Chavez is now officially dead for real – as opposed to the fake news reports that have been making the airwaves once every few months – ironically it seems he died in Cuba’s “stellar” medical program, of a respiratory infection.
No, Cuba, you’re supposed to “clean” your instruments. “Clean”…
Well, hah! What do you expect for free?
I’d like to say this marks a turning point in Venezuelan history; a triumphant moment where a once-great culture can pull itself out of the gutter and rebuild after almost twenty years of garish incompetence.
I’d like to say that, but I’m just too smart for that sort of thing…
You see, there is nothing special about Hugo Chavez. Nothing. He was the dominant monkey to emerge from a primordial game of survival. His rise was circumstantial, charged by a sharp smile and a knack for knowing how to tell everyone, one on one, exactly what they wanted to hear. And now that he is dead, my only real satisfaction is knowing that he died young (one second early for every life he helped ruin I’d like to think).
His legacy is a power vacuum. You see, like most jackasses, Chavez believed himself irreplaceable. That is folly. Our betters come behind us, catapulted by our efforts today. Chavez belittled his people and convinced them they needed him, concentrating all power, publicity and wealth to himself – a megalomaniac of the highest order.
And now that ‘irreplaceable’ man is very dead.
The office that he left behind is unparalleled in power and has zero accountability attached to it. No culpability whatsoever – I mean, the man promised infrastructure spending back in the nineties and yet Venezuela has had rolling blackouts twice a day for a decade.
What kind of person is attracted to such a title?
And so, the next con artist is out there somewhere…preparing roaring and empty speeches…brushing up on what they think the near illiterate people want to hear…planning for all the wonderful things they’ll gift themselves from the public treasury, that grand reward for that good work they haven’t done…
Prepare yourselves. Soon to follow will be the dramatic calls from the indefensible sympathizers here in the US. Dull burdens of society like Sean Penn will soon be out and about, shining gold on Chavez great ‘legacy’ of “wanting to help people”. “Wanting to help people” is all they have – mostly because they’re too dumb to actually help people. They can’t let that go; what would be left for them?
But what should upset you is the murmur that will be coming from more sensible folks. The kind of folks who ought to know better…
They will ask the question, “is now the time to invest in Venezuela?” in much the same way they asked, “is now the time to invest in Russia?” in the early 90’s, even though it wasn’t clear that Russia was even a place (much less not-the-USSR). Chastise these men and women without delay – such baseless speculation can only bring suffering to themselves and those around them.
Even his death brings nothing for Venezuela. Because he left behind a mighty opportunity for the worst of mankind, and a population too weak, pitiful and sad to do anything about it. That is Chavez’ true legacy – that of a sycophant and a self-aggrandizer.
But there was nothing uniquely important about Chavez himself, and the banal can easily fill his shoes, if fortune and chance should allow it.
The monkey-knife-fight succession plan is about to commence…
