Isabella Hermann September 2014 8th ECPR General Conference University of Glasgow 3 ‐ 6 September 2014 The international media echo to the Bolivarian Revolution in Venezuela – constructing and deconstructing legitimacy Isabella Hermann Abstract: The so called “Bolivarian Revolution” and the concept of “socialism of the 21st century” initiated by Hugo Chávez in Venezuela have not only polarized Venezuelan society tremendously, but also the entire hemisphere and even beyond. The question of whether the policies under the label of the Bolivarian Revolution ‐ including a number of controversial social programs ‐ can in fact be evaluated positively or negatively according to certain standards appears to be a highly ideological one. This paper focuses on who frames and constructs the Bolivarian Revolution as good or bad and how this is done. It examines different media discourses in Latin America, the US and Europe and finds that media which position themselves as rather conservative delegitimize the Bolivarian Revolution from the start, while media which position themselves as rather liberal establish it as legitimate. Table of Contents: Introduction ............................................................................................................................................. 1 Social Policy and the Bolivarian Revolution ............................................................................................ 2 The Media and Venezuela ....................................................................................................................... 6 Negative constructions of Chávez, his policies and the Bolivarian Revolution ................................... 8 Differentiated constructions of Chávez, his policies and the Bolivarian Revolution ........................ 10 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................. 13 References ............................................................................................................................................. 14 Isabella Hermann September 2014 Introduction When Hugo Chávez was elected as Venezuelan president in 1998, the political system of the oilabundant country of Venezuela changed from a former liberal-representative democracy based
on a party pact of 1958 – the so called Punto-Fijo-democracy – to a social-participatory
democracy with the proclaimed objective of serving the social interests of the people. The
election of Chávez was a response to the Venezuelan economic decline due to falling oil prices in
the 1980s, and the subsequent social-political decline in the 1990s. Back then the officially
democratic but highly elitist system displayed bankrupt since it was characterized by ample
corruption and inability to provide for the people resulting in a loss of trust and legitimacy (A.
Romero 1997). Drawing from a certain conception of the liberator Simón Bolívar as fighter for
independence and social equality, Chávez tried to initiate with the “Bolivarian Revolution” a
radical-left political project towards independence from oil, social inclusion, fight against
corruption, reduction of poverty and improvement in education.1
Despite the fact that many of the announced objectives like fight against corruption and
independence from oil have not been reached, there can be no doubt that the area of social
policy went through significant changes. Chávez started to transform the social structure of
Venezuela towards a system of inclusion by cutting down the benefits of the privileged elite and
by redistributing the money coming from the oil industry to the poor and marginalized (López
Maya and Lander 2009). Since the very beginning these policies have provoked heavy criticism
from all former dominant camps, such as the oppositional parties, the private sector, business
associations, trade unions, the church and last but not least the U.S. Department of State (Buxton
2003: 130; Zeuske 2007: 182). Therefore, only in the first seven years of Chávez’s rule
“Venezuelans have endured a long-lasting process of extreme polarization, a controversial
constitutional reform, the dissolution of Congress, two general strikes, a failed coup d'état led by
conservative businessmen and generals, many massive demonstrations, violent upheavals, the
dismissal of about 18000 oil workers from the parastatal PDVSA, and dozens of deaths for
political reasons” (Álvarez 2006: 24). And the situation has all but not changed so far when
looking for example at the campaign period of the presidential election 2012 as one more
culmination point of political polarization (Hermann 2012) or at the severe protests against the
government of Chávez’s elected successor Maduro in several Venezuelan cities at the beginning
of 2014 (Mijares 2014).
Yet, not only does the Bolivarian Revolution heavily polarize Venezuela, making people even
speak of “two Venezuelas” – a chavista and an oppositional one – with different political realities,
different media and different social lives, but also the global community and global media. The
1
Beyond the fact that Chávez was rightfully elected, there has been a debate whether one could in fact speak about a “revolution”. According to Ellner (2005) there actually could be identified two strands within the chavismo movement even though they lack ideological clarity. The first are “hard‐line chavistas” who basically see a “revolutionary opportunity” in building up parallel structures for a new society while eliminating the old ones. The second, the “soft‐line chavistas”, favor a “non‐revolutionary transformation” where old structures are not purged but rather controlled within the frame of a political fight. 1 Isabella Hermann September 2014 common critique of Chávez’s supporters is that Chávez’s opponents including the “major”
international media have a quasi monopoly in the debate resulting in intentionally putting forward
a negative image of Chávez and the Bolivarian Revolution. Even more, tangible successes like in
the area of social policy would be negated or ignored or, if mentioned, successes would be
denounced. However, since the data on the successes, effects and sustainability of chavismo
social policy is contested and probably will never and can never be answered with certainty, the
question of interest is rather what kind of media relay negative information about the Bolivarian
Revolution and how this is justified.
