La historia paralela

Nowa­days, seeing Vene­zue­lan heli­cop­ters flying around Boli­vian skies, or seeing the Vene­zue­lan ambas­sa­dor and his Cuban collea­gue acti­vely taking part in offi­cial events is not sur­pri­sing at all. Howe­ver, these are unpre­ce­den­ted facts in Boli­vian his­tory and verify the intru­sion of Vene­zuela and Cuba in the inter­nal affairs of the country.

Sena­tors asked the Chan­ce­llor expla­na­tions about such abu­sive inter­ven­tions and why such cha­llenge to natio­nal sove­reignty is allo­wed in the name of coope­ra­tion. It is not accep­ta­ble that ideo­lo­gi­cal coin­ci­dence and extreme poverty cons­ti­tute an excuse to agree with actions that break legal precepts.

The close rela­tions­hip bet­ween Hugo Cha­vez and Evo Mora­les has brought down the diplo­ma­tic limits of inter­na­tio­nal sup­port. Vene­zue­lan inte­lli­gence agents, a copy­cat of Cuban inte­lli­gence agents, are in charge giving advice in areas that range from mass com­mu­ni­ca­tion to state safety and are pre­sent in the majo­rity of offi­cial public events, wea­ring ski masks.

( Leer en espa­ñol )

It is evi­dent that the Vene­zue­lan head of state uses all the oil pro­fits to buy wills and cause ins­ta­bi­lity in many Lati­na­me­ri­can coun­tries, with the only pur­pose of buil­ding up a socia­list bas­tion of radi­cal cut – a pro­ject he has bap­ti­zed as ‘Boli­va­rian Revolution.’

Beyond the fact that Hugo Cha­vez has all the neces­sary cash resour­ces to pro­mote his per­so­nal agenda, it is also impor­tant to remem­ber that Vene­zuela took active part, tech­ni­ca­lly and eco­no­mi­ca­lly, in the natio­na­li­za­tion of Boli­vian gas and in the nego­tia­tions of the con­tracts with foreign companies.

In his revo­lu­tio­nary adven­ture to con­quer South Ame­rica, Hugo Cha­vez tur­ned Boli­via into his base of ope­ra­tions, from where he can easily influence the entire Andean region. To reach his goal, he counts with Evo Morales’s sup­port as well as the adhe­sion of other bene­fi­ciary governments.

Seve­ral hun­dreds of millions of dollars con­ve­niently dis­tri­bu­ted were able to achieve this “mira­cle”, even more so when this gene­rous aid pro­mi­ses to demo­lish any natio­na­list suspicion.

In Boli­via, it is only neces­sary to pre­pare the needy and to seduce the radi­cal groups; those active mino­ri­ties that encou­ra­ged by “indi­ge­nism” have already enlis­ted in Cha­vez side. This explains the pre­sence of Cuban doc­tors and edu­ca­tors who in fact are not­hing but pro­pa­ganda supporters.

The truth is that the Boli­vian pre­si­dent has pro­mi­sed his help to Hugo Cha­vez buil­ding up the ‘twenty first cen­tury socia­lism’, an adven­ture tar­ge­ted to the redem­ption of radi­cal Mar­xism in the Ame­ri­cas. It is really not­hing but a popu­list attempt spon­so­red by Chavez’s “long arm” and Castro’s sha­dow. This is a pro­ject brought out of a time tun­nel and one which has found in Boli­via a radi­cal com­po­nent with strong tota­li­ta­rian ingredients.

Pre­si­dent Chavez’s intru­sion in the inter­nal affairs of the coun­try is con­si­de­red raving inter­ven­tio­nism and a fla­grant attack to natio­nal sove­reignty. It has even mana­ged to damage Evo Morales’s popu­la­rity, as Boli­vians watch with gro­wing dis­gust how Cha­vez has adop­ted the role of Evo Morales’s tutor and guar­dian and how he “exhi­bits” him as a sort of “godson”.

The situa­tion gets even worse when during offi­cial events of the Boli­vian govern­ment, Cha­vez takes the oppor­tu­nity to ver­ba­lly attack Boli­vian con­gress­men and poli­ti­cians of the oppo­si­tion par­ties. This is not only an impo­lite and sha­me­less attack to demo­cracy but a dis­play of total dis­res­pect to the Boli­vian Cons­ti­tu­tion, situa­tion that has greatly faded away the image of the Boli­vian pre­si­dent in a coun­try with dee­ply roo­ted nationalism.

* Jorge Lan­di­var Roca has been State Minis­ter, Natio­nal Repre­sen­ta­tive, and Sena­tor of the Boli­vian Repu­blic. He is currently a poli­ti­cal analyst and colum­nist of seve­ral news­pa­pers in Bolivia.

Autor: Jorge Landivar Roca

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