Chávez and Castro
Max Azicri, "The Castro-Chávez
Abstract (gated): Socialist Cuba and Bolivarian Venezuela have embarked jointly on a historic journey of hemispheric dimensions. Under the collaborative and solidarity alliance between
Especially in the wake of Hugo Chávez's successful campaign to eliminate presidential term limits, a question about
This article, however, raises the additional question of what the Venezuela-Cuba relationship will look like without Chávez or Fidel Castro. It discusses the many cooperative initiatives the two leaders have created, especially with regard to health care, which have benefited a large number of people who otherwise would have received nothing.
Yet Azicri repeats the point that cooperation is based largely on the personal friendship between Chávez and Fidel (and that close sense of fraternity seems not to extend so much to Raúl, though obviously they have ideological ties). He does argue that a "creative interactive network" (p. 103) emerged from their personal ties, but to what degree is it independent and sustainable without the driving force of its creators?
7 comments:
... Or without American-financed oil revenues?
Though money really only dictates the scope of projects, not the relationship itself.
Explanation of what Latin America lacks. Why is Latin America so backward ??.
Francis Fukuyama, professor of International Political Economy at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University, says :
"Trust is the lubricant for nation-building, it is critical for the national economy, works on formal (courts) as well as informal (cultural values) levels and creates ‘‘social capital’’ which is just as important as physical capital."
So Private Initiative and Entrepreneurship should be based on trust, sane pride of society and a certain trust, confidence, belief in others, etc ...
But with madmen as leaders : Castro, Chavez, Daniel Ortega, Rafael Correa, etc... Who will trust those economies to risk capital and hard work ??
From Vulgarity and Aggressivity nothing good can spring.
When the leader of the nation is a whimsical egomaniac, narcissistic madman, who believes to have all the answers. What can you do as "citizen" or subject.
So, the best future in Latin America will be for those nations that are not so dominated by the madmen.
Humble Nations, where people have to work very hard to survive, without billions in subsidies, without being bought by the dictator, pseudo-dictator or vitalicious president.
Where there is free press and some little pride of being hard working and entrepreneurial.
Where Demagoguery does not reign things can be better in Latin America and some progress may be achieved.
Milenials.com
Prophesizing.com
Vicente Duque
Is Latin American Perspectives an academic journal? The abstract reads like some politician's diatribe.
Oil revenues are a factor in sustaining the relationship; I suspect a good deal of what's going on between Cuba and Venezuela wouldn't be happening if Chavez didn't have the money to make it happen, including paying for Cuban medics and so forth.
LAP is an avowedly leftist academic journal, and this particular issue focuses on the Cuban revolution--my sense is that the articles in this one issue are not refereed. But LAP does publish a lot of good stuff.
LAP is a good journal, and it is (as far I've heard) properly peer reviewed. That said, it's also self-described as a journal about imperialism and Marxism in Latin America. That said, someone attached to the editorial board has also mentioned that the journal seeks to look at other perspectives, too. But LAP is not LAPS. And that's good, because I don't want all journals to be clones, but to offer different, interesting perspectives.
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