Therefore, in this paper I research into the question whether or not the “major” media
understood as opinion leading “Western” and “Latin American” newspapers indeed unanimously
report negatively about the Bolivarian Revolution and the corresponding social policies, whether
there can be found a political polarization regarding those newspapers and how constructions of
Chávez and the Bolivarian Revolution are justified and legitimized. Interestingly enough, as the
analysis will show, indeed not all of the “major” media reports negative about the policies of
Chávez. In line with the enormous political polarization it is not geography which turns out to be
the dividing line between negative and rather moderate or positive accounts on the Bolivarian
Revolution, but if the medium perceives itself as “left”- or “right-oriented”. In the following I
will first provide some accounts on the social policy concept of the Boliviarian Revolution before
coming to the analysis regarding selected newspaper editorials on Chávez’s death in March 2013.
Social Policy and the Bolivarian Revolution Generally, the Latin American tradition rather follows the principles given by Rousseau and
Bolívar in subordinating the individual’s position to the state and society than Lockean liberal
principles as promoted by the US, which accentuate the individual rights against a state that
might abuse its power. Because of this, there is an underlying criticism towards Latin American
countries from US and other Western states, which blame them to be a host of systemic illnesses
such as clientelism, paternalism or even violation of (liberal) human rights. The fact that
chavismo created a new constitution negating Lockean principles, such as limits to presidential
power or political exclusion of the military, naturally strengthened US and Western disapproval
(C. Romero 2004: 131). From the start Venezuela under Chávez emphasized a type of social
human rights such as the right to education, right to housing, the right to work or right to health
care which are commonly marginalized in Western states and Western dominated organizations
(Casado Gutiérrez 2013).2
Laying out the basis for the Bolivarian Revolution, after having been elected, Chábez kept the
main promise given during his electoral campaign, namely the creation of a new constitution. The
2
This fight for social human rights can also be seen in the frame of an ideological battle between socialist‐
Marxist views and neoliberal‐capitalist ones. Thus, the marginalization of those rights would be inherent in the dominating system of state‐centric capitalism/neoliberalism against which a new Latin American left has positioned (Monedero 2011: 10). 2 Isabella Hermann September 2014 “Constitución de la República Bolivariana de Venezuela” was worked out by an elected
constituent assembly and was passed by a peoples’ referendum by the end of 1999. The
“Bolivarian Constitution” installed direct-democratic/participatory elements for the people,
strengthened social rights in general and explicitly equipped formerly excluded social groups such
as the indigenous people with increased rights. This opened up new political spaces, but at the
same time Chávez worked towards a centralization of power by transferring more competences
to the executive branch, particularly to the office of the president, and diminished civilian control
over the military (Azcargorta and Paulus 2011; I. Hernández 2011). 3 Referring to the set-up of
the constitution but also to Chávez’s political style, which is criticized for deliberately using
democratic legitimacy obtained by winning elections to pursue antidemocratic policies in order to
maintain power, experts spoke and continue to speak of a “hybrid regime” or
“hyperpresidentialism” (Corrales and Penfold 2011: 14-46).
The constitution was thought to provide the basis for the Bolivarian Revolution as radical
political conception with the objectives of diversifying the economy and reducing dependence on
the oil industry, fight against corruption, as well as a social participatory democracy and thus
social inclusion of the former marginalized in various ways. However, the aim of diversifying the
economy has not made any gains, since the GDP even if growing still hinges strongly on the oil
industry resulting in a dependence on oil rents as high as prior to Chávez’s election without
feasible approaches for a structural solution to that problem (Boeckh 2011; Welsch and Briceño
2011: 117).4 This means that equal if being socialist or capitalist, Venezuela in any case remains
rentist (López Maya and Lander 2009). Additionally, in spite of the fact that Venezuela has high
potential for production, the country is far removed from being able to produce its own food or
even become an exporter of foodstuffs. Quite the contrary, Venezuela – characterized by
economic mismanagement and the characteristics of being a petro state – suffers from scarcity of
goods and is importing the majority of needed eatables and other commercial items. The
problem of corruption has not only not experienced improvements, but according to World
Bank Governance Indicators even worsened, nor did the fight against inflation prove successful
since it is among the highest in the world moving between 20 and 30 percent in the years of 2007
to 2013 (BCV 2014; Kaufmann et al. 2009). Furthermore, the precarious security situation in
Venezuela with almost 50 homicides per 100.000 persons is still one of the greatest challenges the
country faces (UNODC 2011: 94).
