Chávez and Egypt

I agree with Andres Oppenheimer that applauding coups is bad policy, as I wrote in an earlier post. But then he suddenly throw out history and common sense because he really hates Hugo Chávez.

Supporters of the Egyptian coup also dismiss the argument that Morsi’s ouster will set a precedent for a greater tolerance for military coups in Latin America and other parts of the world. They say, accurately, that the latest wave of glorification of coups was set in motion in Latin America more than a decade ago by Chávez.

Before getting to anything else, I have yet to see any indication or in fact anyone arguing that Egypt could possibly be a precedent for Latin America. If anything, it was the opposite because that coup was so similar to other moderator coups in Latin America. Knocking out a president and then installing another without directly taking power is old hat for Latin American militaries.

Oh, and that history thing.

The next time I teach Latin American politics, I will be sure to let students know that no one really supported (or "glorified") coups before Chávez got involved--unsuccessfully--in 1992. I am certain that officers everywhere ignore their own domestic context and think, "If Chávez can fail in a coup, then so can I." The Honduran officers were immersed in their own inglorious history in 2009, and were not acting because they had read about Chávez's failure.

To all op-ed writers out there: I challenge you to write one without referring to Chávez. Often you will end up with a better argument.