HUGO CHAVEZ FRIAS
No particular date, just a late January general impression of the man

The key personage in this very sad saga of stolen dreams and mistaken identities is Hugo Chavez, currently the “beloved” leader around here. A little bio and evaluation are in order. I will start by a quick bio and then relate some aspects of his career. I will end up with some considerations over the image he projects and the consequences of it.

Basic Chavez landmarks.

Chavez was born in Barinas State, Sabaneta, from a rather humble origin. Thus he cultivates log cabin style. Yet if his parents were of lower social class extract, they were far from being dirt poor as Chavez would like us to believe. They, and himself, are from “las clases emergentes” a social term coined to describe the people who through education managed to improve their lot from the 50ies to the early 80ies. During this 30 years the different governments, be them the Perez Jimenez dictatorship or the democracy that came after 58, managed to create a middle class and a lower middle class out of was a vast poverty stricken sector. In large part perhaps through public jobs, but the sector was created nevertheless.

As a result, not only Chavez father was a teacher and able to provide at least food to his children, but he managed to have some of his children educated through the public education system. Chavez made it to lieutenant colonel until the 1992 coup attempt that kicked him out of the army. One of his brothers made it through college high enough that he is a college professor. In turn they seem to have provided education to their own kids, but privacy for public figures here is more respected than in the US so it is not known exactly what did happen there.

Yet at some point something went wrong for Chavez. He refers for example to his grand mother as the woman who educated him. His mother seems to be a rather strong willed woman and Chavez does not seem to have a particularly close link with her although the link with his father is strong. The result is that even though Chavez family has slowly but surely improved its lot he seems to hold a deep grudge about wealthier people, in particular landowners. This would explain his agrarian law, which has been the director fuse starter for the present crisis.

At any rate Chavez married once with what seems to be a humble woman and they have had three children. When he was in jail she seems to have been dutiful in her care for her man, but they divorced soon after he was released. Since then little has been heard form her although at least one of his daughters has been occasionally in the news, in particular on April 12 when she claimed unspeakable suffering by her father.

While he was freed form jail in 1995 he started building his organization with a lot of warmed up leftists that try to use him to reach power. He allowed that. He also married a blonde newscaster who had a boy from a previous affair. They did have a daughter that was born in 1996 or 97. They separated last year and she filed for divorce, even though she is the first lady… That he married a blonde is important since it is kind of the fantasy of people from Chavez background. He is an interesting racial mix where if native American dominates, his nose is clearly of white origin and his hair and lips betray the African ancestry. Thus he really does not fit any race and he has used this to his advantage joining one group or the other as conditions warranted. Lately he is native and black only… However it is undeniable that his racial mix and his blonde wife were assets during the 1998 campaign.

Intellectual abilities and education

Chavez is definitely smart. That he does not seem to use his intelligence to good aims is another matter. But he is definitely quick witted, even if too often on the vulgar side of wit. When he was in jail he has read many things, most of them bought to him by people who later came to occupy important positions in his administration. However his self-education there seems to have been rather shallow in that he has not taken the time to think deeply about what he read. The result is that his speeches have quite a large amount of quotes, yet the speech does not seem to reflect the real meaning of the quote. What I would say is that Chavez has no sense nor regard for the context in which things are expressed.

Otherwise Chavez shows the clear signs of a military education, and of his love for what should be his ideal army. Chavez only reached the middle ranks of the army, although he was apparently a good student of the continuous education offered there. He did not reach positions where his true intellect could be tested on things such as dialogue and compromise, things that the army leaves only to the higher grades when they have proved that they can obey and give orders in the lower echelons. It is my interpretation that Chavez appreciates only the obey and command aspects of the army and that he is not aware of the subtle discussions that are necessary but that must remain discreet because of the intrinsic aims of an armed force.

Last but certainly not least, Chavez has striven to learn as much as possible on Simon Bolivar. He is THE hero, perhaps even some form of archetypal figure in Chavez cosmogony. During the 1998 campaign he would leave an empty chair next to him during interviews “so that the spirit of Bolivar might accompany us”. Religiously Bolivar seems to occupy the spot normally left for religion or spirituality for most people. However, Chavez has made enough references to customary Venezuelan voodoo rituals to demonstrate some knowledge of them, and perhaps some belief in them. This does not clash with his nominal catholic faith, a rather common aspect of Venezuelan society. In fact Chavez has claimed to be evangelical at least once, to the great surprise of the evangelical churches of Venezuela who he has not graced too often with his presence. And he has not balked at qualifying the Catholic Church hierarchy as “the Devil with a robe”, while claiming the Pope as a personal friend.