However, according to official numbers the Chávez government achieved great successes in the
social area especially in comparison to the final years of the Punto-Fijo-period. According to data
published by ECLAC, poverty in Venezuela diminished from 48.6 percent in 2002 to 27.8 in
3
The Bolivarian Constitution, valid since 1999, diminished checks and balances as it for example increased presidential powers by allowing direct re‐election and expansion of the presidential term from five to six years, eliminated the two chamber system for one National Assembly and let go of a clause which defined the military as non‐political. However, there were introduced two new public powers to the existing executive, legislative and judicial power, namely the electoral power “poder electoral” and the citizens’ power “poder ciudadano”. While the former is responsible for the proper execution of all elections, the task of the latter is to control the administration and the fight against corruption. Furthermore human rights were strengthened and special rights for workers, women and indigenous people defined. And naturally, the possibilities of direct participation for the people were heightened in several ways, e.g. by enabling a recall of elected officials – including the president – through referendum (GoV 1999; I. Hernández 2011; Sainz Borgo and Paz 2005). 4
For a different view, see Parker (2005, 2009). 3 Isabella Hermann September 2014 2010 (ECLAC 2011: 17) and 37.1 percent in 2005 to 23.9 percent in 2012 respectively (ECLAC
2014).5 The Gini coefficient also fell by more than 3 percent during the time period between
2002 and 2008, and by more than 2 percent in the time period from 2008 until 2010 (ECLAC
2011: 52) which makes Venezuela one of the economically most equal countries of Latin America
(ECLAC 2011: 50). Furthermore, going back to data published by UNESCO, from 2000
onwards over 90 percent of boys and girls were enrolled in primary schools in contrast to 85
percent in 1999, and whereas in 1999 50 percent of boys and girls were enrolled in secondary
schools this number constantly grew to almost 60 percent in 2003, over 70 percent in 2009 and
almost 75 percent in 2012 (Unesco 2014). Even more, Venezuela can finally count as a literate
country with 95.5 percent older than 15 years are being able to read and write as of 2009 (Unesco
2014).
How were the supposed successes achieved? As already mentioned, the basic political approach
was to redistribute the oil rents from the privileged elite to the poor and marginalized majority
with the aim of a social inclusion. This included a change of employment policy and (agrarian)
ownership structures, but most of all a “(parallel) institutionalization of its own (“una
institucionalidad propia (paralela)”) (Estrada Álvarez 2012: 144). What is meant by this
institutionalization of its own are the famous “missions” (“misiones”), a broad array of different
social programs, which the Venezuelan government has set up starting from 2003 and being
financed with money coming from the oil industry.6 Missions cover all kinds of social aspects and
basic needs incorporating among others nutrition, healthcare, education, housing, environment
and employment. Famous ones are for example “Misión Barrio Adentro” providing free
healthcare, “Misión Robinson” teaching adults how to read and write, “Misión Ribas” and
“Mission Sucre” providing higher education for adults or “Misión Mercal” providing for food to
discounted prices. The services of the missions are provided by the communities thus counting
on the commitment of the people themselves. Also the Armed Forces participate in the missions
thus strengthening the civic-military alliances which also characterizes the Bolivarian Revolution
(López Maya 2008; López Maya and Lander 2009).7 Commonly known the missions also count
on Cuban assistance, above all “Misión Barrio Adentro” would not work if not because of the
Cuban doctors and nurses which Venezuela pays off either directly, or indirectly with preferential
oil deals (C. Romero 2010: 108f.).
While experts by and large agree on the poor performance of the Chávez government regarding
economic diversification and fight against corruption, the discussion is very controversial and
multifaceted when it comes to the social policy approach of the Bolivarian Revolution. While one
side cannot see “any evidence that Chávez has reoriented state priorities to benefit the poor”
(Fernandes 2008: 42), others call the Bolivarian a “benign revolution” praising the social
programs (Alvarez Herrera 2006) and name social reforms of the Chávez government as the first
and foremost success because they had stopped the impoverishment of the Venezuelan people
5
A person is regarded as poor if she cannot afford a certain basket of basic goods and basic services specified for the country she lives in (ECLAC 2011: 44) 6
This brought about renewed increase of popularity for Chávez, which enabled, in 2004, a decisive victory in a recall referendum initiated by the opposition to remove him from office. 7
The will to incorporate the military more into politics and social development can be also seen in the so called Plan Bolívar 2000 at the beginning of Chávez presidency making 45.000 soldiers wor on public projects such as repairing schools or roads (McCoy 2000: 68). 4 Isabella Hermann September 2014 (Zelik 2011: 45). An illustrative example for that makes the 2008 fall edition of the ReVista
Harvard Review of Latin America on Venezuela. There, renowned experts of Venezuela in one and
the same journal conceive of the social policies of the Bolivarian Revolution as differently as
calling the missions a “trick” (Pedro España 2008: 48) to being more moderate in admitting that
regarding social policy “the Chávez government has managed to create an alternative system of
welfare intervention and redistribution that conflicts with the neoliberal policies of his
predecessors (Fernandes 2008: 42), to defending the official data calling “large reduction of
poverty” a “significant achievement” which would intentionally not be noticed since the debate
would dominated by government’s opponents “who have a near-monopoly of the debate about
Venezuela outside the country” (Weisbrot 2008a: 36).
