One day he signs a deal to export petrol to Iran, the following one he walks the red carpet and becomes the spotlight at the Venice Film festival, and the next one he announces a weapon deal with Russia.
Seeing a man frequently described as a “dictator” by the American media on such close terms with Hollywood director Oliver Stone, was without a doubt interesting and controversial.
But it is not the first time or the last that Venezuela´s president Hugo Chavez steals the headlines. Demonized by some and adored by others, his actions often cause clashes between opponents and defendants.
Just recently he was criticized for an educational law which requires schools to base their teaching on “the Bolivarian Doctrine”. But perhaps what Mr. Chavez should do if he plans an educational reform is to reinforce history lessons, in particular concerning the country´s national hero Simón Bolívar.
Bolivar is rightly invoked today as the father of Latin American integration. He fought passionately for the cooperation between new republics. But what Mr Chavez seems to forget is that Bolivar admired the government of United States and Britain.
Unlike Chavez, Bolivar was not himself a caudillo. He believed in the institutionalisation of authority. But his name has often been misused by authoritarian rulers of less noble qualities.
Chavez might considers himself an encarnation of Bolivar, but there is no reason to believe that Bolivar, the patrician aristocrat who admired British parliamentary, the man who tried to sell his mines to British investors, would have felt represented by Chavez´s military populism at all.
