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| Hugo Chávez's Venezuela: highlights from our Reddit discussion | Hugo Chávez's Venezuela: highlights from our Reddit discussion |
| (about 1 month later) | |
| While covering Hugo Chávez's funeral in Caracas, Guardian reporter Rory Carroll – who reported from Venezuela between 2006 and 2012 and whose book on Chavez launched this week – took part in a Reddit "Ask Me Anything" discussion about the late Venezuelan leader. | While covering Hugo Chávez's funeral in Caracas, Guardian reporter Rory Carroll – who reported from Venezuela between 2006 and 2012 and whose book on Chavez launched this week – took part in a Reddit "Ask Me Anything" discussion about the late Venezuelan leader. |
| Here are a few of the key issues that were addressed: | Here are a few of the key issues that were addressed: |
| What are the main causes of the discrepancy in views about Chávez's leadership? | What are the main causes of the discrepancy in views about Chávez's leadership? |
| RC: It may sound contradictory but he was divisive and polarising and simultaneously very popular. Last October he won 55% of the vote, very impressive after so long in power. But 44% voted against him, and lots of them really, really loathed him. Most polls showed him actually rather unpopular across Latin America, for a time he was on a par, believe it or not, with George Bush. He blamed this on the fact that regional media reflected the bias of their rich owners. Some truth in that. But many ordinary people just felt he was bombastic and thuggish. | RC: It may sound contradictory but he was divisive and polarising and simultaneously very popular. Last October he won 55% of the vote, very impressive after so long in power. But 44% voted against him, and lots of them really, really loathed him. Most polls showed him actually rather unpopular across Latin America, for a time he was on a par, believe it or not, with George Bush. He blamed this on the fact that regional media reflected the bias of their rich owners. Some truth in that. But many ordinary people just felt he was bombastic and thuggish. |
| What do you think about the way Chávez seems to be idolised in Venezuela? | What do you think about the way Chávez seems to be idolised in Venezuela? |
| RC: Even in life he was half-mythologised, by supporters and himself, and demonised by opponents. Now that he's dead his heirs are making an all-out bid to immortalise him. It's their best chance of securing their own political future. Hence the planned embalming and displaying him in Caracas rather than burying him way out in the plains, which was his expressed wish. | RC: Even in life he was half-mythologised, by supporters and himself, and demonised by opponents. Now that he's dead his heirs are making an all-out bid to immortalise him. It's their best chance of securing their own political future. Hence the planned embalming and displaying him in Caracas rather than burying him way out in the plains, which was his expressed wish. |
| What were some of the most significant changes you saw in the six years you spent in Venezuela? And what's the most surprising thing you've seen since going back? | What were some of the most significant changes you saw in the six years you spent in Venezuela? And what's the most surprising thing you've seen since going back? |
| RC: When I arrived in September 2006 Chávez was in some ways near his peak. The economy was roaring, he was bashing Bush, to much of the world's delight, and he won around 66% in that year's election. Six years later he had become more repressive (shutting dozens of TV and radio stations, jailing the likes of Raul Baduel and Maria Lourdes Afiuni), oil revenues were still surging but his price and currency and other controls had warped the economy. He needed to borrow billions from China to plug the holes and confect an artificial boom for the October 2012 election. He was struggling to pick fights with Obama, who basically ignored him. He still won the election but his majority was down to (a still bloody good) 55%. An arc, in other words, of decline. But from an incredible peak. | RC: When I arrived in September 2006 Chávez was in some ways near his peak. The economy was roaring, he was bashing Bush, to much of the world's delight, and he won around 66% in that year's election. Six years later he had become more repressive (shutting dozens of TV and radio stations, jailing the likes of Raul Baduel and Maria Lourdes Afiuni), oil revenues were still surging but his price and currency and other controls had warped the economy. He needed to borrow billions from China to plug the holes and confect an artificial boom for the October 2012 election. He was struggling to pick fights with Obama, who basically ignored him. He still won the election but his majority was down to (a still bloody good) 55%. An arc, in other words, of decline. But from an incredible peak. |
