Another incredibe Bush Gaff and it will become evident he and his oil boyz had a bigger roll than one can imagine
A Sometime Champion of Democracy
Government: The Bush administration's initial acceptance of Venezuela's coup erodes
the United States' moral authority.
By CHRIS KRAUL and WILLIAM ORME, TIMES STAFF WRITERS
MEXICO CITY -- The Bush administration's rapid
initial approval of this month's coup in Venezuela
has tarnished its status as self-proclaimed champion
of democracy and the rule of law in Latin America.
Moreover, the reaction to the attempted ouster of
President Hugo Chavez especially rankled Latin
leaders because it followed recent trade and
security measures in which the U.S. has been seen
as contradicting its principles.
The practical effects could include an erosion in
support for U.S. policies on Iraq and the Middle
East conflict, Latin American diplomats say. To be
sure, there is little sympathy in the region for
Chavez, who has trampled on a few democratic
principles himself. But by seemingly backing the
overthrow of a freely elected leader, the United States has diminished its
capacity for moral suasion.
"There is at least a short-term cost. It's not something people will forget," said
Carlos Elizondo Mayer-Serra, a political scientist and director of the Mexico
City-based Center for Economic Research and Teaching. "It's a displacement
of the very ends that the United States is trying to promote."
After Chavez was replaced April 12, White House Press Secretary Ari
Fleischer declared the Bush administration's support for new elections. And
National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice said on a television news show
two days later that Chavez's policies were not working for his country. But the
administration has insisted that it took no action to encourage a coup or ensure
its success.
Response Draws Fire
For all the administration's talk of backing democracies and free markets, its
response gave the impression that the U.S. government selectively supports
coups d'etat and a short-circuiting of the popular will, various observers in the
hemisphere say.
A leading Brazilian newspaper, O Globo, said, "Washington's impatience, its
supposed approval of the coup leaders and its hurry to approve an interim
government bring back memories of a past that democracies of the continent
repudiate with fervor."
Most Latin American leaders--led by the presidents of Mexico, Brazil and
Argentina--were quick to condemn the coup attempt. Upon his return to office,
Chavez singled out Mexico's Vicente Fox by thanking him for refusing to
recognize the coup leaders.
The Brazilian government reacted "with pleasure to Venezuela's return to
constitutional order and its democratic process. . . . It marks an important
achievement in the reaffirmation of Latin American values and democratic
principles."
By contrast, President Ricardo Lagos of Chile is under fire at home for his
seemingly ambivalent initial response to the news. Lagos' fellow leftists say
Chilean leaders have a special responsibility to denounce coup attempts, given
the violent 1973 overthrow of President Salvador Allende.
But it was the U.S. reaction that had immediate repercussions at the United
Nations, with Latin American diplomats holding a private conclave and the
large developing-nation bloc uniting quickly behind Chavez and, by implicit
extension, against Washington.
The consensus, participants said, was that the coup plotters had acted only
because they believed--rightly or not--that they had been given a green light by
the Bush administration.
"The United States blew it badly," said a senior Latin American diplomat at the
U.N. from a country that is normally supportive of Washington. "It is now
trying to get out of this situation the best that it can. But damage has definitely
been done."
U.S. Actions a Concern
The Venezuelan fiasco occurred amid lingering bitterness in the region after the
U.S. slapped tariffs of up to 30% on foreign steel this year. That measure in
effect seals off the U.S. market from exporters such as Brazil, which says the
tariff runs counter to free trade principles.
U.S. law enforcement agencies' roundup of hundreds of foreigners after Sept.
11 and the secrecy surrounding their detention also concern many Latin
Americans for what the actions convey about legal institutions that heretofore
were regarded as exemplary.
"Some of the measures have been more appropriate to a dictatorship, and so I
hope they are only temporary," said Diego Valades, director of the Center for
Juridical Studies at Mexico's National Autonomous University.
In Mexico, Fox is under fire for forging stronger U.S. links. It doesn't help that
his quest for legal status for about 3 million undocumented immigrants in the
United States is stalled.
Elsewhere, there is exasperation in Argentina over U.S. reluctance to approve
a financial assistance package to help the Latin nation out of its economic crisis.
Seeking to mend diplomatic fences after a difficult week in the region for the
United States, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell assured the representatives
of the Organization of American States at a meeting Thursday in Washington
that the administration stands with critics of the failed coup.
That effort was undercut, however, by U.S. efforts to water down the initial
OAS resolution to repudiate Chavez's attempted ouster.
"We condemn the blows to constitutional order that Venezuela has suffered,"
Powell told the gathering. "We look to the legal authorities of Venezuela to hold
accountable all who violated the law both before and during the recent crisis."
In a reference to the shaky history of democratic regimes in Latin America,
Powell said: "Coups are a thing of the past, not a pathway to the future."
He also acknowledged that the coup raised the question of how vigorously
other countries, including the United States, had acted in support of Venezuelan
democracy. And he said words that Latin leaders wanted to hear--that
democratic processes must be observed.
"We must do this not just for Venezuela's sake but for all our sakes," he said,
"because the consolidation of democracy in our hemisphere is profoundly
important to all of us--to our freedom, to our prosperity and to our security."
Some U.S. analysts say the administration's handling of the coup attempt was a
diplomatic setback but will probably not have lasting effects on its influence in
the region.
But others say it raised questions about the competence of the Bush team
dealing with Latin America.
Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.), chairman of the Senate Foreign
Relations Western Hemisphere subcommittee, said the episode showed that
the administration needs more "adult supervision."
*
Kraul reported from Mexico City and Orme from the United Nations. Times
staff writers Paul Richter and Nick Anderson in Washington and researcher
Paula Gobbi in Rio de Janeiro also contributed to this report.
latimes.com
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