Business Week: Hugo Chavez - the good, the bad, the ugly

[^_^ 5,021]

Inevitably, his legacy will be as hard to assess objectively as that of all other deeply polarizing leaders—from Mao to Perón. Nonetheless, even if Chávez’s deeds will be the fodder of endless debate, there are some incontrovertible aspects of his legacy.

The Good

Chávez’s most enduring and positive legacy is his shattering of Venezuela’s peaceful coexistence with poverty, inequality, and social exclusion. He was not the first political leader who placed the poor at the center of the national conversation. Nor was he the first to use a spike in oil revenue to help the poor. But none of his predecessors did it so aggressively and with such a passionate sense of urgency as Chávez did. And no one was more successful in planting this priority into the nation’s psyche and even exporting it to neighboring countries and beyond. Moreover, his ability to make the poor feel that one of them was in charge has no precedent.

...

The Bad

After 14 years in power, Chávez did not leave the nation a stronger democracy or a more prosperous economy.

...

Democracy requires “free and fair elections for the executive and legislature, nearly universal adult enfranchisement in the contemporary period, the protection of political rights and civil liberties, and civilian control of the military. The Chávez regime falls far short on the first and third of these defining characteristics of democracy.

...

The other paradoxical—and bad—legacy of Hugo Chávez is an economy in shambles.

...

It has one of the world’s largest fiscal deficits, highest inflation rates, worst misalignment of the exchange rate, fastest-growing debt, and one of the most precipitous drops in productive capacity—including that of the critical oil sector.

...

The Ugly

President Chávez leaves a fiercely polarized society. While social divisions always existed, Chávez’s brand of politics depended too much on stoking resentment, rage, and revenge to levels previously unknown.

...

Another ugly facet of Chávez’s tenure is that under his watch Venezuela became one of the world’s most murderous countries. Kabul or Baghdad is safer than Caracas.

...

Through it all Chávez was uncharacteristically silent and passive. His complacency as he watched his nation fall into a vortex of murder and criminality will be one of the most ugly and unforgivable aspects of his years in power.

http://www.businessweek.com/printer/articles/100046-hugo-ch-vez-r-dot-i-dot-p-dot-he-empowered-the-poor-and-gutted-venezuela

[X Factor 1,113]

He wasn't no Clint Eastwood

[Caryh 5,206]

[quote name=' timestamp='1362590200' post='6026044]

The Ugly

President Chávez leaves a fiercely polarized society. While social divisions always existed, Chávez’s brand of politics depended too much on stoking resentment, rage, and revenge to levels previously unknown.

Interestingly enough, both seem to fit well.

While social divisions always existed, Republican's brand of politics depended too much on stoking resentment, rage, and revenge to levels previously unknown.

While social divisions always existed, Democrat's brand of politics depended too much on stoking resentment, rage, and revenge to levels previously unknown.