The last comment directly points to the immense political polarization regarding the country
which turns the question of lauding or negating the social successes to a question of the personal
political and ideological conviction of generally supporting or not supporting the alternative
approach of the Bolivarian Revolution which openly seeks to challenge the current predominant
social-economic structures in general. Consequently, accepting some successes of the social
policies, one might state that the former social polarization with high poverty rates, inequality of
income distribution and lack of education has given way to a political polarization as battle
between two different political systems (Ellner 2003: 21-25). This led to Venezuela being
described as one of the most polarized countries ever in Latin America (Corrales 2005: 105). The
situation is quite paradoxical since it appears to depend exactly on the political polarization how
one perceives and interprets the success of certain policies in the first place, and this polarization
set in even before actual policies were defined thus “at least during the crucial 1998 electoral
campaign, class cleavages and economic issues were less important than political changes and
political polarization between anti-system and system parties” (Álvarez 2006: 19).
However, there indeed are serious points of criticism on the social policy approach of the
Bolivarian Revolution which are justified with not being sustainable. Firstly, the financing of
social programs – even if being successful – would be to dependent on the high oil price which
makes them very dependent on external factors that cannot be influenced by the government
(Fernandes 2008: 42; Stefanoni 2012: 33).8 But even more, secondly, there are voices stating that
instead of solving the social problems structurally – which would lead to the need of missions in
the first place – “the missions seem inarticulate, that is, they fragment social problems into so
many areas that they disregard their multiple causes“ (Pedro España 2008: 49). For that reason,
the existence of the missions would be the proof of the failure of the social policy and even more
so since evidence suggests that the missions would not benefit as many people as proclaimed by
the government. Thirdly, the fact that the social projects were exactly initiated when support for
Chávez was diminishing in 2003, Chávez is also blamed for populism (Castañeda 2006; Castañeda
and Morales 2009). For that reason, and since the missions would not change the social problems
structurally one could reckon that Chávez by means of the social programs only tried to hold a
broad electoral basis by creating clientelistic structures (de la Torre 2013: 8; Shifter 2006: 51).
However, such a concentration on numbers and dependence on oil, and negative aspects of
8
Beyond, one might even state that there does not exist any independent success of the social programs since “most health and human development indicators have shown no significant improvement beyond that which is normal in the midst of an oil boom” (Rodríguez 2008). 5 Isabella Hermann September 2014 populism would ignore advances like “inclusion and participation” (Ellner 2010: 29) and positive
benefits for the people “not only in terms of material gains, but in terms of the personal sense of
empowerment that results from involvement in community-based work” (Fernandes 2008: 42).
And even more, the merit of Chávez would also be that he opened up a powerful discourse by
having put the issues of poverty and inequality and the necessity to find measures to confront
and surpass them not only in Venezuela but in Latin America as a whole on the political agenda
(Ellner 2010: 29; Estrada Álvarez 2012: 136). But how do the media respond to the Bolivarian
Revolution, the supposed successes and points of critique?
The Media and Venezuela
There are indeed examples of the media being biased on Chávez and the Bolivarian Revolution.
In the first six months after Chávez had assumed office, the picture of him as conveyed by
Western and particularly US media was opposing and negative, describing him among others as
“populist leftist”, “firebrand” or “Venezuela’s rambunctious president” and his policy as
comprising “anti-American elements” (Ellner 2003: 22; Werz 2001). Later on, there were hardly
any comments on the new participatory opportunities in Venezuela, but a strong inclination to
portray Chávez as dominant “strongman” gathering all power to himself (Cannon 2009: 137138). Even before, but particularly during the coup attempt against Chávez in 2002 the leading
Venezuelan media joined by international ones played a very problematic part in conveying
deliberately wrong and even fake information to the public and openly taking sides for the
putschists (Castillo Briceño 2003; J. A. Hernández 2004; Stoneman 2008) as well as constructing
the Chávez supporters as dangerous and uncontrolled masses and in that way delegitimizing them
(Duno Gottberg 2004). During the course of events the relationship between the Chávez
government and the major media in the country has deteriorated beyond recovery, (Cañizález and
Lugo-Ocando 2008), and this even more so when in 2007 Chávez did not renew the broadcasting
license for the private TV channel RCTV which had played an “openly subversive” role together
with other TV channels during the coup in 2002 (Gott 2011: 247).
