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Hugo Chavez and George Bush: Two Men, Two Historic Legacies.

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Hugo Chavez and George Bush will both be judged by history for what they have accomplished as presidents of their respective countries. 

While it may be too soon for the final verdict, a quick review of their backgrounds and trajectories in office may reveal some of the similarities or differences between them. 

Hugo Chavez was born into a poor family in an oil-rich country exploited by U.S. -based oil companies. 

George W. Bush was born into an oil-rich family in a country that has served as the base for oil companies that exploited Venezuela’s mineral wealth. 

Chavez was an excellent baseball player in his youth; for his part, Bush for a brief time, owned a baseball team. 

Chavez, after studying military science and engineering joined the army and was quickly promoted, eventually leading an elite paratrooper unit with the rank of Lt. Colonel. 

In 1968 Bush signed up as well, joining the Texas Air National Guard (in order to avoid being drafted and sent to Vietnam according to investigative accounts). 

Bush, after graduating college went into the family business – oil – floundering unsuccessfully for some time until Saudi businessmen invested in his operations to gain influence in the Bush family and American politics. 

Bush failed at his first run for office, seeking a seat in the U.S. Congress; but later he won the Texas Governorship. 

Chavez began his political career in some respects in the army, organizing a movement of military officers opposed to the corruption that was rampant in politics. 

After a coup attempt, Chavez was arrested and spent 2 years in prison, later he was elected president with the wide margin of 56% of the popular vote. 

After governing Texas and wining re-election, Bush lost the popular vote in the U.S. presidential election but assumed the presidency anyway with help to authorities in a state governed by his brother Jeb. 

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Hugo Chavez and George Bush: Constitutional Changes 

Chavez rose to power to combat corruption and has nationalized Venezuela’s mineral wealth in order to fund social programs while Bush came to power thanks to his brother in order to reduce social programs and privatize numerous government functions by reducing government. 

Many of the contracts for these functions, which include military logistics and emergency management carried out by FEMA have been sub-contracted to a handful of corporations in which Bush and his Vice President have been involved as well as other close allies and friends of theirs. 

Hugo Chavez and George Bush have both used their offices in order to change the national constitutions of their countries. 

In his first year in power, Chavez convened a Constitutional Assembly and a new Venezuelan Constitution was drafted through a process of grassroots consultation with Venezuelans. 

In his first year in power Bush began to sign Executive Orders limiting government information available to the public and broadening unconstitutional powers for government spying on U.S. citizens.

He would continue in coming years to practically invalidate the Bill of Rights without the need for any consultation whatsoever. 

Hugo Chavez and George Bush were both re-elected, Chavez with nearly 60% of the vote and Bush with 50.7% of the vote, thanks to the intimidation of African Americans by local authorities in key states like Ohio and Florida. 

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Hugo Chavez and George Bush: Amnesty

“Thousands of government and anti-government supporters took to the streets on several occasions.

“A number of demonstrations ended in violent clashes between different groups of protesters and between protesters and the police.

“A new law on the right of women to live without fear of violence gave hope to thousands of women who experience violence in the home, community or workplace.”

– Amnesty International, Summary of 2008 Human Rights report on Venezuela.

The U.S. authorities continued to hold hundreds of foreign nationals at the U.S. Naval Base in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, although more than 100 were transferred out of the facility during the year.

Detainees in Guantánamo were held indefinitely, the vast majority of them without charge, and effectively without recourse in the U.S. courts to challenge the legality of their detention. 

Most detainees in Guantánamo were held in isolation in maximum security facilities, heightening concerns for their physical and mental health.

The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) program of secret detention and interrogation was re-authorized by President Bush in July.

In December, the Director of the CIA revealed that the agency had destroyed videotapes of detainee interrogations. 

Soldiers refusing to serve in Iraq on grounds of conscience were imprisoned.

Prisoners continued to experience ill-treatment at the hands of police officers and prison guards.

Dozens of people died after police used tasers (electro-shock weapons) against them.

There were serious failings in state, local and federal measures to address sexual violence against Native American women. 

Discrimination remained a concern in a variety of areas, including policing practices, the operation of the criminal justice system and housing rights.

There were 42 executions during the year. 

“In late September, the decision of the Supreme Court to review the constitutionality of lethal injections led to a de facto moratorium on executions by this method.

“In December, New Jersey became the first US state in more than four decades to legislate to abolish the death penalty.”

– Amnesty International, Summary of 2008 Human Rights report on Venezuela.

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Hugo Chavez and George Bush: Bush the Devil?

Hugo Chavez and George Bush have entered into mutual recriminations. Bush has called Chavez a dictator. Chavez has called Bush the devil. 

History will likely record the actions of one of these men as having confronted a small elite wealthy class in order to work to lift a people out of poverty and promote national self determination. 

History will also record the actions of the other as having sunk greater segments of a national population into poverty while spending hundreds of billions of dollars a day on warfare. 

Is Chavez a dictator? Is Bush the devil? Which accusation will history determine to be closest to the truth? 

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