All of this makes that Chavez speeches seem to be a weird amalgam of primitive notions and undigested concepts.

Chavez psychological set up

It is temerity to attempt to describe the psychological make up of somebody just from his public persona. However there are a few elements that can be observed and lead one to believe that Chavez is troubled at some deep level.

Close Friends. He seems quite capable to ditch his close friends or political expediency. His army friends that were the core of the 1992 conspiracy have been all pushed away and strongly criticized and even insulted. In particular Arias Cardenas who was his cellmate in the Yare after the failed 1992 coup. People that are around him today are either minor figures of the 1992 coups (one in February and one in November) or came to him during his jail term or the 1998 campaign for political reasons and convenience.

Friends and Enemies. Chavez claims that he has close personal relationships with everybody he meets. He seems to me the very embodiment of these people that are friends with all but never close with any. I am sure that the DMV catalogue has a name for this. But when you cross his he will have no qualm at saying that you are the worst rat ever alive and that you should be exterminated. His menaces are usually totally out of proportion with the offense or his own ability to effectuate them through the normal means of a normal state.

Trust issues. Chavez does not seem to trust anybody. Betrayal is a big word in his vocabulary and he constantly refers to the people that supposedly betrayed Bolivar when he speaks of people that supposedly betrayed him. The latest victims are the oil workers on strike that are accused of all possible crimes including betrayal to the fatherland and may they rot in hell. The majority of the people that have left or being kicked out from his entourage seem to have opposed Chavez, albeit mildly as it is supposed to happen in any large group of people that are supposed to run a country or a corporation. Chavez does not tolerate dissent. Period. And I think it is not only due to his military background.

Nepotism. There is at least an element that he seems to trust, and this one has a certain tribal character to it. In 1998 he managed to have his father elected governor of Barinas in what was considered as a political upset. It was clear that Chavez was almost a shoo in and perhaps the local people thought they would get more handouts from Caracas if his Dad was thegovernor. Chavez brother seems to hang around all the time and is perhaps the only person that Chavez trusts besides his father that he consults frequently. There are a couple of childhood friends who can be better described as brother like and who provide some of his immediate entourage. One of them is an assemblyman that is not afraid to take some of the most outrageous positions as a decoy for when Chavez is in some sort of trouble. This people seem to have quite a lot of leeway to name some of the administration bureaucrats and act as if they expected nothing legal against them.

Speaking style and Narcissism. Chavez has made a career of his folksy style, although he has shown that he can behave quite properly when needed. But these instances have been rare and nonexistent for the last 2 years. Indeed in a relaxed situation he can come across as charming even to doubtful observers as myself. One could be OK having him attending a party being aware that he might be the life of the party. And that is the problem, Chavez seems to need constant attention, to occupy center stage no matter where he is. Yes, he hugs people with abandon, kisses any child that is thrown at him, but somehow he manages to catch the camera at the right angle, even when the opposing media films him.

His speaking style is very flowery and passionate. He likes to be surrounded by as much of his cabinet as possible whenever he talks, be it state of the union speech or provincial junket. One wonders even how some of his staff manages to get any work done, as they seem to attend almost every public event Chavez chairs. It seems more and more like a royal court following the king.

What he has used to great effect is his understanding on how traditional classes organize the social life at home. From colonial times and the lack of TV, the social set up in Venezuela is that you are either entertaining or visiting. Refreshments are not necessary and a cup of black and heavily sweetened coffee is enough. The interesting thing is that the social grouping is usually organized around the most respected of the host, not necessarily the owner of the reception place. This person is on an apex of the circle of chairs and although private conversations are allowed, regularly you must look toward the honored host. This set up functions whether you are in an adobe house, on the street sidewalk taking the evening freshening air or at a more formal gathering. It as been lost at least in part with more educated people or city residents. Travel overseas and TV are likely the culprits there. Also, and very important, if your visitor is of a much higher social strata than you are, it is polite to let your guest occupy that honored position.

