Rice on Chavez

I didn't plan on posting today, but I just had to note that it took all of two days for the Sun-Sentinel's Sunday op-ed on Venezuela to fall apart. Here is what the Herald reports this morning:

(Rice) singled out Venezuela, a country she said was once a U.S. ally and had become what she called a ''negative force in the region,'' citing Chávez's meddling in neighbors' affairs, cracking down on domestic dissent and muzzling the media -- all criticisms denied by Chávez. ''I think it's extremely unfortunate that the Chávez government has not been constructive,'' she said. "And we do have to be vigilant and to demonstrate that we know the difficulties that that government is causing for its neighbors, its close association with Fidel Castro in Cuba.''

She said the United States would work with other countries in the region and the Organization of American States to ensure that ''leaders who do not govern democratically, even if they are democratically elected'' are held accountable.

Senators Chafee and Dodd criticized Rice for her comments, but that should come as no surprise. Dodd has yet to meet a left wing latin despot that he doesn't like. In 1984 he attached his name to the (in)famous "Dear Commandante" letter to Daniel Ortega. The letter praised Castro's Mini-Me version 1.0 for for " taking steps to open up the political process in your country." It went on to declare that "We have been, and remain, opposed to U.S. support for military action directed against ... Nicaragua." It closed with the signatories (there were ten) offering to circumvent official US policy by expressing their "willingness to discuss these or other matters of concern with you or officials of your government at any time." I hate to bring up what some consider to be ancient history, but Dodd has yet to learn his lesson.

Senator Chafee's response to Rice's comments was a tad naive. He said that she was "disrespectful" of the "Venezuelan people" because Chavez had won the recent referendum. Assuming that the referendum was in fact free of ballot stuffing there is a difference between a liberal democracy and majoritarianism. There is no stopping Chavez or his proposals since he has stacked every branch of government in his favor. This despite a political divide which is kind of like our blue state/red state face-off, but on steriods. A state that does not respect the rights of the minority is not a democracy.