Dear Editor,
Stabroek News is an excellent paper and should be congratulated for stead-fastly campaigning for human rights and decency in the body politic of Guyana.
I however detect consistently an ‘Achilles heel’ – Hugo Chavez.
It is a serious issue as it not only compromises the moral and political integrity of your paper but also contradicts the excellent work in promoting democracy in Guyana.
I read your recent article on 5th Latin American summit in Peru and cursorily scanned its contents for the now obligatory negative comments on Chavez and rather sadly you did not disappoint. There right at the end of a fairly balanced article was a reference to his “comedic talents” – you just could not help yourself! What is the basis for these simplistic personal attacks on what I can assure you is probably one of the most popular leaders in the world for daring to have the ‘cojones’ to challenge the arrogance and, yes, stupidity of the representatives of the most powerful nation in the world.
He stood up to ‘el abusador’ (the world’s bully) and the majority of the powerless applauded. Have you forgotten the brief coup that attempted to topple the democratically elected Chavez government in Venezuela and its support by the USA and even Britain? I mention this because you appear to pay scant attention to these historical facts. As an experienced journalist and political commenta-tor you are surely not so naive to assume that the USA/CIA did not have a role in this whole sordid business and with regard to the recent invasion of Ecuador by its Colombian ‘placeman’ in Latin America, Uribe, your editorial on that particular matter clearly hinted at justification for infringing the sovereignty of ‘others.’ One is left with the impression that your hostility is perhaps ideological, for in this sense it corresponds quite well with the ‘selective humanity’ of ‘the empire’!
Perhaps, the ‘fraudulent revolution’ and brutal despotic rule of the Comrade Leader in the Co-op Republic coupled with the continuing authoritarianism present in the current bankrupt corrupt administration has made you somewhat queasy about anything remote-ly tainted historically with a claim to egalitarianism, but a world is possible beyond neo-liberalism and the benign eye of the USA and Europe. Trust me!
In the meantime continue the good work but please do not compromise your excellent paper with these crass, prejudicial statements; it insults the political intelligence of your readers and does your paper no justice.
Yours faithfully,
Henry A Horton
Editor’s note
We have argued out the case against Mr Chavez on the economic and political fronts at some length in several editorials; we have not dismissed him out of hand without supporting evidence. At the same time, we have given him credit for bringing the poor into the political process, and more especially for several of his ‘misiones’ projects. With regard to President Chavez’s “comedic talents,” this remark would hardly seem misplaced given his behaviour at the UN General Assembly and elsewhere.
As for the Colombia incident, Mr Horton’s comments overlook the fact that the evidence from Raul Reyes’s computer points to disturbing connections between the Venezuelan government and the FARC guerrillas, who are trying to overthrow a democratically elected government.