Generally in Latin America the relationship between the media – which is characterized in many
countries by oligopolistic or monopolistic structures – and the governments is either difficult as
in the case of Brazil, Mexico, Chile and Columbia, or openly confrontational and even
antagonistic in cases where the media clearly supports the opposition against governments of the
“new left” as in Venezuela, Argentina, Ecuador and Bolivia (Rincón 2013). Therefore, the
negative account on the Bolivarian Revolution and the socialism of the 21st century by
Venezuelan conservative and private media “of the kind that exist in most Latin American
countries” would be due to the fact that they “reflect the generally backward-looking ideas of the
commercial and financial elite, and express warm sympathy and support for the political and
cultural world of the United States” (Gott 2011: 245). International media refer to and rely on
Latin American media and such biased information be it for ignorance and negligence, a lack of a
correspondent network or because it fits well the standpoint of the corresponding medium.9 This
9
See for an account on the specific problematic of distorted reporting about Lain America in Germany Karnofsky (2007) and Neuber (2007). 6 Isabella Hermann September 2014 would specifically be true for the US and British opinion leading news coverage (Orihuela 2009)
which might lead to the paradoxical situation that “those who follow the news coverage of Latin
America here [in the US] can end up with less understanding than those who ignore it (Weisbrot
2008b).
Bearing this in mind it seems as if not only the Latin American media, but also the US and
European one is united in a critical and depreciative opinion particularly on the new Latin
American left governments such as Venezuelan and Bolivia – which are perceived as the “bad”
left in contrast to a “good” left such as Brazil or Chile (Castañeda 2006; Lupien 2013). Thus,
because of ignorance and misreporting there would be produced “even more exaggerated
editorials denouncing Latin America’s new democracies as ‘authoritarian’ and worse” (Weisbrot
2008b) leading in the cases of Venezuela and the close ally Bolivia to “relentless ideological
attacks by both domestic and international media outlets in an effort to discredit these
administrations’ challenge to the status quo” (Lupien 2013: 227). This opinion applies particularly
to Venezuela, which strongly polarized makes some even speak of a “media war” (Gott 2011:
245-248) and which is perceived and had stylized itself as avant-garde and leader of a new left
movement. As already mentioned there is also particular critique on the fact that even positive
outcomes of the Bolivarian Revolution like the social policies are responded negatively by
reputable media. When formulating such critique there is oftentimes referred in general terms to
the “mainstream media” (Lupien 2013: 231), “Western media” (“medios occidentals”)
(Fernández 2004) or “major media” (Weisbrot 2008a: 36). But is it really true that all “major”
media report negatively about Chávez and the Bolivarian Revolution?
In the following I will not only show that there exits indeed differentiated accounts on the
Bolivarian Revolution, but also how different identities of Chávez and his policies are
constructed in order to justify a different perception. For the purpose of this study I did not
engage in a quantitative analysis of media reporting, but in a discursive-qualitative analysis of how
reality is constructed in selected newspaper articles. In order to do this, I referred to a discourse
analytical model in the tradition of Lene Hansen, which for this rather small study means to
search for webs of meanings and sense in the texts that construct certain identity representations
which again legitimize and justify certain perceptions (Hansen 2006). This is no limitation to the
study, since the aim is to provide an account on the different possibilities of media reporting, to
show tendencies and provide a starting point for further research. Therefore, I concentrated on
comments of the so called leading Latin American, US and European newspapers on Chávez’s
death in March 2013. I chose the event in question because it made such a global and severe
sensation that is was responded to worldwide by newspapers thus there exist comparable
statements containing a quasi final evaluation of the policies of the Bolivarian Revolution. Even
more, I concentrated specifically on leading articles and editorials since they should exactly
respond to the event in a concentrated form of the newspaper’s general political-social
conviction.
Hence, within the selected mainstream newspapers one can distinguish two groups: On the one
hand editorials commenting solely negative on Chávez and his legacy, but on the other hand also
newspapers evaluating the policies rather differentiated and moderate and even partly positive.
Either perspective is justified with constructing Chávez and the Bolivarian Revolution as either
absolutely illegitimate or as partly legitimate. I found that legitimacy might best be grasped as
7 Isabella Hermann September 2014 input legitimacy understood as the democratic fundament and style of Chávez and his
government, and output legitimacy understood as the concrete policies including social policy.10
Negative constructions of Chávez, his policies and the Bolivarian Revolution The newspapers commenting solely negative about Chávez and in this way not even presenting
the social policies of the Bolivarian Revolution in a positive light deny both: input and output
legitimacy. This happens firstly by means of neither recognizing Chávez’s status as democratically
elected president nor his democratic conviction and secondly by means of rejecting his policies as
failed, ineffective and inefficient, as well as denying his government capacity.
Regarding “input-legitimacy”, Chávez is linked to events, procedures and historic and
contemporary personalities and movements, which portray him as anti-democrat denying any
legitimacy of Chávez from the start. In this way, both of the two great Venezuelan oppositional
newspapers start their corresponding editorials with references to the coup attempt under
Chávez’s leadership in 1992 as proof of his undemocratic disposition. Consequently the coup was
directed against a “constitutional government” (El Nacional 2013) and carries the “burden of
violence and death” (El Universal 2013)11; also the Brazilian Folha de São Paulo starts the editorial
with a reference to the 1992 coup attempt against an “elected government” as does the leading
Brazilian newspaper O Globo (O Globo 2013). Interestingly, neither one mentions the common
view that at that time the political system of Venezuelan was bankrupt and the coup highly
supported by the people nor the violent oppositional coup attempt against Chávez in 2002.
