THE OPPENHEIMER REPORT
Hugo Chávez ceding too much control to Cuba
BY ANDRES OPPENHEIMER
aoppenheimer@MiamiHerald.com
When Venezuela's former ambassador to the United Nations, Diego Arria,
learned that President Hugo Chávez had expropriated his ranch, his first
reaction was to announce that he would submit a complaint to the Cuban
Embassy. That's where the real power in Venezuela lies, he said.
Arria said he would deliver to the Cuban Embassy his farm's property
deeds showing that he is the legitimate owner of the 840-acre ranch in
the state of Yaracuy.
``I'm going straight to those who run this country, the Cubans,'' Arria
told me earlier this week. ``Because it's the Cubans who make the key
decisions here, and because they are much better organized than the
Venezuelan government.''
He added that Venezuela officially signed a 2005 contract with Cuba to
help manage Venezuela's national identification and public registry
services, ``which means that all issues on who owns a property are now
in the hands of Cubans.''
Granted, Arria's public protest was a publicity stunt by a wealthy
Venezuelan who is known to have political ambitions. But it's also a
reflection of growing anxiety within Venezuela's political and military
circles over the growing influence of Cuban advisors in key government
offices.
In addition to the more than 30,000 Cuban teachers, physicians and
sports coaches in the country in exchange for Venezuela's massive oil
subsidies, there has been a steady increase of Cuban advisors who are
helping manage -- or control, depending on who you ask -- key branches
of the armed forces, police agencies, the president's security guard,
telecommunications, ports and airports and national identification and
public registries.
Cuba is increasingly worried about Chávez's political future in light of
Venezuela's growing food shortages, electricity blackouts, massive
corruption and Latin America's highest inflation rates. Fearing that it
could lose the 100,000 barrels of subsidized oil a day that Venezuela
sends to the island, Cuba is on a rescue mission to help manage
Venezuela's inefficient and corruption-ridden government offices.
UNHAPPY GENERALS
Consider some of the latest headlines in Venezuela:
• Shortly before Arria's statements, Venezuelan Gen. Antonio Rivero said
he retired from the army in April because he did not agree with ``the
meddling of Cuban soldiers'' in Venezuela's armed forces. Rivero told
reporters that Cubans are now placed ``at a high level in vital areas of
national security,'' the Associated Press reported.
• Another former Venezuelan general, Angel Vivas Perdomo, issued a
statement April 28 criticizing Chávez's decision to adopt the Cuban
armed forces salute ``Fatherland, Socialism or Death.'' Vivas Perdomo is
being charged with insubordination for refusing to accept the salute.
• On May 2, Chávez lost his cool when a reporter from Venezuela's
Televen network asked him about the growing clout of Cuban advisors in
Venezuela. Chávez said that ``Cuba is helping us modestly in some things
that I won't detail,'' and went on to lash out against the reporter's
television network.
• In February, powerful Cuban vice president and former interior
minister Ramiro Valdes visited Venezuela to allegedly help Chávez solve
an electricity crisis that had led to growing street protests. Valdes'
visit was widely seen as the most telling sign of Cuba's growing role in
helping manage Venezuela's government.
The Cuban official, who among other things heads Cuba's Internet
censorship office, has little or no experience in electricity crises.
Venezuelan opposition leaders said his real mission was to lay out a new
strategy to crack down on Venezuela's Internet-savvy opposition.
My opinion: Venezuela's growing alliance with Cuba -- ``Venecuba,'' or
``Cubazuela,'' depending on which country you believe has the upper hand
-- is a marriage of convenience that may backfire for Chávez.
UNPOPULAR
It doesn't sit well with Venezuela's military, many of whose officers
had to swallow hard when Chávez first stated in 2005 that Cuba and
Venezuela are ``a single nation'' with ``one flag,'' nor when he later
adopted Cuba's ``Fatherland, Socialism or Death'' salute.
And it doesn't sit well with the Venezuelan people. Polls have
consistently shown that more than 75 percent of Venezuelans do not like
the idea of their country becoming like Cuba. Chávez, who has made a
religion of ``national sovereignty,'' may be playing with fire by
allowing Cuba to run his country.
http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/05/13/1626760/chavez-ceding-too-much-control.html
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