Defying U.S. , Venezuela’s Chavez Embraces Socialism

By Pascal Fletcher

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Friday embraced socialism as his
ideology of choice in a political statement that sharpened his
antagonism against the United States.

Chavez, a firebrand nationalist who has governed the world’s No. 5 oil
exporter for six years, has persistently declined to define the
precise ideology of his self-styled "revolution."

But, addressing an international meeting on poverty in Caracas, he
said Western-style capitalism was incapable of solving global economic
and social problems.

"So, if not capitalism, then what? I have no doubt, it’s socialism,"
said Chavez, who also rebuffed U.S. criticism of his left-wing rule in
Venezuela and denounced President Bush as the "great destabilizer of
the world."

Since coming to power, he has irritated Washington by developing
alliances with China, Russia and Iran and flaunting a close personal
friendship with Cuba’s Communist President Fidel Castro, a longtime
foe of the United States.

Chavez’s public support for socialism recalled Castro’s defining
announcement in the early 1960s that his 1959 Cuban Revolution was
"socialist."

Chavez said he had up to now avoided labeling his political program in
Venezuela as "socialist."

But he added his personal experience in power, which included
surviving a brief coup in 2002, had convinced him that socialism was
the answer. "But what kind?"

Chavez, who won a referendum in August ratifying his rule until early
2007, said previous experiences of socialism in the world — an
apparent reference to the former Soviet Union — might not be the
example to follow.

"We have to invent the socialism of the 21st century," he added.

Venezuela’s 1999 constitution promoted by Chavez enshrines a
multi-party political system and he has denied he is a communist. But
he has intensified state intervention in the economy, encouraged the
formation of cooperatives and is pursuing land reforms critics say
threaten private property.

Chavez resumed his aggressive stance just a day after his vice
president, Jose Vicente Rangel, called for talks with the United
States and said Caracas was ready to help fight terrorism and
drug-trafficking and keep oil flowing to the United States.

But Rangel had also echoed Chavez’s anti-U.S. criticisms, and U.S.
diplomats here complain their requests for meetings with government
ministers are turned down.

While Venezuela remains a key oil supplier to the U.S., Chavez has
this year stepped up a war of words with the United States. Secretary
of State Condoleezza Rice has called him a "destabilizing influence"
in Latin America.

A former paratroop officer, Chavez was first elected in a 1998
election, six years after leading a botched coup bid.

Opponents of the Venezuelan leader, whom Chavez dismisses as puppets
of the United States, accuse him of ruling like a dictator and
dragging the country toward Cuba-style communism.

In what Caracas calls "impertinent" meddling, U.S. officials are also
opposing Venezuela’s purchase of Russian helicopters and automatic
rifles for its armed forces.

"The only destabilizer here is George W. Bush, he’s the big
destabilizer in the world, he’s the threat," Chavez said. He has
condemned the U.S.-led wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Chavez also repeated charges that the increased U.S. criticism was
preparing the ground for an attack against Venezuela and included a
plan to assassinate him. U.S. officials have rejected this as
"ridiculous."