Did Merkel deserve Chávez’s latest insult?

Gerhard Dilger

die tageszeitung (Germany)

Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez once called President Bush “the devil.” Last year, he referred to Spain’s former prime minister as a fascist, memorably prompting King Juan Carlos to tell him to shut up. Now it’s Germany’s turn, says Gerhard Dilger in Berlin’s die tageszeitung. Miffed by Chancellor Angela Merkel’s remark, as she began a trip through South America, that he did not speak for the whole region, Chávez denounced her for heading “the same fascist movement as Adolf Hitler.” It’s the sort of thing that makes people think the man must be “off his head”—he surely knows that Merkel’s Christian Democrats never had the slightest link with the Nazis. But perhaps we shouldn’t rush to judge. A leader desperately trying to raise his people out of poverty is bound to be riled by Merkel’s “patronizing disdain.” Merkel is the type of neo-liberal who backed the disastrous financial straitjacket forced on the region by the International Monetary Fund, which enriched a few but drove millions into poverty. She talks of negotiating the free trade agreements that South Americans long for, but just pays lip service to the idea. She talks of increased international investment in Latin America, but where is the follow-up? Chávez’s insults may sound absurd, but they’re also a reminder that the region has problems that rich countries could help to solve.