Chavez, the wanna-be dictador, visits Lukashenko, the last European dictator, with a foot note of Carlos Fuentes

This week started with a Belarus visit by Chavez. What does Chavez has to do in Belarus escapes me except for his usual anti American posturing and search for any authoritarian vote he can get on his way to the UN security council. Heck, even a Belarus page notes that the exchanges between Venezuela and Belarus are a meager 15.5 million dollars of which Venezuela supplies only about 20 000 USD in some “spare parts”. In other words the visit of Chavez to Belarus will cost Venezuela much, way much more than whatever Venezuela peddles to Belarus.

But it seems that Chavez cannot meet a dictator he does not like. Lukashenko, the so called "last dictator of Europe" whose unsavory practices and neo-commie attitude has garnered him and his crowd a visa ban among other things is cited as a role model by Chavez. In stunning words, at that. From an English language weird Russian site (I think) I quote Chavez words "We see here a model social state like the one we are beginning to create". For those who think that Chavez is a democrat, take that and digest.

But there are never enough ways for Chavez to make a fool of him while showing his aggressiveness. Among some "activities" Chavez will visit a military academy and the old "restored" Stalin Line defense complex. The pic on the left is Chavez during that visit, having his military staff and Cuban body guards run in the fields. Priceless. I did read the quaint description of the complex which which apparently was not anymore effective than the Maginot line in France. Here, choice excerpts:

...“Stalin Line” (we are sure you still remember the name…).

But the memory of those days will always be cherished in Belarus. During 1941 – 1945 Great Patriotic War the life of 1 in every 3 inhabitants of Belarus was lost.

On June, 30, 2005, there took place the ceremonial opening of “Stalin Line”, historical and cultural complex reconstructed in strict conformity

I think they need an editor. As for the "cultural" aspect of the Stalin line, don't get me started...

But thus are the pals of Chavez, from Castro, to Mugabe, to Kim, to the assorted Mullah, etc... Anyone who screams "death to the USA" is a democratic leader fighting for the rights of their people and deserving of the unquestioned support of Venezuela, errhh, I mean Chavez. Or perhaps, perish the thought, Chavez likes to hang out with these assorted creeps so as to feel himself more democrat than what he really is? Or is it to convince himself to finish off Venezuelan's democracy?

To conclude this post I am translating part of an interview of Carlos Fuentes (complete in Spanish here, emphasis mine). Among other things he discusses the current crop of leaders in LatAm. Carlos Fuentes who certainly cannot be dismissed as a neo-con describes Chavez as a fascist. The relevant part with a kind word on Clinton (just to drive in the message that Fuentes IS NOT a right wing nut):

With whom do you feel more political affinity in Latin America? Ricardo Lagos? Alvaro Uribe? Lula da Silva? –
Ricardo Lagos, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, Felipe González, Lazaro Cardenas, Franklin Roosevelt, John Kennedy and Bill Clinton. I think that we miss Clinton more than ever. Imagine him in comparison to George Bush, an incompetent. I consider Clinton as one of the smartest man I have met. Once he gave us a literature lecture to Garcia Marquez and Myself. I do not know of many politicians that are able to recite from memory the Benjy monologue from William Faulkner “the Sound and the Fury”. Kirchener does not even know the “Martin Fierro”. Isn’t it? [laughs]

What do you think of Chavez? –
He is not a leftist. He is a fascist, not to be trusted, a passing phenomenon. He is ruining Venezuela, he is ill using the oil money. The main roads of the country are collapsing. He is a demagogue, a sort of tropical parakeet. He is trying to finish off Venezuelan democracy. He benefited from the void left by the political parties, but he Hill be removed by the Venezuelan society itself, one that I respect very much and that I cannot imagine ruled by this gorilla for ever.

In Belarus? Birds of a feather….

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Note: Martin Fierro is the "all great Argentinean epic".