Chavez Can’t Shun the Spotlight

The world should be used to the public declarations of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez by now. He simply loves the spotlight so fiercely that serving his country as president, and as a larger-than-life president at that, cannot satisfy. Restless, he meets with celebrities—Sean Penn three times—but when that is not enough, he uses his country as a media pawn. And that is how an unacceptable number of lives repeatedly get jeopardized.

All world leaders have celebrities they admire; from Sarkozy with Johnny Hallyday, to Obama with Willie Mays and Mandela with his Springbok rugby stars, they have dined and congratulated their heroes, often with a civic purpose attached—but not always—in a fashion expected of leaders of nations and leaders of culture. Chavez, however, takes this to levels of absurdity that Sarkozy could not match even with his marriage to Italian pop icon Carla Bruni. Chavez meets with specifically outspoken supporters of himself. With Chavez, the situation is not the mutual respect of respected, recognized individual’s in today’s society. Chavez will meet with anyone who—and this is key—will meet with him: This is how the list ends up headlined by Naomi Campbell, Danny Glover, and Michael Moore. Imagine that group discussing human rights together, or the role of the United States in Latin American affairs.

Such meetings are only harmless so long as they remain in the private sector. Sarkozy, for example, may meet with as many of the popular faces of Europe as he desires, and, while that may fuel tabloid stories, there are no expectations of policy decisions to be reached by such schmoozing. Penn and Chavez, however, meet with the loftiest goals, beyond simply stroking each other’s egos: Penn assured Chavez (publicly, in an attempt to improve its likelihood) that he would soon meet with President Obama to relay any messages from Chavez, and somehow enable private dialogue between the two leaders.

The farce of this notion can only be assuaged if one remembers that Chavez is the world leader who, infamously, cornered President Obama at the Summit of the Americas this spring to give him a book about foreign (read: American) exploitation in the Americas. Chavez, in his personal world, has the right to put the American president on the spot like this. He also was justified, presumably, in writing, “For Obama, with warm regards,” inside the book, because though the two are close enough that Chavez might give him the book uninvited, Obama has not earned the right to address Chavez on a first name basis. Or so Chavez might rationalize—it is dangerous to look too closely into the mind of someone so erratic.

In a better world, we would be able to dismiss these fancies of a mad leader as just that and not give them more attention. Chavez forces us to study them, however, because sometimes he goes further than simply rubbing shoulders with celebrities. Lately, he has returned to using his country as a plaything for attention. The United States’s increasing role in Colombia, Venezuela’s neighbor, maddens Chavez. He lacks a real reason for his ire, besides an apparent obsession with United States imperialist tendencies he believes still alive and active. So Chavez mobilizes his armed forces, sends 15,000 troops to the border, and turns to his greatest megalomaniacal outlet, his state television and radio show, “Alo, Presidente.” On the show, Chavez tells his citizens that their “main aim” is to prepare for war, and many people will inevitably listen and trust their nation’s leader.

Colombia can only watch in angst and appeal to higher bodies such as the UN Security Council and the Organization of American States because it cannot simply back down to Chavez’s displeasure. The United States’s increasing presence in Colombia could not be the consequence of a more serious issue—contesting and fighting drug cartels, and drugs themselves, at one of their primary sources. Such action will provide a major boost to Colombia’s efforts to combat the forces of the drug cartels and increase the odds of reclaiming territories and extraditing cartels’ chiefs to the United States for trial.

Chavez, however, ignores this obvious justification for the United States’s presence. No matter what Colombia says, or does, to placate his displeasure—short of submitting to his ludicrous demands—Colombia will be in danger as a country. And Colombian and Venezuelan lives will potentially pay the price.

Speaking to celebrities and acting in bad taste in the public eye are disappointing, but ultimately acceptable, outlets for Chavez’s oversized ego. Chavez’s thirst to feel famous, however, should stay out of foreign affairs, especially when this fame comes from the threat of armed conflict.

Alexander R. Konrad ’11, a Crimson associate editorial editor, is a history concentrator in Quincy House.