavez the state socialist and his advisors have to try and match the ridiculous colombian military budget spending. I don't have any illusions that the US and the colombian military would not think about going to war with Venezuela if its military was weak.Just looking at history the amount of US sponsored coups,-alende, military invasions in its back yard-grenada. etc Not that I am condoning this ridiculous way of spending a budget and neglecting health care and social projects but the threat from Colombia and the US is real and not fictional.

About the crime statistics and most statistics in general. I have never trusted them. Venezuela has always been a dangerous place, could it be that crime statistics are being logged better or the opposition are making sure they now get fully brought to light? I think the former.

"for the even more repugnant rightwing oposición"- Alan is this you admitting that there is a lesser evil. Yes Chavez is a self obsessed tosser but is he better than the opposition?

You say that the Colombian Military is fresh from victories against the Farc-true. But I don't think the stalinist farc can be defeated by military forces alone, Colombia is alot bigger than say Sri Lanka and there are borderlands to slip into when pursued. Take for example the new strategy of the Farc which is to use snipers and they still do inflict damage albeit small on the Colombian military-

http://www.semana.com/noticias-nacion/mueren-nueve-uniformados-cauca-tras-ataque-farc/131176.aspx

Submitted by Caiman del Barrio on November 13, 2009

allybaba

To be fair Chavez the state socialist and his advisors have to try and match the ridiculous colombian military budget spending. I don't have any illusions that the US and the colombian military would not think about going to war with Venezuela if its military was weak.Just looking at history the amount of US sponsored coups,-alende, military invasions in its back yard-grenada. etc Not that I am condoning this ridiculous way of spending a budget and neglecting health care and social projects but the threat from Colombia and the US is real and not fictional.

That's pure speculation tbf. If I could indulge in my own speculation, Chavez is invoking Cold War rhetoric with a specific political purpose. Noone I've spoken to believes that there's even a slim chance of a Colombian invasion. I'd say it's more likely phony war sabre-rattling from both sides.

I'd also say that this isn't a politically opportune climate for the US to be involved in another war, even by proxy. I could be wrong, but given the commitment of South America's more "developed" democracies (Lula, Arias etc) to diplomacy, I'd say the scenario I predict is much more probable.

About the crime statistics and most statistics in general. I have never trusted them. Venezuela has always been a dangerous place, could it be that crime statistics are being logged better or the opposition are making sure they now get fully brought to light? I think the former.

Even if so, then so what? I think it is generally accepted that violent crime has mushroomed in the last 20 years, mainly cos of intense rural-urban migration and the emergence of many new barrios in the country's major cities.

Moreover, in the last 20 years (since the caracazo), there has been a politicisation of many sectors of Vzlan society and a new consciousness of their surroundings, so maybe the change in perception is more key here.

I fail to see how this undermines my point though. It's important to point out the discrepancies and hypocrisies in chavista rhetoric, especially given the exceptionalist pedestal he is granted by many members of the left (including - in the UK - self-proclaimed "anarchists").

"for the even more repugnant rightwing oposición"- Caiman is this you admitting that there is a lesser evil. Yes Chavez is a self obsessed tosser but is he better than the opposition?

Is that really the impression you get this blog as a whole? Seriously? Can a political line really be based around the word "repugnant"?

You say that the Colombian Military is fresh from victories against the Farc-true. But I don't think the stalinist farc can be defeated by military forces alone, Colombia is alot bigger than say Sri Lanka and there are borderlands to slip into when pursued. Take for example the new strategy of the Farc which is to use snipers and they still do inflict damage albeit small on the Colombian military-

http://www.semana.com/noticias-nacion/mueren-nueve-uniformados-cauca-tras-ataque-farc/131176.aspx

Thanks for the link...I'm not really very well-informed on Colombian internal politics (aside from mainstream news sources). My point was more one of morale and experience, and that the Colombian military will surely have more of both.

gypsy

14 years 4 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by gypsy on November 13, 2009

I hope for everyones sakes that you are right and its sabre rattling. Everytime there is talk of war, the world oil price will no doubt jump too. Although I would not rule it out. Uribe and his party of war are completely mental. They have already shown they dont give a shit about neighbouring countries soveriegnty-kidnapping a FARC member inside Venezuela many years ago. And blowing up raul reyes and his fan boys inside ecuador. Raul reyes the man who used to be seen as the Farcs international negotiator. Colombian paramilitaries are operating inside venezuelan borderlands I hear(but so are the farc and eln).

I agree that the colombian military would defeat the Venezuelan armed forces. Although it would be a sorry bloody affair. The US military technology and expertise would be telling.

I also agree with you that the so called left wing around the world have been sucking up to chavez. Chomsky was saying good things about him awhile back if i remember. Its been great to hear some inside reporting about the situation inside caracas, keep it up.

gypsy

14 years 3 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by gypsy on December 11, 2009

hola companero caiman. Thought this was pretty damming if proved correct-

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/8407319.stm

Submitted by Tojiah on December 11, 2009

allybaba

hola companero caiman. Thought this was pretty damming if proved correct-

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/8407319.stm

From the article:
BBC

President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela has frozen diplomatic links fearing that the US-Colombia military pact is the first step to an attack on his nation.

So he thinks freezing diplomatic links provides some kind of military shield? I can see why leftists the world over are charmed with this guy. :roll:

Caiman del Barrio

14 years 3 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Caiman del Barrio on December 14, 2009

I fail to see the significance of this. Of course the US backs Colombia!