Despite the fact of having been elected several times as president, this construction of Chávez
being illegitimate is also held up by referring to his style of rule being “polarizing, sectarian and
aggressive” (El Universal 2013) which would again characterize him as anti-democrat. Chávez as
epigone of Castro, Perón, Vargas, Napoleon and Louis XIV is described as populist who would
get the votes of the popular masses by means of demagogy, charisma, seduction, promises and
welfare gifts. Consequently he would not only be a putschist, but also a caudillo in the
authoritarian tradition of Latin American strongman and military dictators. If not for regular
elections he would have been like any other Latin American dictator (Folha de São Paulo 2013)
and his rule would even resemble the past military dictatorship in Brazil (O Globo 2013). Clarín,
the largest Argentinian newspaper, starts the editorial admitting that Chávez emerged from the
“profound failure” of the Venezuelan political system, however, Chávez’s style would be
autocratic and his movement “bonapartist” (Kirschbaum 2013). The Spanish El Mundo describes
Chávez’s personality containing “autocratic tendencies, megalomania, hyperactivity, and his art of
seduction” and more than Gaddafi and Castro, he would resemble Domingo Perón who had left
10
Since this paper focuses on the perception of domestic and especially social policies I left out the policy output of regional and international policy. Yet, as I showed in another article, the first group also described the foreign policy approach as solely negative rather dividing the Latin American hemisphere and closing lines with pariah states like Iran, while the second group – in spite of being critical – recognized Chávez’s integrationist efforts (Hermann 2013). 11
Translations from other languages into English were done by me as the author of this study. 8 Isabella Hermann September 2014 a “similarly confusing and doctrinaire amalgam” (Sahagún 2013). The French Le Figaro
concentrates on the close ties between Chávez and Castro thus describing Chávez negatively as
Castro’s epigone, who tried to imitate as “former putschist” Castro’s ideology and style
(Rousselin 2013) which led according to the Argentinian La Nación to a setback of public liberties
resembling the worst of the Cuban regime (La Nación 2013). Also, there is referred many times
to Chávez trying to use democratic institutions to undermine democracy itself by annulating
parliamentary and judiciary control, concentrating all powers in his hands, as well as intimidating
the opposition and media, as done by O Globo and Folha de São Paulo , and also the leading
Spanish newspaper El País, and one of the German opinion leaders Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
(El País 2013; Oehrlein 2013).
Chávez’s legitimacy is not only denied for his alleged missing democratic conviction, but also for
his very bad political, economic and social performance. Neither the oil-financed social programs
nor economic policies based on an antiquated socialist conviction would be sustainable but
wasteful, unproductive and ineffective. Still the country would be poor and increasingly insecure,
and the economy would not be diversified at all but more than ever dependent on oil. In this
sense, the Bolivian daily El Diario writes in its editorial that Chávez has not reached his aim of
doing away with poverty in Venezuela despite the high oil price, but rather spoke for long hours
instead of keeping with his promises while blaming US imperialism for the still existing poverty in
the world (El Diario 2013). Furthermore, his economic concept of the socialism of the 21st
century would be antiquated thus the worst legacy of Chávez would be next to constraints to
freedom of speech an “economy in tatters” (O Globo 2013) since the oil money was not invested
sustainably in the country, but within an old fashioned socialist model which resulted
unproductive, ineffective and corrupt and was characterized by a limitless and exaggerated
bureaucracy (Oehrlein 2013). But nonetheless, “the power of petrol” had enabled policies which
awakened an “adhesion without limits” of the popular classes backing him beyond all “autocratic
measures” (Kirschbaum 2013) thus the deceased would stay in the heads of the people because
his rule coincided with an oil boom which covered his misguided economic policy (Rousselin
2013). For that reason, he is also described as “narcissist” and “snake charmer” whose
proclaimed social success is covered by negative developments like the deep polarization of the
country, the persecution of political opponents and dissidents and the closing of critical media
(Sahagún 2013). Thus, Chávez remained in power for 14 years by means of personal charisma
and populist rhetoric, but he was not able to solve the problems of “enormous economic
inequality, every-day scarcity of goods, ample corruption and rampant urban crime” (El País
2013).
