ho is Mister Chavez? He is Latin American Putin, as you always imagined him: with all the hidden violence and an awkward vision of the outside world. When I compared Putin’s Russia to Venezuela under Hugo Chavez; I was at first astonished by the structural similarity in the development of both regimes: both states are oil-funded ‘sovereign demonocracies ’. Their success is simply a result of the rise in oil-prices.
Seriously, look at them: the main foundations of Putin’s regime are Gazprom and Rosneft, the foundation of Chavez Venezuela— a state-owned fossil fuel corporation — PDVSA. In Russia and in Venezuela, previously second-rate enterprises became powerful political drivers. Both Chavez and Putin use the income of the state-owned enterprises to fund all sorts of projects from FSB veteran charity fund ‘Kreml-9’ to Bolivarian missions in Venezuela. The money from oil exports— a great chunk of state’s income—ends up in leader’s hands. Thus, the traditional system of relations between the people and the power -«taxes in exchange for political responsibility» — becomes obsolete, as neither Chavez nor Putin actually need your taxes. Simultaneously, the number of employed in the state sector grows rapidly: Chavez doubled the number of governmental employees. Their number reached 2,4 million in a country with the population of 30 million. Under Putin’s rule the number of people, employed by the state, has also grown. An underground army is created along with the underground economy — FSB and Internal Troops in Putin’s Russia, 125 000 strong ‘militia’ that acted upon Chavez direct orders in Venezuela. Finally, a new political hierarchy overshadows the existing civil institutions — ‘United Russia’ in our country, and Chavezean ‘United Socialist Party’ in Venezuela, which amalgamated all political parties and movement that supported the president in a single organisation (thus it is more like the United Popular Front than UR). At the same time, social councils that have decisive influence in the country’s internal affairs, because they manage local budgets, also fell under ‘United Venezuela’s’ control. This essentially means that all democratic institutions, created before Chavez, were either destroyed or were reduced to the status of ‘United Venezuela’s’ proxy faces. Party hierarchy became the only real hierarchy in the country.
Then on the wake of the oil boom the so called ‘XXI century socialism’ began — i.e. oil incomes were redistributed among the population through a series of social programmes — Bolivarian Missions, which can be compared with our Federal Programmes. Following the destruction of the political institutions, social institutions disintegrate, the social sphere collapses — the only important issue left is weather you have access to redistribution channels or not. Obviously, the system becomes plagued with corruption and there is no one to put the trespassers back in line, because the democratic institutions that checked corruption are crushed and ‘United Venezuela’ has a very familiar to us ‘you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours’ ethos. Independent media are either bought by the state or threatened to the point that local bloggers, living in fear of a jail sentence, are the only source of information about the astounding levels of corruption. Though, some of them are not jailed but shot — in the early 00s 19 people were killed on the anti-government demo by the unidentified snipers, who could not found (if they were looked for at all). However, these killings are nothing compared to the hell unleashed on Caracas — the capital city is becoming a fighting ground for numerous bands, 3500 cases of manslaughter per year, 70% of which are cause by street automatic weapon gunfights. The gangs are competing for the control over drug-trafficking, and there is no one to stop them, because the police is bought to its roots, whilst any attempts to clear up the mess are blocked by the high-ranking ‘United Venezuela’ patrons of the corrupt policemen. Plus, Venezuela offers its protection and support to FARC — Columbian terrorist organisation, which controls the huge are covered by rainforests, where far-left Marxist fighters produce cocaine (What, a revolution with no cocaine?! ), which is then sold through the socialist Chavez Venezuela.
