Why Mom Hates Chavez (Or: Chavez hatred explained to Americans)

My mother and I were driving to my brother's house for dinner last week, when she noticed that her car needed re-fueling.

It was a drizzly, dark evening, and the station we pulled into was not well-lit. As we drove next to a pump she asked me, "Paul, can you me what brand of gasoline this is?"

I spotted a large green flower/sun-symbol and answered, "British Petroleum. Why do you ask?"

"I don't want to accidentally buy gas from CITCO because money from that purchase supports the government of Hugo Chavez."

"What's wrong with Chavez?" I asked.

Big mistake. I might as well have asked her what was the problem with eating live earthworms.

For the next ten minutes I got an earful about how Chavez was best-friends-forever with Kim Jong-il, Gaddafi and Castro. Also, that he is a repressive, loudmouthed, megalomaniac - bent on robbing hard-working Venezuelans blind for his own communist agenda.

The most memorable quote she gave that evening was: "Chavez is like Bush, only with the ability to speak full sentences. In fact, Chavez is several scales of magnitude WORSE than Bush."

Had this speech come from a conservative talk show, I could have just written her comments off as mere hyperbole. But my mother isn't a Right Winger - she's a well educated therapist, fluent in three languages (Including Spanish) and well-versed in South American politics. While she isn't as progressive as I am, she leans solidly Democratic.

It's easy to figure out why American oil corporations hate the President of Venezuela: In 2000 he signed a bill doubling the amount of royalties they have to pay for oil.

But why do rich Venezuelans and many Americans react to Chavez as if they had just found their child playing with a grenade missing its pin?

Before researching this question, I didn't have strong feelings toward Hugo Chavez. I kind of liked him, but mainly because he's an international figure who isn't scared to tell the world that Bush wears no clothes.

Now that I've looked into it, I've come to believe that the people who criticize him the harshest are coming from a space of self-interest or ignorance.

Please note I'm not saying the guy is perfect. For example I have to agree that he's a bit of a blow-hard. Furthermore, he may yet turn out to be a dictator - this would not be the first time a popular leader would do so.

But as of this post, Chavez has done nothing that any other competent democratically-elected European or American leader has ever done. So what's with the hatred?

One word: "Taxes".

Before Chavez, the business classes in Venezuela pretty much treated taxes as a voluntary exercise. Rampant tax evasion starved the government of monies needed to pay for infrastructure to support working families and the poor.

Now they *gasp* have to pay! "Ow" of the blog OilWars explains this best:

What really pushes their buttons.

In the United States there is a saying “nothing is certain in life except death and taxes”. I have never heard a comparable saying in Latin America. This is mainly due to the rampant tax evasion that afflicts the region and starves governments there of the funds they need. Venezuela, prior to Chavez’s ascension to power, was no exception to this. Taxes were widely evaded both by the wealthy and by businesses of all types and enforcement efforts were lax and ineffective. Further, the political class, which was under the sway of well connected business people, exempted all sorts of groups from taxes – ranchers, fisheries, and mutual funds to name a few.

This has changed radically during the Chavez administration. Tax loopholes have been closed and tax collection and enforcement have been revamped and improved. Before getting into the details of how tax collection has changed lets go over some numbers to see just how much tax collection has increased. I will compare two years, 1997 and 2005. 2005 is the most recent year for which full numbers are available. 1997 is one of the last full years prior to Chavez coming to power. Further, much of the economic data in Venezuela is given in constant 1997 Bolivares facilitating comparisons between 1997 and other years. Lastly the Venezuelan economy was of similar size in those two years which, as we will see, means increased revenues results from improved tax collection much more than economic growth.

