Reply #145: Col. Chavez, Sir, Trims Many Things Pretty Close [View All]

[The Magistrate]

It is uncomfortable to be in prominent opposition to his government, but it has not been lethal, and shows no signs it will become so.

There is no doubt Col. Chavez is engaged a revolutionary restructuring of Venezuelan society, which involves expropriations and redistributions. Naturally, those expropriated resist, and just as naturally, the revolutionary government considers overcoming that resistance to be part of its business.

It is possible the thing may degenerate into 'Peronism' in time, and while that would be a poor outcome, it would at least have churned the elites, and put some people born on the bottom into the upper strata.

But make no mistake; the concentration of criticism on Col. Chavez is not because he is a fascist or a dictator or insane, or any of the rest of it: criticism is concentrated on him because he represents a threat to foreign business interests in Latin America, and to native elites in other Latin American countries.