Caracas Daily Journal (Vincent Bevins): Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama outlined his policy towards president Hugo Chávez and Latin America Monday, saying he opposed the policies of Chávez but would meet him and every other leader in the region, including Cuban president Fidel Castro.
Obama is in a dead heat with Hillary Clinton for the nomination from the Democratic party for this November's presidential election, but has seen a surge in recent days, winning several consecutive contests.If he were to become the leader of the large country to the north, he said his attitude towards Latin America would radically differ from that of Bush. Of course, he would still be broadly opposed to Chávez.
"I don't actually agree with Chávez' policies or how he's dealing with his people. I think he has consolidated power. I think he has strong despotic tendencies. I think he's been using oil revenues to stir up trouble against the United States."
"So he is not a leader I admire," he said. But he said he would engage with the region much more than Bush has, saying the current president ignored Latin America while concentrating on the Middle East, which he called a risk. He said that "it is not enough to say 'I oppose Castro and I oppose Chávez and that's the end of it.'" The idea that Latin America is a junior partner is "antiquated," he said.
It is unclear how much damage has been done to Venezuela and the United States due to the extremely poor relations between Bush and Chávez. But there will be a new president in the White House in January and thus exists the possibility of an improved relationship.
It is of course, extremely unlikely that anyone who actually supports Chávez Bolivarian revolution will come to power, but Obama's proposed policy surely appears much softer.
"I will meet not just with our friends but with our enemies – not just with those we agree with but those we don't," Obama said.
Hillary Clinton, who at this point appears equally likely to win the Democratic nomination, has called this policy naïve.
Former president Bill Clinton had cool but cordial relations with Chávez after he took power in 1999. After Chávez refused Clinton's request that Chávez not arrive in Washington by way of Cuba, Clinton met with him, but in the most informal way possible. The man who will almost surely win the Republican nomination, John McCain, is likely to take a harder line on Chávez and Castro.
The Cuban president wrote a piece this week claiming that McCain would continue the "imperialist" policies of his predecessor, Bush.
McCain recently claimed that Cubans had assisted Vietnamese soliders to torture American prisoners of war. McCain himself received a good bit of that torture. Castro has denied the claim vehemently.
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Barack Obama is just another pretty face, and merely one more opportunistic frontman for the same U.S. oligarchy that all "mainstream" presidential candidates owe their allegiances to. The difference, however, is that a President Obama will not survive his first term in office.
ReplyDeleteAnd John McCain is a simply a bald-faced liar.