| Is Chávez's successor Nicolas Maduro likely to win the election next month? And does he have an anti-American rhetoric as strong as Hugo? | Is Chávez's successor Nicolas Maduro likely to win the election next month? And does he have an anti-American rhetoric as strong as Hugo? |
| RC: Yep, Maduro is likely to beat Henrique Capriles, an opposition governor who is due to make a statement in two hours confirming that he's standing. Maduro lacks Chávez's charisma. He's a boring speaker, though lately he's been mimicking Chávez's verbal tics and gestures. The remaining confetti from last year's artificial boom will help him, as will the huge upsurge in emotion over the comandante's death. Plus, the chavistas control state institutions and most governorships, a huge advantage in mobilising votes. The question is how will President Maduro deal with internal divisions on his side, and mounting economic problems. | RC: Yep, Maduro is likely to beat Henrique Capriles, an opposition governor who is due to make a statement in two hours confirming that he's standing. Maduro lacks Chávez's charisma. He's a boring speaker, though lately he's been mimicking Chávez's verbal tics and gestures. The remaining confetti from last year's artificial boom will help him, as will the huge upsurge in emotion over the comandante's death. Plus, the chavistas control state institutions and most governorships, a huge advantage in mobilising votes. The question is how will President Maduro deal with internal divisions on his side, and mounting economic problems. |
| Was there any particular incident, or event, that caused Chávez to 'snap'? It sounds like he was a fairly controlled leader, and you mention he was somewhat conservative, but then turned into a total socialist dictator. | Was there any particular incident, or event, that caused Chávez to 'snap'? It sounds like he was a fairly controlled leader, and you mention he was somewhat conservative, but then turned into a total socialist dictator. |
| RC: When Chávez was first elected he spoke of a Blairite third way between socialism and capitalism, but had harsh words for Venezuela's rich 'squealing pigs'. After the Bush-backed 2002 coup he understandably radicalised but it wasn't till after 2005 that he declared himself a socialist. He was not a total socialist, nor dictator. He was a hybrid: elected but autocratic. | RC: When Chávez was first elected he spoke of a Blairite third way between socialism and capitalism, but had harsh words for Venezuela's rich 'squealing pigs'. After the Bush-backed 2002 coup he understandably radicalised but it wasn't till after 2005 that he declared himself a socialist. He was not a total socialist, nor dictator. He was a hybrid: elected but autocratic. |
| Can Chávez be called a dictator? I know he was legally elected but whenever I read about him in US newspaper (I know not a good sources) they made it seemed like he dealt with anyone who was against him. What's the truth? | Can Chávez be called a dictator? I know he was legally elected but whenever I read about him in US newspaper (I know not a good sources) they made it seemed like he dealt with anyone who was against him. What's the truth? |
| RC: He ain't – wasn't – a dictator. As I said above, he was a hybrid, an elected autocrat. What that means is he won free (though not entirely fair) votes, year after year. He allowed the opposition to organise. There was a vocal privately owned media which railed against him, Fox-like. But he concentrated powers – the courts, armed forces, state oil company, national assembly, all genuflected before the voice of the comandante. Over time he became more repressive: opponents and people he didn't like were accused of corruption and banned from running for office, or jailed. Some fled. But he never became as repressive as some critics claimed. There were no gulags, no death squads, no terror. He was a bully, but not bloodthirsty. | RC: He ain't – wasn't – a dictator. As I said above, he was a hybrid, an elected autocrat. What that means is he won free (though not entirely fair) votes, year after year. He allowed the opposition to organise. There was a vocal privately owned media which railed against him, Fox-like. But he concentrated powers – the courts, armed forces, state oil company, national assembly, all genuflected before the voice of the comandante. Over time he became more repressive: opponents and people he didn't like were accused of corruption and banned from running for office, or jailed. Some fled. But he never became as repressive as some critics claimed. There were no gulags, no death squads, no terror. He was a bully, but not bloodthirsty. |
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