The New Venezuelan Leadership

Lina Ron and Leopoldo Lopez

Saturday 7, February 2004

These days it has been rather fashionable for the opposition to state that besides Chavez there is no leadership within chavismo, that Chavez followers are there to do any of their master's bidding, that we are on our way to a personality cult in the best tradition of certain systems of the past, or even the present.

Chavismo on the other hand, and even many within the opposition, counter that the Coordinadora Democratica is unable to provide a leader to take a stand against Chavez, that they are just a bunch of squabbling non-entities.

Well, if there is some truth in these words, the reality is definitely more nuanced. Let's examine two emerging leaders, Lina Ron the most famous street leader of chavismo and Leopoldo Lopez, the diligent mayor of Chacao.

Lina Ron, the tropical Pasionaria

Lina Ron is a bleached blond Latina that emerged from obscurity after September 11 when she was filmed burning an US flag. Since then she has been a regular in the front pages an arguably has become the only real grass root leader of chavismo. And certainly the most interesting character to emerge from the streets of Caracas.

Lina Ron origins are rather obscure. Rumored to have controlled street vendor stands in popular markets she seems to have a significant past of shadowy dealings. She is not the only one within chavismo to have emerged thanks to Chavez. But contrary to others she has carved her own following and has clearly assumed a certain functions that seem to bother the leaders of the power that is. I was trying to find a web page on Lina Ron and I could not find a sympathetic one. The only ones were set up by the opposition. I find this rather interesting considering her relative importance, and I do not think it can only be explained by the lack of web savvy, or simply access, of her followers. You can find her "bio" seen from an opposition site and a good picture here .

For those that do not read Spanish I will write the bio blurb. After burning the flag Lina Ron became a leader of a one of the "assault sections" of the street mobs that defend Chavez. She was in particular linked to an assault to the Central University that resulted in a brief arrest and a trial that was rather lightly prosecuted by the government. From then on she also acquired the sheen of a martyr of the revolution.

At some point her followers took over the Andres Eloy Blanco square where they set up a "helping" hand office where for a little bit of cash you could get among other things ID that were not available from the governmental identification office. This para-legal system for humble people with the revolution shows how far and fast her connections reached. This modern day cour des miracles was renamed by Lina Ron Plaza de la Revolucion and became the gathering point of a crowd of hanger-on that can be mobilized promptly to any point of downtown Caracas, in particular against its mayor, Alfredo Peña, Lina Ron bête noire. This enmity which included many a death threat was very good publicity for her as she became to be seen the wild side of the revolution. Which did not stop her from landing TV interviews and even TV shows appearances.

The amount of services offered from there quickly built Lina Ron a strong popular base and last fall when names started to be advanced for a new Caracas mayor, her name appeared in many a graffiti. This did not seem to please Chavez who has not praised her in quite a while. Soon Chavez decided that Lina Ron would not be candidate to one of the two positions that she was aspiring to, having her denied access to the euphemistic "nomination process". But she wiser than her enemies think and instead of complaining, today she officially launched her own political movement, carefully aligned with Chavez but clearly stating that it was the most radical expression of chavismo. Among other gems she declared to Globovision that if the Electoral Board approved the Recall Election on Chavez, blood would run in the streets.

We have thus a leader reluctantly approved by Chavez that is more chavista than Chavez. The explanation is quite simple: of all chavistas Lina Ron is the only genuine leader that has emerged. Pictures of her followers Friday on TV were quite telling: she does represent the downtrodden, the ones that society forgot, even forgotten by chavistas that seek now some respectability. Chavez cannot accept any competition but he does not dare to oppose her, yet. Meanwhile Lina Ron announced that she would back fully the mayoral candidates that Chavez named "because he is our leader" and quickly added that her new party, UPV, will name its own candidates to the municipal council. My bet is that Chavez will try to thwart that move too. But he might be wrong there: even people like myself do admire, in a certain way, Lina Ron. Her charisma and political savvy cannot be denied even if they have whiffs of primitivism. Curtailing her leadership in the masses could be very counterproductive.

Leopoldo Lopez, the Harvard Mayor

Leopoldo Lopez is the Mayor of the Chacao district in Caracas. Today Chacao has perhaps the most expensive real estate in Venezuela; Chacao is where most foreigners try to set house when in Venezuela since it has the best services and arguably the best restaurants.

Leopoldo Lopez boyish good looks make him also possibly the best looking politician in Venezuela. I saw him once at a march, signing autographs to a whole bunch of young women and girls. But Leopoldo Lopez is not just a pretty face. He holds a Masters from the Harvard Kennedy school of government, held a good job at PDVSA until he joined the NGO Primero Justicia that became a political party allowing him to run successfully for mayor in 2000 in spite of the Chavez tidal wave.

Leopoldo Lopez is an articulate and effective mayor. One senses that he would rather spend the week end talking policies than go on vacation to Margarita. He is cute and single which has garnered him some unflattering innuendoes from low life chavistas, but in truth he is probably too busy to have a significant personal life. By any standard Leopoldo Lopez is that new breed of dedicated and able service politicians that have appeared just when Chavez came to power as the negation of what effective government should be. And polls reflect this: his administration approval reaches 70% after 3 years in office, the highest of any Caracas district mayors. To top this he even appeared in a National Geographic special on the new Latin American leadership.

But Mr. Lopez is not free of hubris, Harvard notwithstanding. His attitude was questioned on April 12 2002 and he was not able to shake up suspicions that he was not too upset with the Carmona take over. Certainly taking the golden opportunity to remove the dissident military from Plaza Altamira last December
does him good to refurbish his democratic credentials. Another issue that has dodged him lately is allowing the construction of a bull ring smack in a vacant lot of La Castellana, a little bit like letting the circus set tent on Park Avenue or Neuilly. The neighborhood was not amused.

But these are peccadilloes and favorable papers like El Universal are prompt to gloss over them. It remains that like Lina Ron, Leopoldo Lopez is considered as dangerous for Chavismo, being the victim of several aggressions when he tours the country to give public speeches. And like Lina Ron, Leopoldo Lopez stands firm in front of the "enemy".

I find an interesting thought that Lina Ron and Leopoldo Lopez are not so far apart after all. If he is Harvard articulate, she has no problem in her crude way to express and convey her message. Both stand firm on their convictions and one senses that opportunism is not their main motive even if both of them are political animals. Both of them bother Chavez because both of them have their own voice and it is not the one of the great leader. For better or for worse, they are the future of Venezuela, if a bullet does not cross their path.