¡Viva Chávez!

Excellent news from Venezuela for non-interventionists that after a hard-fought race incumbent Hugo Chávez has won yet another term as president. Chávez battled cancer, a well-heeled opponent backed by the trans-national elites, and the US and its covert and overt support for his opponent to achieve a victory that was, to his credit, accepted by the losing candidate, Henrique Capriles. No Gene Sharp color revolution appears underway.

How could it be excellent news for us readers of this venerable mother ship of anti-statism that the poster boy for South American statism has won another term? First, at least for us non-Venezuelan readers, we must realize that we do not live under his policies and we therefore have no moral right to tell the Venezuelans how to run their country. As individuals we can see the train wreck of a state-driven economy but we also understand the limits of our personal preferences and impulses.

No, the reason to celebrate the Chávez victory is something very near and dear to the hearts of non-interventionists: It sets up a huge “stop” sign to US foreign policy designs on Central and South America. It reduces the space for US interventionism in the region.

An RT report captures this perfectly in the words of globe-trotting reporter Pepe Escobar.

Reports RT:

“Apart from these internal elections there are another elections, he (Escobar) explained, which is ‘Chavizmo’ (as Chavez is called in Venezuela and all over Latin America) against Washington.

“Escobar says that the US would love to see Venezuela as it was before Chavez’s years in power. Instead, Chavez’s new presidency will mean a ‘decrease of power of Washington’s agents or Washington itself in the integration of South America.’”

That indeed is something to celebrate. Now if only the US government would make its peace with Venezuela and begin influencing the region by example rather than by dictate.

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7:18 am on October 8, 2012