Peter Krupa

Two posts in a row about The Nation is a little much, but please indulge me, these are exciting times. The navel-gazers there have finally figured out that, gee, you know what? Chávez might not have good intentions after all!

For more than five years, Chávez has exploited the events of (the) April 11 (2002 coup against him) much the same way Bush has exploited September 11: as a basis for expanding executive power. The coup has provided the main justification for purging the military, packing the Supreme Court, removing RCTV from the public airwaves and, most recently, proposing a constitutional amendment that would empower the president to suspend due process rights indefinitely. Chávez and his supporters have repeatedly condemned presumed coup supporters in the court of public opinion but have shown less interest in trying them in a court of law. In this sense, they have proven themselves to be, like many of their opponents, more concerned with pursuing power than promoting the rule of law.

Coincidentally, they’ve figured this out just in time for Chávez to send troops to the Colombian border. Better late than never, I suppose. Conspicuously missing from The Nation’s 80,000-word Damascus moment, however, is any mention of how everyday life in Venezuela has more or less gone to hell in the last nine years - 20% inflation, food rationing, rampant kidnapping, etc.

It’s understandable. Those details are easy to miss from an office building in Manhattan.

(Full disclosure! I interned at The Nation. And while there, I engaged in so many vein-bulging arguments where I said basically exactly what this guy says in this article, but a year earlier. I just have to take a moment to revel a little bit. Ahhhh. Thanks for reading.)