However, in spite of standing clearly in opposition to Chávez, it seems that the power of the
social discourse of the Bolivarian Revolution cannot be neglected entirely since some articles in
view at least in one short sentence admit to successes of chavismo social policy even if putting
the comment immediately back in relation. O Globo admits for example that the social policies
had not only been “social welfare for demagogic reasons”, but that they neither had any longterm effects which could be seen by the high insecurity and criminality in the country (O Globo
2013), La Nación that Chávez had stopped the indifference towards the marginalized sectors of
society, but that he was populist and authoritarian (La Nación 2013), and Frankfurter Allgemeine
9 Isabella Hermann September 2014 Zeitung that he gave word and voice to the masses not being noticed by the former government,
but that his social programs remained only patchwork (Oehrlein 2013).
But all in all, we find a web of sign and meaning that construct Chávez and also the social policy
approach as illegitimate that consists of the negative predominant construction of identity
representations authoritarian/autocratic/anti-democratic and megalomaniac/narcissist referring
to the input and ineffective/inefficient and populist/clientelistic/seductive referring to the
output.
Figure 1: Web of meaning constructing Chávez and the Boliviarian Revolution as illegitimate.
Differentiated constructions of Chávez, his policies and the Bolivarian Revolution Looking at above examples one might agree with those blaming the “mainstream” for
campaigning against the Bolivarian Revolution and not acknowledging even the social successes
of Chávez. However, there exists a second group of “major” newspapers reporting rather
moderate and distinguished and when reporting positively about the Chávez government and the
Bolivarian Revolution refer particularly to the social policies.
But indeed, these leading articles and editorials of the second group also criticize authoritarian
tendencies and the inefficient economic policy, but they do this with no such strong attributions.
Even more, Chávez and his political measures are justified and constructed as legitimate on
principle even if misguided, failed, incompetent or unproductive. For that reason, Chávez was
elected several times clearly and rightfully as president and had to undergo an illegal coup attempt
by the opposition in 2002, which would be one reason of his radicalization in the first place. He
is portrayed as if the improvement of the lives of the previously excluded and marginalized
people of Venezuelan society was an honest concern which he pursued with all his heart by
means of his social programs. This primer concern for a just society is articulated as legitimate
10 Isabella Hermann September 2014 political claim and not categorically as populist measure in order to create clientelistic structures
securing the voter base.
One of the greatest Colombian newspapers El Espectador finds it is difficult to make a realistic
judgment on Chávez and admits that there are always two ways of looking at him and his policies.
For that reason, he was the “great revolutionist transformator attending to the poorest” and a
“spendthrift populist” who wasted the oil wealth, he was a “democratic leader”, who understood
the necessities of his people and an “autocrat who arrogated personal powers”, he was an
“invincible winner of all elections” and an “authoritarian leader” who used the laws according to
his liking. So only time would show if he enters the “holy halls of the Latin American left” like
“Sandino, Ché Guevara, Allende or Fidel” (El Espectador 2013). The greatest Colombian daily
El Tiempo begins with the great legacy of Chávez referring to his “profound reforms” with which
he established the “socialism of the 21st century” for which his charisma was as important as the
oil resources. Even though there would be objections, it would be necessary to make clear that
“the welfare of the less favorable and the search for a more equal society were always his greatest
preoccupation”. His ambitious plan to turn over the Venezuelan society resulted in an inevitable
polarization, given the emotional style of his government characterized also by authoritarianism.
(El Tiempo 2013). Interestingly, this means in fact that the enormous polarization in Venezuela
would not only be due to some aggressive and undemocratic style of Chávez, but a consequence
of his plan to transform society.
The British The Guardian also refers to the international polarization on Chávez, according to
which the weeping crowds in Caracas, the left leaders of Latin America and left circles of even
Europe would tell he had been a great man – in total contrast to official faces in Washington,
London and other capital cities. The truth would be that “there was indeed something of
greatness about Chavez”. Therefore, his efforts and ambitions “revealed a man with very big
ideas” standing against his possibilities and his capabilities as administrator which he
compensated by “rhetoric and theatre”. However, this was not all Chávez’s fault since
“Venezuela displays the classic dysfunctions of a wealthy oil country”. For that reason, “money
spent on education, and Chavez spent a lot, prepares people for work that may not be there”.
The editorial counts also the negative aspects of Chávez’s presidency, however, it ends in saying
that Chávez “had a big heart, and he will leave a big hole in the hearts of millions of poor and
ordinary folk not only in Venezuela but elsewhere in Latin America, and beyond” (The Guardian
2013).
