A Tyrant by Any Other Name

Since his election as president of Venezuela in 1999, Hugo Chavez has drawn fierce criticism from many American conservatives, primarily because of his anti-American agitation and friendly relations with virtually all of America's "enemies" abroad. Chavez cultivated close relationships with Syria, Iran, Cuba and North Korea, among others -- all states viewed with suspicion if not outright hostility by the Bush administration.

So great has been the reaction against him by conservatives, televangelist and pundit Pat Robertson even suggested that the U.S. government should send agents to assassinate Chavez -- "take him out" in Robertson's words.

Chavez is an extremely charismatic leader, and has built a strong, dedicated following among many Venezuelans. His supporters even adopted his name as their political identity, calling themselves "chavistas". Chavez managed to win over much of the American left with his talk of "anti-imperialism" and "democratic socialism", but the reality of his presidency and policies should be much more worrisome to both liberals and conservatives than this rhetoric would suggest.

Chavez's populist message centers around his interpretation of Bolivarianism. Bolivarianism is based on the ideas of Simon Bolivar, the 18th-century leader and namesake of Bolivia known as "El Libertador" for his role in the liberation of numerous South American countries from Spanish colonialism.

In theory, Chavez's philosophy emphasizes economic and political independence, patriotism, government transparency, and socio-economic equality through "humanist" socialism. In practice, however, Chavez's government is hostile to dissent, democracy, and civil liberties.

Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch documented numerous human rights violations by Chavez's administration, including the killing of 14 demonstrators and the wounding of an additional 200 during an anti-Chavez rally in early 2004.

During political upheaval in 2002, the Chavez government forced all broadcast media to cease regular reports and air pro-Chavez propaganda, though Chavez supporters have pointed to possible involvement of the media in a coup attempt as justification for this suppression of free speech.

Under Chavez, Venezuela dropped to a dismal ranking of 115th out of 168 in the press organization Reporters Without Borders' worldwide press freedom rankings. Furthermore, organizations such as the International Press Institute and Human Rights Watch condemned Chavez for strictly limiting press freedom and censoring criticism of the government. In 2007, Chavez refused to renew the operating license of Venezuela's second largest TV channel, forcefully closing the station down, because of their criticisms of his administration.

During his entire presidency, Chavez has worked to secure virtually unchecked executive power for himself. According to Amnesty International, he significantly eroded the independence of the judiciary and placed himself in control of the body that supervises elections. In an attempt to circumvent the presidential term limit of 6 years, Chavez put forth a referendum for a constitutional amendment -- which was only narrowly defeated -- that would amend almost 70 articles of the constitution and do away with term limits.

Chavez's record on civil liberties is equally appalling. According to numerous human rights organizations, he has jailed and tortured political opponents and encouraged voter intimidation. Through various means, he succeeded in gaining control of any government institutions that would provide a counter to these abuses.

Even in his attempts to transform Venezuela into an equitable socialist state, Chavez has failed quite miserably. Chavez portrays himself as a champion of the poor and a strong proponent of progressive policies, accounting in large part for his popularity among American liberals. Despite this, rampant corruption has prevented enormous state oil-income from being translated into anything but very limited gains for the nation's poor.

It should thus be clear that Chavez's high-sounding rhetoric and appeals to popular liberal sentiment amount to little more than demagogy, and that he in reality personifies the most extreme excesses of authoritarian government. More important than his fraternization with the "Axis of Evil" is his willingness to violate the most basic of civil and human rights. The cult of personality that surrounds Chavez and his seemingly endless appetite for power should be truly troubling for Americans of all political persuasions.

This self-styled champion of democracy is in fact quite the opposite. For all Chavez's talk of democracy and anti-fascism, it is striking how closely his perverse populism, cynical demagogy, executive excesses, and outright hostility to freedom resemble the worst totalitarian and fascist regimes of the past century.