It’s raining oil, lead, money and cases full of cocaine — what else is left to fix for the socialist of the XXI century? Exactly, Geopolitics! Chavez started bullying America, despite the fact that the USA is the Venezuela’s LARGEST trade-partner. Even though Chavez called G.W. Bush ‘devil’ in one of his hysteric bursts on public, he nevertheless exported $ 351 billion worth of oil to the US during the last 12 years. This, essentially, means that for Venezuela the United States are the main source of income: there are simply no other economies in the region big enough to consume all the oil Venezuela produces. However still, Chavez was not satisfied by just calling Uncle Sam names, he founded several regional Latin-American organisations (Eurasian Unions ). With their help he started distributing oil at bargain prices to his Latin-American ‘brothers’. The ‘brothers’ than resell the same oil at market price — Guatemala alone got $ 400 million employing this simple scheme. Who were these millions taken from? Exactly, from the Venezuelans, who got bullshit slogans, like ‘Latin Americans unite against America’, broadcasted in their ears, while lazy foreigners prospered at their expense. Fidel Castro was Chavez’s closest friend: he sent famous Cuban doctors to Venezuela in exchange for oil discounts. The Cubans controlled the healthcare ‘mission’. All the alternative institutions and organisations deprived of the cash flows from ‘missions’ ceased to exist. Obvious enough, Chavez himself, when struck by cancer, chose to travel to Cuba for treatment. It seems he does not have much faith in his own home-grown ‘mission’-doctors.
In 2008 the ‘let’s redistribute oil money among the strangers instead of building modern infrastructure and institutions’ policy finally reached its logical end. Venezuela has spent 2 more years in economic recession than its immediate neighbours, the level of inflation fluctuated around 25%, with 10% being the median level across Latin America. Just next to Venezuela, free and democratic Brazil is gaining strength. Brazilians simply started producing, what ceased to be produced by Venezuela, and sell these products to Venezuelans themselves. (Why would we possibly industry, if we have the oil!) The nation of the XXI century socialism actually looks like a heroin addict, who was reduced to his bare veins and fossil needle. Everything else from agriculture to the power grid (most of Venezuelans experience problems with electricity) slowly decayed. Venezuela enters the time of crisis, the resentment and dissatisfaction with the government grows in the provinces, and the parasitic population is consumed by panic. Nevertheless, in the year, when stark and dreadful structural reforms become inevitable — in the hang-over year after an oil-party, — Chavez happily escapes responsibility for his actions in the better world.
He is not going to get the hang-over. The people are the ones to experience it. The people, who for 14 years refused to work and wanted to suck the oil breast instead. The people, who wanted to live of the state budget. The people, who did not want to ask questions. Chavez destroyed the state and the civil society; he made the nation bow before the paranoid delusions of Bolivarianism. He turned Venezuelans, who were citizens of a model Latin American democracy, into a herd of drugged swine (some of them even literally — remember FARC?). In compensation Chavez redistributed a generous share of his oil income among the people. In fact, the main success of his rule was an unprecedented growth in personal consumption. The whole country was caught in a spending fever.
Just like...Russia?
Chavez is dead. And his country slowly dies as well. The other countries in the region, on the contrary, exhibit steady economic growth and development. Venezuela’s Brazilian neighbours are building airplanes. Venezuela’s Brazilian neighbours are laying down nuclear submarines. Venezuela’s Brazilian neighbours are changing presidents, win and lose elections, argue about constitutional reform and development issues, enjoying real political life and real political competition — along with real plans to create a blue-water navy and expand their zone of influence to Africa. Venezuelans themselves are watching blinking light-bulbs (twice a day for
Then we have spent it, and now... now even potatoes are bought from the Brazilians, and we try to understand, how did we end up being a filthy whore, who does not seem to attract anyone anymore? Our pimp — Hugo has left this world, so it is now time to rise from our knees, fix the knickers, take the last dose of fossil cocaine and think how we are going to survive in the real world after years of natural resource delirium.
It seems like the world has actually changed a bit during the last 14 years.
$131 billion foreign debt. $ 57 billion internal debt. $25 billion of unclassified sovereign debt made through various muddy schemes. The agriculture is in ruins. Power-networks are destroyed. Transport system collapsed. Even Oil extraction is diminishing. Inflation, unemployment, corruption. Degradation of civic, governmental and judicial institutions. And on top of all that, a huge state sector in economy (in 2011 alone, 200 companies were nationalised).
Well, well, it seems like drugs aren’t that good for your health after all.
We are happy to welcome the people of Venezuela back to the real world and we sincerely hope that Venezuelans will be able to overcome the dreadful consequences of Putinism. We hope they will rebuild their state, rejuvenate private enterprise, diversify their exports (95% of which is now made up of oil), defeat crime and corruption. If even Venezuelans will manage to build a free and prosperous country after Chavez, then our hysterical faith in the half-dead Botox mannequin is going to become totally unacceptable.