The French Le Monde is not as positive as The Guardian, yet, it also aims at providing a
differentiated account. The article also refers to the polarization on Chávez and his policies
describing his presidency as an “eventful, undivided, flamboyant and controversial, charismatic
and provocative reign”. Chávez had cut in half poverty in the country which would count now as
most equal in Latin America and had “really thought to give sense to the Bolivarian Revolution
and invented nothing less than the socialism of the 21st century”. Thanks to the oil wealth and by
controlling the economy Venezuela could initiate social programs subsidizing food and
education, healthcare and housing. However the article counts also the negative sides of the oil
wealth like patronage and corruption resulting in the fact that Chávez had left behind a weakened
country. He had reduced poverty but “he not taken advantage of the oil resources to invent an
original and sustainable development model”. Also the German Süddeutsche Zeitung takes a more
11 Isabella Hermann September 2014 nuanced view. According to the editorial, with his last electoral campaign Chávez wanted “to
show them all” and proclaimed “a battle of the truth against lie, of the people against the
bourgeoisie, of socialism against capitalism”. The comment provides a very laconic description of
the polarization on Chávez, however it counts always both sides, that Chávez tried to overthrow
the government, but that he himself was also overthrown, that his enemies condemned him as
populist militarist, but that his friends praised him like Jesus or Bolívar, that he used the oil
wealth instinctively for his own fortune, but that he indeed gave voice and money to the common
people. At the end the article describes him as “borderline democrat” who in fact did win
presidential elections and referenda - no one but the cancer could defeat him (Burghardt 2013).
Even the greatly criticized The New York Times takes a more differentiated view writing that
Chávez’s “redistributionist policies brought better living conditions to millions of poor
Venezuelans“ and that he “won elections by devoting a substantial share of the country’s oil
income to building public housing, creating health clinics and making affordable food available to
the poorest citizens” next to hinting to the fact that “there have also been shocking levels of
corruption, shoddy construction, chronic shortages of basic goods, and neglect in the investment
needed to maintain and increase oil production” (The New York Times 2013). However, very
remarkably, at the end the comment confesses that the reputation of the US in Venezuela was
“badly damaged” when the Bush administration “unwisely blessed a failed 2002 military coup
attempt against Mr. Chávez”.
To recap, in spite of not concealing negative aspects of Chávez rule, in the leading articles and
editorials of the second group we find a web of sign and meaning that construct Chávez and also
the social policy approach as legitimate on principal. The predominant construction of identity
representations are elected/semi-democratic/authoritarian and ambitious/extreme/radical
regarding input legitimacy and ineffective/inefficient but social/preoccupied referring to the
output.
Figure 2: Web of meaning constructing Chávez and the Bolivarian Revolution as legitimate on principal.
12 Isabella Hermann September 2014 Conclusion As the paper shows it is not all of the international media that at least in the context of Chávez’s
death report only negative about Chávez and the Bolivarian Revolution. However, what all have
in common is the perspective that in Venezuela democratic principles are in danger and that
economic policies have failed. However, there is one part of “mainstream” opinion leading media
discourse that does not recognize Chávez and his policies at all and another part of partly
justifying Chávez regarding input legitimacy by winning elections, standing in a left-oriented
tradition, having to fight enormous constraints, and output legitimacy by means of his social
policies and his real concern for the marginalized. This leads to the question whether one can
identify a certain tendency which newspapers have a negative or rather moderate conception of
the Bolivarian Revolution. What can be seen is that the dividing line is not geography understood
as a different view between Latin American and European/US newspapers, but the tendency that
the leading articles and editorial comments respond to the event in a concentrated form of the
newspaper’s general convictions. This means that the articles on Chávez’ death in question
represent in all but a few cases the leading “political-ideological” orientation of the corresponding
medium. Newspapers which can be described as rather “center-right” or “liberal-conservative”,
owned by a large media conglomerate or generally in opposition to Latin America’s left report
negatively about the deceased president and the Bolivarian Revolution while newspapers
attributed to be center-left or liberal/social-democratic report rather moderately.
Thus, the first group consists of the two great Venezuelan oppositional newspapers El Nacional
and El Universal, the Bolivian conservative daily El Diario, the Argentinian Clarín published by the
largest media conglomerate Grupo Clarín, and its main also conservative, center-right competitor
La Nación, the conservative O Globo being the leading Brazilian newspaper and part of the largest
media conglomerate of Brazil, and its main competitor Folha de São Paulo, the French conservative
Le Figaro, the German center-right Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, and also the center-right Spanish
El Mundo and even the Spanish newspaper El Páis published by Spain’s largest media corporation,
which counts in fact as social-democratic/center-left but whose rejection of Chávez fit in an allover Spain heavy opposition against Chávez. In contrast, the second group contains newspapers
which can be described as rather “center-left”. This includes the Colombian daily El Tiempo
which despite the fact of having been purchased by the Spanish media group Planeta claims to be
independent, the rather critical Colombian El Espectador, the British social-democratic The
Guardian, the French center-left-liberal Le Monde, the German center-left Süddeutsche Zeitung, as
well as the US liberal-critical The New York Times.
Finally, what these articles show is that the evaluation of the Bolivarian Revolution thus whether
Chávez’s social policies were a success and a real concern, or only a populist measure for building
up clientelistic structures appears not to respond to the facts but to beliefs. The question remains
if one defines those different views as principal differences or rather gradual ones. But after all
they remain differences which correlate remarkably with the corresponding political/ideological
orientation of the newspapers.
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