Word: castro
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...therefore counterproductive to honor the oppressive without recognizing the oppressed. Since Augusto Pinochet was removed from power in 1989, Chile has been working to stabilize its democracy. The last Chilean president to visit Cuba was socialist Salvador Allende, who considered himself a great friend of the dictator, Fidel Castro. Bachelet’s administration has consistently shown its eagerness to boast of its democratic achievements, but improving relations with a regime that categorically opposes and publicly criticizes these democratic goals is a step in the wrong direction...
...picture emerges of a Venezuelan dictator using a hollow patina of democracy to legitimize his aspirations to hold power for life. Since his victory, Chávez has already revealed his wish to remain in power until 2049, when, at 95, he would be older than his inspiration, Fidel Castro, is today. We’ll see if Venezuela’s oil wealth can last until then. For the moment, it’s clear that this new referendum is a step backward for Venezuelan democracy...
...going anywhere, just as Castro didn't despite almost five decades of U.S. efforts to isolate him. That fact alone should prompt President Obama to break with the failed policies of his predecessors and meet with Chávez ahead of April's Summit of the Americas in Trinidad. (First item: reinstating each other's ambassadors, who were expelled from Washington and Caracas last year after Chávez accused the U.S. envoy of conspiring against him.) Talking to Chávez is not a popular idea in Washington, given the Venezuelan leader's strident anti-U.S. histrionics...
...major oil suppliers. Chávez, who said last weekend he's willing to meet with Obama, likewise seems to realize that his favorite Yanqui enemy, George W. Bush, is gone, and that a new relationship might be possible with his major oil customer. And as the Castro example demonstrates, it's hard to isolate a Latin American head of state when the rest of Latin America doesn't sign on - and most nations in the region are not willing to freeze out Chávez. He may irritate them, but he also emboldens them, because his oil-fueled socialist...
...like Castro, looks set to remain in power for a long time. But unlike Castro, he's likely to do so on the basis of a democratic mandate, as his decisive win in Sunday's referendum suggested. Many poor Venezuelans see his Bolivarian revolution, despite its polarizing effects on the country, as a safeguard against the looming economic pain of falling oil prices. Analysts like John Walsh, a senior associate at the independent Washington Office on Latin America, may worry that indefinite re-election would allow Chávez to accumulate excessive power, but Walsh credits Chávez with...