Hugo Chavez is “The Mouth of the South”

hugo-chavez If you asked the average American to name a Latin American leader most likely they would say Fidel Castro. Castro, the 81 year old leader of the 1959 Cuban Revolution is one of the most easily recognizable Latin American figures in history (in addition to Che Guevara). Besides Castro, I bet a decent percentage of those surveyed would respond with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. Why? Put simply, when Chavez speaks the world listens (or at least the world media does). He is the undeniable “Mouth of the South” and Latin Americans seem just fine with that.

Whether Chavez is out-maneuvering an attempted coup, fighting against his own electoral recall, campaigning for sweeping constitutional changes (including a lifelong presidential term with him as the benefactor) or heavy-handedly curbing free speech and democracy, he always makes the front page. His speech to the United Nations last year in which he referred to Bush as “the devil” received some serious air-time around the world. Most people in the West found it tacky, but Latin Americans lapped it up (along with all the other thug, tin-pot, wannabe-dictators that make up much of the UN General Assembly). Perhaps the funniest moment of Hugo’s trip to New York City which, not surprisingly, received very little coverage from the left-loving media was his trip to Harlem. If was there that he once again brought up Noam Chomsky’s book Failed States: The Abuse of Power and the Assault on Democracy and remarked that he wished he’d had the opportunity to meet Chomsky before he died – kind of a Dan Quayle moment considering the fact that Chomsky is alive, doing well, and still teaching at MIT.

Why is Chavez so popular?

Because he’s anti-gringo and that always sells in the southern hemisphere, especially in the more impoverished regions. When people are in miserable circumstances they love to hear how it isn’t their fault. Nothing sounds better to their ears than constant reminders of their exploited existence at the hands of the evil capitalist gringos of the developed world (Hey Europe, this means you too! Your interference in Latin America changed the course of history.) Unfortunately, this also emasculates and makes perpetual victims of entire populations.

The truth of the matter is that few of the problems in most Latin American countries have anything to do with imperialism. On the contrary, they are internal issues like widespread corruption, abominable education, deplorable health care, and what we’ll call “sanitation issues”. These areas are almost completely controlled internally. Stop blaming the gringos for everything, it’s annoying. Honestly, it’s as if some Latin Americans are incapable of accepting any responsibility for their own conditions. Complaining and playing the victim may not make you prosperous, but it can make you the “Mouth of the South”. And most Latin Americans are just fine with that.

Epilogue: Chavez is popular with many moonbats and celebrity experts, including “Peace Mom” Cindy Sheehan and the all-knowing, all-powerful Sean Penn. Here they both are, getting used like the village bicycle but too stupid to see it.