The King of Spain Bests Obama

Enough is enough. Now that Venezuelan president (dictator in all but name) Hugo Chavez is calling for restrictions on websites like Twitter and Facebook in his nation, echoing Chinese Internet bans, the time has come for President Obama to make long deserved changes to his policy towards Chavez. Obama still doesn’t seem to realize the error of his friendly gestures that do absolutely nothing to improve America’s standing with Venezuela, or the status of ordinary Venezuelans suffering under Chavez’s regime at this time.

Nearly 2 years and 3 months ago…

No one could put it in better and simpler terms than Juan Carlos, King of Spain, who famously told Chavez: “¿por qué no te callas?” or “why don’t you shut up?” at the 17th Ibero-American summit in 2007, immediately creating a new ringtone for millions of Spaniards. Chavez rightfully deserved this rebuke for continuously interrupting Spanish prime minister Jose Luis Zapatero during a speech, and it’s about time Obama said something along the lines of that as well to Chavez. Ever since becoming president, Obama has been trying to fulfill his campaign promises of reaching out to hold dialogues with rogue nations like Iran, Venezuela, and North Korea, and he has definitely been hard at work on attempting to get Chavez to sit down for diplomacy. However, the results have yet to appear.

Just 11 months ago…

Obama’s first meeting with Chavez in 2009 went splendidly – for Chavez, at least. Obama took a history book Chavez offered him (written all in Spanish) on exploitation of the Americas by Europeans, posed for photos with Chavez, and accomplished nothing in the way of diplomacy. Chavez got his chance to mock Obama, and didn’t have to make any negotiations or deals with America. Since then, there’s still been no sign of major improvement in US-Venezuela relations, nor any indication that Chavez is making his nation a better place.

Now…

It is painfully obvious that no matter what offers America makes to Venezuela and what happens to Venezuela, Chavez will never agree to negotiations with America. In 2007, the Bush administration’s diplomatic overture to Venezuela received a firm no, and Chavez has never approached Washington with plans for talks. Obama views Venezuela in the similar ways Richard Nixon viewed China, and Obama is trying the same strategy Nixon did, which is to suddenly reach out to a distant enemy nation and forge bonds between them. Unfortunately, there are a number of reasons why Obama’s diplomacy plans are absolutely futile and will never work, because Venezuela and China are totally different cases with completely opposite contexts.

Back then…

China during the time of Nixon’s visit was nearly at the point of total social and political collapse, after having just gone through the chaos of the Cultural Revolution. The economy was in ruins, schools were closed and vandalized, revolutionary factions were rioting, and people demanded recovery. Mao Zedong faced growing unpopularity and unrest among his constituency, and had little choice but to begin diplomacy with Nixon. The weakened communist leadership welcomed Nixon’s promises to provide economic aid and recognize China as the genuine China, as opposed to Taiwan. Thus, China was in a position to accept negotiations with the US, but Venezuela clearly is not.

Another important factor to note was that by the 1970s, China was a nation on its own, with virtually no contact from the outside world. China had no allies to speak of, since it had long separated from former partner the Soviet Union during the 1960s, had just fought a war with Vietnam, and did not maintain diplomatic relations with any other countries. Thus, China wisely chose to ally with the US to counter the Soviets, and to gain a friend in the US. The same situation doesn’t apply to Venezuela today. Venezuela is not wanting for allies at all; it has close relations with other South American nations like Bolivia and Ecuador, and in addition maintains friendships with Russia, Iran, and countries that traditionally are at odds with America as well.

Thirdly, China had virtually no functioning economy when Nixon came to visit, but Venezuela is a major oil exporter that the US is highly dependent upon. Venezuela is not begging for any financial aid that the US could provide, although Chavez’s socialist policies are causing business failures, rolling blackouts, and currency devaluation. While many Venezuelans do opposed Chavez and do their best to protest and hinder him from going even further, many Venezuelans still enthusiastically support Chavez, giving him the ability to stay in power. With enough votes and endorsements from his people, Chavez has resources to attack and annoy the US with.

Just recently, in the past few weeks…

For these reasons, it’s pointless for Obama to continue attempting to make peace with Chavez and play nice like he’s been doing so far. Obama needs to immediately wipe his grin off and talk tough to Chavez, who’s demonstrated time and time again that he is rabidly anti-American, proudly anti-Semitic, and will think nothing of disposing of civil rights and criticizing just about anything and everything for the world’s problems. His insane speeches give Muammar Gadhafi a run for his money, but unlike Gadhafi, Chavez is translating his words into action. He’s called video games, the Internet, Jews, and a host of other things international conspiracies, throws around the terms “fascist” and “racist” in about every speech he gives, and actively works to erode freedom in his country in the name of socialist revolution. Chavez shows no sign of stopping his tyranny; he recently authorized the arrest of Guillermo Zuloaga, the owner of Globovision, the only remaining TV channel in Venezuela that still blatantly criticizes Chavez policy, and hints at more arrests in the future, with Sean Penn eagerly backing him.

In the time to come…

The King of Spain understood that it’s futile to argue with a megalomaniac like Chavez, and called him out bluntly. Sadly, the king holds only ceremonial power, unlike President Obama. If Obama really wants to show Chavez that his methods of silencing critics forcefully, aggregating power and rewriting the national constitution at whim are completely unacceptable, he will have to completely revise the way he deals with Chavez and all opponents of America, for that matter. Obama needs to adopt a more assertive and fiercer stance by developing closer relations with Venezuela’s neighbors, and reduce trade with Venezuela, to show Venezuela that the US considers it replaceable. The most important choice Obama can make, however, to deal a blow to Chavez would be to invest in alternative energies to replace or at least decrease America’s appetite for oil, a major linchpin for US-Venezuela relations. If America becomes independent of foreign oil’s influence, Venezuela will be deprived of its most important export, hurting its economy even more and forcing Chavez and his cronies to reconsider being more cooperative and less iconoclastic.

Unfortunately, judging by Obama’s current preoccupations with the American economy, healthcare, terrorism, and much more, any substantial overhaul of America’s energy policy is unlikely to happen soon, and Chavez will continue his insane reign.