Journey Nearing End
Poor cancer-stricken Hugo Chavez is reportedly just about down for the count, and I’m sorry. His “breathing has deteriorated” due to “a new and severe respiratory infection,” leaving the Venezuelan president in “a very delicate state.”
Bolivan president Evo Morales, South of the Border director Oliver Stone, Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez following 9.23.09 screening at Lincoln Center’s Walter Reade theatre.
He knows what’s happening. He’s right there and feeling it all slip away and dealing with a lot of pain and probably a little bit of fear. Or maybe he’s past that. What’s to be scared of anyway? I’m not scared of dying, but I’m terrified of not being able to breathe.
I’ve always bought into Oliver Stone‘s view of Chavez, or the generally favorable view conveyed in Stone’s South of the Border (’10). It basically profiled the nativist South American leaders who came to power over the last dozen or so years, Chevez being one plus Bolivan president Evo Morales, Brazil’s Lula da Silva, Argentina’s Cristina Kirchner (along with her husband and ex-President Nestor Kirchner), Paraguay’s Fernando Lugo (who left office last year), and Ecuador’s Rafael Correa.
“It’s a pleasure and a relief to see a fair-minded, turn-the-other-cheek film about Chavez and the others,” I wrote in September ’09 about South of the Border. “Chavez has been at war with Venezuelan right-wing interests (including the TV stations) for most of the last seven years, and if he sleeps with both eyes closed for more than two hours he’ll be unseated. He isn’t perfect — who is? — but at least he belongs to Venezuela and Venezuela alone.”
Another film that persuaded me that Chavez was basically more of an honorable than a dishonorable man who was trying to buck the Venezuelan oligarchs and run his country in a Bolivarian fashion was Kim Bartley and Donnacha O’Briain‘s The Revolution Will Not Be Televised, which I first saw ten years ago at the Toronto Film Festival. It’s a somewhat slanted but rousing view of Chavez’s first three years in office and particularly the failed April 2002 right-wing coup against the Chavez government.
I wrote the following six or seven years ago: “Is Chavez an egotist and a bit of a bully in some respects? Maybe, but politics is a very rough game in Venezuela. Bartley and O’Briain’s doc basically says that Chavez is supported by the poor and disenfanchised, and is pretty much hated by the moneyed classes. It doesn’t mention anything about his support with the poor drying up because he’s failed to push reforms, so maybe that’s the case now.
“But the doc persuaded me that the righties tried to blame the leftist Chavez supporters for the shootings that happened before the April ’02 coup attempt, even though right-wing thugs were the clear provocateurs in this situation. The doc contended that the privately run TV companies are total mouthpieces for the oligarchs, and that they didn’t report the truth of what was happening during the counter-coup and in fact spread lies.
“Chavez has been at war with Venezuelan right-wing interests (including the TV stations) for most of the last seven years, and if he sleeps with both eyes closed for more than two hours he’ll be unseated. He isn’t perfect — who is? — but at least he belongs to Venezuela and Venezuela alone.”
And soon, apparently, to the ages.
Can’t fathom Chavez’s unwavering support for Assad in the face of a horrific humanitarian catastrophe caused by that brutal and repressive dictatorship.
Seems like plenty of other thugs Chavez championed and if well assume he would have tried more attempts at completely subverting democracy. Also seems pretty incompetent at managing the oil-rich economy.
But since we’ve done such a shit job here on so many similar fronts, will try to keep an open mind and see where his successors take the country.
Let’s hope it’s better than we fear.
Probably would feel bad for him, if he wasn’t into Jew-baiting.
Goodnight, funny man…
SPORT SAYS…
The enemy of your parents is your friend.
Oh sure, pointy-headed state department types say that he’s a monstrous, thugish, human rights-squashing dictator, but I’ve seen a couple of movies that say he’s kinda cool. And is there anything more substantive and believable that a well-made movie?
Long live Chavez!
Sincerely,
Wells
“And the other thing I like about Chavez, he wasn’t always trying to shove his gay obsessions down your throat…”
I bet Thunder’s having a crying jag over this post.
Scratch a leftist, find a fascist.
Jeff’s the punter on Team Strongman.
Another film that persuaded me that Chavez was basically more of an honorable than a dishonorable man ….
In other words, you’re persuaded by a media image that Chavez holds out?
Chavez is hardly the worst dictator in the world, but he might be the biggest narcissist. For Chavez, being a “socialist” doesn’t mean empowering the Venezuelan people or making the state work for the people. Rather, Chavez is just interested in sticking it to the U.S. not for the sake of any kind of ideological disagreements, but just to stick it to the U.S., which leads him to buddy up with any two-bit dictator who is any enemy of the U.S.
Long story short, Chavez just wanted to be the next Castro, but it doesn’t look like he has the staying power.
This reminds me of that famous quote, “Authoritarianism in defense of revolution is no vice.”
I think it was either Trotsky or Ted Rall.
Kindest obit you’ve posted. Sean Penn needs to change his ICE contact.
Here’s a quick reminder of the monstrous to semi-monstrous tyrannical thugs that Chavez has actively supported in their efforts to slaughter and/or suppress thieir citizens:
“Meanwhile, Chavez actively pursues stronger relations with the most abusive and autocratic regimes in the world, and helps to prop up human rights abusers including Bashar al-Assad, Omar al-Bashir, Robert Mugabe, and Alexander Lukashenko.”
That omits a few but you get the idea.
Seriously, Jeff? This man does not give a damn about freedom of the press. He’s either imprisoned or run the dissenting media out of the country (with the threat of imprisonment). I would think, as a journalist, you would be reviled by him.
Hey, that’s not what the documentaries say! I thought they were Based On A True Story!
IRA PARKS SAYS….
THUNDER REDUX SAYS….
As usual, Wells is dead on. Wait, what are we talking about?
NAKEDMAN SAYS…
Poor Duluoz, he meant to say he thinks Chavez is gross.
TUAN SAYS….
Who the fuck is Duluoz?
THOM PHOOLER SAYS…
Ben Barnes was only ok as Duluoz Gray.
JEFFREY WELLS SAYS…
Who let these dogs in here to take dumps all over my carpet?
14 comments and not one Dennis Rodman crack? You guys are slipping.
Osama bin Laden? Kim Jong Il? And now Hugo Chavez?
Who needs SEAL teams and drone strikes — if President Obama doesn’t kill you, he’s got “natural causes” on his side.
Seems like it’ll be better than Dark Knight Rises-and maybe Man of Steel-so I’ll give it a whirl.
Wrong thread. ^^;
DZ: TOO SOON!