Obama Foreign Policy Fails in Venezuela

Venezuela supporters of Hugo Chavez rallied outside his presidential palace today in an exuberant absentee inauguration for their leader, who is still sequestered in a Cuban hospital, fighting a severe respiratory infection after yet another cancer surgery, and too ill to return to Caracas and be sworn in. The speculation about Chavez' health ranges from positive to rumors that he is already dead or near death. What is obvious is that Hugo Chavez has become a symbol of what he called the "Bolivarian Revolution" and the Venezuelan Supreme Court has backed the symbolism in ruling valid the plan to postpone the inauguration indefinitely, saying the president could be sworn in before the court at a later date. The Venezuelan government said 19 leaders from across Latin America and the Caribbean, including Daniel Ortega of Nicaraugua, added political weight to the inauguration without Chavez. Domestic opposition leaders demanded details about Chavez's state and called the delay of the formal swearing-in a violation of the constitution. The crowd chanted: "We are all Chavez!" This is the first time in history that a Venezuelan president has missed his inauguration, called by a historian the first chapter of 'Chavismo' - as it was called by Chavez - without Chavez. "Chavez has now become an ideology," said Elio Silva, a member of the radical Tupamaro grassroots group. He wore a black beret with a single star, a style once worn by Argentine-Cuban revolutionary "Che" Guevara, and said he is sure that whatever happens, "it will all be democratic." The people represent Chavez, said one Chavez supporter, "He is and always will be our leader." A deafening silence is the order of the day in Washington, dear readers. President Obama either does not know what is going on in Venezuela, or, more likely, the affair fits well with his bizarre idea of what America should stand for and support. Obama has tried to reach out to Chavez himself, with little success. Now he seems content to allow a seriously non-democratic regime that is fundamentally anti-American to take root for a second generation and probably a prolonged duration in Venezuela. A regime that many experts say is in reality controlled by the Castro brothers of Cuba, thus permitting Fidel and Raoul Castro to take over one of the largest petroleim reserves in the world. One could argue that this is an anomaly on Obama's part - except for the fact that the democratic governments in South America, Chile, Colombia and Bolivia, have been ignored by the Obama administration. Is South America yet another world region that Barak Obama is willing to let fall into the hands of authoritarian regimes - regimes that will surely harbor terrorists seeking entry into America to work their harm?