Peter Krupa

Right now I’m reading The Liberators, by Robert Harvey. It’s the story of the liberation of South America from Spanish rule and as such focuses mainly on Simon Bolívar, the brilliant, Napoleon-esque Venezuelan general who through a mixture of determination, genius, insanity, and rhetorical flare managed to free South America from the most gruesome imperial power ever to exist.

Bolívar’s life takes on a contemporary importance considering the current leader of Venezuela - Hugo Chavez - idolizes him to the point of renaming the country the “Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela” (he would have named it “Bolivia,” but that was already taken). There are some striking similarities in their leadership styles - bold, improbable action; visionary rhetoric; ruthlessness when cornered - that make it clear Chavez is doing his level best to imitate Bolívar.

So yesterday I was quite chilled by a certain moment in the story of Bolívar’s brilliant march from Cartagena to Caracas. At one point, while in a particularly tough spot between several Spanish armies, Bolívar issued the following declaration:

The Spaniards have served us with rapine and death. They have violated the sacred rights of human beings, violated capitulations and the most solemn treaties; committed, in fact, every crime. They have reduced the Republic of Venezuela to the most frightful desolation. Thus, then, justice demands vengeance and necessity obliges us to take it…

… Every Spaniard who does not conspire with the most active and effective means possible against the tyranny in favour of our just cause will be held as an enemy and a traitor to the fatherland; and in consequence will be inexorably put to the knife. On the other hand, an absolute and general indulgence will be granted to those who pass to our army with or without their arms… Spaniards who render conspicuous service to the State will be treated as Americans…

This policy became known as “war to the death.” Bolívar did not, in the end, carry out this full-scale, racial slaughter he had called for, except for on a few gruesome occasions. He actually has an image of being quite magnanimous, and statues of him mounted on his horse generally depict him doffing his hat in a gesture of humility. Harvey, however, theorizes that Bolívar’s statement of total war set an unfortunate example for many of the subsequent atrocities that were to take place in Latin America.

Which brings us back to Chavez and why I find this moment in history so chilling. Venezuela today is divided between rich and poor, East Caracas and West Caracas, chavista and opposition. In considering himself the Bolívar of the poor, Chavez sets up his opposition as the Spaniards, the wealthy and cruel exploiters who must be either join the new call to freedom or be purged from the land.

Is it so hard to believe, then, that Chavez, who idolizes Bolívar, has Bolívar’s for-us-or-against-us call to slaughter in mind?

Bolívar’s revolution was bloody enough. Chavez’s Bolivarian Revolution … well, it’s not to be trusted.