Chavez chatting style matches was is expected of the honored host or guest. He has tremendous charisma and after you listen to him for a few minutes you can be deluded into thinking that you are either visiting him or he is visiting you. And he drinks lots of coffee even during most formal acts which adds to the familiarity he tries to convey. Obviously this has helped him seduce the country for quite a while until some people realized that his words did not match his actions.

The effect of this speech style and narcissistic personality is that his speeches are long, rambling and at the end say little of value. They are much closer to harangues than to actual information. Clearly the objective is to motivate his troops, to make them offer their unwavering allegiance. If you do so he will be nice to you, reward you as he does in more informal and patriarchal set-ups.

Exhibitionism. Chavez likes to dress up for the occasion, that is, he uses all sort of military gear whenever he can. This has run him into trouble before April 11 and after these days he promised not to do it anymore. He is doing it again. In particular in an Independence Day military parade he donned a spectacular uniform with all the trimmings that made him look ridiculous. Not to mention that he is supposed to be a civilian president, but he has this chip on his shoulder that he will never make it as general. El Universal next day carried a picture of Perez Jimenez 50 years ago who looked the operetta dictator part just as Chavez had done. Apparently he was furious and from then on El Universal was the first marked newspaper for eventual sanctions.

But his exhibitionism does not stop there. He loves to have his picture taken with the poor, to kiss all sorts of babies and children (just like many dictators did, who kissed babies professionally to soften their image). He has even a special type of dress when he goes to these crowds bath, which can hide his bulletproof vest. It is a Mao like outfit. If it is of course OK to be pictured amongst the poor and downtrodden but what is striking here is the way it is done, very choreographed and making sure that direct physical contact with sweaty bodies is visible. While contact with higher social strata is carefully hidden unless he is overseas so it looks more like an obligation. Yet he makes quite sure that the overseas scenes get as much exposure as possible. In other words if one must realize that his contact with the poor is genuine, the set up makes you wonder how much exhibitionism is also involved there besides public relations work.

An evaluation of Chavez?

Comparing Chavez with Hitler or Stalin as some of the opposition does is rather silly and unnecessarily melodramatic. His role models seem to be more Mussolini or Peron. Actually I see him rather as a cross between Peron and Papa Doc. I have no doubts that Chavez will give the order to shoot a few guys if he thought that it would secure his hold in office. After all, that is what he intended to do in 1992. However I do not think he would go after a specific group of people just because he does not particularly like them. His narcissistic inclinations will protect us from that, as long as we bow to him he will spare us. Unfortunately some of his accomplices might not be so generous.

Although I never bought his message and always had strong doubts about his ability to fulfill his promises, I gave him the benefit of the doubt in the first year or so. That is, I truly thought that some of things that were not going right were more because of his entourage than because of his own foibles. I thought, and I confess it, that his deep intentions, although mistaken, were honest and made with good will towards the lower classes. I was wrong, totally wrong. Chavez thinks only of himself and his career. He is egotistical. The evidence comes from some of his rewards, such an expensive specially fitted brand new airbus that he uses as he pleases, even to go and have lunch with his father in Barinas.

Chavez must occupy the front scene. He truly believes that he carries the “right” message. And he truly believes that society owes him a lot. The string of politically dead colleagues litters the scene.

Chavez is unable to understand the true meaning of democracy. He is a rather uncouth soldier and the only thing he understands is the destruction of the adversary. The price to pay is irrelevant: if you do not win the battle it is not worth continuing on. This will make him criticize with abandon institutions that he himself set up, when they do not deliver as he expected. The August assault on the high court is an example.

It is totally useless to dialogue with him. He will only do so if he feels cornered. The only concessions that Chavez will do are those that allow him to gain time, until he can come up with a way to beat you in the end. This is what he did in the few weeks that followed the April events when he put up a semblance of dialogue and asked for forgiveness. Yet nothing came from it and by June he was on the warpath again, feeling more secure in his seat.

I think that it is fair to qualify Chavez as a megalomaniac. His grandiloquence, his messianic sense of self, his constant reference to Bolivar as his “father”, his intolerance to any dissent, his comfort with isolation besides a sycophantic court would allow for such a description.

Chavez has used democracy and favorable circumstances to grab power. He has no intention to let power go. If it is up to him there will be no fair and free elections as long as he occupies office. Note, there will be elections just as there was elections in the time of Fujimori, but the deck will be heavily stacked on Chavez side. As long as this cannot be secured, there will be no elections. This is the key to understand what is happening in Venezuela today.