Venezuela: Can there be chavismo without Chávez?

President Hugo Chávez spoke for the first time about what the country should do if he were to become incapacitated.

Don’t despair, Venezuelans! said Jesús Silva in Analítica.com (Venezuela). Our leader is gravely ill, that’s true. In announcing another cancer surgery in Cuba, President Hugo Chávez spoke this week for the first time about what the country should do if he were to become incapacitated. In a moving, tearful address, he told his supporters to back Nicolás Maduro, the current vice president and foreign minister. “Thankfully, the revolution doesn’t depend on just one person,” Chávez said. “I feel myself embodied in all of you. You are all Chávez. Everyone is Chávez.” Of course, the opposition seized on the announcement with unbecoming glee, crowing that they would soon be able to take power and “plunder the wealth of the nation.” They will fail. The voters love Chávez dearly and are devoted to his vision. The “Bolivarian Revolution will not collapse like a house of cards as long as the fascist bourgeoisie and Yankee imperialism exist.”

Don’t be so sure, said José Toro Hardy in El Universal (Venezuela). It’s true that the people love Chávez with an “intimate and inexplicable” passion. “Despite every failure, every delay, every broken promise, frustrated Venezuelans always insisted that Chávez was not to blame.” They point at incompetent ministers, governors, generals, or functionaries, and cheer when Chávez publicly scolds these officials. They don’t even blame him for“squandering nearly $1.4 billion in revenue and dismantling the country’s productive industries.” But if Chávez isn’t responsible, then those in his retinue must be. So why would we Venezuelans give our support to Maduro or any other candidate who has Chávez’s blessing?

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