For the sake of continuing warmth in the bilateral relationship between Guyana and Venezuela, the Government of Guyana has made all the right diplomatic moves. President Donald Ramotar led the delegation to Hugo Chávez’s state funeral last Friday, declaring a day of national mourning on the same day, and an evening of reflection to honour the late leader was held at Red House on Monday.
Elsewhere, however, Mr Chávez’s death has, unsurprisingly, aroused heated debate and divided opinion about his record in office and his legacy. His admirers point to his concern for the poor, his efforts to achieve a more equitable society in Venezuela and his generous support for hard-pressed, energy importing economies in the Caribbean and Latin America. On the other hand, his detractors take him to task for his authoritarian tendencies and the erosion of press freedom and other fundamental human rights.
Perhaps one of the most balanced assessments came from ex-US president Jimmy Carter who, in a message of condolence on behalf of himself and his wife to Mr Chávez’s family, managed to communicate sincere appreciation for Mr Chávez’s achievement in cutting Venezuela’s poverty rates by half and empowering millions “to participate more effectively in their country’s economic and political life,” even as he expressed some disagreement in a respectful and gracious manner: “We came to know a man who expressed a vision to bring profound changes to his country to benefit especially those people who had felt neglected and marginalized. Although we have not agreed with all of the methods followed by his government, we have never doubted Hugo Chávez’s commitment to improving the lives of millions of his fellow countrymen.”
In a statement surprising for a former American president – even if he could never be regarded as the most conformist of American presidents – Mr Carter also gave credit to the man who gained a lot of his international appeal from thumbing his nose at neo-conservative America: “President Chávez will be remembered for his bold assertion of autonomy and independence for Latin American governments and for his formidable communication skills and personal connection with supporters in his country and abroad to whom he gave hope and empowerment. During his 14-year tenure, Chávez joined other leaders in Latin America and the Caribbean to create new forms of integration.”
Looking at the big picture, this aspect of Mr Chávez’s legacy is perhaps what resonates most with people in Guyana and the Caribbean, even if there is a tendency to turn a Nelson’s eye to his over-enthusiastic pursuit of his ‘Bolivarian’ revolution at the expense of civil liberties.
Venezuelan critics of Mr Chávez have often sought recourse to the Mexican Nobel Prize-winner for Literature, Octavio Paz, who said that biological blindness prevents one from seeing but ideological blindness prevents one from thinking. In the case of Mr Chávez and in many other respects, it is a lesson we in Guyana should seriously ponder.
With regard to PetroCaribe, one can easily appreciate its appeal for cash-strapped, energy-dependent Caribbean economies. But at what cost has this new dependency come?
It was perhaps fortuitous that a recent special meeting on energy of Caricom’s Council for Trade and Economic Development agreed to approve a draft regional energy policy, setting targets for renewable energy and energy efficiency, for the consideration of heads of government in July. But the policy has already been some 10 years in the making. One sincerely hopes that with Mr Chávez gone and the Venezuelan economy facing severe challenges, it is finally clear that PetroCaribe cannot be sustainable in the medium to long term. One also hopes that regional governments will now be energised – pardon the pun – to be more proactive in achieving energy security by diversifying their sources of energy and transforming their energy matrix.
Populism of the type practised by Mr Chávez, by its very nature, fosters dependency. In a perverse twist of logic, however, one of the more positive aspects of Mr Chávez’s legacy could yet be to open people and governments’ eyes to this and force them away from dependency models and towards greater self-sufficiency.