Now lets turn to the actual numbers. In 2005 38.4 trillion Bolivares were collected in non-oil taxes (SENIAT Boletin Mensual Numero 58). Dividing that by the official exchange rate of 2,150 Bolivares to the dollar this comes to $17.86 billion dollars. Now, lets turn to 1997. Non-oil tax collections in that year were 4.38 trillion Bolivares which when multiplied by the 500% cumulative inflation between 1997 and 2005 gives 21.9 trillion 2005 Bolivares. Putting this into dollars gives $10.2 billion dollars. So in 2005 the government collected $17.8 billion dollars in taxes whereas in 1997, before Chavez, the government only collected $10.2 billion in taxes. This means Chavez has boosted tax collection by more than $7.5 billion dollars. Quite a princely sum by Venezuelan standards and something that goes a long ways to explaining why the Venezuelan business class and wealthy hate Chavez. He has taken $7.5 billion extra right out of their pockets!! That was all money that they previously had free and clear to buy BMWs with, go shopping in Europe, or squirrel away in Miami banks. Previously profits were yours to enjoy in full with little worry about the tax man. Much to their chagrin, taxes are now being effectively collected by the Venezuelan government to fund its operations and massive social programs.

This is why the upper-classes begged the Bush Administration to support the coup in 2002: They weren't used to paying taxes.

It's really that simple.

Since these self-same business-types are the ones who also control most of the mainstream media outlets to the rest of the world, many Americans, like my mom, think Chavez and Kim Jong-il are sleep-over buddies although the two have never met.

There is also a certain amount of classism and racism going on. Being raised in South Florida, I can tell you from first-hand experience that bourgeois South Americans are among the most classist people in the world.

Chavez is from a poor family of mixed American Indian, African, and Spanish descent. He is the first non-white elected president of Venezuela. As far as many of the upper-classes are concerned, these kind of people have no business voting - let alone running the country - since they are inherently lazy, corrupt and would only waste any public services given to them.

You think I'm kidding, don't you?

No, no, no.

Here's some historical context: The Spanish Conquistadors didn't just kill the natives like we did here in the USA, they established a loose caste system so that they would always have access to cheap labor. While the situation has improved in the past generation, there is still a lot of prejudice in the attitudes of the ruling classes of South America toward the poor - not unlike what white southerns had toward black people during segregation.

Now, to be fair: Chavez IS a blow-hard, and it's hard to warm to him if you're an educated person not living on less than $40 a week. As an example: Here's a short clip of him taunting Bush in May 2006:

Chavez does not reserve this kind of vitriol toward foreign Presidents - this is how he speaks to all his opponents. He'll also go on national television and blather for hours on end. That habit does not win the hearts and minds of enemies, especially when those enemies own the station and the rants waste valuable ad-time. (On this point, I agree whole-heartily with Chavez critics.)

Still, most of the rumors you hear about Chavez are exaggerations. For example: Yes, he meet with Quaffi as part of a global tour, but Libya is no longer on the terrorist list and is not a danger to the US. Yes, Chavez has close ties with Fidel Castro - but so do most South American counties.

And there are many stories about Chavez that turned out to be flat-out disinformation. In December 2005 the media "proved" that Chavez was an anti-Semite by cherry-picking a speech he gave on Christmas eve:

"The world is for all of us, then, but it so happens that a minority, the descendants of the same ones that crucified Christ, the descendants of the same ones that kicked Bolivar out of here and also crucified him in their own way over there in Santa Marta, in Colombia -- a minority has taken possession of all the wealth of the world, a minority has taken ownership of all of the gold of the planet, of the silver, of the minerals, the waters, the good lands, oil, of the wealth, and have concentrated the wealth in a few hands: Less than 10 percent of the population of the world owns more than half of the wealth of the world and … more than the population of the planet is poor, and each day there are more poor people in the whole world."

What the media didn't report was that to a Bolivarian Socialist like Chavez, a person who "crucified Christ" isn't a Jew - It's a greedy capitalist who refuses to meet social obligations and oppresses the poor. Once the Venezuelan Jewish community explained that they understood what Chavez meant, the controversy quickly disappeared into the memory hole.

So in the future when you hear a criticism of Chavez, wait for full information and context before jumping to conclusions. For example, this week's Chavez "controversy" is that he said he does not plan to allow a television station that supported the violent coup of 2002 to renew its broadcast license.

On it's face, this sounds bad - but does the constitution give Chavez this kind of unilateral power?

Are there other companies that want to bid on that broadcast spectrum?

Has the owner of the station broken any laws?

And since most North Americans don't speak fluent Spanish, it's tricky to find out. But these are questions you should ask yourself when you hear "proof" that Chavez is a dictator.

Read counterpoint here.

Tags: Chavez - media - Venezuela - Rumors - of my - dictatorship - are greatly - exaggerated

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